By Lary Coppola
One of the perks of this job is that whenever I travel out of town for
business or pleasure, auto manufacturers are happy to accommodate a visiting
journalist like myself with a car. The most recent experience was a vacation I
took to the Florida Keys, where thanks to the great folks at Prestige Auto
Specialists, I picked up a 2012 Buick LaCrosse at Palm Beach International
(PBI). I’ve had a number of different opportunities to put the LaCrosse through
its paces since it originally debuted in 2009, and every time I drive it, I
like it more. The 10 days in Florida was no exception.
The LaCrosse marked the beginning
of a more luxurious and stylish era for Buick. And with China the world’s
largest potential car market, coupled with the fact the Chinese have a serious
love affair with Buick, it would be an understatement to say the LaCrosse was
also the most important vehicle GM had launched in a generation. Owning a Buick
in China is a status symbol akin to owning a high-end Mercedes in the U.S.
GM has positioned the mid-size LaCrosse as a serious, head-to-head
competitor for Acura, Volvo, Lexus, and Infiniti — with the younger, luxury
import buyers’ wallet directly in its crosshairs.
The LaCrosse was the first step in GM’s plan to revamp the Buick lineup
the way it successfully has with Cadillac. So far, between the LaCrosse, the
new Regal, the midsize Enclave crossover SUV, and hopefully with the new
Encore, which debuted at the Detroit Auto Show, it seems to be working.
The LaCrosse is truly a world car. It was the first North American GM
product built on its global mid-size Epsilon II platform that originally
debuted in Europe. Engineers at Opel created the basic platform and most of the
chassis development, while American engineers tackled the body structure, and
GM China handled the interior, and majority of the exterior design. Considering
the Chinese affinity for Buick, they wanted to ensure the design and materials
were best-in-class.
Walkaround: it’s hard to argue with the LaCrosse’s
stylish looks. Smooth and rounded, it incorporates many of the styling cues
from previous Buicks without coming across as retro, or worse, cliché’. The
LaCrosse features a low, coupe-like roofline that creates the optical illusion of
being significantly smaller than the previous model, although it’s virtually
the same size.
The hoodline, beltline and rear deck all sit up high, while the roof
sweeps down towards the sedan’s haunches. Both the front and rear glass have a
significantly flat slope, and since the LaCrosse’s sheetmetal is meant for a
global audience, the upright front fascia meets the more stringent European
pedestrian crash standards. The body surfaces have more pronounced creases in
the hood and flanks, including Buick’s signature “sweep spear” at the rear
quarter, all contributing to an elegant, modern design.
Model Lineup: The three previous trim levels — CX, CXL
and CXS — along with their exterior badging, have been replaced with seven product
equipment groups — The LaCrosse Base (1SB), Convenience (1SD), Leather (1SL),
Premium (1SN), Premium II (1SP), Premium III (1SR) and Touring (1ST).
The LaCrosse Base (1SB), includes cloth seats; dual-zone automatic
climate control system and rear-seat heating and cooling outlets; AM/FM/XM
stereo with single-CD player; Bluetooth for phone; USB port; high-resolution
color driver information center; remote keyless entry; eight-way driver power
seat adjuster; and leather-wrapped steering wheel with steering wheel-mounted
audio controls.
The Convenience (1SD), adds auto-dimming inside rearview mirror,
power driver lumbar, remote start and universal home remote, while the Leather (1SL), adds leather heated
seats, power passenger seat, fog lamps and LED indicators on the outside
rearview mirror.
The LaCrosse Premium I (1SN), features rear park assist, rear vision
camera, memory settings and auto-dimming outside rearview mirror, and the Premium II (1SP), adds ventilated
seats, heated steering wheel, power rear sunshade, passive entry and
push-button start.
The Premium III (1SR), piles on a premium Harman/Kardon
11-speaker with surround sound audio system and power outlet, while the Touring (1ST) includes a navigation
system with 40-gig hard drive, Touring Package and Driver Confidence Package.
Interior: The quality of the interior — both
materials, and fit-and-finish — are Cadillac quality. The dashboard covering,
door panels and instrument cluster hood are all the same sew and stitch leather
previously reserved for Cadillac, and standard across the model range. All
LaCrosse models also have a leather-covered shifter and steering wheel, which
has a thick, easy-to-grip rim outfitted with redundant controls for the audio
system.
Instrumentation is Buick’s soft teal color with pleasing teal accents.
And while some customers prefer a touch interface for the optional navigation
and audio systems, others prefer a traditional knob arrangement. Buick provides
a choice of both in the LaCrosse, with most of the controls accessible via the
screen or a knob directly below. And for the tech adventurous, most of the
systems are also accessible through voice commands by pressing a button on the
steering wheel.
Buick boasts the LaCrosse is the quietest Buick ever thanks to Quiet
Tuning, which involves acoustic laminated glass, triple-sealed doors,
liquid-sealed sound deadening, and special designs for the suspension bushings,
engine cradle and mounts, and steering and induction systems.
The LaCrosse features all the usual power items — windows, mirrors, door
locks remote entry, etc., along with a smart key and start button, AM/FM/CD/ with
Sirius/XM and Bluetooth, which are all standard, as is GM’s OnStar.
Under The Hood: The standard powerplant is Buick’s 182
horse, 2.4-liter DOHC inline four-banger, which features eAssist™ “light electrification”
technology, four-valves per cylinder, and continuously variable valve timing
for intake and exhaust. The eAssist system is the
standard powertrain on four LaCrosse packages. It uses a lithium-ion battery
system and electric motor-generator to enable regenerative braking capability,
improving fuel economy 25 percent over the previous 2.4-Liter engine. The
engine is paired with a next-generation six-speed automatic transmission.
The upscale LaCrosse models are equipped with a new, more
powerful and efficient version of the previous 3.6-Liter V-6 direct-injected
engine, which adds 23 more horses, for a total of 303. The engine also adds E85
ethanol FlexFuel capability. All are
mated to the same smooth 6-speed automatic. Front-wheel is standard with AWD
offered on the upscale verions.
Behind The Wheel: The LaCrosse is a real pleasure to drive. Picking
it up at PBI, the three-hour trip to Islamorada in The Florida Keys was smooth
and quiet. The fatigue level after 6 hours in flight, a 2-hour layover in
Dallas, and then the road trip, was a lot less than you might imagine. I
experienced the same thing on a previous turnaround trip to Spokane and back —
meaning almost 12 hours behind the wheel.
The front seats are well shaped and supportive, and hold up surprisingly
well to both aggressive two- lane blacktop driving, as well as hours on the
freeway. The standard Stabilitrak system with traction control, 4-wheel
independent suspension with front McPherson struts, and 4-wheel anti-lock disc
brakes with intelligent assist, make handling and braking responsive, safe and
effortless, no matter what the driving surface.
Whines: The lack of paddle shifters is a glaring
omission I’m surprised hasn’t been added since the LaCrosse’s original debut.
Given that few people actually manually shift of their automatics anyway, this
probably won’t matter to anyone except a handful of people – many who probably
wouldn’t consider a Buick in the first place.
Bottom Line: Simply put, this is a great car and a huge
advance forward for not only Buick, but all of Detroit. It’s quiet,
comfortable, stylish, and at under $36,000 as tested, a damn good value as well.
Like GM has proven with Chevy, Cadillac CTS, and now Buick, it can compete
head-on with the Japanese and European dragons, slaying them on both quality
and price. If you’re in the market for a mid-sized luxury sports sedan, you owe
it to yourself to check out the Buick LaCrosse.
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