2010 Buick LaCrosse CXS Review

Published at CarReview.com

By Kurt Gensheimer

Blings:

• Interior silent as a monastery
• Incredible amount of rear legroom
• Beautifully crafted inside and out

Dings:

• Visibility so bad it should come with a Surgeon General warning
• Torque steer (yes, it’s front-wheel drive)
• Low rear door clearance devours heads

Ruling: It might be riddled with blind spots, but the new LaCrosse is also riddled with style, performance, luxury and value.

Never before has an automotive brand represented two completely polar opposite demographics as Buick does in the United States and China. In the U.S., the cache of Buick has grown as old and decrepit as it owners, whereas in China, Buick has emerged as the automotive brand representing a thirtysomething’s arrival into the material world. In China, the average Buick owner is a youthful 32. In the U.S.? More than twice as old.

Which is exactly the reason why last year when half of GMs automotive brands were on the chopping block, Buick was spared. Depending on who you ask, we can either thank or blame the Chinese for saving Buick. Although the Chinese are well-known in America for their manufactured junk worth less than the packaging it’s wrapped in, after driving the 2010 LaCrosse – a car which was entirely designed in China – we can’t find any Chinese junk here. Unless of course you’re referring to an actual Chinese Junk ship, known for it’s unsurpassed efficiency and ease of handling; two characteristics also found in the new LaCrosse.

First Impressions

The first time you lay eyes on the LaCrosse, you brain registers Lexus ES 350. But this wouldn’t be an entirely fair comparison, as the Lexus looks rather mundane sitting next to the LaCrosse. Additionally, when we pulled up to a stop light next to a 2005 LaCrosse, the design improvements really set in. Styling-wise, the new LaCrosse is 90 million miles ahead of the LaCrosse of only five years yore. It’s hard to believe they even share the same badge and nameplate.

So the outside of the LaCrosse looks good with its generous chrome accents, 19″ inch rims, high shoulders and tasteful hood vents, but what about inside? Recently, GM has been notorious for pairing world-class exterior design with bush-league interior appointments containing more plastic than a Rubbermaid warehouse. But this isn’t the case with the LaCrosse; it’s every bit as sculpted and eye-catching as the exterior.

Performance

On the road, the first observation we made was how absolutely silent the cabin was. Scary silent. So silent that even at freeway speeds we could still hear ourselves think ‘how silent is scary silent?’ This scary silence can be attributed to the acoustic glass used in the front windows and the five millimeter thick glass in the back. Not only do buyers associate silence with quality, but they also associate it with luxury. Two elements which the Buick brand has been lacking for decades.

A third element is performance. Aside from the radial roasting Buick GNX of the mid-1980s, the Buick brand has long lost any aspirations of performance – until now. The LaCrosse is offered with three direct-injection powerplants: a 2.4 liter four-cylinder, a 3.0 V6 and the one we tested in the CXS, a 3.6 V6. In our opinion, at least for the LaCrosse, the 3.6 is the only way to go. The car’s 4,000 pound curb weight makes the smaller engines seem underpowered. With 280 horses and 208 ft. lbs. torque powering the front wheels, the LaCrosse is quick with a mid-7 second 0-60, outstanding throttle response and fuel-efficient to the tune of 17 mpg city and 27 mpg freeway. Even with our frequent throttle stomps, we averaged a shade under 23 mpg over nearly 400 miles of driving.

The LaCrosse is based on GM’s successful front-drive mid-size luxury sedan platform, but as with any front-wheel drive car putting down 280 horses, torque steer is an issue, but only a slight one. Quite honestly, in an outright performance-oriented sedan like the Acura TL Type S, you expect a little torque steer. But in a Buick? We weren’t prepared for it. But perhaps it’s about time our expectations change.

The LaCrosse handles like no other Buick sedan in memory. Smooth, controlled and tight in the corners, the LaCrosse has no problems aggressively tackling interstate cloverleaf onramps, and it gives you plenty of notice when it’s running out of talent. Our tester had the Touring Package, which features a continuously variable real time damping system with sport mode capability. You probably won’t find yourself salivating to get it out for a back country flog, but the combined engine thrust and tight handling (particularly for a Buick) will still bring a smile to your face each morning on the way to work. And not much to say about the tranny except it hasn’t changed much from previous Buicks – which is to say it shifts smooth and quiet as still water on a pond.

Interior

For us, the biggest treat of this car is inside. It seems GM has finally started figuring out how to make a world-class interior, and we hope this will quickly carry over to the Corvette. One of the most pleasing aspects inside the LaCrosse is the lighting. Every gauge and dial is backlight with a tasteful turquoise LED, and at night, the light is simply stunning. We found ourselves just sitting in the driveway after a night out, basking in the physical and visual comfort of the LaCrosse.

The dash wraps around both front doors as if they are one piece, bringing design flow and unity to an interior not often seen in American cars. And at night, a backlight LED runs along the entire upper line of the dashboard, adding to its eye-pleasing nature. Although the LaCrosse has numerous eye-pleasing features inside the cabin, looking out from inside could be better described as eye-splitting. The interior visibility, particularly out the back, is among the worst we’ve ever experienced. The shoulders are so high and the C-pillars so thick that the rear window is no bigger in size than a sunroof.

A word of advice – if you get a LaCrosse, get the optional navigation system with the backup camera. It might tack an additional 2 grand onto the total bill, but trust us, you and everyone behind you will be hating life if you don’t get it. Besides, the standard audio system without navigation has the graphics quality of a Texas Instruments calculator.

The back seat of the LaCrosse features legroom so generous that even the worst case of elephantiasis could be easily accommodated. But just be careful entering and exiting, because the low roofline of the LaCrosse is a head trauma case just waiting to happen. Once inside, the headroom improves, but it’s the ingress and egress which could potentially coldcock you.

On the features front, the LaCrosse doesn’t disappoint. From heated and ventilated front power seats to a keyless start system to Bluetooth integration to a power rear sunshade to an 11-speaker, 384-watt Harmon Kardon stereo system featuring XM Satellite Radio and navigation, about the only feature it doesn’t have is a bidet. But we prefer to wipe anyway, so no harm, no foul. All bidets aside, we were a bit unimpressed with the navigation system, not only for its outdated graphical interface, but also for the fact it couldn’t find our address – something we’ve never experienced with any other nav system.

Safety

On the safety front, the LaCrosse lives up to the rumors of its build quality. It earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick for both 2009 and 2010; a title which not all competitors can claim, and it also received a 5-star Frontal and Side Crash rating as well as a 4-star Rollover rating.

Value

Base MSRP for the LaCrosse CXS is just a shade over $33,000. Our tester came in at $36,000. So how does that stack up value-wise against its main competitors like the Acura TL, Lincoln MKS, Lexus ES 350 and Toyota Avalon? Quite well, we think, because the Buick really seems to cut a niche from each one of these cars. It has some of the whiz-bang tech features of the TL, the freeway silence of the Lexus, the rear legroom of the Toyota and the edgy styling of the MKS. For $36,000, you’re getting a lot of car. And a lot of good, quality car at that. If this were the previous generation LaCrosse, we’d laugh ’till we choked. No way Jose. But this car? Like we said, its time to change your expectations of Buick.

Who Should Buy It?

As has always been the case with the Buick brand, it’s a car for those who want something more than a Chevy but aren’t quite ready for the Cadillac. But what hasn’t always been the case, Buick is not for old folk any more. This car should have as much appeal to thirtysomethings as it does to octogenarians. But GM has to be very careful here with price points. Because a base Cadillac CTS is only $2,000 more than a LaCrosse CXS. And we all know a Caddy has far more street cred in the U.S. than a Buick. At least for now anyway.

Conclusion

It’s going to take some time for people to realize that Buick is no longer a stodgy old brand. We think this will really start changing once the new Regal comes out, but in the meantime, all those millions of thirtysomethings across the Pacific are having an enormous positive effect on the Buick brand. If it weren’t for this youthful Chinese demographic, this LaCrosse wouldn’t exist, and quite honestly, neither would the entire Buick brand.

The Chinese have helped resurrect a long neglected and ridiculed American automotive brand, and we’re only at the very beginning of this resurrection. Years from now when we’re all driving Cherys and Geelys, we’ll look back and reminisce on the days when Buick was a uniquely American brand reserved for those with an AARP membership; well before it became the status symbol car for every up-and-coming Chinese professional. But until that time, we can all benefit from the changes this brand is undergoing, and have confidence in the fact that America is once again making some of the finest automotive products on the road today.