It’s always interesting to watch the cycles of the auto industry, with features and models coming and going, colors ever changing and how fashion plays its role with the design and styling of current and future models.
Take Buick, for example. In the late sixties, Buick was in the middle of the horsepower wars with big V8 power in the GS. In the 70s and early 80s, Buicks were smaller and had anemic four-cylinders, as did most cars from the era-except for the bigest of Buicks, the Park Avenue and LeSabre.
Then in the late 80s, Buick regained some of its credibility by producing the Grad National, which was touted as the fastest production car at the time, and with a turbo V6, no less. The last V8 Buick car was the Roadmaster of the early 90s, an offshoot of the Chevy Caprice, which died about the same time.
Fast forward to 2006 and, after a decade without, Buick is reentering the V8 market with the brand new Lucerne, which replaces the Le Sabre and Park Avenue models that have carried Buick through the last 20 years with aplomb.
The Lucerne is a great-looking car with smooth, rounded lines and a low-slung feeling due to its width, which leaves plenty of room inside for people and stuff. It’s a great golf car as well, with a roomy trunk that is wide and deep, big enough for your foursome and their bags.
The design seems to be an extension of the LaCrosse, with flowing lines, a few creases for dramatic effect and a wide grill and headlights that make the car look “awake” rather than mean or sleepy like some cars out there. Dimensionally, the Lucerne is close to the Cadillac DTS, of which it shares its platform and Northstar V8 (GM’s venerable 3800 V6 is the standard engine on the base model Lucerne).
Inside, the Lucerne is spacious. The seats, buckets on our test model, were supportive for long drives but left a bit to be desired for spirited driving, more on the later. The best part of the seats was the perforations for the cooling fans to operate. There’s nothing more luxurious at this time than cooled seats; anyone can have heated seats, but only a few have the gumption to actually cool the seats.
Switchgear feel and placement are top notch in the Lucerne. Based on the new DTS, this should come as no surprise. But, what gets us is the noticeably fake wood trim found across the dash and doors. It’s not that it looks bad; it just doesn’t look like wood.
While we didn’t get the chance to make a run through our handling loop, we found the big Buick to drive well and we took most corners like we were driving a sporty car. That’s how good Buick’s engineers have dialed in the Lucerne’s suspension.
We did find some strange sensations coming from suspension and making it through to the pedals on certain bumps and holes in the road, most notably the driveway of our residence. The bad part was the vibration continued halfway up the drive. It was the only truly negative experience with the Lucerne, and it was something we could definitely live with.
This car is great in the wet. After an evening driving on rain-soaked streets, we had a new appreciation for the technological advances in brakes (antilock) and propulsion (traction control). Both systems were difficult to out do, not that we tried. Too hard.
Power delivery from the Northstar V8 (275 horsepower/290 lb.-ft. of torque) was excellent. It’s a darn smooth engine and coupled with the electronically controlled four-speed transmission, kept the Lucerne moving.
Gas mileage is so-so with EPA ratings of 17 city and 25 highway. Our Lucerne’s computer said we got 20 miles per gallon in mixed use. Granted, our lead foot may have had a hand in keeping our mileage figures down, but we just couldn’t get enough of that V8’s throaty growl.
It was a nice surprise to see on the display that rain sensors were active and the wipers started going on their own. We had drivne a BMW 3-series with this function about five years ago and it didn’t seem to work all that well. Atl east the technology seems to have caught up.
Our Lucerne CXL tester had a base price of $30,265 which included the Northstar V8, magnetic power steering, traction control, gobs of aibags, remote keyless entry, tire inflation monitoring, electrochromatic mirrors, 17” wheels and tires, a six-speaker AM/FM/CD/Mp3 stereo, leather seats, steering wheel and shifter and rear window defogger.
Options on our tester added almost $4-grand to the total vehicle price: heated and cooled front seats ($1075), 17” chrome plated wheels ($650), remote started/theft deterrence/rear parking assist ($595), eight-way power driver and passenger seats with memory settings for two drivers ($595), Stabilitrak ($495), replacement radio with the same features as the standard one except for the addition of theftlock ($300) and heated washer fluid ($100). Giving us a grand total, including $725 for shipping, of $$34,800.
Not bad for a big car with tons of features and decent handling abilities.