[Timgt5]

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Timgt5 Drives the 2015 Buick Verano Premium
“Honey I shrunk the Lacrosse[/CENTER

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Sometimes some things that seem simple in concept are not easy to execute. One example is the entry luxury compact. The idea is simple enough, take you basic compact, add a bit more engine, more sophisticated engineering, nicer materials and extra features and voila for little expense, a small profit making machine. Unfortunately for every success like the Acura Integra (based on the Honda Civic) there are some rather dismal failures such as the Nissan Sentra based Infiniti G20 and the Cadillac Cimarron, a shamelessly rebadged Chevy Caviler which damaged Cadillac’s brand reputation for a decade.

Buick too has made attempts at cracking this market, first with the Skyhawk of the late 1970s and early 1980s and then the rather strange looking Skylark of the late 80s and early 90s. These efforts were both rather forgettable. With tighter CAFÉ regulations looming on the horizon upscale and luxury makes are under more pressure than ever to introduce compact cars which will help them hit the averages they need to in order to avoid paying substantial fines. The Verano launched in 2012 is Buicks newest foray into this realm.

Will the third time be a charm for the tri-shield brand? Read on.

2015 Buick Verano Premium

Highs: Very Comfortable, smooth ride, whisper quiet on most roads, great fit and finish, commendably quick, bit trunk, handsome overall styling

Lows: Some minor finish issues, a few odd bits of styling, handling competent but not great, tight rear leg room. Missing some luxury features.

The Buick Verano is a compact class car derived from General Motors Delta platform. Developed originally by Opel (GM’s German Division) the Delta line is sold in Europe as the Opel Astra, in the UK as the Vauxhall Astra and in China as the Buick Excelle. In the US the Verano shares this architecture with the Chevrolet Cruise. The Verano is positioned above the Cruise and starts at around 23 Grand. Trims include Base, Convenience, Leather and Premium, (which tops out at just under 30,000 dollars). A power sunroof and Navigation system are standalone options available the Convenience, Leather and Premium trim.

Inside and Out:

One of the more stinging criticisms General Motors has been subjected to over the years was the charge of “badge engineering” taking the same basic car and selling it across multiple lines with minimal changes to the exterior or interior design, hence its only identity was purely the label on the nose. For the Verano Buick stylists did yeoman’s work making sure the Verano did not look at all like the Cruise and largely succeeded. Other than the arch of the back window there is almost nothing here to make one think the two vehicles shared any architecture at all.

The Verano is a handsome little car. Buick did a rather good job of disseminating the styling elements of its larger vehicles to a smaller scale. Up front is the Buick signature “waterfall” grill, flanked by chunky aggressively shaped headlamps. The bulbs have a blue tint around them for a bit of extra class, LEDs however are not offered. At the bottom there are some rather classy looking fog lights lined in silver/chrome(nice touch) The car has the typical modern car rounded wedge profile, with small port windows at both the front and back, to add both to the visual length and to give the Verano an upscale appearance. The back tapers off nicely but the rear fascia is a bit generic. Premium models have a small T badge at the bottom (indicating the Turbo engine under the hood) and dual exhausts. Paint is very thick and glossy giving the whole car a very upscale appearance, also some of the color choices are really nice, the Tricoat Red, Luxo Blue and Diamond White are very striking. There are some styling miscues at the top of what would have been the fenders on an older design is Buick’ signature “Portholes” they are functionless and seem slapped on purely as an afterthought. At the back the tail lamps are topped by strips of chrome that make it look like the rear of car has eyelashes. Sometimes one can try a bit too hard as seems the case here.

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The inside of the Verano is quite nice for the most part. The cloth seats in the lower trims are a bit rough, but the leather used in the Premium and Leather trims is quite smooth and soft. Overall fit and finish is very good and some of the interior color choices work really well. Standard features on even the base model are fairly extensive and include a backup Camera and dual zone climate control. On the Top trim premium models full power driver’s seat and a nine speaker Bose sound system are included. The dash has a pleasing shape with tasteful appliques of plastic silver trim and fake wood-grain, not bad but the stuff on the newest Subaru Legacy/Outback looks better. The only real bug here is that there are more buttons than necessary on the dashboard. The standard starter button also is not very well marked.

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The Verano comes standard with GM’s very good intel-Link touch screen system. The screen is big, clear, well laid out and easy to use, much better than Ford’s comparable Mylink system. Overall interior room is good, with plenty of headroom but the rear leg room is a bit tight, if you are over 6’ tall and you regularly ride folks in the back you may want to consider something else. Trunk space is quite good overall at 14 cubic feet. The opening is fairly wide and the shape is deep and accommodating, for extra cargo room the rear seats will fold in a 40/60 split.

Performance and Economy:

The three lower Verano Trims (base, convenience, leather) all get the same engine, A 2.4 liter naturally aspirated direct injected 4 Cylinder. In this case it is tuned to 180 HP and 170 lbs of torque. A six speed automatic comes standard The engine is smooth and efficient, but struggles a bit due to the Verano’s weight (at 3300 lbs it is rather heavy for a compact) There is little on the low end so take off is not great, propelling the car from 0-60 in a hair over 8 seconds. Down shifting is a bit slow so passing must be taken with care.

Step up to the Premium trim and Buick replaces the 2.4 with a turbocharged 2.0 direct injected engine. The engine upgrade adds 70 horsepower for 250 HP and 90 foot lbs of torque for 260-this makes the car considerable quicker off the line with 0-60 coming in at around 6.5 seconds. A six speed automatic is also standard but a six speed manual is also available at no cost. I drove only the auto-box but I have read the manual is a bit clunky. Gearshifts with the auto can be manually shifted via sport-shift on the console lever, Buick does not offer “flappy paddles” on the Verano. The 2.0T is responsive both off the line (there is some slight lag) and also offers plenty of mid-range punch for passing moves. The transmission is a bit slow to kick down but it does operate very smoothly.

The Verano models with the 2.4 are rated at 23/32 per the EPA, the 2.0 Turbo is rated at 21/31, which is rather small loss of fuel economy given the much greater performance over the 2.4. On my short test drive with the 2.0T engine the trip computer indicated 28MPG in mixed driving.

Handling and Comfort:

The Verano’s suspension set up is the standard Macpherson struts up front with a Torsion beam suspension in the rear, with a watts link. The steering as per most modern cars is electric rather than hydraulic. Having a torsion beam sounds like a step backwards but to its credit GM has done a good job with engineering it for the Verano. Handling is competent and predictable with just a bit of body roll. The steering while light and easy is a bit slow and tire grip is relatively modest, so the Verano is no sport sedan. If having a sporty driving experience is preferred the Jetta GLI, Mazda3 2.5, Mercedes CLA, and BMW 320i are all better choices.

The Verano counters its competitors by offering a very smooth ride for a compact car. The little Buick sort of manages to simply glide over rough services and insulates its occupants quite well from bumps in the road. It is not bouncy or “marshmallowy” like the Buicks of old, just simply a nicely buttoned-down feel.

Helping the Buick in the comfort department is its quietness. For the last several years Buick has been aggressively marketing what it calls “quiet tuning” and in the case of the Verano it is not hyperbole. The firewall between the engine and the passenger compartment contains a thick sheet of high strength steel, the pillars have injected foam and the windows are glazed and double laminated. All of this adds up to a car that can travel down the interstate at 70 plus miles per hour in near silence. Wind, road and engine noise are muted. Even the 2.0T emits only a sort of polite throat clearing “ahem” when engaging the boost. Sensations of speed are suppressed as well so it is best to check the speedo if you put your foot into the gas as it will hit 80 without you realizing. Add in the very comfortable leather seats, the rich sounding Bose audio and this car will effortlessly devour the miles on a long journey while delivering its occupants to their destination refreshed and ready to go.

Safety

The Verano comes with 10 standard airbags, the normal crush zones and reinforced beams. The standard ABS disc brakes are fairly decent in size (11.5 front and back) and strong, with solid stopping distance. The pedal feel is a bit mushy at first press but the pressure works well enough, and for Buick’s normal retirement age clientele electronic brake force distribution is standard to help with braking duties. New for 2014/2015 Buick adds available collision avoidance features such as lane departure warning and collision warning for all but the base trim, radar guided cruise control is not available on the Verano.

In crash tests the Buick scores rather well. It scores 5 stars on front and side and rear impacts, and manages to get a GOOD rating on the dreaded front offset crash tests (GOOD is the best rating no car has achieved beyond that in this test so far). Buying this car new also gets you GM’s Onstar system free for the first 3 months and a small subscription price therein after which allows GM to locate your car quickly in a wreck helping EMS workers to get to you faster. Also Onstar allows you to patch into emergency services directly through the Onstar operator in the event of an accident.

Summary

Producing a compact entry level luxury car is not as easy as it sounds. Today even the likes of the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla can be had with heated leather seats and a sat nav system, making it more difficult for upscale compacts to differentiate themselves from their lesser brethren. The Audi A3 and Mercedes CLA already have built in name brand cache’. In to this highly competitive field Buick has done a rather nice job with the Verano. It drives competently enough for most of its potential customers. The Premium model with its turbo engine packs plenty of big car zing to make sure that those downsizing from something larger will not feel deprived of performance and in terms of comfort the Verano punches well above its weight class.

The Buick Verano of course for some maybe the answer to the question no one was asking. Americans are still hooked on buying cars by the pound and so for the same money (as the Verano Premium) one could get V6 versions of the popular Camry, Accord and Nissan Altima sedans all of which are larger, roomier and offer similar performance. The Verano rides smoother than the Accord and most versions of the Camry, nearly matching the Nissan Altima (regarded as the class leader in ride comfort) while being smaller. The materials in the used in the Buick retain a premium feel beyond the typical American or Japanese family fair, and is actually quieter than any of them. Yet all of this is not quite up to the level set by the Germans, which also happen to be talented driving machines, but with ze German performance, comes ze German maintenance costs which will be considerably higher long term.

Would I recommend the Verano? well yes and no. The 2.4 liter models are sort of week sauce, quiet, comfortable but rather lackluster in terms of performance. The 2.0T Premium has GMs excellent turbo engine which gives the little Buick an ace in the hole. Adding a major performance more or less completes this package and really makes the Verano feel like a mini-me Lacrosse, so if you get one, go for the Premium, and if the 30K price tag is off*putting wait for an off leased used one. I recently spotted a 2014 Premium with only 8K miles going for 22,000-nearly 8000 off the cost of a new one.

[eskielover]

Buick was always GM's classier line of cars. My grandmother would NOT own anything but a Buick.....she liked their LeSabre. Then mid 1960's she got talked into buying this sporty little skylark model. They drove it for a few months & she hated it.....traded it back in for her trusty LeSabre model.

I thought the little sky lark was great....white with red leather seats....wow, I remember that car better than some cars my parents or I have owned over all the years I was married (H kept totaling them....but that's another story & novel)

I do like the new camera features that all vehicles are being forced to have....drives up the cost but hey, it's a cool feature. Wish my 2005 truck had one as I am forever backing into something & denting it with my towing hitch.

Always fun to buy a new car especially with all the wonderful new features & gadgets they are coming up with....I would never buy new any more...the depreciation the minute you drive off the lot after purchasing it....all is owned by the initial owner.....I'm not going to be the fool & throw that kind of money away.

Hope you enjoy your new car