Compact Luxury Sedan
Pros
- sport mode
- audio
- seating
- styling
Cons
- small rear seats
- Buick Link
- powered seats
- leather appointed
- throttle response
Specs
- 2.4L ECOTEC engine
- 180 hp @ 6700 rpm
- 171 lb-ft of torque @ 4900 rpm
- EPA 21 city / 32 highway
- 2.0L + Turbo DOHC VTT
- 250 hp @ 5300 rpm
- 260 lb-ft of torque @ 2000 rpm
- 6 speed manual; EPA 20 city / 31 highway
- EPA 21 city / 30 highway
- Drivetrain: FWD
- Safety: 10 Air Bags, Side Blind Zone Alert
Exterior
As with our first InteRview on the Buick Encore, the Verano shares the same new Buick styling. The Verano is an entry model to the compact or small luxury sedan market. Buick gave themselves a face-lift with their sleek new look and re-design. The front grill / fascia is accented with halogen lamps, hopefully future models will be equipped with LED accents. The fog lamps are nicely placed with a front vent. The rear also looks like it inherited some attitude from the ‘new’ pre 2014 Chevrolet Camaro, (lets not talk about the new tail lights on the 2014 Camaros – we will save that for our Camaro InteRview).
Interior
The model we drove was the Leather group, as we entered we did not exactly smell pure leather but it was a very nice interior. The description said leather-appointed which may mean many things, we believe their was a bit of vinyl or leatherette involved. None the less the seating quality was nice and was accented with a light silver (color) finished material. The seating was quite comfortable for both driver and passenger, taller / larger rear passengers may have a bit of trouble finding themselves comfortable. This model however did not have power seats which I have been a costumed to, on a plus side it did have manual pump style height adjustment.
As we mentioned in the in the Encore post, the Buick IntelliLink System is not the friendliest to learn. But with practice it is quite nice. The screen size is small but the screen is crisp enough to read the content. The Verano also came equipped with a rear visibility camera, and as its cross-over cousin it also does not have an guide lines or measure markets when using the back up camera.
The premium Bose sound system is exquisite compared to what was featured in the Encore we InteRviewed.
Performance / Drive
No. As the dealership did not have any of the 2.0 Turbos for us to drive, we were left with the 2.4L Automatic. The Encore with a bigger body and a smaller engine felt more responsive than the Verano. Throwing her in the ‘sport” auto-manual mode was a complete different story. The car felt actually fun and worth it to drive, it was as if i was driving a whole new vehicle. I can only imagine what the 2.0 Turbo felt like, especially the manual.
The vehicle rode like a sedan, not as forgiving as the Encore but not nearly as stiff as its upper class competition luxury vehicles.
Summary
As an entry level luxury vehicle the base model comes equipped with what seems like the beginning of a new standard, Bluetooth connectivity, back up camera, and halogen lights to name a few. It allows a more diverse group of people to be able to have the features they want in a vehicle. The vehicle gets great gas mileage with any of the avail options, without driving the Turbo I recommend going with the Turbo for the extra amount vs the traditional engine. If that proper amount of power that should be there is not something you enjoy, then you should practice driving in auto-manual 
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