Repair-It

Truth be told, this unassuming compact based on the Chevrolet Cruze platform hardly seemed like the impetus for an epic journey. Worse yet, its cheaper price and compact dimensions would struggle to deliver the qualities you look for on a road trip, while its Buick-ness would make for a depressing time on the winding roads up north.

As it turned out, none of that was true. The 2013 Buick Verano Turbo was the perfect car for the trip.

No such worry with the manual. We weren't forced to laze along in 6th gear, yet the Verano still achieved a superb 29.5 mpg on our 1,500-mile journey. The EPA estimates are 20 city/31 highway mpg and 24 mpg combined, so we consider the 29.5 number pretty strong given the hilly Northern California terrain.

Let's not forget about the engine, though. It has a lovely, linear midrange that sufficiently plants you in your seat and eliminates some of the need to downshift — regardless of transmission. At the test track, our 2013 Buick Verano Turbo went from zero to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds (6.4 with a 1-foot rollout as on a drag strip), which is only 0.3 second off the pace of the rear-drive ATS.

It's much quicker than other entry-level luxury cars, including the Acura TSX, Volkswagen CC, Volvo S60 and even the Mercedes-Benz C250. The similarly priced and equipped Acura ILX isn't even close.

But what about all that comfort and quiet stuff from earlier? Well, it didn't take long for this little Buick to defy expectations on the impossibly noisy concrete stretches of I-5. In short, the Verano's a tomb. Nothing with its compact dimensions is this quiet, and its decibel levels compare favorably to much pricier, honest-to-goodness luxury sedans.

Ride comfort is indeed another bright spot, and we're not talking about a floating high-seas adventure like Aunt Esther's Park Avenue. The Verano strikes an excellent balance between comfort and composure. It feels solid and perfectly damped, and it's once again hard not to think we're back in Europe again.

This isn't just a Cruze with some leather, as some have assumed. On the contrary, the Verano feels very much like the equally surprising Buick LaCrosse, a car that easily bested the previous-generation Lexus ES 350 in a comparison test.

In the terrifically twisty northernmost stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway, the Verano Turbo displayed an agility that you certainly won't be getting from the LaCrosse or any other full-size sedan. As it sliced among the redwoods, initial turn-in was very good, while the electric power steering demonstrated appropriate weighting and a decent amount of feel. Not quite enough to be deemed invigorating (the long-throw shifter and numb throttle feel don't help, either), but the handling can be described as impressively competent.

When we returned from the redwoods, our handling tests backed up these real-world impressions. The 2013 Buick Verano Turbo pulled 0.83g around the skid pad and snaked through the slalom at 65.7 mph. That's roughly identical to that of the Acura ILX 2.4 Premium, although the Verano's 60-0 mph stop of 125 feet was a good 5 feet shorter.

Still, there's not much else that's missing from this $31,110 near-luxury sedan. Every Verano Turbo is a Premium trim level and vice-versa, which either way you look at it is the most expensive and loaded model available. With it you get heated leather seats, a heated steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, keyless ignition/entry, a rearview camera, a blind-spot-warning system, Bluetooth phone and audio, a Bose sound system and Buick's Intellilink configurable touchscreen interface.

Our test car also included the excellent navigation system that was easy to program and scan on the fly thanks to its redundant touchscreen and multipurpose knob controls. It didn't have the optional sunroof and we never missed it.

I picked up a used Verano Turbo 6-speed with 6,000 miles. Just finished up a week and 1,600 miles and there is really not much to complain about. Handling turn-in is crisp enough to drive around road debris and wayward travlers veering into your lane. We traveled the speed limit and with AC on in 85F temperatures were seeing almost 40 mpg averaging 60 mph on the trip computer. Can't beat that economy while driving, "Fast with Class". The refinement in low speed driving is absolutely the best. It's so quiet and the ride quality and noise is almost none existent. Very impressive for a small car.

The 2013 Buick Verano Turbo spent more than a year in our fleet, or 17,294 miles of daily commuting, transporting staff to photo shoots and events, and highway trekking on countless road trips. In that time, the compact sedan has been relatively trouble-free, with visits to the dealer only needed for regular scheduled maintenance. In spite of being a reliable set of wheels, the Verano Turbo wasn’t loved by all on our staff. Below are our final thoughts on Buick‘s small sedan.

Overall, I think the Verano Turbo with the automatic will suit its target audience of sub-luxury compact shoppers just fine, but the tri-shield brand should either offer a manual people will want to drive or drop it completely.

While the Verano’s cabin was eerily silent and its ride velvety smooth, the tradeoff of a fussy clutch, shifter, and annoying infotainment system isn’t enough for me to care about it, let alone buy one.

I really want to like this car more than I do. Really, I tried. The Verano has a lot going for it. I’m a big fan of its engine, for example. When it’s in its powerband the turbo-4 pulls sweetly, and strongly. It truly is a punchy little engine, and I’d just love to see what GM could do with this sweetheart of an engine in a proper hot hatch. I also really appreciate the Verano’s soft, cushy ride. No, it isn’t particularly inspiring, but sometimes all you want is to be swaddled in entry-lux refinement. The Verano also gets high marks from me on how dead-quiet it is inside – unlike many compacts, the Verano Turbo really makes a great road trip car.

The Verano was designed for millennials, and yet there’s not one thing about it that shows to me that Buick knows what millennials want. Putting in an infotainment system, nice engine, and pricing it around $30,000 is just going through the motions. True, I’m a millennial, but being an enthusiast, I’m not Buick’s target market. But even showing the Verano off to both car and non-car guys/girls in my group of friends (admittedly a small sample size) resulted in shrugs of indifference towards the Verano – with a few even noticing bits of Chevrolet Cruze parts in the interior.

Even after a year, I still don’t understand why the Buick Verano Turbo is available with a six-speed manual transmission. It’s not a sports sedan and the manual doesn’t increase the car’s sportiness nor does it do much for its fuel economy. The clutch engagement is vague, the shifter is less than precise, and the push-button start blends in with the center stack that has way too many buttons and a touch screen that is too far away to reach. The front seats are flat and wide and despite a power driver’s seat, I never found a truly comfortable seating position, while the rear seats were cramped even when the car was filled with four sub six-foot tall adults.

While there were plenty of complaints, there were also some good points. The turbo 2.0-liter I-4 served up plenty of midrange torque to climb steep mountain passes and the Luxo Blue Metallic paint was pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, every time I drove the Verano, I saw at least two Chevrolet Cruze models in a similar hue. With a similar color available on a pedestrian model of about the same size, it takes away from the exclusivity that should come with driving a premium model.

The Verano Turbo returned impressive fuel mileage averaging 29.8 mpg over an 1800-mile road trip that included a net elevation change of 4500 feet and mountain passes of nearly 7000 feet (the highest observed mileage was 32 mpg and the lowest observed mileage was 28.1 mpg). The Verano Turbo is EPA rated 20/31/24 mpg city/highway/combined.

Overall, the Verano’s gripes outweighed its virtues. The driving experience is less than engaging and the interior ergonomics are frustrating even after five days and nearly 2000 miles behind the wheel. For its $30,785 price tag, there are better cars to be had in its price range, size, and luxury quotient.

That said, the engine is fantastic. Strong with a smooth power delivery, the turbo four never felt underpowered.