2017 Buick Cascada

With sheet metal penned for Europe, the Cascada's proportions are global, tidy, and compact. A deep crease is drawn down its body, and that lightens the visual load, starting just behind the front wheels, all the way to the taillights. It's not quite the Nike swoosh carved into the Regal sedan, but it's a shared link.

Elsewhere, the Cascada has some touches of formality, with its angled taillights, winged LED running lights, and the ring of chrome that circles the beltline.

The Cascada's cockpit is more time-sensitive. The gauges and controls wrap around the driver in a way that lines up with the rest of the Buick family. Soft-touch surfaces, thin frames of brightwork, and soft colors and tones make it a very tasteful place to enjoy top-down driving.

The downfall? It's cluttered with dozens of buttons and switches, as if it's hoarding GM's past. The center stack looks like a first draft of the Porsche Panamera's controls. It's a slightly dated look that Buick has improved upon with its other new vehicles. We're all in favor of big controls that aren't superseded by touchscreens—but clutter is clutter.

We rate its performance at 4. It serves up adequate power, but rides roughly on anything but flat, smooth roads, thanks to lots of weight and big 20-inch wheels. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

There's an interesting powertrain trying to make itself known here. It's a 200-horsepower, 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-4 with 207 pound-feet of torque. It has smooth and linear power delivery, without much lag, even an overboost mode that raises peak torque in brief spurts to 221 lb-ft.

A 6-speed automatic is the only transmission available, and that's fine for a boulevard cruiser like this. The Cascada doesn't even consent to paddle shift controls—if you want to shift it manually, you'll have to drop a hand to the console shift lever.

There's little reason to do even that. The Cascada already has its quick-to-upshift schedule down, like a Sunday golf time.

The small-displacement turbo-4 moves the Cascada off the line just fine, but with a couple of adults present, it strains before it hits a performance wall. Gaining momentum instantly becomes a challenge in uphill climbs, too. Blame lots of ground-hugging weight: the Cascada checks in at 3,979 pounds, heavier than some LaCrosse mid-size sedans, 500 pounds more than the old Chevy Cruze diesel.

Body-checking performance

There's a point to the weight gain. Convertibles tend to twist and shake without copious amounts of bracing welded to their bodies. The Cascada gets reinforced side sills and stiffer A-pillars to keep the wiggling below happy-canine levels—and in truth there's little to no cowl shake.

The weight hampers acceleration, but it helps smother some road flaws on near-perfect flat roads. Our first drive in the Florida Keys left us with one impression of the Cascada, that of a distinctly non-compact-car ride, one that was smooth, especially for a small car riding on 20-inch wheels.

We credited that to suspension design. The front struts have a more substantial layout than most compacts, and the rear end's Watts Z-link suspension does the same next-level job it accomplishes in the Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Verano sedans.

Even on 20-inch wheels, that first Cascada we drove felt reasonably composed and poised, though slow steering response was a complaint.

Since then we've spent time in L.A. and Atlanta in the Cascada, and we're less impressed. On those urban streets, the Cascada felt more unsettled, needing more constant steering corrections. It used up all its suspension travel on medium-sized bumps, leaving it at odds with the biggest obstacles. It heaved and leaned more than you’d think over big bumps, railroad tracks, and heading quickly around corners, but felt jittery over surface irregularities and roadway cracks.

For passengers in the front seats, the Cascada offers up a sunny driving experience. The leather-wrapped bucket seats have power adjustments and good bolstering that gives away its European roots. Power-operated arms bring the seat belts forward so they're not forgotten. The front seats are supportive for long drives, but the seating position is rather high for a sporty two-door.

A modestly sized back seat gives adults enough room for a cross-town drive, but the Cascada's rear bench isn't the place to sprawl out for a round of suntanning. The seats are low, the space is narrow, and the body sides rise to shoulder height. A nice touch adds sensors that will stop the front seats from reversing into back-seat knees.

The back seat's better used as an extension of the trunk. Like most convertibles, the storage area is small, even smaller when the top is lowered. It’s 9.8 cubic feet when the top is down, and 13.4 feet with the top raised. For more space, the rear seat backs fold forward for expanded access to the trunk, through a cat-carrier-sized cutout.

Operating the convertible top is a snap. Well, really, a switch or two. A bracket-shaped lever on the console allows the driver to raise or lower the top in 17 seconds or less—at 31 mph or under, in stop-and-go traffic for example. A single switch lowers or raises all four windows. With the top up, the Cascada's thickly lined top renders it quiet enough to hear conversations or streamed music.

All Cascada convertibles come with the requisite front and side airbags, as well as a set of pop-up roll bars that protect passengers in a rollover incident.

Even with the top up, outward vision is good in the Cascada. It does have small side mirrors placed further back on the door than we'd like. It's a boon for aerodynamics, less helpful for monitoring the road.

A rearview camera, lane-departure warnings, and rear parking sensors also are standard. A package including forward-collision warnings and front parking sensors is an option.

However, the Cascada doesn't offer blind-spot monitors or adaptive cruise control or active lane control, or any of the features becoming standard equipment on other luxury vehicles—even those in the mass market.

With a base price of in the mid-$30,000s, the Cascada comes with power features; a rearview camera; eight-way power front seats; rear parking sensors; remote start; a heated steering wheel; and leather trim.

A Premium version bundles in forward-collision warnings; lane-departure warnings; front and rear parking sensors; and automatic headlights. A new Cascada ST has a flat-bottomed steering wheel, distinct blue paint, a black canvas top, and newly styled wheels.

The Cascada's infotainment system isn't as good as that in other Buicks. It has a smaller (7.0-inch) and lower-resolution screen that's controlled by a set of buttons and and a rocker switch/joystick. It's a fiddly system that's been superseded in other GM cars by a bigger, prettier touchscreen interface.

The Cascada's connectivity features include an OnStar 4G LTE data connection with built-in wi-fi hotspot (with data services available through a subscription), text-message alerts, and Siri Eyes Free compatibility.

Those figures are a fair amount lower than vehicles like the Audi A3 Cabriolet, which checks in at 24/35/28 mpg.

In real-world driving, the Cascada suffers for its hefty curb weight and its aggressive transmission programming. In about 70 miles of mixed-condition driving around L.A. boulevards and freeways, over a couple of days, the trip odometer on our test car showed an average of 17 mpg—surprisingly low for a modest four-seater with a 1.6-liter engine.

We give the Cascada a green score of 6. (Read more about how we rate cars.)