Let me start out by admitting to a slight anti-GM bias in recent years...since about, say, 1975. So imagine my surprise when I drove this comfortable, good-handling little Buick. Yes, I did say "good-handling." The GS is the Gran Sport package that's available to upgrade the suspension on several of Buick's cars. And it turned this Skylark into quite a pleasant little putt-putt. The GM four-speed automatic transmission was as smooth as silk, the six-cylinder engine was far more than adequate, the seats were squishy soft--which isn't a bad thing in a little car--and the handling was surprisingly flat and precise. My conclusion: Surprisingly not bad!

Now, the downside. First of all, it's ugly as all get-out. This car first came out in the era when GM was still smarting from Taurus' success and was trying to copy it by coming out with their own weird designs. I mean, to each his own, but you can put a bag over this one's head. The other downside is the price: This is Buick's smallest car, and as tested--all duded up--the price tag of the Gran Sport came to well over $18,000. That's a lot for an economy car, even a pretty comfortable, powerful, decent-handling economy car like the Skylark. But if you're one of those people who really like the squishy, pampered comfort of big, old GM cars but for some reason need or want a small car, this is definitely worth a test drive.

View cars.com model report on this vehicle.

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