When Buick introduced the Opel Cascada to the U.S. market as the Buick Cascada for 2016, it was the first two-door offering from the brand since the Riviera had been discontinued at the end of the previous millennium and the first Buick ragtop since the Reatta got axed near the end of the Bush Sr. administration.
I really like the looks of this Carbon Black Metallic one, with its two-tone five-spoke 20" wheels. Alas, the chonkily aggressive wedge-like styling is writing checks its underpinnings can't quite cash.
Designed from the ground up as a ragtop (there's no Cascada coupe) the platform was derived from other GM European compacts and, once the bracing had been added for adequate rigidity for the topless life, the little four-seater weighed in at only about a trunk full of groceries shy of two tons.
The only available powerplant in the Cascada was a 1.6L turbo four putting 200hp to the front wheels through a 6-speed Hydra-Matic slushbox.
Car and Driver recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 8.3 seconds and a 16.5 quarter at 85 mph, and got it to circle a skidpad at 0.84g. These numbers would have been reasonably competitive as recently as the early Nineties, but for a sporty car in the late 2010s, especially with a $34k price tag ($44k in constant dollars), they were decidedly lackluster.
With convertible sales sluggish, Opel/Buick Cascada production did not long survive the sale of Opel to Peugeot, and the car was discontinued after the 2019 model year.
This one was photographed in January of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.
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