Buick Lacrosse

2010 Buick LaCrosse

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Shopping for a 2012 Buick Lacrosse? MSRP: $30,170 - $38,820

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The Buick LaCrosse is a front- or all-wheel drive, four-door, midsize luxury sedan. Built to replace the Century and Regal in Buick’s lineup, it has become the face of the “new Buick,” as GM moves to cast Buick as a global affordable-luxury brand. The LaCrosse’s main competition is the Lexus ES, Infiniti G, BMW 3-Series, Audi A4, and Mercedes C-Class, though its size and pricing don’t match up precisely with any of its rivals. The Buick LaCrosse is currently priced between about $30,000 for the base eAssist and $38,000 for a loaded Premium model.

Only two generations of the Buick LaCrosse have been built since its debut in 2005, but those two generations are very different. The first LaCrosse was much like a smaller version of the Lucerne, epitomizing the old American view of a floaty, conservatively styled luxury Buick. Powered by a 3.6-liter V-6, a 3.8-liter V-6 and a 5.3-liter V-8, the first-generation LaCrosse was neither sporty nor fuel efficient, though the V-8 model packed some solid highway muscle. Three trims--CX, CXL and CXS--the car was front-drive only and offered features that came up somewhat short of the competition. To help remedy that problem, the Super trim was added in 2008, featuring magnetic adjustable shock absorbers, larger brakes, a revised suspension, projector beam fog lights, wood grain interior trim and new leather seating surfaces. The 2009 model year was the last for the first-generation LaCrosse.

The second-generation LaCrosse is a whole new car, with a striking design and much-improved materials, build quality, features and ride. Introduced to the market in 2009 as a 2010 model, the new LaCrosse quickly garnered praise for its looks, and featured a new range of engines, including a 2.4-liter four-cylinder (on sale later this year), a 3.0-liter V-6 and a 3.6-liter V-6. The four-cylinder was intended to grab great fuel economy figures for LaCrosse, while the 3.0-liter and 3.6-liter V-6s add some thrust to the large sedan.  

Available in four trims--CX, CXL, CXS and AWD--the new LaCrosse can be packaged to suit a variety of tastes and budgets. The base CX features standard OnStar and the 255-horsepower 3.0-liter V-6 engine, with cloth interior, single-zone automatic climate control, and available entertainment and comfort & convenience packages. The CXL steps up with dual-zone automatic climate control, heated seats, variable-effort power steering, and an available luxury package. The CXS adds to this with the 280-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 and memory-setting seats. The all-wheel drive LaCrosse is only available in CXL trim, with the 3.0-liter V-6. All new LaCrosses feature a six-speed automatic transmission.

GM decided to discontinue the 3.0-liter engine for 2011, as the 3.6-liter provided much better performance while returning comparable real-world gas mileage. That's also when the 182-horsepower four-cylinder model was phased in as the base engine. As such, the LaCrosse was on the verge of feeling underpowered. Thankfully, that base powertrain was only a one-year stopgap measure, as for 2012 the Buick LaCrosse eAssist was introduced. With a reconfigured version of GM's belt-alternator-starter mild-hybrid system, the LaCrosse eAssist returns EPA ratings of 25 mpg city, 36 highway. As such, the LaCrosse has a smoother, more refined character--thanks to the electric-motor system, which now aids drivability and allows the engine to stop at stoplights (it's restarted when you lift off the brake).

Also new to the LaCrosse lineup for 2012 was IntelliLink, Buick's version of GM's touch-screen media interface, combining phone and media-player connectivity, plus streaming audio through Pandora or Stitcher apps.