The timing couldn’t have been better; the Buick Park Avenue Ultra arrived just as we were heading out of town to visit relatives for the holidays.  It was a healthy dose of traditional American driving for a traditional American holiday season.

With the demise of the Roadmaster, the Park Avenue is top dog in the Buick lineup these days.  All of the current luxury car amenities are there; GM’s StabiliTrak traction control and OnStar driver assistance were made standard on the Park Avenue Ultra in 2000.

From prow to stern, the big sedan is hard to mistake for anything other than a Buick.  A very clean front end is dominated by a thin-barred, slightly oval grille reminiscent of toothy Buicks of the past.  The parking lights are moved to a discreet position at the extreme corners, which emphasizes the bumper line and gives the Park Avenue a classic, big-chrome-bumper look without the big chrome bumper.  Projector-style headlights reside behind clear covers.  A nicely sculpted hood is domed in the middle, and a sharp crease on each side is faintly reminiscent of 1950s Buicks.  That crease carries through all the way to the rear of the car, which also retains the big-bumper look.  We didn’t find our test car’s 16″ chrome wheels particularly attractive.

Inside, the Park Avenue is unpleasantly similar to the LeSabre.  That’s not a completely bad thing; the junior Buick is a well-designed, comfortable car.  It’s just that for the price hike, we’d like to see a more unique, upscale interior.  The seats are wide and plush, with soft leather.  They’re multi-adjustable, but we had a hard time finding a comfortable position.  The dash is nicely marked and easy to read, but matches that found in the LeSabre.  A large console between the front seats flips out to reveal a dual cupholder, swallows a big handful of compact discs, and also feels like it came out of a less expensive car.  Back-seat passengers are treated to lighted vanity mirrors, just like in a Mercedes.  Controls for the radio and memory seat functions can be confusing; even after reading the manual, every time we thought we had set the memory seat, we hadn’t.  Other gripes included extremely slim door pockets, and thick A-pillars which blocked forward visibility slightly.  On the plus side, the Park Avenue is blessed with an enormous trunk, in proper American style.  It happily swallowed a full load of Christmas cargo, and a pass-through in the rear seat allows long items to be stowed as well.

The supercharged V6 provides welcome urgency to the driving experience.  The Park Avenue has no trouble bullying its way through heavy traffic, even holiday traffic.  240 horsepower makes up for the Park Avenue’s almost-two-ton girth, and it will cruise at disconcertingly high speeds effortlessly.  The four-speed transmission shifts smoothly and is geared for maximum freeway efficiency.  The Park Avenue gets almost 30 mpg on the freeway; coupled with an 18.5 gallon gas tank it has a range of nearly 400 miles.

The steering is light, just like that of Buicks gone by.  There’s a bit of classic American floatiness when piloting the Park Avenue at low speeds–just as nostalgic, in its own way, as watching that big hood swing around.  It’s a good thing that steering is precise as well as light.  The suspension is tightened for responsiveness, but it’s not particularly well-done, with a tendency to be floaty where it should be snug, and to be sharply resistant where a more refined car would be softer.  It’s better than years gone by, but not up to the best modern luxury cars.  The brakes are also up to par, but could be better.  Four-wheel discs are standard, but they’ve got an awful lot of car to bring to a halt.

The equipment list is refreshingly long.  The Park Avenue Ultra also features a special edition, with a unique Laguna Green color and a walnut wood interior.  The aforementioned traction control is standard, as are cruise control, heated seats front and rear, and the OnStar system.  A new option for 2001 is an ultrasonic obstacle-detecting system in the rear bumper.  The Park Avenue Ultra starts at $37,490 and our test car with the Gran Touring package topped the ledger at $39,330.  It splits the difference neatly between the mass-market Chevrolet Impala and the high-luxury Cadillac Deville in GM’s lineup, and is quite comfortable between those two.  On the other hand, forty thousand dollars will also buy a personality-challenged but nicer-driving Acura 3.5RL, a Lincoln Town Car, or a number of other big, well-equipped freeway-eaters.

Big luxury cars are nearly all good.  Deciding on one is a matter of taste more than anything else.  The Park Avenue is a prettier car than an Acura 3.5RL, but the interior is a definite step down in elegance.  A Lincoln LS is more fun to drive, but doesn’t have much storage space inside for those road trip necessaries like maps and cold drinks.

Specifications:
All specs are for the 2001 Buick Park Avenue Ultra,  which we tested.
Length:     206.8 in.
Width:        74.7 in.
Height:        57.4 in.
Wheelbase:    113.8 in.
Curb weight:    3884 lb.
Cargo space:    19.1 cu. ft.
Base price:    $37,490
Price as tested: $39,330
Engine:     3.8 liter OHV supercharged V6
Drivetrain:     four-speed automatic, front wheel drive
Horsepower:     240 @ 5200
Torque:     280 @ 3600
Fuel capacity:    18.5 gal.
Est. mileage:    18/28

6/2009 update:  The Park was just about the nicest vehicle in GM’s lineup back in the day, and it’s still a pretty nice expression of Buick-ness.