Something a bit different - 2015 Buick LaCrosse
Discussion
As above, something a little different to the usual PH fare, but an interesting car all the same and perhaps some small insight into a car few Englishmen will get to try.
I've just returned from a holiday in America, where part of the deal was that I'd book a hire car to complete a trip from Washington DC to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia; spending a few days in the park before returning the car to Dulles International Airport and flying home. I booked with Alamo rentals and went for the 'premium sedan' class, mainly because it wasn't a great deal more expensive than the crappy Daewoo Matiz and Ford Focus at the bottom of the list. I really wanted the Chrysler CTS, but that was very pricey. I ticked the box for a Nissan Maxima, and was looking forward to trying a decent sized V6 through a CVT. On pickup day though, the only Maxima at the Alamo lot at Union Station looked like a pile; it was at the far end of the queue of cars and covered in dirt. The interior was also a mess, and disappointingly it looked like it had just been brought back and was due a clean. It also had a cloth interior. This is what I should have had:
On getting to the desk, the car in the 'premium' class awaiting me was a freshly cleaned Buick LaCrosse with only 1800 miles on the clock. This, to be precise:
What it basically boils down to is an Insignia clone dressed up for the American market. In transpires that Buick described it as 'America's new Lexus fighter'. Not quite, I wouldn't have said, but the American pundits reckon it takes the Buick name into new territory, shedding off the old 'retirement home' image and selling to a younger customer. I'm not sure about that either. The champagne gold colour wasn't too bad but the fake stick on bonnet vents are very tacky. The crease along the side goes wild at the rear 3/4 but looks unresolved. I didn't like the grille. The interior was a better effort for the most part, it was reasonably well equipped and reasonably finished. The seats were very comfortable and the dark stained wooden trim was nice. The panel gaps were a bit shoddy inside and the leather wrapped stereo controls were hideous, but for the most part it felt good. The SatNav was interesting, as it was a telephone call service to OnStar for streaming navigation details. I've not heard of that since I had a Volvo S60 (and I think Lexus used to use it here too).
What was it like to drive? I thought the 3.6 V6 engine was a canny enough unit stymied by a dreadful gearbox. It constantly wanted to be in top gear in 'D', which was fine when cruising on the highways but useless on Skyline Drive, which is a fantastic bit of road which threads through the national park, going every higher and with loads of great bends, funny cambers and disappearing crests. I tried using the manual selector to aid the drive, but the car often thought it knew best and stuck to higher gears. Trying to click down to second at 30mph and being told 'no, 3rd is enough here' was fairly irritating. The suspension setup is very soft, and it felt like the door handles would touch down on tighter bends. I couldn't see a way in the manual to override the gear selector either so I just put up with it. On the freeway, refinement was impressive and the damping cut out most of the whine and thump of concrete road and expansion joints.
Ulimtately, the road was more impressive than the car but it was an enjoyable few days and a few hundred miles!
There were loads of Harleys up there!
And the odd treat.
I've just returned from a holiday in America, where part of the deal was that I'd book a hire car to complete a trip from Washington DC to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia; spending a few days in the park before returning the car to Dulles International Airport and flying home. I booked with Alamo rentals and went for the 'premium sedan' class, mainly because it wasn't a great deal more expensive than the crappy Daewoo Matiz and Ford Focus at the bottom of the list. I really wanted the Chrysler CTS, but that was very pricey. I ticked the box for a Nissan Maxima, and was looking forward to trying a decent sized V6 through a CVT. On pickup day though, the only Maxima at the Alamo lot at Union Station looked like a pile; it was at the far end of the queue of cars and covered in dirt. The interior was also a mess, and disappointingly it looked like it had just been brought back and was due a clean. It also had a cloth interior. This is what I should have had:
On getting to the desk, the car in the 'premium' class awaiting me was a freshly cleaned Buick LaCrosse with only 1800 miles on the clock. This, to be precise:
What it basically boils down to is an Insignia clone dressed up for the American market. In transpires that Buick described it as 'America's new Lexus fighter'. Not quite, I wouldn't have said, but the American pundits reckon it takes the Buick name into new territory, shedding off the old 'retirement home' image and selling to a younger customer. I'm not sure about that either. The champagne gold colour wasn't too bad but the fake stick on bonnet vents are very tacky. The crease along the side goes wild at the rear 3/4 but looks unresolved. I didn't like the grille. The interior was a better effort for the most part, it was reasonably well equipped and reasonably finished. The seats were very comfortable and the dark stained wooden trim was nice. The panel gaps were a bit shoddy inside and the leather wrapped stereo controls were hideous, but for the most part it felt good. The SatNav was interesting, as it was a telephone call service to OnStar for streaming navigation details. I've not heard of that since I had a Volvo S60 (and I think Lexus used to use it here too).
What was it like to drive? I thought the 3.6 V6 engine was a canny enough unit stymied by a dreadful gearbox. It constantly wanted to be in top gear in 'D', which was fine when cruising on the highways but useless on Skyline Drive, which is a fantastic bit of road which threads through the national park, going every higher and with loads of great bends, funny cambers and disappearing crests. I tried using the manual selector to aid the drive, but the car often thought it knew best and stuck to higher gears. Trying to click down to second at 30mph and being told 'no, 3rd is enough here' was fairly irritating. The suspension setup is very soft, and it felt like the door handles would touch down on tighter bends. I couldn't see a way in the manual to override the gear selector either so I just put up with it. On the freeway, refinement was impressive and the damping cut out most of the whine and thump of concrete road and expansion joints.
Ulimtately, the road was more impressive than the car but it was an enjoyable few days and a few hundred miles!
There were loads of Harleys up there!
And the odd treat.
tbc said:
Aren't Buick LaCrosse just the US version of a Vauxhall Insignia.
Don't mind the Insignia facelift looks wise.
Are the Buicks driven by sales reps in the US. The Insignia is very much a rep mobile in the UK at least.
It's what the OP said in his post.Don't mind the Insignia facelift looks wise.
Are the Buicks driven by sales reps in the US. The Insignia is very much a rep mobile in the UK at least.
Just back from the U.S. too. Should have had a Jeep GC rental from Dollar, but they didn't have it at O'Hare when we arrived. Offered me a "free upgrade" to a minivan! No, thanks! Changed that to a Murano, which was surprisingly quick with the CVT 'box.
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