CARFAX Vehicle History Report

• The Buick Verano is all-new for 2012.
• The Verano is Buick's new compact luxury sedan, featuring upscale styling, responsive handling and progressive technologies, along with comfortable seating for five and a high level of standard equipment.
• The front-wheel drive Verano is available in three trim levels: Base, Convenience Group and Leather Group. It is powered by a 182-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with direct fuel injection, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with manual mode. Every Verano is outfitted with 18-inch aluminum wheels, dual-zone automatic climate control, Bluetooth wireless connectivity, satellite radio, USB port and Buick's new IntelliLink system, which allows smartphone integration and audio streaming through the vehicle's infotainment centre, controlled via a seven-inch LCD touch screen. The Convenience Group adds heated exterior mirrors, an auto-dimming interior rearview mirror, 6-way power driver's seat and rear parking assist, while the Leather Group is further equipped with heated front seats, leather upholstery, passive entry/start, upgraded audio and a heated steering wheel. Standard safety features include 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes with brake assist, electronic stability and traction control systems, OnStar and a tire pressure monitor, as well as ten airbags.
• The Verano is Buick's new compact luxury sedan, featuring upscale styling, progressive technologies, with comfortable seating for five and a high level of standard equipment.

The 2.4-liter Ecotec engine with direct injection and variable valve timing makes 180 horsepower and 172 pound-feet of torque, and that's enough for most situations.

The Verano finds that sweet spot between good cornering and comfortable ride, a benefit of its Z-link rear suspension. We found the handling crisp and responsive. It's notably smooth and exceptionally quiet. That's what Buicks have always been, and what they're supposed to be.

The interior is classy, with a rugged cloth upholstery in the base model and excellent leather especially in a rich brown. A new 6-speed automatic transmission reacts appropriately whether you're driving casually or hard on the gas. Cornering, transmission, suspension and engine, all aces. It totally pulls off the wedge look, with a short nose, steeply raked windshield, and good character lines. It will be an impressive car to drive around.

The Verano is a great looking car, with sleek stocky lines. Beautiful in black (Black Onyx), maybe better in chocolate (Mocha Bronze Metallic). Buick compares the new Buick Verano to the Lexus IS 250 and Audi A3, and you'll get no dubious looks from us. The center stack is powerful and graceful, bucket seats exceptional, and gauges beautiful. What's especially impressive about Verano is that it's a compact car. Interior shapes are smooth and the trim elegant, especially in satin bronze with brown leather. It's six inches longer than the Mazda3, and three inches longer than the Lexus IS 250. The brakes were firm, also. When you consider the Verano costs thousands less, it looks even better.

We were impressed with the sporty character of the Verano. There's a healthy warranty of 4 years and 50,000 miles.

Chrome trim around the window line.

Hooray! at last General Motors is paying attention to wheels. Air comes in through invisible black mesh (black or chocolate paint) under the bumper. It has chrome door handles rather than clean body-colored, but that might be expecting too much. They couldn't go on the side of the fender basically because it's too shapely, so now they're almost horizontal, showing better to tall people. Grilles are no longer grilles, they've turned into emblems.

The headlights are nice, clean, not overdone on the angularity. A dark color, like the elegant chocolate (Mocha Bronze Metallic), enhances the lines. Even the grille looks okay, unmistakably Buick, not scaled down much.

The long chrome eyebrows extending way past the taillights, a creative use of chrome, gives the rear end a face, a character, with those mean eyes. Beautiful in black. Except never mind again that it too is faux. Just solid black plastic, grooved and coated to make shiny silver vertical slats, not a single peek through to the radiator. That's what Buicks have always been, and what they're supposed to be. The rear fascia is clean, and doesn't detract, though one tester found it bland. What's especially impressive about Verano is that it's a compact car. In lighter shades, such as the pearlescent White Diamond Tricoat, it looks a bit dated from the rear. It will be an impressive car to drive around. The new aluminum wheels are graceful 10-spokes, either standard or upgrade.

The trademark portholes appear, never mind that they're not holes. Behind the short C pillar there's a small rear quarter-window, more visible from the inside than the outside, on account of being blacked out. It totally pulls off the wedge look, short-nosed but still sleek. It's a Buick, make no apologies. One small understated tailpipe. The Buick Verano is a great looking car, with especially great lines.

Don't count on a lot of torque at 3000 rpm.

The rear suspension uses an uncommon Z-link, to center the rear axle in turns and help the car achieve balance. Indeed, we found the response sluggish when merging from around a tight onramp into flying Jersey traffic. Redline is a screaming 6700 rpm. The Verano loved it all and so did we. We're pretty much blown away by the great cornering. The 2.4-liter Ecotec engine with direct injection and variable valve timing makes 180 horsepower and 171pound-feet of torque, and that's enough for lots of fun.

One engine, one transmission, and for this kind of money it's great stuff, especially as it delivers 27.5 miles per gallon with the kind of spirited driving we did. It never frustrated us with lack of acceleration, and impressed us with how smooth and quiet quiet quiet it was. We drove 250 miles over some great driving roads in the Tillamook Forest, just inland of the Oregon coast. But the power comes on good once at 4000 rpm and willingly pulls to 6000. It upshifts sharply at 6000 rpm and beyond.

Fun can't happen without the right transmission, and the new 6-speed automatic complements the package nicely, being smooth and intelligent. Bolted to a frame crossmember, the Z-link consists of a pivoting center link attached via joints at its ends, to links that go to the wheels. It works for us. We found a secret spot with 16 miles of relentless rhythmic curves (and no traffic!), and this Buick put a big smile on our face. The upward motion of the suspension was too sharp at times, however.

The tachometer and speedometer are gorgeous, elegant in ice blue and easy to read. Biggest street in town, North Springbrook, the nav wouldn't show us. It makes you learn its language, and if you're lucky you won't keep coming up against these things. More important, if you crash and set your airbag off, the OnStar operator will ask whether you're okay and will direct the rescue squad to your location if you don't respond. In fact the cloth is so rugged it's a bit coarse, and over long distances you might wish for leather. The center stack has good buttons and dials, no problem to manipulate or understand. The specs say 33.9 inches of rear-seat legroom, which is 2.3 inches less than the Mazda3 but 2.3 inches more than the Lexus IS 250.

OnStar is standard, so you can always press the OnStar button if you get lost and a real operator will offer to provide directions.

Rear legroom is scarce; a tall guy behind a tall guy won't work. The seats offer the kind of bolstering that the cornering ability (we'll get to that) demands.

The leather in the Verano Leather model looks real classy in brown, although it's not the richest leather we've ever felt, but what do you want for a $26,000 car that gives you so much else, including a Bose sound system? In the lighter shades it didn't look rich but it didn't look bad.

We didn't get a chance to test IntelliLink, but we got off on the wrong foot with the navigation system. All the shapes inside are right, especially the center stack with its powerful arc like a big wave, toward the dashboard. Digital info between them, easy to read but less easy to scroll through, on the left stalk with push-and-twist movements and access tricks like menus and stuff. There isn't anything old-man-like about them.

The cloth seats that come standard are rugged, nothing old-lady-like about them. Graceful grab handles come in a sweet satin bronze with the brown leather interior, so does trim on the doors and center stack; otherwise it's satin aluminum or wood. Not under 'springbrook,' not under 'north,' only under 'n springbrook,' third try, back to scratch each time. The back seats are good only for occasional use.

The interior of the base cloth Verano is as nice as the Leather one, for the most part.

The trunk is a decent 15.2 cubic feet in the lesser model with a space-saving spare, but only 14.0 cubic feet in the upper model with a full-size spare and the Bose sound system, two features we would want on our Verano. Nice armrests including center armrest that slides forward, but the door pockets might be bigger.

Sam Moses filed this report to NewCarTestDrive.com after his test drive near Portland, Oregon.