Road Test noted an average of 9 miles-per-gallon around town during their test period. Weaknesses for the Centurion were typical for full-sized cars at the time: horrific fuel economy and unimpressive braking performance. Too bad that Pontiac, which still had some credibility as GM’s “performance” division in the early 1970s, didn’t see fit to make this sort of suspension set-up standard on all its big cars-it would certainly have been a better fit from a brand imagery standpoint. That fact alone made the Centurion a bit of an odd choice for the Buick brand, since the company’s hallmark for decades had been riding comfort. According to Road Test, cornering capabilities were impressive for such a big car, though there was a bit of deterioration in ride isolation due to the suspension set-up. The excellent styling was proof, once again, of the talent of Bill Mitchell and his teams in GM design.īuick engineers had done their homework with the Centurion. GM deserved credit for making their new “fuselage-type” designs for 1971 look smaller than they actually were-in sharp contrast to Chrysler’s Fuselage offerings that unfortunately looked even more gargantuan than their dimensions would dictate. Not that you’d realize it from looking at the car, however-it was simply a handsome full-sized 4-door.
Right out of the gate, Road Test noted the Centurion’s positioning as the “sportiest” of the big Buicks. William Stopford’s post yesterday provided an excellent overview on Buick’s full-sized “performance” offering of the early 1970s, and this vintage review provides a bit more period detail on the mission and merits of the car when it was new. “When obscure cars are reviewed, Road Test Magazine will review them.” This riff on Buick’s famous tagline could certainly be applied to the January 1971 issue of Road Test Magazine, which featured a drive report on the newly introduced Buick Centurion.
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