It’s hard not to love a good sleeper. A car that looks almost completely ordinary but packs a surprisingly explosive punch, not dissimilar to that of eating seven Taco Bell Doritos Locos tacos in one sitting. Among greats like the original BMW M5 and Lotus Carlton sit those that are relatively unknown, even among this class of cars that speak with acceleration rather than aesthetics. I bet you forgot about the Buick Verano Turbo, didn’t you?
Around the turn of the 2010s, the infamous Chevrolet Cobalt SS took a bow. This 260-horsepower turbocharged sport compact may have been built cheap, but the result was a genuine world-beater when it came to performance. It managed to lap the Nürburgring in 8:22.85, just 2.8 seconds slower than a Camaro SS. As a result, enthusiasts were hoping that GM would build a sequel based on the Cruze. It turns out, the closest successor wasn’t quite what speed merchants had in mind.
Not only did the 2010s mark a rebirth for General Motors after rabbit-earing its pockets in front of legislators, but it also marked a turning point for Buick. The days of rolling waterbeds were over, and as GM’s sub-Cadillac brand, it seemed like the perfect place to stick rebadged Opels left without a home after the demise of Saturn. The European-market Opel Insignia was reworked into the Buick Regal, and topping that model’s range was a stick-shift turbocharged high-performance Regal GS. With a two-liter turbocharged engine cranking out 270 horsepower, available forged wheels and Brembo brakes, and clever suspension geometry, it was a total about-face for Buick. However, an image shift can rarely be done with one model alone. The Regal needed support, and that’s where the Verano came in.
See, Buick needed an entry-level car, not just to get first-time buyers in showrooms but also because the entry-level premium car segment was about to get red hot. In the first half of the 2010s, Acura rolled out the ILX, Mercedes-Benz launched the CLA, Lexus offered the CT, and Audi already had the A3. So what did Buick do? It rebadged the Opel Astra sedan as a model of its own, sharing the same Delta II platform as the Chevrolet Cruze but adding refinement and amenities. Touches like laminated glass, triple-layer door seals, and extra sound insulation kept things quiet. Although a standard 2.4-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine put out 42 more horsepower than the 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine available in the Cruze, it still wasn’t enough puff to help the Verano keep up with the Audi A3.
The solution was simple: Pluck the two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine out of the Regal GS, detune it to 250 horsepower and 265 lb.-ft. of torque, pair it with either a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission, and put it in the little Verano for the 2013 model year. Unsurprisingly, this had a dramatic effect on acceleration. When Car and Driver tested the Verano Turbo, this unassuming sedan sprinted from zero-to-60 mph in 6.2 seconds, two-tenths quicker than a stick-shift 2012 Volkswagen GTI. Cowabunga!
However, don’t mistake respectable straight-line pace with performance car chops. A Mercedes-Maybach S680 may have a destroyer-of-worlds V12, but it displays a cosseting attitude rather than aggression. Indeed, while the Verano Turbo drove well, a sport compact it was not, as Car And Driver wrote:
The suspension is well damped, the steering accurate and possessed of some feel, and the body motions are nicely controlled, but any sportiness is buried beneath a layer of marshmallow-like luxury. The car as a whole lacks character even with the manual, which prioritizes silken operation over mechanical feel. In braking and handling, the Turbo is virtually indistinguishable from its compressor-free sibling. Also, they look the same, the Turbo distinction consisting of badges, dual exhaust tips, and a vestigial trunklid spoiler.
What we have here is a sort of Midwest sleeper. Something that’s quiet and refined and unassuming but can still wipe the smirk off an IROC-Z driver’s face. All with comforts like a heated steering wheel, leather seats, a Bose audio system, and push-to-start.
While the Verano sold well enough with 197,017 making it into driveways across America over its production run, the turbocharged model is a bit of a unicorn, especially when paired with a manual transmission. At the time of writing, there are no stick-shift Verano Turbos for sale on any of the major used car classified sites, and even the automatics are properly rare. Looking for a high-mileage hero? This 2013 Buick Verano Turbo has 124,628 miles on the clock, but it’s up for sale in Washington for a reasonable $6,950. With one previous owner and a clean history report, it seems to be in decent shape for those looking for a small car with big car refinement.
On the other end of the spectrum, this 2016 Buick Verano Turbo is up for sale in Arizona with a mere 59,118 miles on the clock, and the asking price is $13,795. Granted, it has half the mileage of the other one and is three model years newer, but top-of-the-market with this sort of funky bumper fitment seems a bit much.
Still, if you find a stick-shift Verano Turbo up for sale near you and are looking for a sensible daily driver, it might be worth pouncing on. These things can make noticeably more than 250 horsepower with simple bolt-ons and a tune, and they’re surprisingly comfortable commuters. At the minimum, the next time you see a Verano in the wild, check for a spoiler, dual exhaust tips, and a little “T” badge. If you know, you know.
Top graphic image: Buick
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GMs cars that are positioned as true performance cars are awesome in their way. The Camaro, the corvette, the solstice, etc.
Then they made stuff like this. Where it probably is fun to drive but they wanted to make sure everything else about it was as lame as possible hahaha
They aren’t exciting unlike a Benz or a BMW.
But will they outlast a Benz or a BMW outside the warranty, if treated properly?
Definitely, as long as you get a good year.
Just looking at that second photo of the white car. The front bumper cover…is it just me, or is it misaligned, and the color’s a bit off? Was the car in a front-end collision?
I was on TTAC back then. One of our poor commentariat members from Canada bought one. It was nothing but insane trouble, up to the point when Buick Canada finally bought it back from him, if i remember correctly. Womp womp.
I’m still low key looking for the right TourX deal, though, as my E91 starts showing the hardship of those hard upstate winters,
Oh my god, it’s the
20152016 Buick Verano.This is significant to see mentioned for reasons that would make no sense to elaborate upon (neither I nor anyone I know is in possession of a Buick Verano).
I can’t be the only Autopian who finds him/herself googling to see if any of the car being discussed are available for purchase nearby, right? Or am I just overly suggestible?
I remember the Verano, but didn’t know there was a turbo version. There are none for sale near me (SoCal) of course, and they’re so uncommon that they’re hard to find w/google w/o weeding through tons of regular Veranos. None have ever appeared on Bring a Trailer or Cars and Bids. Both of the Autotrader links in the article above come up with a ‘site is currently unavailable’ message, though my VPN is currently going through Canada, so maybe that’s to blame, or is Autotrader offline?
I don’t know why, but now I want one. I suppose the feeling will pass.
At $7k the high mileage example seems like an absolute steal.
Give it some time before you pull the trigger. There are many many options that are better in every measurable way, especially price.
The Verano was so underrated. Fun fact, it had double pane acoustic glass in the windows to cut wind noise. I actually liked it’s ‘angry cat’ back end treatment.
I told my dad about this, as he’s a weirdo like me, and he immediately found a 2013 auto for sale near him in Utah for 6,500. He said it had a rebuilt title though so take your chances I guess.
The manual transmissions were trash. They couldn’t hold the power and broke. Being a rare in the US transmission didn’t help. Dealers swapped transmissions rather than troubleshoot. I’d much rather have the automatic. That’s fairly reliable.
Agree completely that an automatic, even a basic one, is better than a weak, sloppy stick shift.
Holy Schnitzel, that front! I never considered the Astra to be a beauty queen, but I may have to reconsider after seeing this big piece of chrome. https://www.netcarshow.com/opel/2013-astra_sedan/
Opel did it better. The Buick only looks decent in blue. That white cream paint does is not favors.
I knew that it was Opel based but didn’t realize before this article that Opel made a sedan version of that generation Astra. Shame they never brought the GTC coupe version to the U.S.
I got a Regal GS as a loaner once when I took my GMC Canyon in for service. I was pretty excited to try it- had the Brembos, great seats, drove very nice, and was a pretty good looking car I thought.
Get to work and one of my co workers asks if I drove my grandpa’s car to the office that day. Killed any illusions of getting one.
The Regal at least looked better than the Verano.
I owned a GS and can confirm the old man jokes rolled in.
There’s a very simple three-word rebuttal to this notion:
“So let’s race.”
My personal favorite: “Hold my beer”
I always thought Buick attempt at a younger demo wasn’t going to work. You would see those cars bought by the typical Buick demo of years earlier despite all the advertising that buick is new and for 20 or 30 something’s. What is fascinating to me is with the encore they seem to have attracted that 30 something. They have the older demo too and it could be that it’s really just the modern lesabre where the original owner is older then you find all sorts of different owners after. The Verano now seems to be changing hands to the wants cheap car crowd much like the lasabre did. It still shocks me a bit to see someone in their 20s or 30s in a newer Buick.
They obviously needed a turbo T-Type edition like they tried in the 80’s to attract younger buyers. I mean it worked so well for them back then…
We need something like a 2027 Envista Avenir T-Type. A daily driver that can haul as much ass as it can haul groceries.
I could see Buick being desperate enough to get a younger demo that they bring one of the little saic-gm wulings ev city cars in to attract them.
The irony is that these days the older demographic that Buick is known for courting is likely the only demographic that generally knows how to drive a manual. Grandma knows how to heal-toe.
Well, at least broken pes phalanges are a non-issue when Grandma knows how to “heal-toe.”
I’ll see myself out now.
I liked these, but could never bring myself to buy one when I was commuter car shopping back in 2013. The turbo was a fair bit of fun, with torque steer to make you giggle, but I’ll be honest – the manual transmission was not much fun. It wasn’t bad necessarily, certainly not as bad as the NSG370 I was used to daily driving at the time, but it didn’t have much feel and didn’t like being rushed. The Subaru I ended up with was a lot more fun.
Other GM cars that used that same gen2 Ecotec flavor (VVT/direct injected/B-W K04 turbo) as this Verano variant and the ’11-13 Regals also includes the hot versions of the Pontiac Solstice, Chevy HHR and the final-gen Saab 9-5 (those are detuned a bit and are flex-fuel ready). Regals and Veranos with the turboed 2.0 (and for that matter, the NG 9-5) are getting scarce on the ground.
Like their other direct injected Ecotec cousins, these 2.0s go through timing chains and guides nearly as fast as other cars go through timing belts, with the same net result–often bent valves, shattered roller rockers, shrapnel and shiny bits in the oil pan, etc., even at 120k miles. If still intact, either make sure chains have been recently done, or budget for them–not a horrible DIY project, much easier if the chains haven’t jumped. Bonus: the K04 turbos go bad regularly, and if the spinny bits are still good, the exhaust housings often crack around the wastegate flap, limiting turbo boost and throwing codes.
There’s that classic gm “Achilles’ heel” I was looking for. I was getting my turbocharged FWD-based gm cars confused when I was about to go research, and you saved me from it. Thank you.
Not to mention even with all of that, you still wind up with a verano. Ick.
I suspect they chose that name because they bought all the lettering for Verona, but forgot that they’d had Daewoo provide Suzuki with their Magnus sedan a few years earlier, and Suzuki renamed it Verona. So buick pulled a Scrabble™️ and swapped a couple vowels around.
Thankfully I didn’t end up with a Verano (or a Regal, for that matter)… I’m on my second 2011 Saab 9-5 here; I’ve done chains on both of them, turbo on the first one. I will say that all that Euro GM-ness baked in means that mechanical/drivetrain parts availability (OE, aftermarket and performance) is good and reasonably inexpensive for all of these cars… for now, anyway… or until Stellantis cuts supply of legacy GM Europe (Opel, Vauxhall) parts. Helpful hint: For the few NG 9-5 owners around here, if one can’t find mechanical/drivetrain parts from a Saab parts supplier, the part numbers are the same in the GM orbit.
Verano = spring in English.
Verano = summer in Spanish.
oops!
What Chris said, but I meant it as a joke.
The early 2.0s had horrible issues. Later model years are not admittedly as bad.
This was 13 years ago?!? Sweet Harley Earl’s ghost!
These things really were tiny. Right down to the single front windshield wiper. Good time for cheap cars.
I looked so hard to try to find one of these the last time I shopped for a car! There was just one in my area, but it was still like 50 miles away and I never got around to test driving it. The interiors in particular look really nice. Glad to see they have their fans out there.
“Look” and “actually are” are very different. It’s a gussied-up cruze with a surprisingly worse infotainment system. It looks better than its lesser sibling, but screams “rental upgrade!” rather than just “rental”!
I disagree. I’ve been daily driving a 2016 that I bought in 2018 with 14000 miles on it. It’s been a very comfortable cruiser. I’ll admit that it’s no mercedes inside, but it’s very nice compared to it’s competition. Its a nice place to be for 500 mile days only stopping for fuel. And the Bose stereo system sounds great
And it’s been super reliable. I’ve only had to change the brakes and tires. It does need about a half quart of oil between oil changes, but other than that, it’s been a tank.
The one thing I could never get over with these is the fact that the rear of this car looks like former Buick Verano spokesperson Peyton Manning scowling.
I have the automatic, but I still like my Verano.
Look at all those physical buttons and knobs on the dash.
It’s a pity the layout and function are poor. They could have done more with less, potentially.
I love being able to poke buttons and turn knobs. Throw in a stick and that’s it. I’d probably hate something like a Tesla dash but I haven’t been in one. As you can tell I’m in my early fifties.
I think I cross shopped this with the Cruze. I can’t remember why I picked the Chevy, probably price, but I did dream about what it’d be like with that engine. The Cruze was surprisingly well built and I thought decent looking for its segment. Anytime I got into a competitor (corolla, etc) it felt cheaper.
How was the Cruze for reliability? I heard horror stories….
Well, the engine was replaced under warranty, so I guess not great? Nothing else went wrong. Fit and finish and NVH was great for the category. As a commuter car it was great with one complaint. The small turbo engine had great efficiency in theory, but it was optimized to be efficient at ~60MPH and it started to drop off noticeably if you set cruise control at say 75 for your trip. I didn’t end up keeping it too long (4 years), so can’t speak to long term reliability.
I see. Which year? And was it the terrible 1.8/1.4?
A 2015 and it was the 1.4l I4. I don’t think I actually got an entire new engine, but the whole top end if I remember correctly.
In other words, it was rebuilt. I see.
Even if it were as quick as a GTI, it still looked like Grandpa’s old ride.
Which is perhaps a plus.
Yes, that’s what a sleeper is.
I recently tried to find one for sale and could not find one. Not one. Probably hidden in some facebook for sale group. I hate those fucking groups.
They didn’t sell that many, and most have probably already gone to the scrapyard.
Trying to make a race horse out of a pig does not make a race horse, it just makes a faster and rather annoyed pig.
Having had a couple of these as rentals back in the day, albeit with autotragics of course, they were a lot closer to being pigs than race horses.
Nope, hard pass.
I would consider this more the “Li’l Sebastian” of the GM performance lineup.
Except that little horse was cute. This thing has a face only it’s mother could love (assuming she has cataracts).
“Trying to make a race horse out of a pig does not make a race horse, it just makes a faster and rather annoyed pig”
No. But put some grease on that pig and you’ll have a different thing that nobody can catch. And, if desired, a delicious meal later. Can’t say that about the race horse.
You can catch a greased pig – use a net. Or just shoot the thing.
The French would disagree with you about the tastiness of the horse.
What is it with you and food lately? On a diet?
If you’re going to cheat like that then it’s not hard at all to win against a racehorse either. And I’d be careful of that horsemeat if I were you:
“Previous work showed that 18 Thoroughbred racehorses purchased by rescues that would have otherwise been sold for export for the sole purpose of slaughter to produce meat for human consumption were administered phenylbutazone. We report the number of American horses exported to Canada and Mexico from 2016 to 2021, the presence of contaminated horsemeat from Canadian slaughterhouses, and the human use and idiosyncratic effects of veterinary phenylbutazone and side effects of clenbuterol, 2 of the drugs that were found in contaminated Canadian horsemeat.”
https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/ajvr/84/3/ajvr.22.10.0185.xml
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_horse_meat_scandal
Thanks for asking but no diet to speak of. Just changing weather changing cravings.
Meh, I’ve tried it, didn’t particularly like it. Warn the French. I’m a rather basic b!tch in my meat preferences. Cow, pig, chicken. Not a fan of goat, moose, deer, or rabbit, either. And not at all a fan of fish or most other seafood. I did have some bear stew I rather liked once though. But I will try almost anything once.
The quality of meat can depend greatly on what the animal was eating, the cut, whether it was processed in a timely manner and other factors so IMO just trying it once isn’t really enough to say neigh.
Meh, if I don’t love it the first time for stuff that is not readily available, I can’t be bothered to go out of my way to try it again. Or at least more that trying a bite of what someone else is already having.
See, I never thought this was all that well styled. While the Regal (itself an Opel Insignia) was svelte and sporty, the Verano distilled the Astra J’s already anodyne styling down to a gawkish “aww-shucks” level of conservativeness. Everything from the abrupt decklid, to the too-big sail windows, to the chin-heavy Buick fascia looked the opposite of sporty. I actually, at the time, thought the Cruze was better-styled.
Now, if they’d brought over the hatchback Astra, that might’ve solved some of the issues with the looks…even if it would’ve been a sales dud.
The original Cruze was a good looking car. I very much agree that this derpy looking thing is not.
They did bring the Astra hatch over here, but as a Saturn. It wasn’t good other than exterior design.
I remember seeing a used red one in a VW showroom. It looked fantastic. The interior wasn’t great, but it made enough of an impression that I still remember it.
Well, yeah, but that was the Astra H.
Nothing wrong with Astra. Just another middle-of-the-road Euro hatch. Which means I like them better than just about everything the US or Japan has ever churned out themselves.