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2016 Buick Cascada First Drive

Florida became a state in 1845. It is the third most populous state in the United States, home to the most-visited theme park in the world. It is where you'll find every convertible ever sold in the United States, be it a pasty white Infiniti M30 or a Lamborghini. And soon, many examples of the 2016 Buick Cascada will call it home. Florida is full of Buicks. Wonder if anyone bought a Rendezvous Ultra? It's in Florida. The Buick Reatta, the company's last convertible before this? Also there. Buick, however, is eager to get those who better remember Bush vs. Gore than Nixon vs. Kennedy to ask, "That's a Buick?" Which is how we arrive at the Cascada. The Cascada isn't so much a new Buick as a car that's new to Buick. It's been on sale for about three years as the Opel Cascada in Europe, along with badge-engineered siblings sold by Vauxhall and Holden in other parts of the world. Buick took that time to make several hundred changes to the Cascada for US consumption and then found it without many rivals. The Chrysler 200 convertible, Volkswagen Eos, and Volvo C70 would all be prime targets for the Cascada here, were they not all dead now. Buick's gamble is that these Chrysler, VW, and Volvo (also Saab, for that matter) customers are looking for somewhere to go next. The Cascada isn't so much a new Buick as a car that's new to Buick. One thing is certain: the Cascada is eye-catching to Floridians. I had no fewer than six people in Miami and Key West walk up to me and ask what kind of car it was, or even say, "That's that new Buick convertible, right?" Despite being three years old, the Cascada's looks have aged pretty well. And it's been spared many of the tacked-on details, like fake portholes and chrome wheels, that were adhered to the Regal when it made its trip over from Opel-land. Top up or down, the Cascada is attractive. Unlike the Audi A3 or BMW 2 Series convertibles (the former being the Buick's prime target), there's no abruptness to the design, no sharply ending lines. The Buick looks relaxed in a Palm Beach or Palm Springs way, even on the inside with the convincingly stitched dash top and standard heated leather seats (one of the pieces redesigned for the Buick). That being said, the pattern on the seat material is a misstep, looking like it was inspired by Aunt Flora's 1972 patio furniture. Then it's surprising that you don't exactly sink into the Cascada. While the seats are mounted low, they're not pillow soft.

2024 Buick Envista Avenir Interior Review: A real winner from Buick

The 2024 Buick Envista is the first Buick product I’ve driven in recent history thatÂ’s kept me thinking about it for much longer after handing the keys back. Much of that credit is due to Buick pricing it so low, but itÂ’s not like there arenÂ’t other cheap cars out there. The difference, of course, is that the Envista is both affordable and a really good car at the same time. You can read about how effective the tiny and frugal 1.2-liter turbo engine is in our First Drive, or get the full download about the various trims in our Buying Guide, but here IÂ’m going to focus on its impressive interior in its most exemplary form. My test Envista pictured throughout is the Avenir trim, which is the top-shelf, priciest model, and yet it still only starts at $29,695. That feels like a steal in todayÂ’s ever-expensive car market given its size and level of equipment. So, whatÂ’s the catch?  First impressions are wildly positive when I settle into the AvenirÂ’s comfortable, heated leather seats and run my hands along the soft leather of the heated flat-bottom steering wheel. Then I check out whatÂ’s in front of me and notice the dual-screen layout housed cleanly in a single slab in the dash. The 11-inch touchscreen infotainment system is barebones as it gets from a software and user interface perspective, but that simplicity is somewhat refreshing. You get wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, along with good enough hardware that everything runs fluidly and responds quickly to touches. The 8-inch digital instrument panel is verging on being too simplistic in favor of minimalism, though. Many of the typical gauges you might see in a cluster are instead tucked into a menu on the infotainment display, and customization of that cluster screen is similarly limited. ItÂ’s functional, but thereÂ’s room for improvement or at least customization. The Pebble Gray and black two-tone look of this Avenir model is rather dashing combined with the Cinnabar Metallic exterior paint, and “Avenir” being stitched into the headrests is an upper-class touch. Also appreciated is the soft dash in front of the passenger with pretty stitching and an intriguing crease-like pattern in the material. This carries through into the doors and the door armrests, which are also padded, something you donÂ’t get in the brutally hard doors of this carÂ’s platform mate, the Chevrolet Trax.

Chevy Bolt-based prototype may be a Buick EV for China

Late last spring, we got a look at a GM prototype that was clearly based on the Chevy Bolt EV, but with updated styling. It seemed like it could be a more crossover-styled Bolt, given the recently trademarked name of EUV. Now we get another look at the prototype, but the bodywork seems less suggestive of a Chevy, and more of a Buick. This vehicle definitely still appears to be based on the Bolt, rather than on another small GM platform. In the photos of it next to the current model, the size, wheelbase and profile are extremely similar. There are differences, though. The nose isn't as sloped or as rounded, and the rear window kicks up a little earlier. The biggest changes are in the front and rear fascias, and it's here that we see hints of Buick. There are prominent air inlets on each side of the front bumper that give the car a more aggressive look. The headlights still have a fairly rounded, organic look, but with little extensions like fangs underneath. The styled running-light section, rounded shape and the smoked lenses seem very Buick-like. The grille features a large badge that doesn't fit the shape of a bow-tie, and is more that of a round logo like Buick's. Around at the back, the full-width taillights stand out, and in the middle there is obviously a round badge, again like a Buick. The wide taillights would also be a natural evolution of Buick's current light design language that uses somewhat wide and thin lights. The rear bumper has been redesigned with new lower taillights. Now that we've established that this seems very much like a Buick, we don't think we'll see this particular version offered here with the badge. This is more likely a Buick version of the Bolt for the Chinese market, where the brand is associated with luxury and has been the spearhead for GM's electric and hybrid models. In fact, the Chevy Volt hybrid was sold there as the Buick Velite 5, which was part of a family of a electrified Velite models. This would probably also carry a Velite badge as well. While we might not see this specific Buick variant, we probably will see it offered as a Chevy in some form. With its more aggressive, crossover shape, it could be the rumored EUV model. Or it could be just a refresh of the current Bolt, since the model has been largely unchanged since its introduction for the 2017 model year. And extrapolating from this prototype, we can see how the headlights could be tweaked to tie into those air scoops as on the Suburban and Silverado.