MPV Search: Buick GL8

It has been a while since I started my search for an MPV for the family and having narrowed down my options, my first stop is at a nearby General Motors (GM) showroom in Pengchengbao Car Market (鹏程宝汽车城) is one of the newest in Shenzhen and houses most of the mainstream brands as well as several luxury brands such as Acura, Infiniti, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz, as well as Shenzhen's only TechArt showroom. TechArt is an aftermarket modification company that exclusively modifying Porsche cars. The GM showroom is located in the heart of the car market and strangely does not offer parking for customers who wish to visit the showroom. Their parking lot is only open to cars that are there for servicing. Customers who wish to buy GM cars are told to park by the road outside and walk in.

The Buick GL8 MPV is made by the Shanghai-GM joint venture factory and currently has the largest business MPV market share in China. Perhaps not because it is the best in every way but more because GM was first to figure out that the Chinese companies would take to MPVs as a great way of transporting their employees from place to place. However, one should not to take any credit off GM as once they got to the top of the heap, they are determined to defend it and have taken a lot of pains to ensure that their GL8 MPV is totally tailored to the Chinese market and road conditions. Looking at the showroom car, that attention to detail is obvious. General Motors certainly did their homework well. The car is conservatively styled, as required for a car that is used to ferry business guests. The interior is beautifully detailed and comfortable and extremely spacious as well. Two captain's seats in the middle row and a bench at the back which comfortably sits three take the cabin capacity to seven including the driver. Luggage space is decent and seems able to accommodate a carry-on luggage for each passenger. The third row bench also folds flat to give a huge luggage capacity. The boot base also flips open to reveal a panel of compartments that allow you to store odds and ends out of sight. The seats are also comfortable to sit and I reckon they would be pretty decent in a long distance ride too.


Source: General Motors

Buick GL8 Specifications:
Engine: 2.5l V6
Power: 112Kw @ 5600 rpm
Torque: 209 Nm @ 4400 rpm
Top Speed: 168 Km/h
Gas consumption: 7.46L/100km at 90km/h constant speed
Gas tank: 95l
Boot capacity: 685l
Dimensions: 5200mm long x 1847mm wide x 1729mm high

On paper, this was almost too good to be true. However, trolling through the internet discussion bulletins, I noted that most of the complaints on the Buick centered around the gas consumption. The GM-provided stat sheet stated a 7.46l per 100 km consumption. The salesman at the GM dealership claimed that was too optimistic and that real world consumption in mixed highway and city driving was closer to about 10l per 100 km. Real world consumption found on the internet claimed by owners was 17-20l per 100 km! Ouch.

I made an appointment for a test drive at a later date and will report back with my driving impressions from the test drive after that.

Previous articles:
The search for an MPV begins
MPV Search: My Options

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MPV Search: My Options

Having done a quick scout of the internet, I have narrowed my search for an MPV to a few choices to check out and get test drives. The MPV market in China is relatively new but as the market grew, more and more choices have appeared. The following graph shows the sales of MPVs in 2008.

Source: Gasgoo


The mid-market is dominated mainly by the GM Buick GL8 and in the last four years, challenges have been made by the Honda Odyssey and the Kia Carnival. The Buick GL8 has traditionally appealed to corporate use and given the more car-like look of the Honda Odyssey, Honda has wisely decided to appeal to family use. The Kia Carnival is more of an in-between, being able to serve both. More recent newcomers include the Dodge Caravan, Mitsubishi Grandis, and a number of vehicles made by local companies including the Hyundai powered JAC Refine, the Brilliance Grace which is a licensed local version of the Toyota Granvia and a host of other choices. Priced at 500,000 RMB and above, there are also the imported Toyota Previa and the Mercedes Benz Viano. There are also mini-sized MPVs such as the Honda Stream, the Volkswagen Touran and the Nissan Livina Geniss which I currently have but this category of vehicles are not being considered as they tend to be way too cramped for my liking.

So, having scanned through the internet and various car magazines, in my shortlist are:

1. Buick GL8
2. Kia Carnival
3. Dodge Caravan
4. Toyota Previa
5. Mazda MPV
   

While the Honda Odyssey and the Mitsubishi Grandis are arguably fine cars, they did not meet my critera for having sliding doors. Other brands were similarly removed from consideration for various other reasons such as documented reliability, room for improvement and modification and poor interior appointments and these included the Brilliance Grace and the JAC Refine.

On to the showrooms next.

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