2000 Buick Century The affordable premium American road car. By Ted West, New Car Test Drive .com

Buick's Century offers value and practicality. It comes with a strong but frugal V6 engine, a roomy interior with bench seats that can seat three people and a big trunk. Otherwise, there is little to distinguish this mid-size sedan.

The Century line is composed of the Custom ($19,725), the Limited ($21,860) and the Century 2000 Special Edition, which is essentially an appearance package. The key difference between Custom and Limited is the latter's leather upholstery and a driver's side-impact air bag.

Standard on all Century models are keyless remote entry, power locks, daytime running lights with Twilight Sentinel automatic light control, anti-lock brakes, traction control, tire-inflation monitor and theft-deterrent.

We drove the new Century 2000 Special Edition, which retails for $21,035 (including discounts); it comes with cast aluminum wheels, a blacked-out grille, cruise control, dual-zone climate control, a six-way power driver's seat and an AM/FM cassette player with steering wheel controls. Century 2000 Special Edition is also available in Custom leather trim and goes for $21,833 (including discounts).