Arriving at dealerships this November, the 2013
Buick Verano Turbo is aimed at entry-level luxury sport sedans, though it might miss the mark in some segments.
Buick stacks its 2.0-liter 250-hp sedan up against the Lexus IS250, which has 46 fewer horsepower, but the two cars don’t really compete for the same demographic. Where the Lexus appeals more to driving purists with a taste for comfort, the Buick will be slanted more toward drivers who would take comfort and don’t mind thinking they have a fast-ish car too.
More realistically, the $29,990 Verano Turbo will compete with the 2.4-liter version of the new Acura ILX, which also has less horsepower, but weighs some 340 lbs less than the Buick. Even still, the Acura will likely struggle against is American competitor for one key reason: transmissions.
While Buick offers the Verano Turbo with a standard six-speed automatic and a no-cost six-speed manual, Acura stripped its “performance” ILX down to be stick-shift exclusive. Stranger still, it limited the car’s options to exclude its popular tech package.
Buick seems to be taking a more pragmatic approach by catering to young luxury buyer’s finicky “gimmie gimmie” tastes that expect everything for less. In fact, the Verano Turbo comes with a generous list of standard features including leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel, a Bose stereo, rear park assist, a rear-view camera and safety features like blind zone and cross-traffic alert.
While it isn’t standard, Buick still bests Acua just by allowing customers to choose a navigation system – something that would have come in Acura’s tech package. The 2.4-liter ILX and Verano Turbo probably won’t feel like they perform much differently than one another, but with almost identical fuel economy and pricing it will almost certainly come down to which car offers more. In that fight the Buick wins every time.
