"Matt Nichelson" (whoismatt)
05/16/2016 at 11:38 • Filed to: Dealership Stalking
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"Matt Nichelson" (whoismatt)
05/16/2016 at 11:38 • Filed to: Dealership Stalking | 0
| 22 |
So I got to see my first Opel Vauxhall Holden Buick Cascada over the weekend. Saturday evening my wife and I made a trip down to the coast to have a nice dinner (Dungeness crab legs ftw!) and do a little stalking. I wanted to see if the Buick dealer had a new Cascada on the lot. Sure enough, they had exactly one.
First off, let me say this. It doesn’t matter if I think the car/truck/whatever is the greatest thing since sliced bread or utter garbage, I still go out and have a look whenever anything new comes out. Seeing one in person is much different than looking at pictures. A car may look pretty cool in a picture but pretty meh in person. This is an example of just that. My wife and I came away very underwhelmed by this car.
I’ll give GM credit for slapping a Buick badge on a convertible. Correct me if I am wrong, but the last time Buick made a convertible was the Reatta. This car is a sign that Buick is trying to get away from the older crowd, but I really don’t think this will be a success. Maybe it was the color, I don’t know, but I just didn’t like it. The back seats are fit for a small child and that’s about it. The interior was okay but nothing spectacular. The car is very small but looks like it weighs a lot. There’s approximately 10 miles of panel between the door and the rear of the car.
Maybe it’s just me, but I just wasn’t too impressed.
Stapleface
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 11:46 |
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I am not really a fan of it either. I saw one on the road yesterday, and was also struck by a great feeling of meh. It’s just kind of there. There’s really nothing exciting about the car at all. Granted, it looks better with the top down, but the vast majority of convertibles do. That being said though, even that doesn't really wow you.
Milky
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 11:49 |
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Its the new Sebring Convertible. Which is great if you’re into that sort of thing.
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 11:50 |
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I have to say, that is one good looking soft top.
Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
05/16/2016 at 11:59 |
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I didn’t notice at first but you’re right. It has far smoother curves than most tops I’ve seen.
BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 12:08 |
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Well, it’s got the problem that a lot of past and current European C-segment convertibles have since 2005-ish: Weird proportions, way too much side panel with a massive rear. The weird thing is that this doesn’t even have a folding hardtop, which would cause it to have such a massive rear.
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 13:44 |
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Given this thing weighs 3700 to 4000 pounds it’s very porky. The Chevy Cruze and Buick Verano, both of which are on the same platform, weigh around 1000 pounds less. Clearly cars on this platform were NOT designed to be a convertibles from the beginning. All that weight gain must be a ton of additional steel bracing.
They should either invest in some materials to reduce the weight or drop in the 2L turbo available as the top engine.
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Matt Nichelson
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
05/16/2016 at 14:02 |
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I’ll agree on that.
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Matt Nichelson
> Stapleface
05/16/2016 at 14:03 |
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That’s pretty much what we felt. It’s just a car. Nothing really special or exciting about it.
Textured Soy Protein
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 14:03 |
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It’s ready and waiting to reclaim the title vacated by the demise of the Chrysler Sebring convertible.
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Matt Nichelson
> BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
05/16/2016 at 14:06 |
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Yeah, it’s just all wrong. The car has potential, but not in its current form.
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HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 14:06 |
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It’s too bad this car will most likely face the same fate as the Seabring convertible. Being owned exclusively by middle management types to scared to buy a used BMW, cougars with fake nails, and rental companies.
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Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> Milky
05/16/2016 at 14:16 |
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I was gonna say that the Sebring had more power to move the same weight, but that was only true of the top-end Sebring with the 3.5L V6.
Svend
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 14:26 |
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It’s essentially a Opel/Vauxhall Astra so it’s not all that big by U.S. Standards. I mentioned it to someone on here the other day. It’s not so much a four seater but a 2+2 with the U.S. Getting it in 1.6 petrol guise which isn’t very powerful considering it comes in at over 1,600Kgs so is more a good weather cruiser tha something to be flogged about it. Of all the cars GM could of taken from the Holden/Vauxhall/Opel stable this is probably the least desirable or would have the least impact on generating new Buick sales.
They could of had the Adam, Corsa, Astra an Astra estate to up against Ford and the Fiesta and Focus but nope. Doh.
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Matt Nichelson
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
05/16/2016 at 14:45 |
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I agree. I just don’t see it lasting long over here unless they make some big changes to it.
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Matt Nichelson
> Svend
05/16/2016 at 14:49 |
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The motor is too small for the car to be that heavy. I agree they could have gone with a different platform. A convertible Buick simply isn’t needed though.
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HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 14:51 |
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Maybe they’ll make a manual GS.
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Matt Nichelson
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
05/16/2016 at 15:38 |
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I think you would have better odds winning the lottery unfortunately.
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Svend
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 15:51 |
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In the U.K. and Europe it’s available in 1.4T 140bhp, 1.6T 170bhp. 1.6T 200bhp Auto and 2.0CDTi 170bhp.
I can understand not sending the diesel to the U.S. as petrol pretty much dominates still I think but the 1.6Turbo Auto with 200bhp and a 0-62 of 9.2seconds seems sufficient for us but I understand that for U.S. tastes it’s not inspiring at all.
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Matt Nichelson
> Svend
05/16/2016 at 16:24 |
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Yeah, you know us Americans. Power and all that stuff. Also, I can think of a lot of other cars I could spend $33k on, both new and used.
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Svend
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 16:55 |
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Lol. I don’t think you all are but that usually is what comes across, maybe it’s a stereotype from old that hasn’t gone away.
The vauxhall Cascada 1.6turbo 200bhp comes in at £29,275 here and there are so many other better cars for that money.
For that you can have a mid-range Audi A3 cabrio, VW Golf cabrio or VW Beetle cabrio.
or a slightly used 2 year old Audi A5 cabrio or BMW 4 Series convertible.
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Matt Nichelson
> Svend
05/16/2016 at 18:00 |
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Wow really? I did a little looking on Buick’s site and did a build and price. The top spec comes in at what works out to be about £27,000. That’s quite a difference in price.
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Svend
> Matt Nichelson
05/16/2016 at 18:11 |
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The Vauxhall configurator is presently showing the 1.6turbo 200ps manual as £30,155.
U.K. prices are inclusive of TAX. Sometimes they are inclusive of first registration or Road Fund Licence which is delivery, registration with the DVLA (U.K. DMV), etc... at £160 I believe.