Here's an article about the Buick Verano's seat R&D: http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/buick/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Oct/1018_verano
Here's an article where someone has driven it across a state and his back was just fine: http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/the-daily-drivers-buick-verano-is-quiet-in-a-good-way/1215611
It seriously just must be me. I really am sad about this. I want to love the car, but my body is just screaming "no!"
Friday, February 17, 2012
Buick Verano, a little over a week later...
New positives:
Some negatives:
Possible goodbye:
Unfortunately, the back pain is actually starting to become unbearable. The aches have become shooting pains. And whereas they would go away shortly after exiting the car and walking around, they're now sticking with me for hours. This is despite attempts at using a lumbar cushion and a bottom-seat ergonomic cushion. I sit while at home and work, and experience 0 pain. 5-10 minutes into driving this car now, the pain becomes...well...painful.
This is likely going to be a deal-breaker for me. Tomorrow I am going to look into possible service options to remedy this. But to be honest I think I just want to walk away. As such, I am also going to look at another car and, depending on how the numbers work out, I may be saying good bye to the Buick Verano.
Don't get me wrong. For its price and class, it really shines. I would definitely recommend this car to people (granted they aren't as seat-picky as me). But I bought this car for myself, to use as a commuter vehicle, and I since can't go 5-10 minutes in it without feeling like I've just been beat in the back with a bat, I think it has to go. As much as I like the car and want to love it, it just doesn't seem like it is going to work out.
It has been fun.
- If you adjust the windshield wiper speed faster and they aren't mid-swing, they will swing. This is perfect given that I usually know I need to adjust it faster when I'm approaching no-visibility. Also, adjusting the speed *down* doesn't cause them to wipe. Also perfect, since I generally do that when the windshield is drying up. Nice touch.
- Remotely starting the car does not turn off as soon as a door is opened. This is different than, say, Toyota's which actually shut off as soon as a handle is pulled. I prefer it. Keep in mind, you can't drive off until you sit in the car with the key and push the power button anyway - so the car is still safe.
- Average fuel economy has dropped from around 26-27 to 24.6 right now. Still better than my previous car which averaged 19.2.
- Heated seats and steering wheel heat up *fast*. My Infiniti took minutes upon minutes, especially on a cold day. These tend to heat up practically before I leave a parking lot.
- The way the doors shut. It's smooth and solid. I shouts stability and refinement, and I like it.
- The factory tinting to the windows is nice.
Some negatives:
- Navigation, Weather, Traffic, etc. cannot be operated unless the radio unit is turned ON. So the only way to use the touch-screen features (including access to any options) is to have the radio on. If you don't want it on, you have to turn the volume to 0 or press the mute button to continue operation. When the radio goes off, so do the touch-screen features.
- As previously mentioned, you also cannot dim the touchscreen independent from the other dash back-lighting. For me, the perfect nighttime touchscreen brightness is unfortunately at the same all the dash/meter back-lights go completely out. Not exactly ideal.
- The left/right blinker switch is too stiff. Maybe I am not used to GM vehicles in general (I come from Toyota, Mazda, Infiniti, MItsubishi) - but it takes quite a bit of force to click it on to signal.
- Voice commands related to navigation, weather, and traffic relate to and only work with OnStar. For example, if I say "traffic" I would expect to go to the XM Traffic menu, but infact, it dials up OnStar. If I say, "cancel route" while using the touchscreen navigation, it will say there is no route because it is expecting to cancel an OnStar Turn-by-Turn route. There is no way to configure these commands, thus, they are useless for my use case.
- Hardly any cup holders! Might not be a big deal for some, but there are only two for the front and two for the back (and only if the middle armrest is down).
- The "joystick" you think might be used to navigate menus is a useless addition. The reason being, you can't push it in to select things. It also doesn't let you navigate menus. In fact, the only thing I've figured out that it does is let you move around the crosshairs while viewing the map. Also, the dial surrounding it can be used to select things (versus pushing the joystick itself in), but it is recessed so pushing it in to select takes a little finesse while driving.
Possible goodbye:
Unfortunately, the back pain is actually starting to become unbearable. The aches have become shooting pains. And whereas they would go away shortly after exiting the car and walking around, they're now sticking with me for hours. This is despite attempts at using a lumbar cushion and a bottom-seat ergonomic cushion. I sit while at home and work, and experience 0 pain. 5-10 minutes into driving this car now, the pain becomes...well...painful.
This is likely going to be a deal-breaker for me. Tomorrow I am going to look into possible service options to remedy this. But to be honest I think I just want to walk away. As such, I am also going to look at another car and, depending on how the numbers work out, I may be saying good bye to the Buick Verano.
Don't get me wrong. For its price and class, it really shines. I would definitely recommend this car to people (granted they aren't as seat-picky as me). But I bought this car for myself, to use as a commuter vehicle, and I since can't go 5-10 minutes in it without feeling like I've just been beat in the back with a bat, I think it has to go. As much as I like the car and want to love it, it just doesn't seem like it is going to work out.
It has been fun.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Buick Verano - A few more things...
Seat is still terribly uncomfortable. Will probably end up using a towel or pillow until I can find a shop willing to pad the seat some more. Hopefully, future Verano models address this by adding up/down tilt to the rear part of the seat, as well as lumbar adjustment.
Auto-dimming rear view mirror is top notch! It is more sensitive and faster to change than my Infiniti G37x was. There were many times headlights were shining in my eyes and the Infiniti mirror didn't seem to do anything. Have yet to have that issue with the Verano's.
Tinted strip along the top of the windshield is a nice addition.
Car has a rough shift point around 21mph both when accelerating and when braking, nothing too bothersome.
Shortly after starting the car, as I'm driving away, I always hear a weird mechanical crumple. I'm not sure what it is - I assume something or other is engaging, but its definitely a really awkward sound. In other cars its barely audible, this almost sounds like I ran over a few aluminum cans. Every single time. I actually thought I accidentally hit something the first time I noticed it. Might mention it to service next time I'm in and get a better explanation.
I've dropped down to about 25.6mpg. Not complaining though.
Auto-dimming rear view mirror is top notch! It is more sensitive and faster to change than my Infiniti G37x was. There were many times headlights were shining in my eyes and the Infiniti mirror didn't seem to do anything. Have yet to have that issue with the Verano's.
Tinted strip along the top of the windshield is a nice addition.
Car has a rough shift point around 21mph both when accelerating and when braking, nothing too bothersome.
Shortly after starting the car, as I'm driving away, I always hear a weird mechanical crumple. I'm not sure what it is - I assume something or other is engaging, but its definitely a really awkward sound. In other cars its barely audible, this almost sounds like I ran over a few aluminum cans. Every single time. I actually thought I accidentally hit something the first time I noticed it. Might mention it to service next time I'm in and get a better explanation.
I've dropped down to about 25.6mpg. Not complaining though.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
2012 Buick Verano - Day Three
Climate control only let's you adjust in increments of 2. Or, even numbers. This may be an issue for some, but I love it because I have a weird aversion to odd numbers.
Still not liking the fit/angle of the seat. May need to go the DIY route and fix it with a towel or something. Perhaps look into aftermarket covers or modifications that add padding. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
Seems to be a weird rpm blip around 21mph when downshifting while braking (meaning you're slowing down faster than maybe it expects). Not a big deal, may give tip-shift a try and see if I can narrow it down.
Blind spot of A-pillar bothering me less.
Still averaging about 26mpg!
Still not liking the fit/angle of the seat. May need to go the DIY route and fix it with a towel or something. Perhaps look into aftermarket covers or modifications that add padding. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
Seems to be a weird rpm blip around 21mph when downshifting while braking (meaning you're slowing down faster than maybe it expects). Not a big deal, may give tip-shift a try and see if I can narrow it down.
Blind spot of A-pillar bothering me less.
Still averaging about 26mpg!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
2012 Buick Verano First Impressions
I have owned a new 2012 Buick Verano for about 2 days now and I'd like to share first impressions. However, I'm sure I will have more to add or change as time goes on.
First off, I am coming from a 2011 Infiniti G37x AWD Sedan with Premium/Navigation packages. What I was looking for in my next car was to lower my overall debt and monthly payment without sacrificing too much in the way of features. As I commute roughly 50 miles or more a day, bonuses would be an increase in gas mileage and ride quality.
I also wanted to get away from Infiniti's god-awful 7AT transmission which has been noted by numerous reviewers as well as Infiniti themselves in a public statement. It tries to mesh luxury journey shift timings with high-performance sport timings, and fails miserably. You're in 4th at 35mph, so stop-and-go traffic and city cruising are non-stop lurches and shifts. At around 23mph, the car does some weird things where it engine brakes when you hit the gas or lags for a little over a full second and does nothing. Really awkward when accelerating out of corners or in stop-and-go traffic. I had it serviced for the above 3 times and wrote a letter to Infiniti corporate, the response was always something akin to "it is what it is" and "that's just how the 7AT works". Keep in mind that a high-gear transmission doesn't have to suck - Chrysler has an 8AT with a 9AT on the way, and its smooth as butter. A web search for Infiniti 7AT issues will yield multiple forums with hundreds and hundreds of posts with users complaining of the same thing. It isn't just me.
I paid around $41,000 for my fully equipped G37x brand new pretty much when they first came out. Not the best deal, but I was rolling some negative equity which offset any savings on the car's actual price. My credit was not the greatest at the time and I was financed for 72 months at 5.49% to net a payment of about $670/month. I was also paying roughly $60/week in Premium gas and getting an average 19.2mpg mixed city/hwy. Range was roughly 360 miles on a 20 gallon tank.
Features I really wanted to keep:
Other cars I considered and why I didn't go with them:
Now, the 2012 Buick Verano. New model for the 2012 model year for Buick.
What I got: Fully-loaded 2012 Buick Verano with a Diamond White Tricoat exterior and Coccachino 2-tone interior.
What I like:
And there we have it so far. I will report more as time goes on.
First off, I am coming from a 2011 Infiniti G37x AWD Sedan with Premium/Navigation packages. What I was looking for in my next car was to lower my overall debt and monthly payment without sacrificing too much in the way of features. As I commute roughly 50 miles or more a day, bonuses would be an increase in gas mileage and ride quality.
I also wanted to get away from Infiniti's god-awful 7AT transmission which has been noted by numerous reviewers as well as Infiniti themselves in a public statement. It tries to mesh luxury journey shift timings with high-performance sport timings, and fails miserably. You're in 4th at 35mph, so stop-and-go traffic and city cruising are non-stop lurches and shifts. At around 23mph, the car does some weird things where it engine brakes when you hit the gas or lags for a little over a full second and does nothing. Really awkward when accelerating out of corners or in stop-and-go traffic. I had it serviced for the above 3 times and wrote a letter to Infiniti corporate, the response was always something akin to "it is what it is" and "that's just how the 7AT works". Keep in mind that a high-gear transmission doesn't have to suck - Chrysler has an 8AT with a 9AT on the way, and its smooth as butter. A web search for Infiniti 7AT issues will yield multiple forums with hundreds and hundreds of posts with users complaining of the same thing. It isn't just me.
I paid around $41,000 for my fully equipped G37x brand new pretty much when they first came out. Not the best deal, but I was rolling some negative equity which offset any savings on the car's actual price. My credit was not the greatest at the time and I was financed for 72 months at 5.49% to net a payment of about $670/month. I was also paying roughly $60/week in Premium gas and getting an average 19.2mpg mixed city/hwy. Range was roughly 360 miles on a 20 gallon tank.
Features I really wanted to keep:
- Heated seats
- Leather seats
- Turn by turn navigation
- Dual climate control
- Good sound system
Other cars I considered and why I didn't go with them:
- Lexus IS250 AWD
- What I liked:
- Ventilated seats!
- Turning circle of 34.8 ft. Better than the roughly 36 ft of my G37x.
- Lexus brand reputation which thus far in my experience has been a reputation of reliability and stability.
- What I disliked:
- Price. For safety and handling, and not sportiness, I would have wanted either FWD or AWD. In general, I dislike FWD, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. The Lexus IS line does not offer a FWD model, thus I only felt comfortable with AWD and going with AWD and the features I wanted I was already north of $42,000.
- The size of the left/right control parts of the steering wheel. Because of how I sometimes hold the steering wheel, I like to curl my index/middle finger and thumb around that part. However, the Lexus is fat in that area and it was uncomfortable to do that.
- 22mpg combined fuel economy.
- Lexus reliability was lower than Buick/Jaguar. What? Yes. I learned that Buick and even Jaguar in a lot of reliability ratings scored higher than Lexus over the last couple of years. I am still unsure what I think about this, honestly, but it was definitely interesting to hear.
- Infiniti G25x AWD
- What I liked:
- Pretty much the exact same car if I wanted it to be.
- What I disliked:
- Little to no gain in gas mileage (only 1mpg more). In loaner G25x's I'd driven, I was getting a combined 20.4mpg.
- Price approaching $40,000.
- Infiniti's god-awful 7AT transmission.
- 2012 Camry Hybrid XLE
- What I liked:
- Better road noise and wind noise versus prior Camry's.
- Technology dream, it made driving a fun game.
- Amazing fuel economy. I got a combined 38mpg in my test drive. Reviewers have noted getting as much as 48mpg.
- Price fully-equipped ~$33,500 with discounts dealers were willing to give me.
- Blind-spot monitor.
- What I disliked:
- Sound system was just mediocre.
- Premium navigation is impossible to find (then again, so is a fully equipped Verano, right now).
- Wheel well road noise was weird. Ride was generally pleasant, but when I would drive over water or a puddle I could hear it splashing as if my window was rolled down. It was odd.
- 2012 Kia Optima SX Turbo
- What I liked:
- Feature rich. Everything I wanted and more.
- Fully-equipped with dealer discounts and manufacturer rebates, I could get it fully-equipped for around $30,000.
- Gas mileage was nice, despite very little sacrifice in Horsepower/Torque.
- Styling. I really like the new Kia.
- What I disliked:
- Steering wheel was plastic and super slippery. On the test drive, I messed up a couple turns because it flat out slipped out of my hands.
- Head room is oddly off. I'm short, 5'4, and my head hit the ceiling if I was sitting up extra straight while parallel parking or something. I felt cramped in the driver seat despite my tiny stature.
- Brakes felt like stepping on a balloon. Way too squishy. I had a few super sudden stops on the test drive because I couldn't for the life of me gauge the brake feedback, and had to slam them to avoid slamming the car in front of me.
- Learning Kia is owned by the same company as Hyundai. I have a visceral dislike of Hyundai. It's probably entirely unfounded, but every recent-year Hyundai I've driven has been a bad experience and every Hyundai dealer I've dealt with has been blatantly unprofessional.
- Other cars in similar class: Probably not even given a thorough consideration due to dislike of brand or overall car styling. More than happy to provide feedback on a particular Make/Model if someone asks.
Now, the 2012 Buick Verano. New model for the 2012 model year for Buick.
What I got: Fully-loaded 2012 Buick Verano with a Diamond White Tricoat exterior and Coccachino 2-tone interior.
What I like:
- Price. Fully equipped I was looking at about $30,000 MSRP.
- Requires only regular gas, instead of Premium like the G37x.
- Range better than the G37x on only a 15.6 gallon tank (versus 20 gallons). Not bad!
- Styling (except for one piece), not too shabby. Hood scoop things are a little cheesy.
- Brakes seemed to provide feedback on-par with my Infiniti and leagues ahead of the Kia Optima. Other reviewers have mentioned the brakes feel mushy, but at least for the two Verano's I've driven I have not noticed this at all.
- 15.6 cu-ft trunk space. Up from 13.5 cu-ft. I can fit my golf clubs and then some quite easily.
- 18" factory Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires with the packages I chose. Up from the Eagle RSA 17's on my Infiniti which looked too small and offered a terrible ride (again, any forum search will yield how much people hate those tires), the Buick's fit the car nicely and offer a nice blend of grip and quiet ride.
- Ride quality. So quiet. So smooth (except for speeding over speed bumps...). Granted, I'm coming from a car meant to offer sporty performance.
- Let me elaborate on this a little. It's not just the pure decibel rating of the noise or the "quietness" of the noise that sets the Verano apart. Because, you can still hear things. What's interesting, but hard for me to explain, is that the noise you hear is easy to ignore. It's...muffled, but not gone. Audible, but not always quiet. But seems to only ever be in a frequency range that you just easily drown out, ignore, or don't care about. It's like they took the jarring highs and lows and compressed them down to a low quality MP3, then played it back under water.
- Auxiliary port. For some reason most cars these days that offer Bluetooth and/or USB connectivity, disregard the auxiliary port entirely. The Buick doesn't. Good.
- Gas mileage. So far I am getting a combined 26mpg up from 19.2mpg. Not too shabby.
- Remote start via keyfob up to 200ft away or cellphone even farther. Very cool.
- Bose sound system seems to be on-par with the sound system I had in the Infiniti. With the addition of a Mid-range tone adjustment.
- The chrome-ish things that extend out PAST the tail lights and onto the trunk. They look weird. Also, the trunk doesn't really shut or sit perfectly (depending on the weather I guess, because of the padding inside). Thus, where the chrome piece goes from the left/right rear of the car and out over the trunk doesn't always line up perfectly. And it is noticeable (to me).
- No brightness adjustment for the screen independent from the interior lighting. The screen is the right brightness to me when at its lowest setting. But at its lowest setting, the backlights for the console keys go off completely and then I can't see those.
- Due to my short stature, if I sit comfortably, I can't use the center console storage as an arm-rest because it is too far behind me. Darn.
- You can't adjust when the heated seats/steering wheel turn on via remote start. It appears to only be sub 45F degree temperatures, when I would probably prefer to set it at sub-60. Personal preference.
- Noise from the trunk area of the car seems louder than the rest of the car. I may look into Dynamat-ing it to see if it reduces that. It isn't bad by any means, but seems oddly inconsistent with the sound-dampening of the rest of the car.
- No lumbar adjustment. This is actually killing me. After a 70 mile drive yesterday my lower back hurt like crazy. I'm going to experiment with height/angle/steering wheel adjustments and see if I can lessen or eliminate this without needing to go buy something like a pillow to keep in the car.
- The left A-pillar is an incredibly terrible blind spot. It's thick, large, and always in your face. I find myself leaning left and leaning forward and to the right to constantly look around it. It seems for most of the places I go, it is in the perfectly wrong spot to block exactly the things or places I need to see. Aside from the non-existence of a lumbar adjustment, this is probably my biggest gripe with the car.
- No back-up camera. This seems like it would have been an easy thing to add and would not have cost *that* much extra. It is one of the bigger things I miss from the Infiniti. I am going to look into possible aftermarket solutions (anyone have recommendations?)
And there we have it so far. I will report more as time goes on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)