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With the departure of the Volkswagen Eos, Chrysler 200 Convertible and Volvo C30, Buick is looking to enter into the now dead front-drive four seat convertible segment. Buick dealers were recently shown a version of the Cascada, which is said to be arriving Stateside in 2016.
According to GM Inside News, the Cascada will be powered by a 1.6L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, and imported from Germany, rather than built Stateside. This would make it the second imported Buick, after the German-built Regal.
65 Comments on “Buick Shows Cascada To Dealers...”
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I think you mean the Volvo c70, not c30.
1.6L…sigh…no 2.0 turbo 4.
Agreed. The GM Ecotec 2.0T is a fine engine, and likely the better choice.
Watch them offer AWD and best A3 cab for 2/3rds price and triple sales and anything in the segment.
2/3rds the price? Maybe with rebates after it doesn’t sell. i’ll be shocked if it doesn’t cost top dollar.
Let’s not forget it’s an Opel. It will be overpriced just like the Regal.
The latest round of reviews on the Regal call it many things – over priced isn’t one of them – bargain compared to competition was how Consumer Reports is positioning it.
What is it competing with, exactly? The Acura TL or TSX? It just seemed ridiculous when I priced one online for my sister. It’s Avalon money.
They’ll triple sales alright, from 2 to six.
“Cascada will be powered by a 1.6L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, and imported from Germany, rather than built Stateside”
Future shop queen?
Don’t pretend the Catera wasn’t rock solid reliable!
Chrysler and GM were definitely in competition on who could build the worst small displacement V6 in the mid/late 90s.
I’m not sure which one was worse, the introduced in 1998 Chrysler LH 60 degree 2.7 V6 or the introduced in 1993 GM Ellesmere 54 degree 3.0 V6.
Both engines were utter abominations.
Catera was a disaster, it was like HT4100 all over again.
“In its 3.0 L form, this engine was notable for recalls of all units installed in Cadillac Cateras due to timing belt tensioner bearing failures, which could cause catastrophic damage to the engine because of its interference design.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_54%C2%B0_V6_engine
Still, there are two households on my street which run Cateras DD.
(I live on a long street. 4.6mi.)
Masochists.
Puketastic abomination. May it rust from God’s tears before burning in the flames of hell.
Bathtub convertibles like this aren’t sexy. Convertibles are supposed to be sexy.
VW can get away w/ it because it’s their history. Beetle.
Buick used to have great looking convertibles, Opel not. Now they both don’t.
This is a lot closer to the Eos (which is being discontinued) than the Beetle.
Heh, that post cannot be improved.
Bravo!
Former GM customer, I assume?
@bomberpete
Nah, just think it is ugly. The design team should be sent on a fine dining tour of Pyongyang.
i think it looks ok for what it is
however no man can reasonably buy this
the sole clientele seems to be upper middle class housewives and so many of them have love affairs with the CUV/SUV
also the 1.6 turbo four is the same one in certain markets of the ubiquitous Cruze
“no man can reasonably buy this”
Unless, of course, he is comfortable with his gender and doesn’t need his car to prove how manly he is.
Or maybe he can get away with just buying Old Spice deodorant or some other consumer good to remind himself of his chromosome mix.
>”Unless, of course, he is comfortable with his gender and doesn’t need his car to prove how manly he is.”
And has exceptionally poor taste in cars.
@TonyJZX
I’d have to see it in person but I’m not getting a female only vibe from it, although a weak sauce motor isn’t helping the male case. FWIW I loved the ’93 Lebaron V6 Convertible I had in 2004, and one of these with a real motor and reliable seems somewhat appealing (which looks negatory in both cases being 1.6 and Opel).
Rental car companies are in desperate need of a replacement for the Chrysler 200. I suppose this will be it.
At the National Emerald Aisle in Fort Lauderdale Airport, this will be heaven!
If I were in the market for a convertible, and if I can see out of it with the top up or down, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
Why? Because I can’t see out of the Camaro convertible with the top up or down!
“Buick convertible” Those are two words I never thought I’d see together again… it’s even better looking then a Crosscabriolet
Damning with faint praise much?
Make a note to self, “Must work on subtle”
Oh, I knew you were going for some subtle sarc, but the thing doesn’t deserve to be compared to the CrossCabomination.
That’s not fair to the CrossCabriolet. It may have been an abomination to unspoken automotive dogma, but at least it was unique and got people talking.
I suppose it will take the place of the Camry Solara. I’m not sure why it has what appears to be a Chrysler grill (from a Sebring), but I’m not in the design business . . . . .
That is an Opel grill, and the photo is of an Opel Calibra. Look for the lightning bolt on the logo in the middle. Be sure that the Buick grill that replaces it will not look anywhere near as good. The Calibra name will likely not survive the Atlantic transit as well.
That’s not a Calibra; it’s a Cascada. And GM has announced that the Buick version will also be called the Cascada. I was hoping for another Riviera. Then again, the Riviera always was a large coupe (except for the 7th gen), and this isn’t….
Love me some 90s Calibra – way better than this.
The Riviera was a “personal coupe.” By today’s standards, is there a reason a car of this size wouldn’t fit that spec?
Personally, I hope the dealers push GM for the continuity of Riviera name. It’s a lot better than their futile pattern building up equity in another name that means nothing, no one’s ever heard of, and GM will abandon anyway if there’s a next generation.
Good going, GM. Name a convertible after the rainiest part of the country (Cascadia; aka Pacific NW)
This is much smaller than a Solara if this is based on the Delta II platform.
Toyota would be wise to bring a Solara back – given they are now not adverse to cranking out tens-of-thousands of Camrys a year to the rental lots, and the death of basically all the other front drive convertibles on the market, they could probably juice Camry sales another 60K units a year with a convertible Camry again (36K units a year to fleet, 24K units a year to retail)
Very sage advice to Toyota.
Looks aside (they’re subjective; I happen to find it inoffensive as the Verano, if a bit tall in haunch), if it does not suffer the usual ragtop problems of cowl shake, getting out of its own way, and protecting its occupants from wind and noise, I see a couple thousand of these selling per month.
Thanks to their family-friendly CUVs a more diverse (read: younger) array of people are entering Buick showrooms than ever before. Having a bit of variety in the cars won’t hurt.
Just don’t build too many of them. There’s a reason everything else in its class is dead: not a lot of people want them.
I think it’s very good-looking. But—especially when it’s going to be imported from Germany—why will it be 2016 before we see it? GM has known for a while that it was going to sell that car here, so I’m sure the engineers have already started federalizing it…
And it shall be named…Reatta!
Without Riviera you can’t have Reatta. What would they chop?
Riviera would be acceptable too, if not more so.
A “real” Riviera convertible?… Nah, needs a boattail
The only official Riviera convertible was made 1982-85, long past the boat-tail era. Besides, can you imagine the folding mechanism for a boat-tail? Less trunk space than the Pontiac G6 or Infiniti G37.
It may have been “official” but it was still a decapitated coupe made off site
They were the only Riv convertibles ever sold through Buick dealers and met GM “standards,” however deficient those may have been in the Roger Smith era.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t all the first “Eighties Renewal” U.S. convertibles — Riv, LeBaron, Mustang, Eldorado, etc. — made by authorized outfits like ASC, before the automakers tooled up to take them in-house?
Of that list, I do believe the LeBaron was designed in the 80s as convertible from the start, and I don’t think it was built then chopped.
“Riv convertibles ever sold through Buick dealers and met GM “standards,”
Yeah, and we know how high those were in the 80s
First year LeBarons were chopped, then Chrysler went in house after
Hardtop, AWD, 2.0T, 6M & 6DCT option, change the lightening bolt for a simple Tri-Shield…I would be interested.
Some hard-top cabriolets (IS-C, Q60 Convertible, SL) are good-looking. This wouldn’t be one of them. I think it’s a lot better with a soft-top.
Eh, why bother with a DCT. Even the best mainstream ones (GTI) still suffer at low speed, and a domestic DCT (Powershift) was not well received at all. Me thinks that a well programmed torque converter auto would be sufficient and probably better to live with.
But yes, 6M would be perfect in this car.
Hey where’s your article where you explain all your probs with your 6MT?
The issue is still not resolved. I want to present the issues and the resolution together.
Oh booo. Sorry, I thought it would have been well over by now.
Nope. Fixing noisy manual transmissions is VERY complicated…………
According to Wikipedia the Cascada weight 3,700 to 4,000 lbs. Could that possibly be right? Size wise it slots between the Cruze and the Malibu and both of them seem to be <3,300 lbs. And yes this is a near luxury car, but 700 lbs of luxury?
That 197hp 1.6L is going to be worked hard.
Paul
Agree, LeBaron. I think the styling is terrific, but it just doesn’t have enough engine.
I wouldn’t buy one of these undersized turbos in a larger car. Ford and GM ain’t Honda and Toyota. A decade from now, we’ll be seeing a lot of blown engines in more ways than one.
My guess (based on absolutely no concrete information) is that they will sell enough of these to make it worthwhile. 4-seat convertibles aren’t a huge market, but there are still enough people buying them to keep the Germans building them.
I don’t know what GM thinks is an acceptable number, but between rental companies and people who just simply want a convertible there are almost certainly enough to justify the cost. Especially now that Chrysler isn’t making them anymore.
And just like every other type of car out there: if you don’t like it, don’t buy one. I’ll always consider more variety a good thing, so if a company wants to build a convertible and sell it I’m happy to see that. The Murano convertible thing wasn’t something I would buy, but I’m glad to see Nissan made it. A Buick convertible is no more foolish to build than an E63 Wagon or an F350 King Ranch – there’s a market for it, so why not?
As for me, I love having a 4-seat convertible. And when it’s time to get rid of my current A4, it will be nice to have the option of another car with 4 seats and a soft top that isn’t a Mini.
A 4 seat convertible with front wheel drive would have been something I would have shopped when I got my wife’s Mazda6. We looked at the EOS but it was $12K more than the Mazda; at that point you’ve got to look at a second car for your top down motoring pleasure. It would be nice to only insure one car and not have an extra vehicle underfoot all of the time. When the Mazda is paid off, we would certainly consider the Buick. We shopped the G6 convertible in 2007, but needed the extra room and doors for kids.
The Cascada name will be fine. Cascada is Spanish for “waterfall”, not “rainiest part of the country”. I already checked with the California DMV website to order CASCADA license plates-they’re already taken.
The Casacada is currently built in Poland, not Germany.
The 1982-1985 Eldorado, Toronado and Riviera convertibles were custom built by Hess & Eisenhardt, which went out of business in the 1990s.
The Cascada needs the bigger engine and Buick will hopefully do that. I am certain they read our posts here.
There will be a special lease about four months after the initial production. $299 a month! Count me in!!