Though a midsize sedan when judged by pricing and dimensions, the Century feels more like a large luxury car from behind the wheel. Buick knows its customers aren't looking for the firmness of a German autobahn-burner. They want a Buick. And that's what they get.Ride quality is the Century's outstanding feature. It is soft and compliant over any road surface. Bumps, dips or ridges on the pavement are seldom heard or felt. Instead, there are smooth up-and-down movements that indicate, in a muted way, that the Century has been driven over something, with little indication as to the nature or size of the obstruction. Road and suspension noise are absent.
Buick has abandoned its mushy Dyna-ride shock absorber calibrations this year, opting instead for a slightly firmer ride. This in no way detracts from ride quality, but does reduce some of the body roll and rocking-horse motions common to previous versions.
We'd like to see the Magnasteer electronic power steering tuned slightly different, however. The low steering effort is nice in tight parking quarters, but there's not enough steering feel at low speeds. Then again, we may not represent what a Century driver wants. Few, if any, owners will ever drive a Century down a canyon road at anything above a modest speed, and fewer still would want the car's steering to have sports car precision.
The bottom line is that the Century is quite pleasant to drive when used as its designers intended. The 3.1-liter V6 engine and 4-speed automatic transmission that come in all Century models deliver enough power to meet demands and they are smooth and quiet and deliver good fuel economy. The brakes also do a good job, though we felt the ABS coming into play a bit earlier than expected during hard stops.
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