Introduction

Buick Century is a car you can count on, day after day, mile after mile. It's practical and comfortable, with a smooth ride, good performance, and predictable handling. It even offers a fair amount of luxury for a very practical price. As Buick's best-selling model, Century has established a large and satisfied following. The Century provides the comfort of a traditional American sedan. The ride quality is soft and its V6 engine is strong but frugal. The interior design is straightforward. Everything is exactly where you think it should be, and everything works exactly how you expect it should work. Its broad bench seats provide plenty stretch-out room, but bucket seats are available.

Walkaround

Some would call the styling bland. The Century was designed to perform its duties quietly and faithfully without drawing attention. And it does this well. With its traditional grille and roomy interior, the Century is unmistakably a Buick. It shares the same smooth, organic form as the more expensive Buicks, but it's far less expressive. Many find this understated appearance appealing. The Special Edition's blacked-out grille is a gesture in the direction of European panache, and the handsome painted aluminum wheels on Special Edition Limiteds are, for this car, almost startling. These attractive wheels make a bold styling statement against the backdrop of the car's otherwise neutral appearance. Changes for 2002 are minimal. In addition to the new console for Touring models, child-seat attachments have been added to all models. Color choices now include Dark Bronze Mist. The cruise control has been re-engineered, and there's a new woodgrain pattern in Limiteds called Tortoise Burl.

Interior Features

Century's understated exterior styling theme continues inside. The dashboard is traditional American, and on the Spartan side by today's standards. Instrumentation is limited to a small analog speedometer, a water temperature gauge and a fuel gauge. On the lower left and right of the dash are two circular warning-light complexes, each split three ways in pie-chart fashion. The left three warning lights indicate problems with oil pressure, battery charge or anti-lock brake circuitry. The three indicators on the right warn that the seatbelts are not fastened, the parking brake is on or the air bags are not initialized to function properly. Century comes standard with dual air bags and, oddly, a driver's side-impact bag only on Limited. The six-way power seats work well and provide a generous range of adjustment. A power driver's seat is standard on all Limiteds and on Special Edition Customs. Special Edition Limited models get a power passenger's seat as well. In standard trim, the Custom has manually operated seats; but power seats are available separately as a $350-per-seat option. In every case, both front seatbacks adjust manually. Special Edition models have steering-wheel-mounted audio controls. Sprouting from the thin wheel's four spokes are buttons for Seek, Scan, AM/FM, Source, Mute and Volume. Generally, such remotes are useful, but we had some problems with this particular system. We consistently tapped Seek by accident while wheeling the Century in and out of parking spaces, losing our selected station. Also, the steering-wheel controls are illuminated whenever the lights are on, which is good, but after a while the lighted plastic buttons become hot to the touch. Befitting a Buick, the front and rear seats are roomy and comfortable, and rear headroom is excellent. Our Century Limited Special Edition featured handsome leather upholstery. The trunk is generous, as is expected of a Buick. A useful cargo net is supplied with the Special Edition, but opening the trunk requires using a separate trunk key instead of the ignition key. This is a long-standing GM inconvenience that should have been corrected way back in the 20th Century.