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2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I never use my heated seats, but I do turn the passengers side on if it is cold and I am giving my mom a ride somewhere.
I paid and I played. Next car may be the 1 or 2 year old off lease or employee discount purchased car that an area lot gets. He charges a higher price and they are worth the value he gives them.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Edmunds shows a weight of 3969 for both the V6 and V8 CXL.
It is hard for me to imagine that the V6 and V8 CXLs have the same weight. Maybe the aluminum in the V8 versus cast iron in the V6 brings the two closer together, but when I think of those big twin cam heads in the V8 and look at the equipment differences I question the figures.
I am wondering if the 3969 weight might be for a V8 CXL, with the V6 CXL something less.
Anyone out there in a position to know, or with another info source?
Also, good review of XLR-V - really liked it. And Trailblazer SS beat out the Grand Cherokee SRT8 in a head to head comparo.
"I ordered my CXL V6 this week, only 55 more days to go!"
About the 55 days, what kind of info did dealer give you about delivery? We ordered ours 18 Jan. and our dealer said that he would not know about delivery time until the car was actually scheduled for build - he guessed five to eight weeks. I was wondering what others have been told.
The USA today article was very positive.
The Avalon sales person told us that there would be a slight but not noticeable drop in performance using regular. I looked in the Avalon owners manual and it clearly said that operation on Regular is OK but there we might notice some performance loss. I assume the Buick manual has a similar statement since literature says premium is recommended but not required. With the Lucerne we did not get into this since we did not want the V8.
Car and Driver magazine did a story on this in November 2001. They tested with a couple of high output cars that "require" premium (BMW M3 and a Turbo SAAB). Both ran fine on regular but lost 6% to 10% of power as the engine management systems adjusted to the lower octane. I do not remember if they checked the gas mileage.
I think it is the same kind of feeling of better running I get after I wash and wax the car and it looks great. When I drive it the car seems to run better.
I also don't notice a difference in mileage. I used midrange to Nashville and back at Christmas and didn't get a different reading; if anything, it was lower because of the colder weather.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I used to have a Nissan Pathfinder that recommended premium for max performance in the 3.5L v6. I would burn regular and notice a very slight performance difference. It would lose just a touch of responsiveness. When I'd tow with it, it was quite obvious if I was running regular, cause I could continually hear the engine begin to ping until the electronics re-adjusted the timing etc. So I would always use premium when towing.
As long as the manual states something like "premium recommended" and not required, you won't hurt anything by using regular.
I took the V6 model out just to see how it felt. I could also not find one with the bucket seat console option. First off, let me say that the fit and finish of the car looked very good. The interior wasn’t breath taking, but it wasn’t terrible either. A slight improvement over a typical GM interior. My first impression upon sitting it the car.. they have made a better looking LeSabre and changed the name. Upon driving the V6, I was sure they had made a better LeSabre. If that was their intention, they have a great car on their hands. It was not a great car for me though. The steering was slow and had no feel to it, the ride was a nice soft ride, but the car just had no passion to it. It didn’t say buy me. The 3800 seemed sluggish and underpowered.
After that drive I would like to try a V8 CXS model with the upgraded suspension, brakes, and tires. That very well might be a nice car, but since I cant find one, I don’t know.
On a positive note, the looks of the Lucurne were enough to get me to look at a Buick. It doesn’t look like they have strayed enough from the LeSabre design to cost them sales. And maybe the V8 CSX will actually bring a younger buyer to the showroom. Overall, I would say the Lucerne is a well put together car, nicely optioned, and a good car for the market that is looking for a nice comfortable highway cruiser. It would do and admireable job of that.
Mike
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
At this mileage, there may be carbon deposits in the combustion chamber that may cause pinging unless higher grade gas is used. When there's a ping, the computer will delay the spark, thus sapping power. Using a higher grade gas then avoids pinging, thus keeping its rated power.
However, when flooring, until the computer reacts and actuates the injectors, there may be lean mixture for fractions of a second, which tends to ping, thus limiting power. Therefore, even in cars which require regular, a higher grade gas would help in these situations.
Whether 10 or 20c extra and potentially lower mileage, due to the higher flash point of higher grade gas, is worth more power in these fractions of a second is up to the owner.
HTH
Also using premium is said to leave more deposites behind than the regular if the car's meant for regular.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Then the Lucerne. Inside was not as techy, and seemed almost a bit old-school. But, there were no folding/hiding doors. Lots of technical info (mpg/trip/engine data), but you have to access it. Seats were MUCH BETTER. Very soft leather yet firm. My daughter who was with me liked the back seats much more on "Car Two". (She didn't like the Av. seats either in the back.) The difference between the Av. and teh Lucerne v8 is immediate the moment you turn the key: Lucerne has an immediate rumble. It's much more prominent than I had thought it would be. I liked it very much. Not loud, just there. The Lucerne's transmission shifted more quickly and assertively. It may only have four speeds, but it's a much better unit. The toyota has more speeds, but the buick has better quality. On the road, the Lucerne tracks better. It feels more stable and it FEELS quicker off the line. I wouldn't doubt that the Avalon will beat it in a longer drag race -- once the Toyota spools up it goes pretty good -- but I'd have no doubt which car is better for accelerating in the half second after you hit the gas: the buick.
The Lucerne was quieter at 80 mph (enough for me to carry on a normal conversation with my back-seat daughter), and quieter on a dirt road.
I came away VERY impressed with the Buick CXS. It's MUCH better than the old Park Ave/Lesabre. I'd give it a 9 out of ten, and cleary a better deal than the Avalon. (the sticker prices on the two were almost identical: 36,000)
So, good luck. Just my few cents worth....
experience with the Lucerne? How does the head and leg room
feel? Thanks
But the Lucerne is a price to negotiate down from and the Toyo will have a ?$300? distributor fee added on--depending on your area of the country. Do I understand what I have read correctly about the addon fees?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You'll find the road noise ( Tire/road)is also poor.
The NAV system is horrible and takes a long learning curve.
The engine is very loud and gets worse as it ages.
Those seats get worse the longer you set in them.
I drove the Lucerne and I'm sold on it too. I'm just waiting for it to get its NAV system a little later in the year and I'm getting on and getting rid of this AVALON monster. What a mistake I made.
AL
Regarding road noise in the Avalon: I too was really surprised how noisy it was on anything less than perfect pavement (which is 99 percent of the roads around here). On rutted roads or, worse, a dirt road, it really was loud. Very similar in noise levels to a Camry. The ENGINE is quieter at idle, but it lets out a pretty good whine at redline, and almost all real world noise levels its worse. By the way: don't believe everything about dB levels. Study sound engineering. The human ear is much more sensitive to certain pitches of the same dB. A 65 dB of one pitch can be perceived as much louder than a 65 db of another pitch. Fact is, the ears show the Buick to be much quieter on real roads than the Avalon. It is heavier, of course, and my guess is that the extra 400 pounds includes a fair bit of noise insulation.
And to price: Yes, I realize that the Buick could probably be bargained a bit more (but maybe not: the dealer I went to had a half dozen Avalons lined up and they'd sold every Lucerne they'd gotten, except for the one I drove, which had come in the day before).
I'm looking for a new car and the Lucerne is pretty sweet.
Modern cars whose engine is computer-controlled fare much better in this regard, but fuel injection components wear can throw the control off. That's why tuning every 60 or 100000mls is not a bad idea.
HTH
The premium fuel question has been answered opposite ways by mechanics I've heard. One says he only used premium in all his cars. He has pickups, Impalas, Vettes... He owns a body shop with mechanical repair facility.
The others say that it burns slower and does not burn as completely especially in a cylinder where the compression isn't as high and the valve timing aren't optimum for it. He says it leave behind deposits.
Another comment is to use one fuel for a while then switch to a different brand which you hope has good additives. The additives often leave their own residue and changing cleans that one out and starts depositing another residue.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Not really. Ethanol burns more slowly and is generates less heat than gas, decreasing the explosion temperature, therefore promoting the formation of carbon deposits.
Also using premium is said to leave more deposites behind than the regular if the car's meant for regular.
It can be true, as it's harder to ignite than regular, unless the engine has been designed to use it.
HTH
Premium doesn't burn slower, it's actually faster, but it's ignition point is higher. In an engine designed to use regular, the compression ratio cannot be too high or pinging will occur. If premium is then used, the charge will then be a tad too cool because of the lower compression ratio, though OK for regular, making it hard to ignite. The primary result of this is lower power, resulting in higher fuel consumption as the driver's reaction is to accelerate more to get the same responsiveness he's used to. The secondary result is that it can actually promote the formation of carbon deposits due to a cooler combustion.
However, in old engines with significant carbon build-up, which increases the compression ratio a bit, premium avoids pinging, which can melt a piston and bend rods. Therefore, more carbon build-up is better than a ruined engine, at least until a mechanic can clean it up.
BTW, removing carbon build-up chemically is not as good as mechanically, which requires removing the engine heads.
HTH
I found the Lucerne to be the best car I looked at for legroom - with the CXL power seats adjusted properly. Maybe a bit less than the 02 Envoy we are trading but better than Avalon, Ford 500 or VW Passat which were contenders.
Headroom was fine in front - without sunroof. (This is a plus of the Lucerne for me. We could get the features we wanted (e.g. heated seats with memory) without the sunroof which some others make you take as part of a package.) Rear headroom was acceptable but not great.
"About the 55 days, I asked several salesmen in person and over the phone. The answer was always the same, 6 to 8 weeks(42 to 60 days) for a customer order. My order went in on Jan. 23rd."
Our dealer called this morning to report that our car, which we ordered Jan. 18 was built Jan. 30. We should expect it within two weeks. Looks like we will get to test the quality of a (shudder) "Monday built" car. I hope yours comes as quickly - and that it is built Tues - Thurs.