1992. It was a strange time for the world. America’s Greatest Enemy is no more, Jeffrey Dahmer go to jail (and Ryan Murphy made a lot of money 30 years later on it), and we elect the saxophone as president. It was also a strange period for cars – especially American cars.
American common sense about what makes a good car (large boat with soft suspension and moderate seats) has given way to nicer, sportier and more refined cars. It caused companies like General Motors to catch up, so when the time came redesigned Buick SkylarkThe General came up with this: I give you a 1992 Buick Skylark Gran Sport.
I mean, look at it. Even MotorWeek called Skylark’s front end “alarming” in their video caption. Buick probably hoped that the car’s “modern wedge shape” would appeal to younger buyers. Can you guess what didn’t happen? That’s right. It doesn’t appeal to younger buyers.
1992’s more famous, sportier contemporaries hail from foreign lands, like Mercedes E-Class W124, E36 BMW 3-Series, Audi80 and Saab 9-3. Although, the US has given Ford Taurus SHOP that did pretty well. Compare those beauties to the Skylark and it’s a joke—far from a comparable exterior and engineering perspective. The sharpest part of this car is the knurled front end, which doesn’t really make it appealing from afar.
Things aren’t much better on the inside either. Most sports cars of the era, especially European ones, were leather, cause, sport. However, since this is the ’90s and Buick, this supposedly sporty car is equipped with classic large padded seats (which are said to be neither as sturdy nor as comfortable as they look) and a dashboard. red plastic pitiful. At least it comes with a center mounted gear lever. That makes a check for sports? Honestly, it looks like someone drew the E36’s panel from memory.
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Even in the ‘90s, the cars the Skylark competed with had some of the latest and most cutting-edge tech in the automotive industry. Think about BMW’s “board computer” (which is sort of like a proto-iDrive system) that gave the driver all sorts of information on various vehicle metrics. By comparison, the Skylark is laughable with a simple CD player that even MotorWeek called “the picture of simplicity” and three rotary dials to control your heat and air conditioning. Though, I guess it was fair, as the average age of a Skylark buyer in 1992 was probably well past the age of 80.
Motivating the base Skylark in an eight-valve four-popper with enough power to outpace someone with a cane. There wasn’t much kick to it. However, the Gran Sport got Buick’s 3.3-liter V6 making a meager 160 horsepower mated up to a three-speed automatic. That was good enough to reach 60 mph in 10 whole seconds! Meanwhile, all of its competitors were available with funky inline six-cylinder engines, high revving four cylinders, or turbochargers. Whatever they came with, it was always a better option than this anemic 3.3-liter V6.
The Skylark Gran Sport also offered adjustable suspension, which was a bigger to-do at the time, with “soft,” “auto,” and “sport” suspension settings. Buick probably thought they had a really nifty suspension system here, but if I had to guess the impact those buttons had on the actual suspension feel was minimal. MotorWeek indicated that their drivers could feel some differences between those settings, but not enough of a difference — not even close to the differentiations in suspension and drive settings on cars produced today.
Buick may have done well in the ’80 with its GNX, but a similar implementation did not occur for the next decade. Trying as hard as they could, they tried again, appealing to a younger market and being “cool” and competing with overseas competitors. But, like Buick, it clearly failed. That’s why most of the cars of this era—E36, W124, Audi 80 and SHO—have survived in the enthusiast community, while nearly every 1992 Skylark makes a comeback. the earth. But hey, at least it has an adjustable suspension.
