Opel Cascada is Europe's Buick convertible
Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/opel-...photo-5367178/
As we reported earlier, there has been much speculation regarding a Buick convertible of sorts. The most ringing endorsement of this conjecture comes today from General Motors Europe, as the new Opel Cascada has debuted on the interwebs. Opel calls the four-passenger Cascada an "athletic, glamorous midsize convertible." With a length of 4,697mm (185 in.), the Cascada is as long as an Audi A5, to which GM has said it would be slightly larger.
The Cascada, which is Spanish for waterfall, features a cloth convertible top that retracts in 17 seconds and at speeds up to 50 km/h (31 mph). The Cascada features a 1.4-liter turbo gas engine, 2.0-liter turbodiesel with 165 horsepower and a range-topping 1.6-liter turbocharged Ecotec engine that puts out 170 horsepower and 280 Nm (207 lb-ft). Power is sent through either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.
According to GM, the Cascada will also come rife with luxury and tech features. In addition to adaptive forward lighting and ergonomic heated front seats, the convertible will feature Opel Eye, which is a front camera that can recognize traffic signs and incorporates lane departure warning and forward collision alert.
Given GM's propensity for re-badging Opels as Buicks, it's not far out of the realm of possibility that we could see this vehicle Stateside wearing a Buick badge. Though the Cascada's design takes some cues from the Insignia sedan, which we know in the US as the Regal, the platform on which it rides is shared by the Verano, so what it would be called in North America is anyone's guess. How about Velite?
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/17/o...tible-w-video/
This looks 1000000x better than the VW Eos. It's only a matter of time before Buick starts getting coupes and verts again now that the sedan's have bowed.
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Personally I think those retractable hardtops look goofy on 4 seat convertibles since they have to be made out of three pieces. From a design standpoint, they work great on 2 seat convertibles like the SL Benz because they can make the roof out of two pieces and its easy to intergrate the seam where the rear glass/roof meet.Originally Posted by grabber2
no hard top?
A NICE, insulated, multilayer fabric top with a glass rear window really makes you second guess that you're in a convertible on a cold morning, they're a lot quieter and warmer than you'd think.
It looks great.
Surely will bring a younger market to the brand. May not be sporty, but it will attract a different clientele than current Buick shoppers.
Surely will bring a younger market to the brand. May not be sporty, but it will attract a different clientele than current Buick shoppers.
Lexus Champion
Just looking at the press photo with the driver in it, you can see that this car is quite MASSIVE. Damn.
If it has a real backseat, this will likely be my wife's next car. When we last went shopping, she was beyond disappointed that the Solara Convertible was gone, and we settled on the RX350. She wants to get back in a droptop, but it has to legitimately seat four.
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check out the gallery. It doesn't look overly large but definitely better than a SC430Originally Posted by geko29
If it has a real backseat, this will likely be my wife's next car. When we last went shopping, she was beyond disappointed that the Solara Convertible was gone, and we settled on the RX350. She wants to get back in a droptop, but it has to legitimately seat four.
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That's not saying much, since the SC430 has pretty much the worst backseat of any car in automotive history. I'd rather sit in the back of a Corvette. Originally Posted by Hoovey2411
check out the gallery. It doesn't look overly large but definitely better than a SC430
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You can't always go by Internet photos, though.......sometimes they are misleading. The article already says that this drop-top is going to be based on the Verano platform...which, of course, is shared with the Chevy Cruze and Opel/Vauxhall Astra. If that is the case, you can forget back-seat room for adults....even the sedans are very tight in back, and convertible rear seats, of course, usually have even less room, to allow for the top-folding mechanism.Originally Posted by geko29
If it has a real backseat, this will likely be my wife's next car. When we last went shopping, she was beyond disappointed that the Solara Convertible was gone, and we settled on the RX350. She wants to get back in a droptop, but it has to legitimately seat four.
If you want drop-top room for four normal-sized adults at a reasonable price, I'd suggest looking first at the Chrysler 200 convertible......essentially the grandson of the old Chrysler Lebaron convertibles of the 80s and 90s. Those older Chrysler convertibles, IMO, were poorly-built and had rubber-band-like structural integrity/cowl-shake, but the new 200 has shown notable improvement in several areas, especially overall fit/finish, drivetrain refinement, and interior quality (though I haven't actually reviewed one). Chrysler has a long-standing reputation for selling reasonably-roomy 4-seat convertibles at reasonable prices (the 200 droptop starts at only 27K)....though I'd consider an extended warranty if I was going to keep it a long time. The new 200 convertible also has a retracting hard-top instead of the fabric used long ago.
http://www.chrysler.com/en/2013/200-...tible/landing/
More likely, it would go to China first as a Buick re-badge before it came here to the U.S....for two reasons. First, the Chinese go Ga-Ga over anything with the Tri-Shield badge on it, and second, because here in the U.S., Buicks, as with some Lexus products, are associated with hush-hush ride-quietness. Even with a retracting, well-insulated hardtop, it is obviously harder to get those low noise levels than with a permanent fixed hardtop. On the Verano, for example, Buick uses five layers of sound-insulation blankets in the roof alone, along with a double-layer firewall and triple-insulated doors....impractical on a convertible.
