{"id":640397,"date":"2013-01-28T15:30:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T20:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/?p=94599"},"modified":"2013-01-28T15:30:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T20:30:05","slug":"2013-buick-verano-premium-ridelust-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/640397","title":{"rendered":"2013 Buick Verano Premium: RideLust Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Thumbs Up:<\/strong> Comfortable ride, quiet cabin<\/p>\n

Thumbs Down:<\/strong> Turbo engine and manual transmission, but little entertainment value<\/p>\n

Buy This Car If:<\/strong> You prefer to row your own gears, yet want comfort over performance<\/p>\n

Buick\u2019s Verano sedan was built to deliver the fuel-sipping advantages of a compact, while serving up more content than buyers in the class are used to. While the Verano was new for the 2012 model year, a turbocharged variant, dubbed the Verano Premium, has been introduced for 2013. Now that GM brand Pontiac is history, the company is hoping that Buick can pick up some of the enthusiast buyers left in the cold by Pontiac\u2019s shuttering. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

The Verano Premium, then, becomes the most affordable performance option in the Buick catalog. Its forced-induction 2.0-liter four-cylinder cranks out 250 horsepower and 260 pound feet of torque, and even gives buyers the choice of a six-speed manual gearbox. What\u2019s noticeably absent, however, is a sport suspension or supportive sport seats, which makes us wonder exactly what demographic Buick was going for. We\u2019re certain the Verano Premium with the six-speed automatic transmission will be a best-seller, but we can\u2019t imagine Buick delivering many manual transmission examples.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

The Verano is a good-looking car, and it reminds us of a three-quarter scale Buick Regal. The Verano\u2019s grille is even more prominent, however, extending all the way to the edge of the hood. Headlights are large (or perhaps this is just a proportional thing), which represents an odd styling departure from today\u2019s mainstream smaller-is-better automotive lighting trend.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

In profile, the Verano\u2019s daylight opening is similar in shape to the Regal\u2019s without being a direct copy. Both are trimmed in chrome and both sport a blacked-out B-pillar for a cleaner look, but the Verano sports a sharper angle on its C-pillar trim. The compact Buick sports a styling line that sweeps up from the rocker to match the lower angle of the rear door, while the Regal uses a similar styling trait on its front door; the difference is subtle enough, however, that neighbors will likely ask you how you like your new Buick Regal.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

The biggest difference between the Verano and its bigger brother comes at the rear, where the smaller sedan gets chrome tail light trim (as opposed to a chrome trim strip on the Regal), a flat trunk lid and larger tail lights. The rear fascia shape is decidedly different, too, with the Verano going angular to the Regal\u2019s round.<\/p>\n

\"Dash\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside, the Verano\u2019s dash does a good job of reminding occupants that this is no ordinary compact. It\u2019s not full-on luxury, to be sure, but it is an eye-pleasing blend of colors, textures and shapes. The crash pad, for example, is finished in a color to match the Verano Premium\u2019s interior, while the dash upper and lower are finished in black plastic and vinyl. There\u2019s the obligatory faux wood, too, but thankfully this is kept to a minimum and offset by the metallic trim used to highlight the center stack. Our only criticism here is the same criticism we have for most high-end GM vehicles: the center stack is an overly complex blend of multi-function buttons that\u2019s far from user-friendly. Sure, any buyer will get used to this in time, but it\u2019s not nearly as intuitive as the controller-type input systems used by Infiniti, Audi, BMW and others.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Though we\u2019re less than fond of the peppermint-candy-blue used by Buick to light its instruments and controls, we otherwise liked the Verano\u2019s dials. Both tachometer and speedometer use markings that you\u2019d expect to see on a precision gauge or fine watch, and like the dash itself they do a good job of conveying an upscale message. We like the chrome trim on the instrumentation, too, along with the large and comprehensive driver information display.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Front seats, however, fall short of expectations. Buick calls them \u201csport seats,\u201d but they don\u2019t come close to meeting our standards for lateral support. You sit \u201cin\u201d sport seats, but you sit \u201con\u201d the front chairs in the Verano, which aren\u2019t even that comfortable for long-distance driving. Seat cushion and seat back are far too soft to be comfortable, and even the driver\u2019s seat lacks lumbar support. Buick claims the seats use \u201cleather appointed trim,\u201d but the upholstery feels suspiciously like vinyl to us. While we can come up with plenty of reasons to buy the Verano Premium, its front seats are not among them.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Rear seats are equally soft and plagued by a short seat cushion, but they\u2019re comfortable enough for the daily carpool commute. There\u2019s about as much legroom as you can expect from a compact sedan, and headroom is ample for those six-feet tall and under. Like the front seats, the rears are \u201cleather appointed,\u201d but feel the same as the front seats to us. Especially at this price point, we\u2019d much rather have a premium cloth seat option.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Power comes from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, rated at 250 horsepower and 260 pound feet of torque. Buick offers the Verano Premium with the buyer\u2019s choice of a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission, though we can\u2019t imagine the row-it-yourself option will see many takers. It\u2019s surprisingly quick, reeling off a 0-60 mph time of just 6.6 seconds, but its suspension isn\u2019t up to carrying much speed into corners. Fuel economy isn\u2019t bad as long as you accelerate with care and upshift often; the EPA says to expect 24 mpg combined (20 mpg city, 31 mpg highway) from the manual Verano Premium and 24 mpg combined (21 mpg city, 30 mpg highway). We saw an indicated 23.5 mpg in mostly-city driving.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Ride quality is best summed up as \u201cplush,\u201d and in this regard the Verano has more in common with Buick\u2019s LaCrosse than it does with the sportier Regal. Accelerate hard, and there\u2019s noticeable lift from the front end; brake hard, and there\u2019s plenty of dive. The Verano\u2019s steering is nicely weighted, but there\u2019s little feel and too much play off-center. Turn-in is leisurely, and there\u2019s plenty of body roll in corners when the Verano is pushed harder than it wants to go, but that\u2019s the trade-off for a cushy ride. Brakes have decent pedal feel, and we\u2019re sure they\u2019re capable of delivering acceptable stopping distances.
\nIf you test drive it thinking \u201ccompact luxury sedan,\u201d you won\u2019t be disappointed; if you\u2019re expecting anything resembling a sport sedan, chances are the Verano Turbo won\u2019t live up to your expectations.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

The Buick Verano Premium doesn\u2019t have many in-class competitors, and that alone will help Buick generate sales. If you really want a Regal Turbo or Regal GS and simply can\u2019t swing the payments, the Verano Premium gives you a reasonable alternative. A few suspension upgrades will likely dial in the handling, though we\u2019re not sure much can be done to improve the steering. Still, the car is quick enough, and with a drop in ride height, stiffer springs and firmer dampers, we suspect it would be more than moderately entertaining to drive.<\/p>\n

\"2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Buick supplied the Verano Premium for our review. Base price on the Premium trim level was $29,990, including a destination charge of $885, and options on our car included the $900 Power Sunroof and the $795 Audio System With Navigation for a total sticker price of $31,685.<\/p>\n

For comparison, an Acura ILX 2.4 Premium (which has the larger engine and manual gearbox, but isn\u2019t available with navigation) would sticker for $30,095, while an Acura ILX 2.0 Tech Package (which has the less powerful engine mated to a five-speed automatic transmission, but includes navigation) would list for $32,295. Audi\u2019s upcoming A3 Sedan, as well as the soon-to-be-released Mercedes-Benz CLA, will also compete against the Buick Verano, but neither model has been priced yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thumbs Up: Comfortable ride, quiet cabin Thumbs Down: Turbo engine and manual transmission, but little entertainment value Buy This Car If: You prefer to row your own gears, yet want comfort over performance Buick\u2019s Verano sedan was built to deliver the fuel-sipping advantages of a compact, while serving up more content than buyers in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}