PPo

So a delivery driver with low intelligence backed into my Benz while it was parked and wrecked the hood. A pain, but life goes on... It's in the body shop now, so I am driving a rental. A Buick Lacrosse... what a piece of... well... poorly engineered car.

I thought with the glory of the new Corvettes and some very stiff competition from Hyundai and Kia, that GM would have stepped up their basic line of cars. But I am shocked at what a piece of garbage this car is... absolutely horrible driving feel, lazy/poor shifting transmission, ergonomics by a lonely Linux developer, and just overall unimpressive.

But I summed it up well on my commute this morning. Buick has made a car, the Lacrosse, that feels like you are driving an SUV. Its an incredible accomplishment when you think about it.... I don't know if I could be more unimpressed with a new car. At least cheap cars are cheap, and compacts are compacts... but this car, I really don't understand. The driving dynamics are worse then my family minivan (Hyundai).

I guess I have been spoiled over the years... but even a base VW Golf or Mazda 3 has some passion and feel to them. Buick should add a payment plan for a funeral to every car they sell, because if you buy a Buick, you're already dead.

cash-man

Hence their demographic I was thinking the same thing when I was cut off by a LeSabre this morning, only to realize that great grandpa was at the wheel.

I appreciate that they are trying to market towards the younger crowd with their current "that's a Bucik?" campaign, but they have a lot of work ahead of them.

myw

yup... a lifetimes worth of work imo.

PPo

In comparison, a few years ago I drove a new Ford Fusion for about a week. I was impressed and honestly surprised but how much I enjoyed that car... all things considered, I thought the Ford would be a lot worse. So I took that experience, plus all the praise GM cars have been getting in the industry lately, and I honestly thought the Buick would be much better...

993GT

I can't believe GM is still around, outside of the Vette and Camaro...they have nothing worth owning IMO...also drove a Fusion and liked it as well, fairly dynamic while still being comfortable on a longer trip, Ford is hands-down smoking their direct competitors

PPo

Phew!!! Glad to hear somebody else agree. I am also impressed with Ford the last few years overall. I like their recent leadership... They did not need a bailout despite being in the same economic climate as GM.

While we are at it... I am also impressed with the overall improvement with the major Korean auto companies. Kia and Hyundai are really working hard to improve their overall line-up, and taking some chances that other companies would simply never try. If they keep up with their current pace of improvement, they will be impressive in the future. They have come a LONG way since the 1980 Hyundai Pony!

Dinicod

My dad owns a KIA and my sister has a Hyundai. Both cars have been rock solid. I've driven both several times and was really impressed with the performance and fit and finish.
I'm not going to say they are on par with the Honda's and Toyota's of the world, but when you consider the cost of entry and incentives the Korean companies offer, it sure makes you think twice before dishing out the extra cash for the others.

Gregster

I once got a rental LaCrosse in Seattle.. 303hp of FWD fury on tight twisty roads. I managed to cook the brakes on it! Best rental I've had in North America was a base golf and a Dodge Dart 1.4t with a manual trans!

That's being said.. except for a few products the GM line up is lost. Journalists really can't give "bad" reviews here because a company like GM will buy a massive amount of ad space on the auto review website. If you talk bad about them you'll get banned from driving their cars for a year and won't go to the all expenses paid press events.

ronnie993tt

As I recall, the reason Buick survived is it's large market share in China......right Phil?

CarlEightySix

There is only one Buick that has my attention, first because I know is not a Buick, it's an Opel Insignia and here is sold with the name Regal. Opel has a range of OPC models and they are quite interesting, the Insignia OPC if i'm not mistake is the Regal GS but I don't know if they softened for the American Market.

One thing is for sure the grill on the Opel looks better than Buick.






hebergement image

And for the wagon lovers








image gratuite

wc11

The so called big three are good at trucks and muscle cars.
Pretty much everything else is a re-branded or as they say internally, "brand re-engineered" cars made by someone else.

Christien

It's been years since I sold retail, but back then of the big 3, Ford was way out in front, with Chrysler a distant second and GM a very distant third. Chrysler products all had cheap interiors, even their "upscale" models (Town & Country, Aspen, etc). The Charger pointed out in the most ironic of ways just how far we've come from the glory days of muscle cars. But across the lineup, Fords were pretty solid cars, from the most basic of Focuses right up to the king ranch or harley davidson F150s.

I once went to a competitor's lot as a "customer" to check out how they did stuff and looked at 3 cars, a 3-series, a Fusion and an Acura, all around the same price point and similarly optioned. For the money, the Fusion won, hands down, in pretty much every category. And that's from a life-long Honda driver.

JimV8

Thats a sharp looking wagon. Oh BTW, rentals cars are the best. They never need cleaning, and go like hell through everything.

boman993

The only (new), American car I would consider buying is the Tesla.

Adamant1971

We too are in a rental, the Odyssey got hit and they gave us a Town and Country. Yes it has all the gagets, but it's just crap. Wife can't wait to get the Honda back.