There is nothing outstanding or dreadful. It just is. Good-looking exterior, nicely built interior, quiet on the road, smooth, and there’s lots of room inside. It’s an adequate car.
Step inside and you find curvy soft-touch materials that look good and are well assembled. I see Buick has taken on some haptic-feedback buttons on the center console for, say, the seat heaters. Love ’em or not, they’re probably the wave of the future.
The V6 is, well, also adequate. It doesn’t feel underpowered for a car this size (I wouldn’t consider a four cylinder), transmission-shift points were almost perfect — no surprises. The engine isn’t as smooth as a Honda V6, but it’s not a Briggs & Stratton, either.
Handling is probably ideal for a typical LaCrosse customer with it being smooth over rough pavement, nice light steering and more than its share of body roll in corners, but nothing untoward.
The interior of the 2014 Buick LaCrosse Premium is spacious and luxurious.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR GRAHAM KOZAK: This is the biggest, cushiest sedan Buick makes, and consequently, it also feels the most old-school. It’s not for people who drive fast. It’s well-suited for those who value serenity and floatiness over performance but can’t afford, say, a Mercedes-Benz S-class.
We’d hate to say this is a car for old people, because it isn’t – though styling isn’t groundbreaking it is visually appealing. The interior felt solid, felt good even, but it didn’t quite feel premium. I think a large part of that was the color (tan in our tester). I’ve found that, when non-German automakers play around that color, it tends to come off as cheap; another example is the Hyundai Azera (a car I would rank behind this LaCrosse).
Performance is, as Wes said, “adequate.” Smoothness had to have been a prime directive here.
It’s your dad’s Buick, not your grandpa’s Buick. And for anyone in the quarter-century age range is something of an improvement. To meet the expectations of certain buyers, Buick has to build this car; I’m glad to see they didn’t phone it in, but I’m also glad they make the Regal Turbo and the Verano. Driver confidence package one including forward collision alert, rear cross traffic alert, side blind zone alert with lane departure warning, high intensity headlights with adaptive forward lighting ($2,125); driver confidence package two including adaptive cruise control, automatic collision preparation ($1,745); Buick audio system including Intellilink, navigation, CD player, Bluetooth streaming ($795); carbon black metallic exterior paint ($495)
