Great highway car. The Riviera we test-drove was a Series II 3.8 liter V6 with a supercharged engine. Suffice it to say, there was no shortage of power in this car. On the open road, it was very comfortable and quiet. Ray took it on a couple of long trips, and it was very sweet on the highway.
Unfortunately, it's a lousy car off the highway. This car was a complete
pain in the butt on secondary roads. The Riviera was all over the place. It
has that famed Buick "QEII" handling package--that is, it is very "sloshy,"
to use a technical term. Buick owners have loved and cherished this
quality for generations, and if you like it you‚ll feel right at home in
the Riviera. If it were us, though, we'd rather not have to worry about
owning a big car that's going to careen into the guardrail every time you
go around a curve. This car could definitely benefit from a much stiffer
suspension, but we're sure many of the prospective owners
like it just the way it is.
What about the looks of the new Riviera? Well, there's just one word we came up with to describe this car: suppository. Sorry if we offended you, but the fact of the matter is that this car looks like...a suppository. Why, consarn it, would Buick design a car to look like a suppository? The only rationale we came up with was that this car was designed for older folks. And, to be blunt, the designers at Buick probably realized that old folks would recognize the shape and feel comfortable around it. You got a better theory?
The Riviera is your classic old-style American coupe: much bigger on the outside than it is on the inside. All in all, it was an unimpressive car. If you like Buicks and classic old-style Buick handling, fine. This might be a car for you. But if you've come to appreciate more precise handling and a greater feel for the road, we'd pass on the Riviera.
One final note: two-door cars should be outlawed. Why? They're car wreckers. The door on the Riviera feels as though it‚s about 20 feet long. When you're getting out of the car in a parking lot, it's simply impossible not to ding the door on the car next to you. The design is absolutely ridiculous. If manufacturers are going to persist in making cars like this, we're going to insist that they set aside special parking spots for two-door cars.
View cars.com model report on this vehicle.
