2002 Buick Century Custom Sedan 4-door 3.1l on 2040-cars

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2021 Buick Envision First Drive | A successful sequel

The 2021 Buick Envision inaugurates the second generation of what GM's premium division hopes will become the staple of its all-crossover lineup. The original Envision, while reasonably competent, suffered from ungainly styling and struggled to separate itself from its reputation as the built-in-China Buick. Bundle that with a brand that has (at best) an on-again, off-again relationship with being interesting and you have a recipe for “Who cares?” No longer, says Buick. While itÂ’s still assembled in China, the 2021 Envision gets a new platform, a new powertrain, and a complete styling overhaul. Feeling a little deja vu? ThatÂ’s reasonable. Buick gave us a promising first look at the new Envision last summer, but thanks to, well, you know, 2020, weÂ’re only now getting our hands on the final product, and if we were intrigued in June, weÂ’re impressed in February. BuickÂ’s first attempt at a compact CUV was not particularly impressive, especially when it came to design. The Equinox-in-a-dinner-jacket thing never really worked and weÂ’re happy to say that the second effort is a huge improvement. The new look is genuinely attractive. Like the Enclave, the Envision borrows cues from the Avenir concept whose name BuickÂ’s product planners appropriated to denote the brandÂ’s top-trim variants. It works. Power comes from a 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-four producing 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque as its only available engine. Front-wheel drive is standard; a twin-clutch all-wheel-drive system is optional. Both setups utilize a nine-speed automatic transmission. Your author managed an average of 23 mpg over the course of a 60-mile test loop against EPA estimates of 22 mpg city, 29 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined. FWD models are rated at 24/31/26, respectively.  Size-wise, the Envision is a bit of an odd duck. One could teach an undergrad course on GMÂ’s two-row crossover ecosystem, but suffice it to say that itÂ’s a bit more closely related to the Chevrolet Blazer than it is to the Equinox this time around, despite being closer in size to the latter. Within the luxury realm, its length and wheelbase are a few inches shorter than those of larger compact models like the Volvo XC60, Acura RDX and BMW X3, but its rear legroom is greater than them all. It's actually closer in that measurement to the midsize Lincoln Nautilus.

Ford Edge ST and Mercedes-AMG E 53 | Autoblog Podcast #557

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Reese Counts. They talk about driving the Cadillac Escalade, Mercedes-AMG E 53 Coupe and Ford Edge ST. Then they run down the news: Lexus LFA prototype spy shots and the Buick Cascada's death knell. Then Green Editor John Beltz Snyder crashes the studio to talk about reducing your carbon footprint. Finally, the fellas help spend a listener's hard-earned money on a new car.Autoblog Podcast #557 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: Cadillac Escalade and Mercedes-AMG E 53 Coupe First drive of the Ford Edge ST Lexus LFA prototype spied at the Nurburgring with new body work Buick Cascada at death's door? Climate change sucks, but it doesn't have to Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Green Podcasts Buick Cadillac Ford Lexus Mercedes-Benz Car Buying Used Car Buying Convertible Coupe Crossover SUV Luxury Performance lexus lfa buick cascada

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera personal luxury coupe attained monstrous proportions by the middle 1970s, scaling in at well over 4,500 pounds by 1976. After spending 1977 and 1978 as sibling to the Chevy Caprice, the Riviera then moved to the front-wheel-drive platform used by the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, staying there through the 1985 model year. The Riviera world became a lot more interesting for the 1986 model year, when a smaller and more sophisticated generation hit showrooms with curvier lines and electronic gadgetry straight out of science fiction. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those cars, found in a self-service boneyard in Phoenix, Arizona. What makes this car such a fascinating bit of automotive history is this dash-mounted touchscreen interface, known as the Graphic Control Center. The 1986 Riviera was the first GM vehicle to get the GCC, which means it was the first production car in history with a factory-installed touchscreen display. This system became available in the Buick Reatta and the Oldsmobile Toronado a few years later.  The GCC used a cathode-ray tube screen sourced from an ATM manufacturer, which ran on 120VAC power and required an inverter and dangerous high-voltage wiring inside the dash. It was used to operate the HVAC, the radio and the trip computer, as well as to display operating and diagnostic information. The system used numerous bulky components in addition to the dash screen; I've extracted a couple of complete sets of GCC components over the years and plan to build them into a junkyard-parts boombox. As it turned out, the senior-citizen-heavy demographic of Buick shoppers didn't feel great enthusiasm for the GCC and there wasn't a huge sales payoff for this revolutionary technology. That didn't stop GM from introducing the first mass-produced cars with head-up displays a couple of years later. The running gear wasn't quite as sophisticated as the GCC. The 1986-1993 Rivieras got old-fashioned 3.8-liter Buick V6s under their hoods; the one in this car was rated at 140 horsepower and 200 pound-feet. If you wanted a manual transmission in your '86 Rivvie, you were out of luck. A four-speed automatic was mandatory equipment. Note the unusual face-loading cassette deck in front of the shifter; the AM/FM radio was a remote-controlled unit living inside the center console. The MSRP for this car was $19,831, or about $55,691 in 2023 dollars.