Motor Trend Azera

Azera was among 10 finalists for MT "Car of the Year". When I was young,
Buick had motto: "When better cars are built, Buick will build them."
Last sentence of MT article about Azera reads. "When better Buicks are
built, Hyundai will build them"
!!!thought that was kinda cute!

 

More prophetic than you may think. A new Hyundai model, not yet named,
will be coming out in 2 years, designed to compete with Avalon, Lucerne,
CTS, etc, with prices $29,000 to $38,000.

I was considering a Lucerne CXL and ended up with a Sonata Limited. About
the same features, but $5000 less.

 

MT also said that if you took the H off and put a Buick insignia on it no
one would know that it was not a buick~~!!!

 

That sounds like an insult to Hyundai.

Matt

 

Reply to message from "Deck" <> (Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:13:16)
about "Re: Motor Trend Azera":

D> MT also said that if you took the H off and put a Buick insignia on it
D> no one would know that it was not a buick~~!!!

To my mind that is not a compliment, and if I wanted a Buick I know where
to go to get one.

That said the latter Buicks are an improvement over the ones in the past.
Testament to the impact of Bob Lutz.

If Hyundai needed to copy a marque they could do a heck of a lot better
than Buick.

Best Regards
Wayne Moses <> Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:33:58 -0600

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3

 

The MT award is a joke anyway. It has more to do with how much a company
spends on advertising than it does on the car(s). Basically, it goes to
the highest bidder. Still, I don't doubt that the Azera is a nice rig.

 

The way I interpreted the comment was that the Azera is what a Buick "should
be".

 

Matt, Ed, Wayne........a few words defending Buick

Have you driven (or owned) a Buick a lately? I previously had a '99 Regal
LSE. I loved it.

As equipped, it handled decently, and lots of grunt. Dependable as
taxes....I drove mine for 225k miles. It got about 28 mpg (hiway) to boot.
Solid, rattle free driver.

Lots or options like like my LX plus others like dual climate control and
tire inflation monitor. Excellent stereo. Interior space, head room, and
driver seating comfort were great.

Buick was stupid to drop the Regal. It had an edge to its personality that
seems lacking in current offerings

.......I love my Sonata. If it turns out be as good as the Buick, it will
have been a great car too.

PS I bought my Regal 1 year old w/21k miles for 15000.......no idea how the
new models price out.

 

84 and 91 Regals, 97 and 01 LeSabres. Still have the 01 LeSabre. Olds, 81,
83, 86.

My experience with the 01 LeSabre is why I bought a Hyundai. It rides OK,
it handles OK, the engine is OK ,but the rest of the car is falling apart
and GM is no help.

My biggest complaint was after about 20 months, the heated seat stopped
working. Since it had more that 36,000 miles it was not covered under
warranty and the dealer charged me $75 to tell me it would be $560 to
replace it. A letter to GM got me a few hundred buck off if I bought a new
GM car. Sorry, but aside from the seat, the car was in perfect condition
and the color, style, equipment that I wanted.

I was still considering a Lucerne and test drove one. My plan was to buy one
after getting back from Italy last year. and I knew exactly what I wanted.
Meantime, the transmission went and cost me $2500. Then the wheel bearing
for $350, and other assorted things that brought the total to $850 over
about 5 weeks. (some could be considered routine, I guess)

Did I mention that both rear windows are being propped up by a stick of
wood? I'm not going to bother repairing them. The cruise control is on all
the time because the switch has to be held in the "on" position with a
toothpick. There are a few other assorted little nits that I could pick. A
week after I fixed the second LeSabre window with a stick, one of the Regal
windows broke also. I'm getting good at removing door panels and wedging
them by now.

After 15 years, I still liked driving hte Regal for the most part. Things
were braking, but considering the 15 years and 150,000 miles I'd expect
that. Oil pressure and water temperature gauges did not work, radio was
static prone, AC was repaired twice and would have been very expensive to
repair again, the rear brakes were as source of a few repairs, most
attributable to both the age and miles though. It still had the same
exhaust and no repairs to either engine or trans.

So far, my Hyundai is perfect, but only 6 months and 11,000 miles. I have
no idea what I'll buy in 2011 or so, that depends on how this one hold up.
If you asked me about buying a Hyundai last August, I'd have laughed, but I
bought one in September. They've come a long way.

 

Yes, my mother-in-law is on her second Buick, I believe both were/are
Centuries. It drives like a boat. It wallows and wobbles and the
steering is as vague as a politician running for office. It has been
reasonably reliable, but it isn't a pleasure to drive. It does have a
very good HVAC system, unlike my Sonata.

I drove a Park Avenue rental a few years ago from Elmira to Boston and
back. It was quite comfortable, but again the handling just wasn't my
cup of tea. It did get amazing mileage for a car that size. I averaged
30 MPG traveling at 65-70 MPH which I thought was amazing. However,
it had a persistent slight miss at cruise speed which I suspect was a
"lean" miss like some of the early "lean burn" Chrysler's had.

Matt

 

Yes, I'm really interested to see how the Sonata holds up. Mine just
rolled over 19,000 and so far, so good. I've had no assembly problems
or failures as yet. The only problems are the design problems that
we've hashed over in the past here.


Matt

 

I have 42000 miles on my Sonata LX. I have none of the little nagging
problems others have reported on their models. No clunk from rear, no slosh
of tank. My defroster works great. I do think the seat base is too short for
large people, and my forehead "feels" close to the roof./windhield.
Performance is great, mpg is average at best. Very nice car to drive
overall.

I've two warranty repairs; my rh front seat track adjuster broke, and the
ambient air sensor fluxuated wildly(seemed to affect climate control
functionality). Dealer fixed both.

To conclude, my Buick was a car I'll always remember fondly. I was never
afaid to jump in, and drive it anywhere in any weather, even with high miles
on the odometer. Take your friends and luggage too........ Everyone in my
family loves the sonata, and pick it over our volvo to
drive.........different strengths for each car I guess

.. PS If you put the Volvo seats, and the Buick headroom/seating position in
the Sonata, I'd never look back......maybe thats where the Azera come in.

 

A man after my own heart.

Mine was a '98...

I loved the handling of mine, and the performance. Quite snotty.

I didn't have the tire inflation monitor, but I had a very nice leather
interior, dual climate control and a great BOSE factory stereo system.

Preach it brother!

I feel the same way about my wife's Sonata. I have often referred to the
interior of it as being very Buick-esq. Same sort of feel, trim type,
atmosphere. That, I consider to be a strong plus.

Bought mine at almost 2 years old, with 30K on it. Would still be driving
it today if number 3 daughter had not been pinched off the interstate by an
absent minded tow truck driver.

 

Geeze man - I can't believe you said the "V" word...

 

That's surprising Matt. What year is the Century? The Century is
essentially a Regal with a case of the wimps, but as far as handling goes,
they are normally quite firm and committed. I've never heard of one
referred to as wallowing and wobbly. Never experienced such in one either.
They are 4 wheel McPhearson strut suspensions, and as such are normally
quite solid on the road. Does she have decent rubber on the car?

Yeah - that Park Ave was really some kinda car. Mine never experienced the
miss you mention, but I did consistently get the mileage you saw. Quite a
pleasure that was - a nice, comfortable car, *and* great mileage.

 

I'm not sure of the year, but I'd say around 1999-2000 for the current
one. The prior one was 1988 or 89 I believe.

I think the rubber is pretty cheap, but the tires don't affect what I'm
talking about. Actually, the Sonata has somewhat the same problem as it
feels loose and unconnected at times, even more so than my minivan.

However, at least it has pretty precise steering. The Century has a lot
of play in the steering and it is overboosted and lacks feel.

The miss was subtle and I doubt many people would even notice, but I've
very attuned to my cars and I hear and feel very subtle vibrations and
noises. The Park Avenue had this very sporadic miss that you could feel
and hear when the road was smooth and there were no other cars around
you to make noise. In traffic, it was hard to detect, but route 88 from
Binghamton to Albany is boring and has very little traffic!

Matt

 

I bought my wife a new Regal LX in 2000. 3.8 engine. It gets a true 29 MPG
on the highway, 22 in town. Unlike the XG350 I have which gets lousy milage
in town and on highway. Geared way to low for good milage. Runs at least
500-750 RPM higher than the 3.8 Buick at the same speed. Transmission fluid
doesn't need changed every 30,000 miles either, at $6.50 a quart. Oil and
Air filters are $5.00 too at Pep boys instead of 25.00 for a Hyundai, and
last but not least, the antifreeze for it is Prestone at $5.00 a gallon
instead of Hyundai at $23.50 a gallon. Have 21,000 miles on it. Great car.
She has never had a bit of trouble with it except for an idiot at the
dealer performing a recall on the fuel tank who damaged the electrical
harness when he installed the new tank, and will not consider getting rid
of it. I plan on getting rid of the gas guzzling Hyundai as soon as the
long (chuckle) bumper to bumper warranty is up. Hyundai had a recall om my
XG350 to re program the computer for something to do with pollution, and
dropped the MPG in town to about 16, instead of the 19. I got before the
computer update. I had a 91 Crown Vic with a a 5.0 litre Ford V/8 engine
that got better milage than the XG350 3.5 litre engine does.

 

I also have had great experiences with Buick, It seems that a lot of GM cars
get great MPG. I rented a DTS last year, got 30 mpg on the hiway at 80 mph.
BTW I liked the Park Avenue better than a DTS. I owned a Chevy Venture which
was an all around better vehicle than the previous Ford Windstar and Honda
Odyssey I owned. Detroit has always been good to me.

 

Reply to message from "Edwin Pawlowski" <> (Thu, 08 Mar 2007
20:37:12) about "Re: Motor Trend Azera":

EP> The way I interpreted the comment was that the Azera is what a Buick
EP> "should be".

Could be that was intended. If the author had used clear language as you
have there would be no question. ;-)

Best Regards
Wayne Moses <> Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:38:26 -0600

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Reply to message from Brian Nystrom <> (Thu, 08
Mar 2007 18:52:19) about "Re: Motor Trend Azera":

BN> Still, I don't
BN> doubt that the Azera is a nice rig.

It certainly is. I spent about 45 minutes with one and even my wife was
drooling. She sees cars as just transportation.

I agree re: MT and their ad allegiances.

Best Regards
Wayne Moses <> Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:40:34 -0600

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3