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Comments
We used to sell a lot more Regals and Centurys than that (200K +) but with the higher number of competitors, move to trucks, Buick's aging buyer base and a general lack of investment in Buick product (Regal and Century platform was 8 years old!!!) we will not be able to get those numbers back for awhile if ever. Also those last years of Regal/Century were highly fleet. The LaCrosse is almost all retail at this time. 150K would be great but we could probably not build that many if we wanted to. Grand Prix and LaCrosse share one plant. The LaCrosse is also priced a little bit higher than the old base Century due to upgrades in content and materials.
Affordable luxury
hit the vehicle quality box and read the report. Buick is up there.
Dependability for 3 year old cars has Buick 2nd to Lexus. Hopefully will improve this standing with the new products. Will take 3 years!
Buick came in 4rth in initial quality at 100 PPH but Century left us with 60 PPH (best in segment) which is better than Lexus 87 PPH. The Buick trucks hurt the average score even though they did better than average in their segments.
And in Customer satisfaction Buick came in 2nd to Lincoln. This is a measure of Dealer service.
Notice Toyota is nowhere to be seen in the report. Goes to show you that they are living on their past laurels. And Honda is only there in initial quality and is basically tied with Buick.
All in all a great story and a testimony to the hard work at GM to improve the quality of their vehicles (and Oshawa assembly plant!!)
This means that when asked, LaCrosse buyers replied that their 2nd choice vehicle was Camry more than any other vehicle. In the past 2nd choice for most GM cars is another GM car. Of course this also could mean that some of those buyers that were traditionally GM buyers now did consider the transplant Camry. But overall it means that they compared the LaCrosse to the Camry when considering a purchase.
Watch out for some Buick ads coming out.
3800 is a big plus. I'd take one any time vs. a 4 cylinder Camry. One of the reasons I bought my Grand Prix was the 3800. For the same money I could only get an Accord with a 4.
To quote some old comedy schtick, I resemble that remark.
I'm 61 and can't imagine what you mean by not noticing small problems. This goes for my acquintances my age and older, too. We argue over the relative merits of cars just as you young whippersnappers do.
Rattles, panel misalignment, low quality materials NVH, body structure and many other attributes are on my radar screen. When I drive or ride in my younger realtives' Hondas I notice the slam shifting automatics and noise. When the Ac compressor in the 4cyl Hondas comes on when idleing, the whole car shakes. refinement? - not really.
If there is a subjective influence, and I think there is, its that the presumption of Japanese superiority causes owners of THOSE autos to minimize their faults. You see this a lot in the incestual surveys done by Consumers Reports.
Ug..some people will say anything to discredit Buick quality. Fact of the matter is, seniors have more time than anyone to bring their cars in. I know in my business (financial planning), seniors keep us more busy than anyone with questions, complaints and comments about their accounts. Lots of time.
Now that a whole group of people has been insulted as being deaf, blind, and dumb so they can't find flaws in the cars they purchase and drive....
Are you saying those same older buyers are why Accord and Camry are doing so well in some people's minds???
Actually the people who buy Buicks, myself included, probably have more interest in expected quality from their car. People who are on the go with 3 kids, two jobs, and driving long commutes to work are too busy to notice their car's flaws and do anything about it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
~alpha
Actually, I should have said "elderly" instead of "seniors" since some people at 55 consider themselves seniors.
There are a plenty of 70-90 year olds driving Buicks vs other brands.
I will say that the LaCrosse is a huge step up in quality over the Grand Prix. Whole different mind set. Money was spent in interior refinement. Besides I led the charge in squeaks and rattles on the Century/Regal during development about 10 years ago:) I know it has the best scores in the industry in that area.
Simple reason - Mid-size Buicks are built in a plant with better quality ratings. This was what hurt the Olds Intrigue - great car, (relatively) poor plant.
rwisem : My Kansas made Intrigue has been a good car but the fit and finish was only so so. Few interior pieces were misaligned. That said, the current Malibu is made there and has excellent fit and finish. A lot depends on the process and equipment and Kansas was completely re-tooled.
What I meant for GP was that there is more refinement, even in the couple years between the GP and LaCrosse. A lot has happened at GM.
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I am 50 y.o. and I can see much more problems when driving car than my son. Actually periodically I have to drive his car to check it. And I find a problem with Camry - it is boring to drive and own.
I had no problems with my Sable
Should expand. GM has gone to a system of common radio and HVAC head sets. What will be common are the insides and location of controls. The buttons, knobs, colors and finishes can be changed for each car. There are also a good number of styles to choose from. This means that investment/Enginering/tooling has been greatly decreased.
In the past Buick had their 5 or 6 radios, Chev had theirs and Olds had theirs. While similar inside they still were different and every time a new technology came along a bunch of new radios had to be developed (one for Buick, one for Chev., etc.).
When developing the LaCrosse this new set of radios was not available. Buick chose to modify the Buick c/o radios with the flush plate system like you see in upper vehicles like Lexus. There is no brick. Take a look at Camry and the Grand Prix. There is a rectangle trim plate. The flush trim plate gives a more upscale appearance.
Back to the jacks. This is a "new" technology and was not part of the Buick set of radios and to add would have been some investment, tooling and engineering.
Developing vehicles is an exercise in compromises. You pick your wins (what you want your vehicle to stand out with) and some items do not make it. At the time Ipods were not around.
Can anybody guess what the wins were?
Otherwise I'm happy with the car. I picked it up last Monday. This is my first Buick. I'm impressed with the fit & finnish. It is comfortable and quiet. The switches and hardware seem to be high quality and as good as cars from Japan. The 3.8 has plenty of power.
My only complaint so far is the lack of small storage areas in the cockpit. I don't smoke, but I like ashtrays for storeing small items that I use everyday that I can keep out of site. Instead of an ashtray, I would prefer one of the small, flip down compartments that many cars have under the dash.
I use my ipod in the Lacrosse with a small FM transmitter. the secret to this is to attach to the line out on the ipod, not the headphone jack. This sounds as good as a clear FM station.
A question for you 62vettefp: What are the steering ratios on the Lacrosse? I assume the CXS has a faster standard ratio. Is the optional magnasteer II faster yet?
To begin with, the car has an excessive amount of road feedback to the steering wheel, and there is a constant shimmy at all speeds. It does not track straight, and I am constantly having to struggle to keep the car in it's lane.
Worse than that, the car leaks from both front door seals. Every time it rains, I get puddles on the leather seats, and in the power window and lock switches on both front outboard armrests. The dealership has replaced the door seals on both front doors, but the leaks persist. Additionally, there is a significant amount of wind noise through these door seals. So while the car is very quiet at street speeds, once I get it up over 50 MPH, the car is quite loud.
Is anyone else experiencing these issues with their new LaCrosse, or did I just get the provberbial lemon?
CX/CXL are 15.3:1 similar to Century 15.2:1
Spent lot more money on IP, Door trim (mostly soft materials) and better leather. Also chrome highlights.
How much was the FM modulator? What brand?
http://www.myirock.com/players/wireless_fm_transmitter.asp
Thanks for the info on the steering. I'm thinking the Intrigue I used to have had a bit faster steering. I rented a Regal when I had the Intrigue and that was my impression. My intrigue was a 2001 with the then version of stabili-trac.
I think the new hand held Hughes XM systems have a built in FM transmitter.
Why all stereos don't have jacks to begin with has always puzzled me.
As for the feedback, it sounds like a tire issue or an alignment issue.
You may have a and / or you may justy have a very early build.
50% of second choice is non-GM. Camry is the #1 second choice at 14%.
Summit (Colorado) Daily News on LaCrosse
"It's an attractive if not somewhat generic sedan - we had both a
silver-grey LaCrosse and a somewhat anonymous silver-grey Mercury Montego
in front of our house for a couple of days, and neighbors asked if we had
turned into a Tilden car rental lot...But the Buick's styling is certainly
more exciting than most of its stable-mates."
Best features ...
Smooth and quiet ride and steering
Comfortable, straight-forward interior
Simple, attractive controls and instruments
Worst Features ...
Doesn't quite bridge young guy/old guy Buick gap
Small rear seat room
LaCrosse gets trio of positive reviews on Car-Data.com
http://www.car-data.com/xpage.reviews/rp.template.asp?mfg=buick&model=lacrosse&writer=cw
Chris Jackson says, "LaCrosse adds refinement that its ancient
predecessors lack. It's a Buick for the new millennium, if such a thing
is possible. The LaCrosse is handsome and modern. Much attention was
lavished on the interior as well...The LaCrosse is quiet on the road and
comfortable on the freeway...The naysayers who expect Buick to go the
way of Oldsmobile may find themselves proven wrong."
Greg Morrison says, "'I want to drive this car!!' That is the first
thing my 20-year-old daughter said when she laid eyes on the Buick
Lacrosse. The fact that Buick has come up with a mid-size sedan that
even gets a rise out of her demographic should make the marketing folks
at General Motors smile. (LaCrosse) is packaged well enough both inside
and out to attract more than passing attention...Once inside, the
Lacrosse is definitely an upscale experience...One evening a group of us
went out to dinner...They all commented on how quiet the car was at
highway speeds and on city streets?It is the blend of the technology,
the engineering, and styling which attracted my daughter. For Buick
there are some lessons to be learned from her reaction; let's hope they
are paying attention, because the buying public will be putting the
brand to the test with their dollars."
Casey Williams says, "LaCrosse takes us back to a time when American
motorcars were large, fluidly designed, and offered real style. LaCrosse
takes cues from the Lexus ES in side profile, a little Jaguar in the
front, and side sculpting that hints at both traditional Buicks and the
Pontiac Grand Prix. Inside, materials and styling were also greatly
updated?and provide another touch of old world class?I've driven the
(3.6-litre) engine in other GM products and it is the equal of engines
from high-end Japanese makes...much work was performed to bring the
LaCrosse up to modern luxury car standards...Buick did everything
possible to make the LaCrosse a serene place in which to travel."
:-)
My plan is to take an Allure CXS for a test in the next couple of weeks. I am not in the market yet, but I want to see for my self how it drives.
Initial quality
http://www.jdpa.com/awards/industry/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=854&CatID=1
long term dependability
http://www.jdpa.com/awards/industry/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=860&CatID=1
All data from previous 2 posts are from Dealer communication.
I didn't like the styling much when I first saw the pictures of the LaCrosse but the look has grown on me a lot now that I see them out on the road. Much better than Camry thats for sure!
I have a clue....it's falling from the sky! :lemon:
Actually, this will be the dealer's third attempt at stopping the flow. If they don't find and fix it soon, I'm going to have to find a lawyer, because the dealer does not seem to be capable or resolving the problem or want to let me out of the deal.
I agree about the tire and or alignment, but as yet they have not gotten it fixed (3 visits to the service department on this problem).
s for the very early build....You may be right again. However, that does not minimize my frustration or anger over having dropped $34k on a car with this many issues out of the gate. I am doing my best to remain patient, but it's been tough. I only hope they can figure out the causes all these problems and get them fixed real soon.
Sounds like there is something seriously wrong if 3 trips have done nothing. Alignment is not difficult to adjust and a few seals should easily be fixed.
It's a pity but I would give GM in Detroit a call and log your issues if no resolution comes about.
Hopefully GM will stand behind their product, it's situations like this where you either make or lose a customer for life. Good luck
I'd start contacting a regional person within GM to get the ball rolling regarding a buy back. A friend of mine had an oil leak issue in his 05 Honda Odyessy that ended up being an engine block casting problem. The only remedy was to replace the engine, he refused and Honda replaced his van with brand new one. I hope you get similar results.
One problem that can be fixed in one repair is not a lemon.
I'm not going to post name/phone number of the quality manager but you may email me for that information - see my profile for the address.
For the record, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else wouldn't have received that kind of service. My friend has a way with getting what he wants, he is a very good negotiator.
Bottom line is you can usually get what you want within reason, if you play your cards right.
I'm trying to steer him toward the LaCrosse, since even though it shares the same underpinnings as the Century, it appears to have so many improvements over the older model. Also, does anybody here know if the Century's old 3100 V6 ever came with electronic throttle control? I know that the 3800 Series III in the LaCrosse has it.
The Century does not have electronic throttle control. It is new for 2005 in the LaCrosse.