(Note: This is the first of five parts; all were taken on the road trip editor Jim Klein and I made to Indianapolis, then adding JPCavanaugh to our steed for a trip to Detroit for the CC Meetup in June 2017)
How often does anyone see a Buick Cascada? With merely 315 being produced in November 2017, might the Buick be more rare than the Maserati? For perspective, Maserati churns out 35 cars per day.
Another tidbit to think about – for finding this in the St. Louis area, the Italian produced Maserati was closer to its birthplace than was the Polish built Buick. As Jim pondered, will a pair like this ever be seen again?
Wow. This is the first I’m hearing about the Buick Cascada. Great find!
Breaking News: Another Opel Fails In US Market.
I actually had some high hopes for this one, but GM seems to have muffed it. It seems to me that there has been a gigantic hole in the US market for a four place boulevard cruiser convertible ever since the Chrysler Sebring bit the bullet. But this Opel from 2012 seems to be not that car.
Even with about zero competition for the market, the Buick seems to have fallen flat. A boulevard cruiser with a turbo 4 is never going to make it here if that is the only engine choice. This car just screams for a nice torquey V6. But perhaps CAFE is doing its dirty work on us again. Every review I have read has been quite not-keen on the car. I am disappointed because I really wanted to like this.
I see the point. For years, since they stopped importing ‘real’ Opels, car critics claimed “If GM brought back Opels, they’d be huge hits”.
Hmm, Catera, Astra, Captiva Sport …
Captiva Sport as in Chevrolet Captiva Sport? That’s a Daewoo.
But don’t you worry guys, the Regal will be the last. The latest Opel models are already riding on PSA platforms.
The Captiva is a Daewoo. The U.S.-market Captiva Sport was a rebadged Opel Antara and was previously sold as the second-gen Saturn Vue.
Opel Antara, German Wikipedia site:
“Es handelt sich dabei um ein nur bedingt geländetaugliches Sports Utility Vehicle, das zusammen mit dem Chevrolet Captiva bei GM Korea (vormals Daewoo) in Südkorea gefertigt wurde. Das Fahrzeug wurde auch in Schuschary, einem Vorort von Sankt Petersburg, produziert.”
Translation in short: An SUV, built alongside the Captiva by GM Korea, formerly known as Daewoo. Also built nearby Saint Petersburg (Russia).
I think the Captiva Sport is the two-row that we got in the US as the Saturn and the Captiva is the three-row version with a longer wheelbase such as one I rented in Iceland a few years ago. Same basic vehicle.
The Captiva is a Daewoo. The U.S.-market Captiva Sport was a rebadged Opel Antara and was previously sold as the second-gen Saturn Vue.
Yup. Near as I can piece together, GM Korea had been exporting Captivas to Mexico for some time. When GM closed Spring Hill, where the old Vue and Ion were built, in 07, they started producing Captivas at Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, for the Mexican market, and stuck a Saturn badge on some of them for the US. When Saturn went toes up, they kept building Captivas for Latin America, and shoved some across the border starting in 2012 so Chevy US would have something cheap to sell for the fleet market.
Forgot the biggest Opel rooted flop of all, the Saturn L Series!
Well, regarding the Astra, I don’t recall seeing any advertising for it at all during the time it was on the market. I only became aware of it because I happened to look at Saturn’s web site at some point in 2008 and saw it listed there. Personally I thought it was an improvement over the Ion it replaced (not that that’s saying much). I would have considered one to replace the first gen SL I had at the time, except by the time I was in the market for a new car Saturn and the Astra were no more.
Well, regarding the Astra, I don’t recall seeing any advertising for it at all during the time it was on the market.
I don’t recall seeing Astra TV ads either. I was aware of them because I saw them at the Detroit auto show. You get the sense that GM was phoning it in as they brought it with a 1.8L, which made it rather slow. The Aussies could get an Astra H with a 2.2. Looking over the reviews on Edmunds, seems the few who bought them loved them. By my math, Saturn sold about 20,000 before turning out the lights.
I had considered a used Astra as a beater, so was checking parts availability. Parts support from GM seemed to be very good, until 2017. I don’t know if it was a matter of inventory no longer turning enough to bother with, or the sale of Opel, but parts for these barely 10 year old cars are rapidly transmuting into unobtanium. Parts that are now unavailable from GM: front struts, front springs, sway bar links, CV joints, front brake calipers, front and rear brake lines, heater cores, horns, radiator supports, and forget about getting almost all the body parts and trim. I would not look at a Cascada or a new Regal as a long term proposition as, with their low volumes, their parts will probably disappear in a few years too.
I found a US Astra ad on youtube. Listening to the voice-over, I hear “this car is really dull”. The message must have gotten through. From pulling up Carfax reports on scores of Astras, seems most of them were imported to the US between January and March of 08, and it took until the lights went out at Saturn in 09 to unload them. Canada officially got an 09 Astra, but even the US Saturn web site only showed 08s, right until the end.
IIRC the Astra had the worst possible timing at that. They held off on them for almost the whole $4-a-gallon summer of ’08 when anything remotely fuel-efficient was selling off the trailer, to clear a huge backlog of unsold Ions. And then they finally became available just in time for the fall 2008 economic crash.
Parts support from GM seemed to be very good, until 2017…,
I forgot to mention, I did actually come across a used Astra on CarMax’s website the last time I was car shopping. It made it to my shortlist, but I ultimately went with something else. The reason mostly was because the car was in Oakland and I’m in the Sacramento area and for whatever reason CarMax’s listing said they wouldn’t transport that particular car to a dealer closer to me like they do with most cars. It didn’t seem worth it to go all the way out to Oakland to look at it when there were other equally appealing cars closer to me. Given what you said about parts availability it looks like I made the right decision. That was also something of a concern since it was an orphan model by that time.
I forgot to mention, I did actually come across a used Astra on CarMax’s website the last time I was car shopping. It made it to my shortlist, but I ultimately went with something else.
The Astra was on my short list for beater candidates due to control commonality with my VW (the years I was shifting between a Ford and a Honda were frequently comical/frustrating as everything was so different between the two) There seem to be plenty of Astras around here, but dealers tend to price them as if they were not orphans.
I did test drive one, a couple years ago. 48K miles, new tires and brakes all the way around, new battery, 1 (?) new sway bar link, tagged at $7K.
Test drive was a disaster. Front shocks were long gone, the car darted off in random directions with every little bump in the road. Additionally, the engine sounded like a diesel, a symptom of a bad cam phaser. And the A/C didn’t cool worth a lick. I passed. Watched the listing tho and it finally disappeared after they had cut the price to $5500. I ended up with an 06 Focus hatchback, which also has a high degree of control commonality with my VW.
This Astra is currently on offer at the Chevy dealer a few miles down the road, XE trim, meaning no traction control, just under 49K miles…and they still want $7K for it. Carfax says the Chevy dealer hasn’t even replaced the recalled Takata airbag in it.
Being Astra-based, there probably isn’t room under the hood for a V6.
Jim, have you driven a modern turbo four? They’re nothing like the ones on the 80s. They have a fatter and lower torque curve than a NA six. And the V6 is quickly going the way of the V8, at least in passenger car use.
Next time rent a car, make sure it has a turbo four. Then tell us about how untorquey it is.
I will admit that I have not, due to a near PTSD-level reaction to my experiences in the 80s. 🙂 I did drive a 2005-ish turbo diesel Jeep Liberty that my sister owned. I have forgotten how much it cost to replace the failed turbo, but it was a number that made me gasp. You know my bias that when something can be done in a simple way or in a complex way, I usually choose simple. But I resolve to take your advice and try one when the opportunity presents.
the buick is nice, in my opinion it suffers from what 80 to 90 percent of cars suffer today……………………they all look a like and although most run pretty well in terms of speed and handling………..i’ll keep on enjoying my 1985 chrysler lebaron!!!
I’m not sure Buick buyers would like a convertible it might blow the shawls off their shoulders.
I see a Buick Cascada most days on my commute. Ugh. That is a mighty poor looking Buick. Every other model in the lineup looks like a Buick, except this one. At least give it a Buick grill. The lack of effort making this Opel into a Buick is quite apparent.
What’s the most fascinating about this post is how alike these two very different cars look from behind!!!!
I thought I was the only one.
If the buick would hold 5 people I may have been interested.
Wifey and I would like a Cascada, but doubt we will ever own one. If I ever replace my Impala, it’ll most likely be a Silverado.
I must have driven past that Lake St. Louis exit a million times over the years, and still do on rare occasions when we come back the the STL area.
Seeing that Denny’s sign makes me hungry – “Moons over My Hammy”, anyone? We no longer have Denny’s in the Cincinnati area except ‘way down in Kentucky. I’m not going there for anything.
While my Buick Cascada sightings are still mighty rare, I am seeing a larger and larger quantity of Maseratis these days. There’s even one of their CUV’s, the Levante, that I occasionally see whilst on the school run; a CUV that couldn’t look more anonymous if it was trying for the starring role in an insurance ad.
I was wondering if these pix would see their day, glad to see they are!
You make a great point here – I have seen several more late model Maseratis in central Indiana than Cascadas. I always get a charge out of looking at the name “Maserati” spelled out in that old-style chrome script.
Yeah, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get them out there. No point in writing about the trip as JP has already done so and my version has a shitty ending.
Come to think of it, I’ve seen more Teslas in the last 48 hours than I have all Cascadas combined, ever.
I wanted to like the Cascada, but then I looked them over at the Detroit show. A couple years ago, they had one shown with the top down and one with the top up.
Windshield is raked back so far I almost crack my head on the header when I get in the thing. Rear visibility is poor because the rear deck is so high, about non-existant with the top up. And it has the same weather stripping design as the Beetle convertible, so probably also subject to freezing and preventing the door being opened.
The terms of the Opel sale agreement are that existing contracts for parts and cars will remain in force, but the agreement also gives Peugeot large financial incentives to abandon all GM based platforms in a hurry. The Cascada is based on the previous generation Astra, so already obsolete. The new German built, Opel Insignia based Buick Regals are hitting the showrooms now, but Regal sales are crashing, 2017 Regal sales were down 41% vs 2016. In 2016 Buick sold more Veranos than either Regals or LaCrosses, yet the Verano was dropped. My suspicion is the only reason we even have a 2018 Regal is the project was already in the works when Opel was sold, and the marginal cost of badging German built Insignias as Buicks was minimal.
The Cascada and Regal will probably join the Saturn Astra as orphans shortly.
Regal wagon a FB compadre found at a local dealership, with the “must have” Outback look plastic wheel arch extensions.
Future Curbside Classic: “Remember the late 2010’s Regal wagon?”
“Remember the late 2010’s Regal wagon?”
Better yet, “remember the late 2010s Regal hatchback?”
PSA build better cars than Opel from a drivers point of view so your Buicks and our Holdens could improve quite dramatically in years to come now GM isnt involved.
so your Buicks and our Holdens could improve
Offhand, I would expect the chances of GM buying any PSA based models for the US are equal to or less than zero. More likely, we will get more stuff from China, like the Envision. Buick sold twice as many Envisions last year as LaCrosses, and they sold about twice as many LaCrosses as they did Regals.
GM has already said Buick will source from Korea and China in the future.
I don’t think your Holdens will be sourced from PSA after certain models end their runs, also.
More likely from GM Asia.
“…2017 Regal sales were down 41% vs 2016…”
Sounds about right for an old model going into runout. Sedan sales are crashing in general, though, so offering something unique with the hatch and moving into the Outback/Allroad not-a-crossover-but-not-a “classic”-wagon space are worth trying.
“that’s a Buick???”
I thought it was a revival of the Convertible Chrysler Sebring when asked in the commercial.
I have seen, maybe, 2 or 3 Cascada in the last few months. Certainly a dumb name for a car, it sounds like it would fit in real well with Silverado.
I’ve seen 3 or 4 Maserati, the most recent sighting being this morning.
Aside from the name, the Cascada is a “fail” because it falls outside most buyer’s expectations. Buick hasn’t had a car like this in DECADES, for that matter, they haven’t had a 2 door anything in decades.
Chrysler “bailed” on this market niche, and so did Toyota…that should have told Buick/GM something.
“Chrysler “bailed” on this market niche, and so did Toyota…that should have told Buick/GM something.”
Chrysler sold a lot of LeBaron and Sebring convertibles for a long time – until they came out with that simply awful final Sebring during the Daimler era. That car was a failure in so many ways that it is hard to blame its sales collapse on the market for a 4 place cruising convertible. People will accept a lot of tradeoffs for a reasonably priced open cruiser, but Ugly is not one of them.
Actually, in retiree rich central Florida’s west coast (Sarasota/Bradenton/Port Charlotte), these are fairly common. My 87 year old uncle actually has one. Yes, this car hits all the notes that an elderly Buick driver wants in an “American” convertible that seats 4. Oddly, Uncle Bill had no idea it was an Opel design. Most Buick buyers have no clue, as most Saturn buyers had no idea they were buying a warmed over Opel rebadged as a Saturn. I actually kind of like these, and for the intended market, they work. This is not supposed to be a drop top 5.0, this is to be a replacement for an older Sebring or Solara (Bill replaced a Sebring, BTW). These are retiree and rental specials for Florida, and they work here.
FWIW, Buick CUV’s are selling well, and the new image for the brand. GMC’s companion make, so to speak. The hoary image of beige LeSabres going 45 on the Interstates is gone.
That makes sense, as does the Caddy CUV outselling all their sedans combined.
Buick and Cadillac were always about comfy cruisers in the public mind and that market looks to CUVs rather than sedans now.
Good grief, I used to live off that exit.
Last Cascada I saw was a rental in Tampa Int’l Airport.
Since you know that exit, I guarantee you’ll know the location of tomorrow’s outtake. One of these two makes a repeat appearance as it’s only about three or four miles away from this spot.
Reverse CC Effect! I saw a Cascada (the first one in a really long time) just last week. I scratched my (frozen) head and said to myself, “Oh, yeah! Those exist!”
Man, how things have changed since I grew up in St. Louis. I remember when this was as rural and bucolic as anything in outstate Missouri. Certainly, there’s a lot more traffic along I-70 these days. Anything beyond St. Charles was considered “the sticks.”
Lake St Louis has changed dramatically since it was founded as a “weekend house” lakefront development in the late 60s. When we lived in Florissant I swore we’d never move across the bridge into St. Charles County…wound up in LSL for almost a decade. The tone of LSL has changed in the past decade or so…moving upscale, lots of high end newer homes, tore down the charming old IGA and built lots of retail on the I-64 “Highway 40” side. Lost some of its charm.
The Cascada isn’t that uncommon here in AZ (as are most drop tops), but there is one glaring fault that they have. Has anyone tried to sit in that supposedly “four seat” back seat here? It’s in no way shape or form a true four seat car. Buick has had these on the market for several years now, yet even today on their own website they list rear hip room as “TBD”… I tried to squeeze myself into the back of one at the Chicago Auto Show and it wasn’t happening. The Sebring convertibles were legitimately roomy for a 6’1” guy like me. This car felt smaller than my friend’s 1997 Eclipse convertible. That’s why they don’t sell.
Here is a good shot; notice how the cup holder size in the back is about as much room you get between the front seats. And those front seats look like they aren’t fully pushed back:
Never knew that they sold the Opel Cascada as a Buick in US.
Btw: when GM tried to sold US cars as Opels in Europe they failed, too. For example the second generation Pontiac Trans Port, which was sold here as Opel Sintra.
To be fair, here are some Opel rooted hits:
Delta I, II, D2xx, Epsilon I, II E2xx, Gamma I & II, Theta …
T and J body [?]
I JUST realized there was a Maserati in the pictures, I thought the production point was just an arbitrary reference. The Ghibli looks like a Kia.
Here in rural western New York, the Buick Cascada is a rare sight indeed. Being aware they were on the market, I kept a look out for one; waited, and waited. Finally, spotted a white one entering the Wally-World parking lot, driven by exactly the type of buyer I’d expected: a diminutive gray-haired little lady who appeared very well quaffed and attired when she alighted from her stylish convertible. Other than the rental fleets in warmer climes, this must be their target market….not helpful to a youthful image, Buick…
It’s been a long while since we heard anything of your friend Louis, Jason.
Maybe this is a perfect time to update us. A sleeper Cascada
would make a cool spy car for him!?
Would you believe I’m 700 words into the next chapter? A fellow CC’er hit me up also so stay tuned.
Yessss!!
What can I say but awesome!!!!
I see plenty of Buick Cascadas everyday here in Naples, but I also see about 20 new Bentleys every day. Come to think of it, I see more Bentley convertibles than I do Cascadas. Ok, maybe Naples is a bad example. Wait! Maybe it’s a great example.