Buick Park Avenue 2nd generation
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Production period: | 1996-2005 |
Body versions: | limousine |
Engines: | Gasoline engines: |
Length: | 5253 mm |
Width: | 1897 mm |
Height: | 1458 mm |
Wheelbase: | 2891 mm |
Curb weight: | 1711-1759 kg |
In summer 1996 Buick launched a new Park Avenue and Park Avenue Ultra , this time on the G platform of the Buick Riviera . Wheelbase and body were slightly larger than its predecessor, which improved the space in the interior. The drive took over unchanged the 3.8-liter V6 engine in the standard version of the Park Avenue base model and in compressor version at Park Avenue Ultra.
History
The Buick Park Avenue was a top of the range luxury saloon from General Motors (GM), launched under the American car brand Buick from spring 1990 to summer 2005 in two generations .
The Park Avenue was the top model of Buick. The first vehicle with this name was built from autumn 1988 to spring 1990, at which time it was a luxurious feature of the then top-of-the-range Buick Electra . The actual first generation was produced from spring 1990 until middle of 1996 came from 1991 also to Europe.
It was based on the C platform of General Motors with front-wheel drive and was with the Buick LeSabre , the Oldsmobile 88 / 98 and the Pontiac Bonneville and the Cadillac Deville / Fleetwood related, but had a number of independent technical features.
The designation Park Avenue had been used by Buick since 1975 for particularly richly equipped versions of its predecessor Buick Electra . When downsizing of an exterior length of 5.64 meters in the spring of 1984 the name was initially Electra received, but was successively General Motors by Park Avenue replaced.
From 1988 to 1990, the name "Electra" can still be found in the type designation, but the successor renounced it completely and the model was henceforth called "Park Avenue".The production ended in the summer of 2005, successor is the Buick Lucerne .
The equipment Park Avenue has always been the name for the luxury version of the Electra .
The model name Electra had a great tradition at Buick since the autumn of 1958 when Electra, Invicta and LeSabre together with a new design formed the basis of the top models of the Buick range (which is why the Buick emblem with its three escutcheons used to this day also symbolizes these three series).
The Electra was evaporated in April 1984 - parallel to the technically related Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and Cadillac Fleetwood / deVille - in an almost unimaginable scale by American standards and lost more than half a meter of outside length and half a ton of curb weight. General Motors was therefore forced to make it clear to the buyers with an elaborate advertising campaign and special brochures that they did not need to fear any regression with the new model. This was extremely successful despite the radical cure in size and weight. For the new Electra offered more interior and the same noise comfort as the old, but could show three to four liters of gasoline consumption savings.
This was primarily due to the Buick's 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine replacing the old 5.0-liter V8 engine supplied by Oldsmobile. This engine brought well above average torque and thus subjectively the same power as the V8, but could be in American driving significantly under 10 liters per 100 kilometers move.
For the 1988 model year, Buick brought a second generation of this V6 engine into the first "real" Park Avenue, which differed from the first generation by a counterbalance shaft running in the inner V , ie in the area of the engine block between the cylinder banks.
Similar to Cadillacs Fleetwood the super luxury version Sixty Special Buick brought the Electra in the special version "Ultra" for the years 1989 and 1990. Unlike the offered from 1991 "Ultra" had the Electra of these years no supercharged engine. Its features consisted mainly of a 20-fold electrical adjustment of the front seats, special wheels and real wood decors in the interior and a slightly softer leather for the seats. Only the Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special from 1989 offered even more luxury with a 22-fold adjustment of the seats. In the Buick, however, a futuristic design of the seat adjustment, which could be made with a folding in the middle of the seat graphically representing the seats control panel depending on the choice for driver or front passenger.
The Park Avenue of the first generation offered but also other "James Bond" extras such as a membrane keypad as Buick since 1981 for the operation of the air conditioning offered and a "Keyless Entry System" with another membrane keyboard in the chrome trim of the Driver's door, which made it possible to open the car and the trunk lid by entering a numerical code and making the door key unnecessary.
Despite GM's fears of downsizing losses on the sale of Park Avenue's top model, Park Avenue proved to be an extremely well salable model. It still offers far above average comfort and gives the impression of moving in a soundproof room.
From 1998, second-generation airbags were used, which operated at lower pressure.
In autumn 2001, the Ultra received a modified grille and on the front fenders so-called Ventiports . These were trim panels with indicated air vents (which were also functional in some models), a design element that has been used repeatedly at Buick since the late 1940s.
In the middle of 2003 also the Park Avenue in the basic version received the modified grill, but not the Ventiports . At the same time there were changes to the rear, and a chrome strip with "Park Avenue" lettering was mounted above the license plate.
In the summer of 2005, Buick discontinued the production of Park Avenue. His successor was the Buick Lucerne .
Between summer 2007 and 2012, Shanghai-Buick offered the Holden Statesman Series WM on the Chinese market as Buick Park Avenue, powered by a 3.6-liter V6 engine (187 kW / 254 hp), but also with an in Australia not available 2.8-liter V6 engine (150 kW / 204 hp) could be equipped. The prices amounted (as of February 2008) to 329,000 to 499,000 yuan .
