Buick hopes new LaCrosse plays well

Rather than replace its aged Regal and Century sedans with two new models, Buick built one car with two personalities.

The all-new 2005 LaCrosse is a transition car, with feet set firmly in two worlds. In an attempt to satisfy traditional buyers and entice new ones, it sums up what Buick has been and points toward where it hopes it is going.

To understand the LaCrosse, it’s important to understand that its gestation period was interrupted by a change in management at Buick’s parent General Motors. It was on the drawing board when GM appointed avowed “car guy” Bob Lutz president and told him to right the ship.

For the past 20 years or so, the domestics have poured resources into the booming truck and sport-ute markets. Before that, it was minivans.

In the process, they ceded the car markets to foreign makes. But now, the pendulum is beginning to reverse itself and there’s a renewed interest in cars.

When Lutz joined the team, the midsize Regal/Century successor was in its 14th month of development. In an unheard-of move, the project was halted and work began on a new car.

The LaCrosse re-emerged in its present form, built on a capable and familiar platform and fitted with a choice of two V-power plants. There are three trim levels of LaCrosse: the entry-level CX (from $23,490, including destination), the luxury CXL ($25,995), and the sporty CXS ($28,995).

CX and CXL models are powered by GM’s venerable 3.8-liter V-6, known by the company as the 3800. It’s of an older, pushrod-style design and has just two valves per cylinder — an anachronism in today’s high-revving, multivalve world. It makes 200 horsepower and its chief characteristic is a broad, flat torque range that produces strong off-the-line acceleration without the need for flooring the throttle.

For 2005, GM engineers refined the 3800 for quieter and cleaner operation and it now meets the Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) standards.

The CXS receives an all-new V-6, a 3.6-liter engine with overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and variable valve timing. It makes 240 hp and 225 pound-feet of torque and begs to be driven hard; when it hits its power band at about 3,200 rpm, it bursts into action.

Both engines are mated to a four-speed automatic transmission.

Neat, eh? Two personalities. If you’re part of the traditional Buick buyer group, you take your pick between the (not-stripped) entry-level CX and the fancier CXL.

If you want to mix a little fun into your driving experience, you check the CXS box.

Buick has, I think, done an admirable job of styling a vehicle that will appeal to both groups, with sheet metal that advances Buick’s soft-edged design philosophy a step. The traditional oval Buick grille is flanked by twin headlamps bearing a faint resemblance to Mercedes-Benz-style lenses, while a soft lift in the rear quarter-panel adds spice to the flowing design.

It has a nice continuity with the Century, which it replaces, although the LaCrosse is splashier, with more liberal use of chrome.

Similarly, interior design is contemporary but not startling. Sporting high-quality materials and better fit-and-finish than either the Century or the Regal, the dash is a broad sweep of high-quality composite and faux-wood trim.

The instrument panel is a flat, matte-black rectangle with a tidy and easily understood array of controls. It’s perhaps a touch Euro amidst all that wood, but it strikes a distinctive and decidedly non-GM tone.

The seats are generously proportioned but we drove the CXS and the seats lacked the side bolsters a sport sedan needs. The seats felt inflated, as if they incorporated air bladders, which they might well; adjustable lumbar supports help keep back-fatigue at bay.

There’s adequate legroom for rear-seat passengers but at 5-foot-9, I brushed against the headliner. A six-footer couldn’t do it.

Buick needs to re-establish itself as a builder of luxury automobiles and has identified interior noise abatement as a clear path toward that goal. Its “Quiet Tuning” program adds noise-reducing laminate to the windshield and side windows, a noise-suppressing engine cover, and extra sound-insulation throughout the cabin. The exhaust system uses resonators and special mufflers to cut unwanted noise and various belts were recalibrated and power steering lines modified — all in an effort to create a Lexus-like cabin.

It works. The LaCrosse interior is quiet indeed.

Silence is not the sine qua non of luxury cardom, though, and I won’t be the first to point out that the LaCrosse has a few tricks to learn. For starters, it needs an available navigation system. I don’t know why, exactly, but the darn things sell cars.

To compete with the top-flight imports, which Buick must do, it needs a more modern platform, one that allows refined suspension tuning and enhanced structural rigidity.

At the very least, the CXS should have a fifth gear — an engine as good as the new 3.6 needs a gearbox that finds the torque band’s sweet spot on every shift — and one that has a manual-shift mode.

If for no other reason than image, the CXS probably should be available with a stick.

The steering system is quick but perhaps a bit hair-trigger and not completely communicative.

It would be an understatement to say the LaCrosse is a big step forward for Buick, but it would be overstating the case to say it’s where it needs to be. With GM’s resources, though, and Bob Lutz’s wile and the board’s support, it will no doubt get there.