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When any car manufacturer takes a compact car from their volume line-up, puts a fancy badge on it and calls it a luxury car, there is always some scepticism about how this new car performs under the luxury brand.
But General Motors seems to have figured this out with the Verano. To be honest I would have to drive a Cruze back-to-back with a Verano to be certain how much better the Verano is, but from memory, this Verano seems quieter and smoother on the road.
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GM has applied numerous sound deadening techniques to the Verano and they have paid off. although not silent out on the highway the Verano is quieter than you may expect from a vehicle of this size. But it doesn’t really stop there — the Verano feels as solid as its larger sibling, the Regal.
So it has that feeling of luxury and it has the quietness, but does it have the luxury ride? Well, I guess that depends how you define it. If you do so based on Buicks of past, with a marshmallow ride and steering so light a baby could turn it… then no.
But the Verano exhibits what I would call European luxury: a tuned suspension that is firm enough to feel the road, yet absorbs the harshness of potholes and really rough tarmac like the road leading to my home.
The 2.4L engine suits the Verano much more so than the 1.4L turbo in the Cruze would suit this car, and it feels less strained than the same engine in the Regal. In the Verano the 2.4L four-cylinder powerplant offers just the right amount of refinement and power thatbuyers expect. This really is not just a badge engineering exercise; Buick has tuned the Verano just right.
