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Review: 2010 Buick LaCrosse

By Michael Karesh
October 14, 2009

“The company’s survival depends on the success of this car.” Though regularly trotted out, this statement is almost always BS (not to be confused with the Bertel kind). Typically when the hyped new car fails, the company seems to somehow scrape by. But the 2010 LaCrosse might just warrant such an extreme statement, at least [...]

Review: 2010 Buick LaCrosse

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 120 comments

Review: 2009 Buick Lucerne Super

By Sajeev Mehta
August 20, 2009

The last four years were rough sailing for Buick’s flagship, having traded its swank Park Avenue home for an understated Swiss bungalow. While its Enclave sibling received a halfhearted Presidential endorsement, Lucerne has been told gently that it has no place in Buick's future. But you don't need to be Jim Dollinger to see the silver lining in the Lucerne Super: it stands in sharp contrast to Buick's confusing dalliances with European chassis and a variety of puny powertrains. Perhaps the Lucerne Super is more than a Buick. It’s the last stand for what was right with the brand.

Review: 2009 Buick Lucerne Super

rating summary and performance review: 2009 Buick Lucerne Super

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 74 comments

2008 Buick LaCrosse Super Review

By Michael Martineck
April 30, 2008

Normally, driving a car with a stonking V8 engine powering the front wheels is like watching Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh make out. It's so wrong on so many levels. Can you squeal like a pig? Just so. Will that pig's snout dart about like an amphetamine-crazed truffle-sniffer? Uh-huh. But here's the kicker: what if it doesn't? And what it you, uh, like it? Does that make you a deviant pistonhead? No, it makes you a closet fan of the quietly nutty, deeply cool Buick LaCrosse Super.

2008 Buick LaCrosse Super Review

2008 Buick LaCrosse Super rating summary and performance review

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 55 comments

Buick Enclave Review [Take Two]

By Michael Karesh
July 23, 2007

Engineers will tell you, “Quick, cheap, good: pick any two.” For its first whack at a three-row crossover, GM opted for quick and cheap, and gave us the Buick Rendezvous. Admittedly, the model sold in decent volume-- but not because it was quick or good. For 2008, we have Take Two. The Buick Enclave’s styling has already generated far more buzz than the Rendezvous elicited during its entire six-year run. But does the rest of the vehicle measure up to the sensuous sheetmetal?

Buick Enclave Review [Take Two]

Buick Enclave rating summary and performance review [Take Two]

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 58 comments

2007 Buick Enclave Review

By Megan Benoit
May 23, 2007

When better cars are built, Buick will build them. Meanwhile, they’re building CUV’s. Huh? An automotive brand whose lack of identity has kept it on life support for well over a decade wants a piece of a vehicular genre that’s a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and nothing in particular. GM’s willingness-- make that “eagerness”-- to throw Buick a CUV-shaped, badge-engineered bone demonstrates the corporate mothership’s abject and ongoing inability to devise a coherent plan to resuscitate its “damaged” (i.e. terminal) Buick brand. What is it with these guys?

2007 Buick Enclave Review

2007 Buick Enclave rating summary and performance review

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 123 comments

Buick LaCrosse CXL Review

By Sajeev Mehta
July 5, 2006

They come from around the world to duke it out in the US of A: mid-size sedans from Germany, Japan and South Korea. Each arrives armed with a unique selling point: German engineering, Japanese quality and South Korean value. Their upbringings differ but their mission is the same: capture the hearts and minds of Middle American car buyers-- and keep them. The clear winner in this automotive Battle Royale is the American consumer, who’s never enjoyed so much quality and choice for so little money. Meanwhile, once stalwart American brands and models are falling by the wayside, as their “foreign” competition continues their ceaseless campaign for mid-market hegemony. One such victim is the Buick LaCrosse CXL.

Buick LaCrosse CXL Review

Posted in Buick | Car Reviews | 58 comments

Buick Lucerne CXS Review

By Sajeev Mehta
June 21, 2006

Electra Waggoner Biggs was born a Texas cattle and oil man’s daughter, but left the Lone Star State for Bryn Mawr, Columbia and the Sorbonne. Upon her return she became a revered sculptress, best known for her work “Into the Sunset,” memorializing cowboy actor Will Rogers. In 1959, the President of Buick (and Electra’s husband’s brother-in-law) named a flagship sedan after the middle aged Texan. Today's Buick Lucerne is named after a quaint Swiss tourist trap, with only a failed peasant’s revolt to its name. And there you have it: Buick has tossed away decades of brash Americana for subdued Euro-style. That's beyond stupid.