mmarshall

I may be wrong, but some of the shoddiest automotive quality I've seen (in the American market) was on AMC 70's-vintage vehicles and Chrysler products built from the late 1970s up to just the last couple of years or so. GM and Ford also had their share of losers, especially in the 1980s. My brother owned a 1979 Renault 5 (Le Car), which was fun to drive, but whose quality was as bad or worse than even the American cars of the period.

The Verano is not a typical American-designed GM compact (though it uses a GM Ecotec four). Much of it, underneath the Buick sound-insulation and trim, comes from the latest-generation German Opel Astra.....a car that, years ago, used to be junk, but is now quite highly-regarded. Prevous-Generation Astras were also sold under the Saturn and Vauxhall Astra nameplates....but the Saturn version sold in very low numbers here.

mmarshall

Like I told Mike, just a few posts back....................I usually don't buy a car on the spur of the moment. I don't intend to now either. I've liked the Verano for some time..... but it's not the only fish in the sea. In fact, I'm waiting for some reliability data on it, preferably from Consumer Reports...right now, it's too new a vehicle.


And, of course, as far as one year goes, that alone is not long enough, in most cases, to gauge long-term reliability.....but it often does indicate if the vehicle was well-assembled at the factory. Factory-goofs from poor fits, misaligned machines/robots, ill-fitting screws/bolts/pins, bad welds, etc.... usually (but not always) show up early in a vehicle's life. Many original design-goofs on the part of the engineers, though, often don't show up until later in the vehicle's life (hopefully before the end of the warranty). And warranties on certain parts are sometimes extended if a pattern of premature failures is noted.

Tantrix

I haven't seen one verano on the street here in southern california.

I think buick and GM does well in china but horrible here in north america.

I wouldn't touch the verrano due to resale value. It will plummet fast.

mmarshall

SoCal, like my own D.C. area, has so many cars running around that it takes a while for almost any new vehicle to be noticeable. They are the two heaviest-traffic areas in the country.....though several other metro-areas are close.


GM saw that Buick filled the void between Chevy and Cadillac better than Pontiac did. That's why Pontiac went and Buick stayed.

By today's standards, it's not an expensive a car to start with (23-29K, maybe 30 with all options), so one probably will not lose his or her shirt even if depreciation is higher than average.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

buick may not be huge in NA but gm certainly is.

spwolf

Buicks in China have nothing to do with ones you buy in the USA. As to the Verano, isnt it Opel Astra Sedan? If so, not sure that it rides comfortably. Buick in USA is based on Opel models and Opel is company that is currently failing so bad that GM doesnt know what to do with it anymore.

TwiBlueG35

I think Verano is a nice choice. At 183 or so inches long, I found it to be the perfect length for a sedan. Civic is too short and Camry is too long. So the new 3-series, Volvo S60 would also be nice candidates if I am in the market for a mid-sized sedan. Verano and all other Buicks vehicles look a bit too mature for my age(thirties) but probably more suitable for those in their upper forties and older. My only suggestion is wait for the ninth generation Honda Accord, that is, if you want to wait. Hopefully the new Accord sedan would be at least 3 inches shorter than the current one, but even so it would still be 190" long. I miss my fifth gen Accord, so nimble and has perfect size. If you don't mind a big sedan like I do, how about the new VW Passat?

caddyowner

Good luck to your friend. A lot depends on the owners & sales management he's working under. I think some places hire green-peas just to get all their contacts and then they drop them. A lot of family dealership owners are pillars of their community, but treat their employees like dirt. Then again, I've known men & women who have been with the same dealership for ages and do quite well.

mmarshall

Thanks, caddy. I'm sure he'll do his part.....but, as you note, sometimes the sheep get mixed in among wolves. He's always been a responsible person (his military experience, of course, helped there). He doesn't know a whole lot about cars right now, but that's one area where I'm helping him out a little.

mmarshall

Yes and no....depends on the model.

It came off an Astra platform....also shared, to some extent, with the Cruze. The dashboard and door-panels are pure Astra, with only very minor differences in Buick trim. I see nothing wrong wth that.....the Astra, unlike some past Opels, seems to be highly-rated in Europe, and won at least one Car of the Year award there.

The American-market version (Verano), of course, is not a pillow-soft traditional big Buick, but it is not as stiff as its big-brother Regal, and, like its other big-brother LaCrosse, is an excellent combination of ride/handling. And the sound-insulation easily sets the standard in the compact-car class. Buick worked very hard on the Verano to keep the noise out.


GM apparantly does know what to do with the Opels. They seem to be making nice Buicks....the division hasn't done this well in decades.

mmarshall

Yep....a good size for urban/suburban commuting and parking, but not too small for Interstate driving.

I have an enormous amount of respect for the Accord's build-quality (and have helped others shop for Accords). For several reasons, though, it's probably not the car for me, though I like the AWD in the otherwise awkwardly-designed Crosstour version. But, in general, I'd get another Outback before an Accord.

I reviewed and test-drove two versions of the new Passat. Nicely-done, and with a diesel option, but not a car I really fell in love with. The American version is also designed to compete primarily with traditional, appliance-like Camrys, and has (now) lost some of its former German road-manners.

LexBob2

Today on the way home from getting my Mazda serviced i stopped into a large Buick-Cadillac dealership to look at the XTS. While in there I sat in a Verano and was impressed. I didn't drive it or spend a lot of time in it, but it had a nice look and feel to both the interior and exterior.

The rep I was talking to said (his opinons only) he feels the Regal is lost in between the Verano and LaCross and wouldn't be surprised if it just became the RS only and was Buick's sport sedan/performance model. Again just speculation only.