Cascada Sport Touring — It’s not your typical Buick
With spring just around the corner, you may be entertaining visions of being at the wheel of a snazzy convertible. After all, there’s nothing like top-down motoring to lift the spirits and feel at one with the world around you — unless you’re boxed in by semis.
The Cascada is the latest move by Buick to eliminate stereotypes about its cars. In the market a year, the 2016 Cascada was Buick’s first convertible in a quarter century. But with seating for four, motivation from a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder and onboard WiFi, about the only touch points the Cascada (“waterfall” in Spanish) shares with Buick’s last open-air car, the 1991 Reatta two-seater, are cloth tops and front-wheel-drive.
Buick claims six out of 10 Cascada retail buyers have come from outside the brand, including GM’s other divisions.
Europeans got their hands on the Cascada first. Opel, a General Motors subsidiary based in Germany, launched the Cascada in 2013. It’s based on GM’s global compact vehicle architecture. While the Buick is limited to the 1.6-liter four- and six-speed automatic transmission, Europeans have a six-speed manual and two additional four-bangers, a 1.4-liter gas and a 2.0-liter diesel.
Designers and engineers did a slick job keeping the cloth top and its retracting hardware flush with the belt line — the eye sweeps across the car with no interruption. Stowed under a hard tonneau cover, the triple-layered soft top can be stowed at speeds up to 31 mph; the entire process taking 17 seconds and one touch of a button.
There’s more going on under the Cascada’s sheet metal. In addition to the usual extra bracing a convertible needs for rigidity, the Cascada has a bulkhead behind the rear seats that houses pop-up roll bars if the airbag system detects a rollover.
Practicality doesn’t take a complete back seat. For a convertible, there’s decent cargo space: 13.4 cu. ft. with the top up. Lowering the top knocks that down to 9.8 cu. ft. You also can take advantage of a pass-through from the trunk to the cabin and the 50/50-split rear seats fold down. It’s also a breeze to drop the top and stash stuff on the back seats.
The Cascada comes in three flavors for 2017. The base version starts at $33,065 and includes standard 10-way power driver and passenger sport seats covered with perforated leather, rear parking sensor system, 20-inch wheels, articulated HID headlights with auto-leveling and on/off, rear camera and heated outside mirrors.
Inside you’ll find a three-spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, 7-inch color touchscreen, dual-zone climate control, built in WiFi hotspot that uses your smartphone and data plan, five years of basic OnStar and SiriusXM satellite radio. The MyBuick app can be used to lock, unlock or remotely start the Cascada.
To ease access to the rear seats, the driver and front passenger seats move forward when their seat backs are released and flipped forward. They move back to their previous locations when the seats are returned to their normal positions.
The premium grade ($36,065) adds navigation, forward collision alert and lane departure warning, fog lamps, double-spoke wheels, rain-sensing wipers, front park assist, fog lamps and air deflectors behind the seats to reduce wind noise.
The new king of the hill is the Sport Touring. Stickering at $37,065, the Cascada ST is offered in one of just two eye-popping (and exclusive) colors, “True Blue Metallic” or “Sport Red.” The Sport Touring has all the premium’s features but adds a leather-wrapped, three-spoke, flat-bottomed steering wheel, alloy pedals and 20-inch aluminum wheels.
The latter is part of Cascada’s new “Dark Effects” package that’s just starting to arrive in showrooms. The new livery isn’t for those who prefer to do their cruising under the radar. The red Sport Touring also features a gloss-black grille, mirror caps and 20-inch wheels. Red stitching adds a splash of contrast to the instrument panel, doors and seats. “Going red” is a no-cost option and Buick said it’ll only produce a batch of 150.
Priced a hair about $33,000 before negotiations, the Cascada is a stylish, reasonably priced way for four to enjoy open-air motoring in the country or at the seashore. Come rain or shine, the Cascada delivers easy, one-touch operation of its soft top and plenty of convenient, upscale features. But at 2 tons (with driver) and modest power, just don’t expect blistering acceleration.
The Cascada’s forte is cruising, so just crank up that music playlist and enjoy the drive.