1996 Buick Century Custom - Family Owned Car on 2040-cars

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Buick lowering base prices on Regal, Verano

Buick might have two new options for buyers in the market for an inexpensive luxury sedan. In a move similar to the introduction of the LaCrosse 1SV base trim a few months ago, the brand is ready to offer cheaper, entry-level versions of the Regal and Verano. Like the LaCrosse 1SV, the Verano 1SV mostly cuts dealer margins to reduce the cost for customers. The small sedan is priced at $21,065, plus $925 destination, which is a significant $2,315 drop compared to the next higher trim. The powertrain is still a 2.4-liter four-cylinder making 180 horsepower and 171 pound-feet of torque and a six-speed automatic, but buyers lose out on satellite radio. According to CarsDirect, dealers are making just $106 on this model, versus $935 on the higher grade. Meanwhile, the Regal 1SV charts a slightly different path to a lower price. The trim starts at $27,065, which is a $2,925 savings over the next trim. Buyers still get leather seats too, but the powertrain here is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder without eAssist that makes 182 hp and 172 lb-ft of torque and a six-speed automatic. That's a 77 hp deficit compared to the turbocharged Regal, and combined city/highway fuel economy dips to 23 miles per gallon combined, compared to 24 mpg with forced induction. Buick is introducing the 1SV models in hopes of grabbing more attention for the brand. "We added this new base level to some models as a means of expanding the opportunity for more customers to experience Buick vehicles. The addition of these trims will create an increased awareness and consideration of these vehicles when being compared to the competition," said company spokesperson Nick Richards to Autoblog. However, you might not see many of these inexpensive Buicks on the road. "On the Verano, we suspect dealers will opt to stay away from a car with around $100 between invoice and MSRP - that's the pattern we've been seeing on the LaCrosse 1SV, which is practically impossible to find," said CarsDirect Senior Pricing Analyst Alex Bernstein to Autoblog. Also, the Regal 1SV's switch to a less powerful, naturally aspirated engine "could be a turn-off for some shoppers," he said. Related Video:

Audi tops Consumer Reports' brand rankings while Tesla leads domestics at eighth

Tesla supplanted General Motors' Buick division as the top-ranked US automaker in Consumer Reports annual brand rankings, though the electric-vehicle maker finished eighth among global automakers. Buick had finished atop CR's domestic car-brand list for three years before Tesla leapfrogged it. Scores were calculated from a combination of performance, owner satisfaction, and reliability. CR noted that Buick scored big on reliability but not so high on performance, while Tesla appeared to present the opposite case. Volkswagen's Audi division repeated as the best overall brand for the second straight year, beating out VW's Porsche unit, BMW, Toyota's Lexus division, and Subaru. Kia and Mazda followed those brands, while Honda finished ninth, between Tesla and Buick. Consumer Reports took results from 31 brands. Reliability issues related to the Toyota Tacoma helped drop that Japanese automaker out of the top 10. Take a look at CR's results for its Annual Brand Report Card here. That Tesla, Audi, and Porsche placed so high is topical, given some of the issues plaguing those automakers. Audi, Porsche, and their parent VW have been coping with the effects of the diesel-emissions scandal that broke back in 2015. The scandal has cost Europe's largest automaker billions of dollars, and forced VW to put a stop-sale on diesel-powered cars in the US in late 2015. And while the Tesla Model S improved from the "worse-than-average" label CR gave it in its 2015 Annual Auto Reliability Survey, the problematic falcon-wing doors on the Tesla Model X SUV pulled that model's reliability scores lower last year. Additionally, the Model X's climate-control system and door locks have also caused issues. Toyota and Lexus finished atop CR's reliability rankings last year. Related Video:

2014 Buick LaCrosse

A Nice, New Buick Aims For Middle Of The Road
Any time someone describes some portion of a car or a driving experience as being "nice," I want to either A) throttle them or B) run as fast and as far as I can from that vehicle. "Nice" is among the most insidious words in the English language - at best it's vague, and at worst, it conveys the exact opposite of its literal meaning. Yet it seems to be used with damnable frequency when it comes to verbally illustrating vehicles. "It looks really nice," or "These seats feel nice," or, heaven forefend, "It's got a nice ride," are all windy signifiers of absolutely nothing resembling a concrete opinion. "Nice" is the adjectival equivalent of meekly smiling and nodding your head.
Of course, I'm as guilty as the next person of having thrown English's least powerful descriptor around. There's even a chance that, rant aside, you'll catch me making nice in reviews to come. That's fine, but you should know that when you stumble upon such usage, past or future, that you've found a sentence in which I'm simply applying a bare minimum of effort to the task.