My mother has owned Buick Park Avenues for as long as I can remember. Just feeling the plush leather seats brings back memories of road trips to the lake, elbow fights with my siblings and, as the youngest, getting crunched in the middle of the back seat on the way to church. As a result of having practically grown up in the back of these vehicles, I'd always considered Park Avenues cars that no one other than a 40+-year-old would ever be caught driving. But after spending a week with the 1999 Buick Park Avenue Ultra in Denver, Colo., this March, my tune has changed.
No one was more surprised than I to discover how enjoyable it was to cruise around town in this vehicle. The car's dimensions, while still larger than many passenger cars, were trim enough to alleviate past fears of parking in semi-crowded lots. On an evening excursion downtown, however, we decided that it was still difficult to maneuver the Ultra through small parking garages and ended up letting the valet take care of it. Which is what you should do in a Park Avenue, anyway.
Our test car arrived with a solid coat of Midnight Blue Pearl paint, complimented by medium-blue, ultra-soft leather seats inside. The first plus we noticed, in addition to the pretty color, was the car's elegant styling. Its subtle sheetmetal curved just enough to give the vehicle some panache without appearing overdone or diluting the Park Avenue's classy lines. Inside, we found a comfortable driving position with good visibility and soft, but supportive, seats that were easy to adjust in 10 directions. Seat heaters and lumbar support also made for a pleasant ride. Visors were large and thick, with extenders that made driving in the sunshine possible even without sunglasses.
Typical of Buick, the Park Avenue's gauges, digital readouts and dials were large and easy to see, but the stereo setup was a bit confusing and took some fiddling to get used to. We appreciated the single in-dash CD player as well as the cassette tape deck and the nice sound quality that emanated from the stereo and its nine speakers. Seating six comfortably, those in the rear can enjoy better visibility, comfort and conversation with front-seat passengers due to raised rear theatre seats. Even a full-grown Labrador retriever was able to stretch out its legs during a weekend drive to Colorado Springs. We got giddy over the nifty headlight design that illuminates the road to the left or right when you flip on a blinker at night and appreciated that the side mirrors automatically move down so you can see the edge of the road when parallel parking.
Though it was spacious, the car did not feel too big from the inside and shorter individuals will appreciate that the fold-down armrest/cubby is attached to the driver's seat. This means when you move the seat forward to reach the pedals, the armrest moves forward, too. Taller passengers, on the other hand, may not appreciate this feature since they may lose access to the center armrest in such cases. We also found that shorter drivers may snag their feet on the foot pedal parking brake when entering or exiting the vehicle with the seat moved forward.
Driving the Park Avenue Ultra, with its 3800 Series II Supercharged V6 engine, was pure bliss. The ride still felt floaty over any kind of bump, but you couldn't ask for a smoother, quieter machine for cruising on the highway. When the supercharger kicks in, it's all you can do to keep from gripping the steering wheel with both hands, slinking down in your seat and screaming "supercharger!" at the top of your lungs as the two-ton mass of metal seems to attempt air travel. This thrill clinched it: the Park Avenue is definitely not just for Mom anymore.
We ticked off another positive point for the vehicle after peering inside the Ultra's enormous trunk. Ten 20-pound bags of topsoil and two huge bags of mulch were carried easily in the trunk on the way home from the local garden center-with room to spare. Unfortunately, unloading the bags at home was not as impressive a feat. When parked on our slightly sloping driveway, the Park Avenue's trunk lid constantly bobbed down, hitting our backs or heads almost every time we reached inside to unload the goods. We experienced the same annoying problem at our supermarket, where the entire parking lot happens to be paved on an incline. If you live in San Francisco, don't even think about it.
The Ultra model comes handsomely equipped with plenty of bells and whistles, but our test car was also optioned with 16-inch, chrome-plated aluminum wheels and the Gran Touring Package, which includes a 3.05 axle ratio, dealer programmable magnetic variable-effort steering, Gran Touring suspension and P225/60R16 touring BSW tires. The cost for these upgrades was $895.
Overall, we were happily surprised with the time we spent inside the Park Avenue Ultra and were sorry to see it go. Now that we know it isn't just a car for our parents' generation, we'll be recommending the Park Avenue for consumers of any age who are looking for a large, solid, stately sedan with a powerful engine and great road-tripping potential ... unless, of course, their driveway is on a hill.
No one was more surprised than I to discover how enjoyable it was to cruise around town in this vehicle. The car's dimensions, while still larger than many passenger cars, were trim enough to alleviate past fears of parking in semi-crowded lots. On an evening excursion downtown, however, we decided that it was still difficult to maneuver the Ultra through small parking garages and ended up letting the valet take care of it. Which is what you should do in a Park Avenue, anyway.
Our test car arrived with a solid coat of Midnight Blue Pearl paint, complimented by medium-blue, ultra-soft leather seats inside. The first plus we noticed, in addition to the pretty color, was the car's elegant styling. Its subtle sheetmetal curved just enough to give the vehicle some panache without appearing overdone or diluting the Park Avenue's classy lines. Inside, we found a comfortable driving position with good visibility and soft, but supportive, seats that were easy to adjust in 10 directions. Seat heaters and lumbar support also made for a pleasant ride. Visors were large and thick, with extenders that made driving in the sunshine possible even without sunglasses.
Typical of Buick, the Park Avenue's gauges, digital readouts and dials were large and easy to see, but the stereo setup was a bit confusing and took some fiddling to get used to. We appreciated the single in-dash CD player as well as the cassette tape deck and the nice sound quality that emanated from the stereo and its nine speakers. Seating six comfortably, those in the rear can enjoy better visibility, comfort and conversation with front-seat passengers due to raised rear theatre seats. Even a full-grown Labrador retriever was able to stretch out its legs during a weekend drive to Colorado Springs. We got giddy over the nifty headlight design that illuminates the road to the left or right when you flip on a blinker at night and appreciated that the side mirrors automatically move down so you can see the edge of the road when parallel parking.
Though it was spacious, the car did not feel too big from the inside and shorter individuals will appreciate that the fold-down armrest/cubby is attached to the driver's seat. This means when you move the seat forward to reach the pedals, the armrest moves forward, too. Taller passengers, on the other hand, may not appreciate this feature since they may lose access to the center armrest in such cases. We also found that shorter drivers may snag their feet on the foot pedal parking brake when entering or exiting the vehicle with the seat moved forward.
Driving the Park Avenue Ultra, with its 3800 Series II Supercharged V6 engine, was pure bliss. The ride still felt floaty over any kind of bump, but you couldn't ask for a smoother, quieter machine for cruising on the highway. When the supercharger kicks in, it's all you can do to keep from gripping the steering wheel with both hands, slinking down in your seat and screaming "supercharger!" at the top of your lungs as the two-ton mass of metal seems to attempt air travel. This thrill clinched it: the Park Avenue is definitely not just for Mom anymore.
We ticked off another positive point for the vehicle after peering inside the Ultra's enormous trunk. Ten 20-pound bags of topsoil and two huge bags of mulch were carried easily in the trunk on the way home from the local garden center-with room to spare. Unfortunately, unloading the bags at home was not as impressive a feat. When parked on our slightly sloping driveway, the Park Avenue's trunk lid constantly bobbed down, hitting our backs or heads almost every time we reached inside to unload the goods. We experienced the same annoying problem at our supermarket, where the entire parking lot happens to be paved on an incline. If you live in San Francisco, don't even think about it.
The Ultra model comes handsomely equipped with plenty of bells and whistles, but our test car was also optioned with 16-inch, chrome-plated aluminum wheels and the Gran Touring Package, which includes a 3.05 axle ratio, dealer programmable magnetic variable-effort steering, Gran Touring suspension and P225/60R16 touring BSW tires. The cost for these upgrades was $895.
Overall, we were happily surprised with the time we spent inside the Park Avenue Ultra and were sorry to see it go. Now that we know it isn't just a car for our parents' generation, we'll be recommending the Park Avenue for consumers of any age who are looking for a large, solid, stately sedan with a powerful engine and great road-tripping potential ... unless, of course, their driveway is on a hill.
Add A Comment »