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Junkyard Gem: 1984 Buick Skyhawk Custom Sedan

Many laughed in 1982 when GM's Cadillac Division began selling the Cimarron, essentially a luxed-up Chevy Cavalier, at about twice the Cavalier's price. One rung below Cadillac on GM's Ladder of Success, the Buick Division got its own version of the Cavalier at the same time: the Skyhawk. Nobody laughed at the 1982-1989 Skyhawk's respectable sales figures. We saw an '85 Skyhawk coupe in a California boneyard last winter, and now here's an example of the sedan version in Colorado. This was the second generation of the Buick Skyhawk name, the first being applied to a Buick-ized version of the Chevrolet Monza during the 1975-1980 model years. That Skyhawk was available solely as a sleek two-door hatchback. This generation of Skyhawk could be purchased in coupe, sedan, hatchback (1986-1987 only) and wagon (1983-1989 only) form, with the coupe proving to be the most popular. For the 1984 model year, the base Skyhawk engine was the 2.0-liter pushrod four-cylinder from the Cavalier, rated at 86 horsepower and 110 pound-feet. If you opted for a five-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission instead of the base four-on-the-floor manual, you could spend an extra 50 bucks (about 149 bucks in 2023 money) to get this higher-revving, Opel-designed/Brazilian-made 1.8-liter SOHC four-banger with 84 horsepower and 102 pound-feet. A turbocharged version of this engine with 150 horses was available on the Skyhawk T-Type. Buick was proud of both the overhead cam and the electronic fuel injection in this car, applying these badges to brag a bit. You'd have thought that a buyer sacrificing torque for a better-breathing engine would have selected a manual transmission, but such was not the case with this car. The three-speed TH125 slushbox cost $395, or about $1,179 after inflation. The cheapest '84 Skyhawk trim level was the Custom. The MSRP on this car was $7,345 ($21,922 now) before options. Its Chevy Cavalier sibling started at $6,214 ($18,546 today), while its Pontiac 2000 Sunbird and Olds Firenza counterparts were $6,791 and $7,293, respectively ($20,268 and $21,766 in 2023 dollars). Meanwhile, the King of J-Bodies, the Cadillac Cimarron, listed at $12,605 ($37,620 today) in 1984. That $7,345 sticker price didn't include plenty of features we now take for granted in new cars. If you wanted air conditioning in your new Skyhawk, as nearly every Buick buyer in 1984 did, the cost was $630 ($1,880 after inflation).

2020 Buick Enclave adds Sport Touring trim, tweaks tech

With its redesign for 2018, the Buick Enclave added the fancy Avenir trim level. Now the 2020 Enclave moves a bit in the other direction with a new Sport Touring model. The Sport Touring package is based on the Essence trim level, and consists of a body-color grille surround in place of chrome, and special 20-inch wheels that combine a bright finish with darker insets. The package doesn't touch the 310-horsepower V6 or the Enclave's suspension, so this development is hardly one to threaten the Ford Explorer ST or the Dodge Durango SRT8. Instead, it is perhaps a baby step toward an Enclave Gran Sport, although we might rather see the Regal TourX wagon move in that direction. Other Enclave news falls into the more traditional Buick wheelhouse. There's a new message function and power lumbar adjustment for the Premium and Avenir models. GM's HD rear vision camera — in which the rear-view mirror can switch to show a wide-angle camera feed — is newly available, as is an HD surround-view feature. In other tech developments, the standard 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system gains new capabilities, now supporting connected navigation and Sirius XM's higher-level 360L service, both of which require a subscription. The 2020 Buick Enclave rolls quietly into dealerships this summer, with an asking price of $41,195.

As GM readies Alexa convenience for vehicles, we ponder its dark side

SEATTLE — On the 30th floor of AmazonÂ’s glass tower, in a room with a breathtaking view of downtown Seattle, thereÂ’s a beautiful bed that nobody sleeps in. ItÂ’s near a kitchen nobody cooks in, a living room couch that no one crashes on, a kitchen table that doesnÂ’t host any family meetings. ItÂ’s AmazonÂ’s Smart Home Lab, a place where every Alexa-enabled gizmo the company or its partners can produce is crammed into the same space, ostensibly for Amazon to test. The company invited us there to show us the companyÂ’s vision for consumer products to leverage AlexaÂ’s voice interaction software before taking us down to a demo of its latest implementation in a Buick Encore GX. In this eerie simulacrum of a fantastic luxury apartment, however, nothing went right the first time. ItÂ’s a challenging environment for Alexa to work correctly, our hosts noted, pointing to the fact that there were six wifi networks available for the devices to connect to. In a normal home, one wifi network controls all the devices, who can theoretically sort out for themselves which one youÂ’re actually trying to activate. In the Smart Home Lab, any unmuted Alexa device thinks itÂ’s in charge. Even so, the connected toaster wouldnÂ’t connect. The Fire TV Cube wouldnÂ’t play a song. Our handlers futzed with everything, muting and unmuting devices, repeating commands, making us feel better about our own struggles with similar technologies. If it doesnÂ’t work right at Amazon HQ, maybe itÂ’s not just us! ItÂ’s telling that down on the faux lawn, in between the gleaming Amazon spheres that host a billionaireÂ’s tropical garden and the Day 1 building that the Smart Home Lab resides in, the BuickÂ’s Alexa implementation doesnÂ’t use a “wake-word” at all. The familiar Push to Talk button on the steering wheel, which normally activates General MotorÂ’s own proprietary voice command system, can be set to default to Alexa when that rolls out to GM vehicles in the first half of 2020 via an over-the-air (OTA) update. Given the reluctance of Alexa to respond to its wake-word in the comfort of AmazonÂ’s own lab, we hoped that this was by design. Drivers are already familiar with Push to Talk, and a physical button is more reliable than the vagaries of contemporary voice recognition – not to mention the privacy and accuracy issues involved with always-on mics. Our experience with the not-ready-for-primetime Mercedes-Benz MBUX system is illustrative.