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And if you are buying off the lot, then they do have them cobbled together as you suggest. That is why I did a custom order. Everyone I looked and searched out had a sunroof if it came close to having other wanted options.
Makers claim that building fully custom costs more than building the way they do. Maybe that should be read, "custom builds are not as profitable."
I want to know why they decided to make the spoiler standard on CX model.
Does GM have a surplus of them?
Is it a marketing trick?
Is it actually functional in some way beyond a cosmetic thing? That is, does it reduce drag or provide better stability at highway speeds?
I want to know! Guess I'm sort of a technical guy.
Thanks, Dwight
Driving by a Buick-GMC dealership I couldn't help but notice acres and acres of Buick-GMC SUV and trucks on the lot. When we thought GM was out of the woods and back on its feet again up comes another gas crisis. Again, it seems as though GM was blindsided not antcipating the geo-politics of the Middle East which is having a devastating impact on sales. At this rate it won't be long before the Big 3 will be back in Washington looking for yet another bailot.
These guys just will not learn. If they wish to produce big Trucks and SUVs, they should develop more fuel efficient alternatives. For example, a genuine 35-mpg hybrid Truck/SUV, diesel-turbo, all electric or nitrogen propelled vehicle. I don't know if they are working behind the scenes but the auto industry should be working more closely with companies such as Boston POwer Technology to speed up development on more powerful batteries for trucks and other large vehicles.
I recommend taxing large gas guzzlers for real instead of giving business deductions for mega priced SUV's & trucks to further incent irresponsible fuel usage just because you can afford it. Sad to say the Europeans are way ahead of us on that score.
As stated before, at least we have a choice in what vehicle we buy- just not the price of fuel that is set by the greed and idiocy of our fellow citizens.
Sorry for the rant. Love this new Lacrosse- great performance & MPG.
The American people will buy what they want and at the price they can afford. The Auto companies have to build to the public demands. Of course the public is fickle and will change their minds depending on the days news. Unfortunately the Auto companies cannot change production that quickly so they will always lag behind.
Many talk about having an all electric vehicles. This is very impractical as the distance travelled is such that you must always have another car to use if the trip is over 50 to 100 miles. In big cities this is not unusual for people to drive this distance on one trip. Therefore a combination electric/gas powered is the only answer (as per the Volt) to not having a second car for longer trips. All electric just will not work as a single car for most of us.
Battery research has been going on for years without a whole lot of change and it will probably continue to go on with minor changes for the next 5 to 10 years. I simply cannot stop every 60 to 100 miles to recharge for a few hours.
I have great hope for cars like the Volt but the cost of the combination will be high (but less than the cost of two cars). To me it is the only answer to having an efficient combination to have only one car. Having two cars (one all electric and the other gas fueled) to handle my requirements make no sense. Maybe 70 % of my trips would be within the restrictions of an all electric auto BUT I would still need a second car that would handle the other 30% longer trips.
The other problem is the electric grid - it has trouble now handling our electric demands. Thin what the problems would be to have millions of cars plugged in day and night charging their batteries. Since it is almost impossible to build new electric generating plants - some object to whatever fuels them - I don't see a solution to this problem for years to come.
Solutions are not near as easy as some people would lead one to believe. We like our big cars and trucks and I see no way this will change to any great amount in the foreseeable future. Just give me a car like the Lacrosse with a better mileage (however it is obtained) and I certainly will be happy. But I do not want to lose any of the creature comforts it gives me now.
gotta love these Lacrosse and other choices that offer safety, room, and MPG of 20 in town and close to 30 MPG at 65 on the highway.
Thank you Bob Lutz (Semper Fi!).
Think about that for a moment, in two minute the old battery can be swapped for a fresh one; in less time than a gasoline fill up. So, any thought of range anxiety or the need to have a second car is eliminated. And guess what? in the process will create millions of new jobs to put this new infrastructure in place. I saw a video on this but can’t quite remember where, but meanwhile here is a link with some more details http://www.itechdiary.com/battery-replacement-stations-for-electric-powered-taxi- - - -in-tokyo.html
P.S: Here is the video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lp_6VyIeSY
Think what the cost would be for a supply of all batteries for all electric cars and there cost at roughtly $10,000 per. What would be the rental to make this a going business (including the charging). What would be the cost of the inventory, Also be sure to include the cost of the facility, the upkeep and the profit.
Doubt that we would pay the calculated amount for a "battery charge".
To reduce start-up cost they'd have to standardize batteries so that there were a minimum number of variants. If they could cut it to less than 6 different batteries available, it might be doable. I read that some of these batteries with special equipment for charging can be charged in about 1/2 hour. They'd only need enough batteries on hand to satisfy peak customer demand for about 40 minutes, allowing for turn-around. Testing should determine the battery as good or bad, that is holding a minimum charge. That way you'd pay a share of cost for always having a good battery set, the charge and testing, the swap, and enough to create a profit margin for the business.
DAVE
2010 LaCrosse
2011 January 3,771 – (11.2%) decrease
2011 February 8,100 – (2.3%) decrease
2011 March 12,939 – (9.8%) decrease
2011 April 5,649 vs April 2010 5,236 -- (+7.9%) increase
Someone had mentioned to whom Lacrosse is losing sales, well it is to the Impala and Malibu whose sales for April were 21,071 and 24,701 units, which represent volume increases of 30.5% and 49.4% respectively.
By comparison, 4,525 Regals were sold in April.
Source: http://media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/gmcom/investor/2011/9352001AprDel.pdf
I talked to parts dept today and they told me GM had told them to keep using the old oil filter until depleted, then use PF63. That does not make sense either. Or that GM told parts that they are the same oil filter.
I have an appointment to take in next Monday and a list of 15 items I want them to take care of. And that is not all, but it will be a start.
I definitely recommend taking the vehicle to be diagnosed. Do you have a case set up with GM Customer Service? Please keep us posted on any information.
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
Glad to hear you are taking your vehicle into the dealership. I am sure they will be more than willing to assist with your list of concerns to try to raise your customer satisfaction. I would recommend including all of your concerns on the list so that way the dealer has an idea of your frustrations and expectations. I apologize, however there is still no re-programming for the memory seats. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
NO GM EMPLOYEE WOULD EVER TELL ME WOULD EVER TELL ME WHAT MY OPTIONS WERE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! In my opinion if you sell a car that vibrates and it is not supposed to do that, then either fix the problem or buy it back. GM has not been able to fix the problem and they have not made any attempt to buy it back. Caron, you tell me what I should do. I would like to hear that GM is working on a solution. Can you assure me that this is the case?
Why don't you keep ME posted!
DAVE
Can you please email me your case number, zip code and dealership information? I have spoken with our technical department about your concerns and I would like to discuss this with your dealer and or agent.
Thank you,
Caron, GM CUstomer Service
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f6086/26#MSG26
message 27 and read first.
Continuing, I checked on vehicle last Wednesday. They told me they were still working on it, but I noticed it was parked out back. No call from them yet, so they've had it a full week.
Added points, this one also shakes when idled up to around 1500 RPM. Not sure that I mentioned the boots on rear shocks are also fallen down on this one with less than 4K miles. Also gaps at door front seals.
I know I mentioned that it seemed to be getting better mileage with local driving. Saturday I had a short jaunt that included some interstate highway and I put gas in before, my usual Shell premium. I'd bet it had cheap or regular gas in from dealer. Power jumped almost immediately. But mileage really sucked, dropping on the indicator from 22 to 20.1MPG. I may have to try some cheap gas in mine to see if mileage improves.
Definitely missing the HUD. The AC system does not do wild swings, but the fan runs to slow and I had to manually adjust speed up a lot to cool and keep near the temp setting. The seat cooling did not seem to work. I did notice an ugly smell at one point, but I had four passengers. And despite that we were cool enough in the front, two of the rear passengers complained about being hot and air was coming from the center rear register. Other items I miss that I have on CXS but not on this CXL are HID/aiming headlights, the big screen of the NAV with camera, blind spot alert, and the difference in handling.
That was my first night driving and there were times when I had real difficulty seeing the road clearly enough, especially during maneuvers.
I had to do some backing in parking areas and not having the camera to see, when it can, made me uneasy. Much the same with not having the blind spot alert.
The difference in handling is monumental, like two totally different vehicles. It is a bit hard to determine the exact reason because the CXL has the 18" Michelins and no touring package. Also the hyper-strut has only been on the CXS model. According to the TPMS, tires have about 1 1/2 to 2 # too much air if the door placard has the best numbers for handling and ride. On smooth road it is a great quiet ride. But small road imperfections and heavy truck grooving of surface induce poor handling, sway at front and rear of vehicle. The CXS with hyperstrut and touring package seems to limit it to the rear with same conditions and most of it disappears when put in sport mode of touring package. The lesser audio system is definitely poorer quality, but I noticed there are no rear deck speakers and holes from the trunk, possibly one source of noise. Far less road noise on the CXL, which I still suspect noise is the GY tires and too, one of the reasons for the hyper-strut (CXS only) is it is supposed to be quieter.
Maybe, with 2# less air in the Michelins the sidewalls will provide enough give that the pulling laterally from road imperfections will disappear.
For a car of this size, I still say the Classic Aurora is a better ride and handling.
1)Please keep us posted on the dealer remedy for the fallen boots on the rear shocks. my dealer offered to "reglue" or epoxy the boots back up/on if it bothered me. Seems that the design was to seal out the water and road grit so they s/b kept in place. Also a mechanical device like a screw or clamping device would work better?
2)Interesting comment about your CXL with 18" Michelins riding well. Our 2010 is seriously quiet on the road. If not for throaty exhaust notes it is hard to tell it is running. Also the driveability on grades has learned to shift better. Still has an economy preference which is OK by us. Great cars.
3) Also noted in car mags that 2012 Malibu will be built on same Epsilon platform that Lacrosse is on resulting in larger car in and out with move to 4-cyl and E.assist drive. S/B a great seller.
good luck with your fixes.
I brought this to the attention of my service manager and he said he had never seen this hole before. And to prove this was not an anomally he checked all the Lacrosses on the lot and they all had the unexplained hole. So in effect he concluded that it was not a good idea to seal the hole since it may a use he is not aware of?
Bloggers, does your Lacrosse have this hole? And if it does, do you have any concerns about water intruding into the console area and create premature and undesirable rust?
I will likely hear from my dealer since they seem to choose to work through the dealer. It might be that such things as my defective oil filter, the poorly designed CAF that collapses, and the falling boots were defective batches and GM will need time to fix. I also pointed up that it is outrageous they want $200 for the Nav update disk which will be outdated the moment they press it.
I thought the comments on Michelins would feather your nest.
But you might have noticed it was in one particular area, road noise. I was a bit unhappy with the handling and it is a bit difficult to pinpoint that reason. It could be the suspension differences from CXL to CXS with touring or the tires might be involved. On roads a bit rough, I found it a bit bouncey compared to CXS which is less bouncey but you might say harsh.
On the CXL, it might be the tires? Tires, even quality tires, seem to have a sweet spot for overall ride determined by matching tire pressure to suspension. This loaner already had about 1 1/2 pounds more air than on sticker and bouncey, if due to tire, is usually when the tire is a bit on the low side. If it were my car, I'd add about 2 pounds and then see how it rides. Too much flex in tire may not force the shock system to work as designed. It seems you need shocks with multiple valving systems in them to better match a range of conditions.
I'm a bit afraid to lower from 35 the pressue in these low profile GY. It might improve ride but adds risk to these very low profile, expensive tires. Also there seems to be quite a bit of change to the tread profile with small pressure changes, just from regular temp changes, and driving some distance between changes seems to change handling and response from the small amount of wear during the temp change.
I'm really wondering about the 3.0 I test drove these days. Fuel being primary and I strongly suspect that one had regular fuel, not premium. I'm certain that was what was in the loaner when I drove off and it made me think it had 3.0 or 2.4L. A dose of premium and it was like an engine swap. Which do you run in yours and why?
I'll post back when I learn more.
In one of the other forums someone fixed the headrest issue by bending posts. He put up picture showing driver side done and passenger not. It looks really good.
http://www.buicklacrosseforum.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attac- h&attach_rel
We use midgrade top tier fuel in our 2010 CXL with 3.0L. Per prior post, we just returned from 1400 mile trip to NE. 29.4 MPG at 70-80 on way up and 27.8 on return with A/C and two adults light load. Car is outstanding on the road. It has "learned" our speed preference and only shifts down when the 50 MPH left laners (Ohio,Tenn.,Wisconsin and FLORIDA) are encountered on a steep grade. If kept at 70-80, it rarely shifts down due to higher RPM's.
We just had the oil changed at 3400 miles after the trip with no usage - 5W30 and PF48 filter by dealer. tire rotation (36#)showed no abnormal brake pad or tire wear. Hoods were one still up so other was reexpoxied under warranty. Great Dealer in Albertville, AL.
I agree that Ford was one that made early moves to better tires although it started with Town Car and moved down. Some got Continentals which also seems to be a good tire. Some of those GY that GM used were absolutely garbage in my opinion. Also hard to believe that some actually are diehard fans of GY Eagles in any model.
I wish I could get that kind of mileage.
I may again try lower grades just for mileage testing. Also the mid-grade to see power change. There is just soooo much difference between regular and premium when it comes to power, if needed.
I'd bet that is a weep hole to get rid of last bits of water. I suspect the far left wiper arm hole does the same.
If elsewhere, I'm at a loss. I thought maybe you had found the source of outside smells when using recirulation of air.
I am going to look into this for you. Can you point at the hole with a pencil and take a picture and email it to me? I look forward to your response. Have a great weekend!
Christina
GM Customer Service
First occasion corrected it self when car restarted after 15min break at a rest stop. No problem for several weeks and then yesterday problem re-occured all during 3 hour drive to beach even after re-starting several times.
When I started this AM no problem so i presume a re-boot occured over nite.
Car has only 1,600 miles.
Anyone else have trouble?
If I take it to dealer when it's working is it possible to run a meaningful diagnostic?
I didn't think to try CONFIG/COLLISION/DETECTION SYSTEMS/SIDE BLIND ZONE ALERT SYSTEM' ON OFF. Any one think this is cure?
Would appreciate reading your outcome. I may not be able to get help before ur appt.
Thx
PS Is ur problem constant or intermittent like mine?
How many miles on ur LaX.?
Maybe it is the reason sales have fallen? That and 3.5L seems to be a bit of gas guzzler.
The engine choices just seem way too limited for this vehicle. Especially with high gas prices. And unless you are looking at those with 3.5L standard, the upcharge to replace 4 cylinder is near $2000.
GM stupidity has moved 3.0L to Cadillac, so I've read. I'd bet that GM would sell many more Malibu, Impala, LaCrosse, Regal, all appropriate models, than sales of Cadillac.
I actually feel that GM knows exactly what they are doing and are exhibiting some long range product discipline and planning that the prior regime seem to be missing other than Bob Lutz ( who did not fit in with the phone guys due to an excess of car knowledge IMO). Lutz is the Exec that approved the Lacrosse so we have him to thank for a great choice. Total sales is the key to the current manic behavior with engines but GM is definately back, albeit still a little schizoid in the marketing area until it all has time to come together after the "fruit basket turn over" phase with the old guard and then the phone/government appointees. The survivors of the many purges that have true car knowledge will surface and deliver a stable of good car choices if the market gives them time.
good luck with your problems- our 2010 CXL with 3.0L has been great!
The only logic to moving the 3.0 that I can think of would be, wait, I can't think of a good one. There might be behind the scenes issues like cost or cost of maintenance. The final drive shown connected to Cadillac 3.0 is much different and likely hurts mileage.
You seem to be off base on GM profitability. Chrysler has repaid loans. Not so with GM and the government looks like it will be out a big chunk. And the GM stock is still in the tank it seems since if the government sold its shares today they'd lose about $16 Billion.
And it is just now on the horizon that we are expecting a double dip recession if not depression. Houses have lost a 1/3 of value and predictions are this year will be worse yet.
Where will GM get money to hold on until they get it right? Unless economy changes drastically in just a couple of years I'd bet on bankruptcy. Unions will settle for pennys on dollar and be gone. Then GM will have the capability to compete with foreign names.
Only my opinion that GM is on track for recovery. Double dip or other macro economic event makes that an unlikely scenario. I still see them as much stronger after tax payer bailout to protect voting union members and suppliers - not to mention the warranty holders with GM lame duck vehicles that also vote for somebody.
The current products represent the bridge to recovery based on sales and products consumers want to buy - not government bailouts. No redux on that score. Houses are also a consumer choice- wrong area = wrong choice.
If we double dip again GM will be the least of our worries with the current self serving political and business management/executives now running the show. U.S debt rating, self serving politics over country, Irag, Afgan, Libya, banks, SS, Medicare, States financials and give away deals to tenured "employees" , executive salaries & bonuses for lousy performance, individual scams, disability scams, etc. etc.
Sorry for the rant - enjoy the new car - we do.
The 3.6 in the CXS has been around for a while and no prior posts on any catastophic failures- very concerning event. Hope it is a one-off problem.
Sorry for your troubles and gfood luck with new motor.
I have exceeded 30mpg on an all highway trip driving about 72mph. I'm averaging a little over 26mpg.
75MPH would not drive high RPM's so if oil level was OK and the intake did not fail and let coolant into oil it must have been mechanical per my prior comment. GM will definately tear it down enough to determine cause of failure if the dealer will keep you updated. Makes you sick with new car.
Good luck.
I see you are aware of our surroundings as well.
And then new engine is questionable?
What sounds is the new one making?
You are remembering that break-in applies again.
Supposedly timing chain issues should not be problem with 2010 and up models. Do you have a very early 2010 production?
It seems that GM is aware of some issue with these engines or they would not have reduced oil change interval and reprogrammed OLM.
Here's hoping the installer just left something laying on the engine, not internal.
A couple of years after the year they built no Corvettes, I toured the assembly plant. They rolled one off the line that had knocking rod sound and into a pit area. The good ones, maybe, went out the door. That pit was full of cars. The mechanic that got that one doodled, wasting as much time as he could, looking frequently at his watch. It was about 45 minutes till quitting time. Out of curiosity I asked if they'd put a new engine in. No, they'd fix it. I'm pretty sure I'd not want that car.
I apologize for the problems you are experiencing with your new vehicle. Glad to hear you are in contact with GM Customer Assistance. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us directly.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Caron, GM Customer Service
My last conversation with GM Customer Assistance did not end well and they did not address my questions or concerns. I probably won't be speaking to GM Customer Assistance again. They had no answers for what to do with my bad Buick other than to become a regular at the local service department. Forgive me if I'm being pessimistic but I no longer trust that car. After the engine blew up on a busy freeway, I can't help but ask myself what's next?
I had 96 Aurora and find that everything else disappoints in the ride and handling catagories. I have to attribute it to the very different design of suspension components. I have often heard the Riviera of that time was the same in 2 door version but with different powertrain.
One unique thing was the power steering rack with tie rods. It was one solid cast steel rod so any movement from center would actually gently tug the lower end of each front strut off center. Very unique.
Do you feel the vibrations or just hear them? Are they high pitched or low? Make sure you note as much as possible and point out to service so they don't miss anything. Mis-diagnosis could result in many trips.
I recorded the vibration noise this morning. I'm calling it a vibration noise because it sounds a little like my Samsung washer, but also a buzz saw. I figure something isn't getting oil pumped up to it for a minute or so. Maybe the recording will help the service people, though they shouldn't have a problem hearing it. Just noise so far. Maybe something needs to be tightened.
The system started to work all by itself yesterday.
Electronics are NOT the dealer's strong suit.