Buick Riviera coupe receives a supercharged horsepower boost
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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"Check it out!" The burger barn attendant announced when I steered my white test coupe to the drive-up window. "That's one slick machine."
It's slick all right -- perhaps the most fluid design on the road today.
Buick's elegant personal luxury coupe, Riviera, now represents the second year of a generational design defined by distinctive prow and sporty exterior lines which mark a curvaceous trend in automotive styling.
But Riviera, dating back to the first edition of 1963, has always been the vanguard of progressive images for the Buick Division of General Motors.
Two years ago Riviera emerged like the mythical Phoenix rising from its own ash as a revolutionary inspiration to entice us with its unique oval silhouette, sumptuously luxurious passenger compartment and surprisingly agile manners on the road.
Today, the 1996 Riviera promotes increased horsepower and an enhanced steering mechanism plus more conveniences concealed within a spacious cabin configured optionally for four to six passengers.
An initial inspection of the stunning new design for Buick's big coupe occurred at the 1994 Kansas City Auto Show, where, during a walk-around I came around that long nose to confront Riviera's most unusual styling feature: The "fault line" (as Buick's designers call it), a crisp notch in canted plane several inches wide which separates each rounded side fender from the rolling front hood.
With so many curves to the car, a pair of straight lines cut into the design serves to define those rounded forms and accent teardrop headlamps and oval front grille.
Clearly, it's a work of automotive art, so smooth and glossy that I find myself reaching out to run fingers over all of those undulating contours.
Subsequent time in the driver's seat, first at an Arizona race track and later playing with the coupe on an extended trek across rolling hills of northern Michigan, revealed that Riviera's exterior beauty was only the most obvious of many allures.
Now, two years into the present design phase, I spent a week living out of Riviera rigged with an optional supercharged 3800 Series II V6 that for 1996 increases output from 225 to 240 hp.
Riviera's base 3.8-liter V6 produces 205 hp.
When Buick announced Riviera's selection of 6-cylinder engines, some critics wondered if such a massive full-size car should instead carry a big V8.
Yet Don Miles, GM Powertrain Division's chief engineer for V6 engines, defended Riviera's plants, explaining that the design improves airflow and thereby extends the band of horsepower to a higher rpm range while expanding mid-range torque and, importantly, conserving fuel.
Tests in Riviera with the base V6 reveal entirely satisfying acceleration.
And get this: Fuel economy numbers reach as high as 29 mpg for highway driving -- and you can pump the less expensive regular unleaded gasoline into a Riviera tank.
Either engine links exclusively to a 4-speed automatic transmission with electronically-controlled shift sequences for unobtrusive transitions.
A strong vehicle requires a strong structure, which Riviera conceals behind its fluid sheetmetal. The chassis, shared with Oldsmobile's Aurora sedan, features points of flexion which cushion the impact of road irregularities, and crush zones designed to absorb forces of an accidental impact and deflect them from the safety cage encasing the passenger compartment.
Despite Riviera's mass as largest coupe in the market, its independent suspension system provides remarkable stability in action, particularly in curve sets.
Magnasteer, a new asset for 1996 Rivieras, describes a variable-effort steering system that employs electronic controls for magnetic torsion to raise or lower the amount of effort required to steer. At lower speed, such as when parking, there's less pressure so the steering wheel turns easily, but at higher speed pressure increases so only slight wheel movement turns Rivera quickly and responsively.
And at freeway speed, Riviera's amazingly quiet, thanks to exterior streamlining and special sound-deadening insulation which bring a feeling of luxurious isolation.
Inside, this Buick has refined comfort features.
The base version gets a 3-person split bench in front and notched bench in back -- so you could conceivably transport up to six adults. My latest test Riviera, the deluxe edition with SE prestige package, contained optional front buckets covered in plush leather.
Impressive luxury items were aboard the test car, including a new option dubbed Personal Choice.
It permits two different drivers (a husband and wife, perhaps) to activate pre-programmed interior preference settings -- such as memory door locks, delayed locking, security feedback, perimeter lighting and memory driver's seat and mirrors -- simply by depressing a button on the remote keyless entry fob.
Riviera for 1996 also wears a new instrument panel with touches of genuine wood trimming.
New climate controls and a new radio with bold graphics and large -- meaning easy to touch and operate -- dials also appear on 1996 editions.
The standard dual playback sound system offers cassette as well as CD deck, with standard Concert Sound II speakers, power antenna and steering wheel mounted controls.
Also, the latest hardware in safety systems, from dual airbags and anti-lock brakes to that safety cage and special crash barriers imbedded in doors, show up even on the base model of Riviera.
From a week of tests in the ultimate 1996 edition, I concluded that this is a feel-good kind of car from every angle -- exterior beauty, interior comforts, under-the-hood power, concealed safety systems, lively handling equipment and economy-oriented operation.
However, while the coupe complies with driver-induced acrobatic maneuvers, don't classify it as a sports machine because that's not the mission. Instead, Riviera favors luxury and elegance due to preferences of intended buyers, so the fact that it also performs in an agile manner simply becomes the bonus in a package of assets.
1996 BUICK RIVIERA
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| 1996 BUICK RIVIERA VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Full-size luxury coupe |
| Model Options: |
Full-size luxury coupe |
| Wheelbase: |
113.8 inches |
| Overall Length: |
207.2 inches
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| Engine Size: |
OHV 3.8-L V6
OHV 3.8-L V6 Supercharged
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| Transmission: |
Auto/4 |
| Drive: |
Front |
| Braking: |
Power 4-disc/ABS |
| Airbags: |
2 |
| Gas Mileage: |
V6: 19/29 mpg
V6S: 17/27 mpg |
| MSRP Price: |
$ 30,000 to $ 35,000 |
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