The Buick LaCrosse is an excellent luxury sedan that has so far been responsible for 40,720 sales in 2011. That’s a 4.8 percent decrease compared to the same time period a year ago, but it’s important to keep in mind that back then, the new Buick Regal — which is definitely cannibalizing a number of would-be LaCrosse customers — was not available. Even so, the LaCrosse is responsible for higher average transaction prices compared to the first-generation model and, with the addition of eAssist for the 2012 model year as well as the possible addition of a high-performance GS model, we expect to see an increase in sales numbers.
But even though the LaCrosse is seeing healthy sales and higher average transaction prices doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. Thus our question: how would you change, redesign, tweak, or otherwise modify the Epsilon II-based sedan?
Let us know in the comments!
PS: don’t you just love the Daewoo Alpheon clone in the photo?
Comments
It looks too tall and narrow to me. If the masses like it being tall for outward visibility then at least make the next one wider. Maybe move it to Super Epsilon like Impala and XTS.
There will be a Buick on the Super Epsi… don’t know if it will be the LaCrosse or not…
To begin with, they should change the name LaCrosse to at least Alpheon and hopefully Lecurne wont come back, but would like to see a new big Buick with a better name.
Buick Alpheon. Hmmm… I may like the sound of that.
Rear visibility please! And change that name for god sake in french it means handjob!!
LOL I thought that was a lacrosse in the picture.
Well, I hate the lacrosse’s direct inject engine tick-tick noise, it drives me crazy.
I know they were trying to make it really quiet and cockpit type, but I feel like for a relatively large car it is too low and has poor visibility.
As an enthusiast like most of us here I never confuse a car for another, but one time at night I honestly confused the lacrosse as the camry from the rear. So they should change the rear into something more exciting even though I know Buick is going for the understated luxury thing.
More power
Either don’t offer the 4cyl or make more efficient because as it stands the engine is not worth it.
Add massaging front seats like the taurus and heated rear seats, I mean even the elantra has them
I would say make it quieter but in this case I can’t
More cofortable seats and better rear legroom
As for problems that’s all I can remember right now though there are more.
I would to make it into a true flagship like a LS 400 competitor by making it full-size and adding fore features like park assist and other things we’ll never use.
Oh, and raise the price, it seems like the Lacrosse is selling itself short considering how great of a car it is.
I would say make both the projector beams and proximity key standard on Touring and upper Leather group packages. Self park assist would be helpful, along with larger trunk. Of course massaging seat along with heated seats in the back, Forward collisioning, adaptive cruise control. But if Buick can make it performance oriented, take this baby and make it a GS too!!
Personally I like the vehicle, definately a huge jump forward in overall design. However buicks tend to be a little too buick for todays market. Buicks should become more European in nature as the Regal would lean toward. The next Lacross should have a healthy dose of European styling no one today is bought into Buick heritage, that just reminds people of the Buick there grandpa drove…
The Regal offers great balane between euro styling and some simple buick traits, the lacross offers a decent balance as well but its to americana I want european…
Cadillac is for competing with European sport-luxury makes. There needs to be a soft luxury offering (lineup) that does what Lexus does… but better. Soft ride, disconnected handling, and total passenger isolation. These aren’t the qualities a hard core auto enthusiast looks for, but it’s exactly what sells the majority of Lexus vehicles.
Buick is it. Forget about heritage — Lexus should be the new target. In particular, the ES should be the target for the Lacrosse. The Regal is a stop gap vehicle. The IS should be the target for the Verano. And the LS should be the target for a Buick flagship.
This strategy will net GM total control of the luxury space: Caddy would (is) take on Performance Luxury makers from Germany while Buick would (should) take on Lexus — the leader from Japan. No other automaker can compete with 2 luxury brands offering totally different luxury experiences… Except for GM.
The A piller limits good forward visibilty. The other commenters pretty much summed up the car’s needed improvements. But very important also is the need for Buick showrooms and their dealers to get up to speed and modernize. There is no aura in the existing model. Dealerships lack identity have not changed much and are operating the same way they did in the 60’s when they had it all. Now they have to shout louder, look leaner and classier and train their sales staff in the art of appearance and presentation which today is sorely lacking.
Good point — the retail level is something BMW, MB, Audi, and Lexus have all mastered. Buick needs to do the same. It seems that — at the retail level — GM still treats Buick as an upscale Chevy store… whereas it should be its own thing.
PS: the A pillar in the LaX is truly humongous. While it may help in safety/crash tests, it doesn’t help rearward visibility.
The future lacrosse will have more Lexus direct competition features, it will have a great ride and be selectable, it will have best in class interior and electronics and as far as power the e assist will move to the 2.5 engine for even greater performance and the top engine will gain HP and fuel economy, the exterior will evolve to be more advanced buick look which will be a modern look with class and sport luxury in mind, current mules for next gen look great and will be a highly stylized car (more bling) and more sport. you will like…..
Good to know! Will it get any “softer” in terms of ride and handling?
As we all know the Regal is basically an Opel a German vehicle, that is fine for Cadillac to be the main competitor to BMW, Audi ect but truthefully what’s wrong with Buick having some Euro flare… I am not into at all the Japanese interpretation of what a luxury car should be, just my personal thing, nothing Lexus or Infiniti has gets me excited so many of there cars are rebadged. Pegging Buick to the Japanese cars is fine as long as it has nothing to do with design elements, that should be Germanesq, with a hint of new Buick flavor. People who buy Lexuses are previous Toyota owners, same 4 Acura/Honda not sure about Nissan/Infimiti. Lexus may pull in outsiders because the win Jd power every stinking year.
Well, while Asian luxury may not get you excited, there’s a reason Lexus has been the luxury sales leader for the last decade… by a far margin. Lexus buyers tend to be an older crowd and they value comfort, silence, refinement, and other pure luxury elements. Their vehicles don’t need to go balls-out or win in any performance-oriented events. That’s why I always say that Lexus buyers, for the most part, don’t even know what kind of an engine is in their car, what wheels drive it, or how much power they have on tap.
Additionally, you’ll be surprised where Lexus buyers come from. Very few move “up” from Toyotas… most who buy the IS and LS, for instance, are conquest buyers from MB and BMW.
Design-wise, the cars need to be beautiful… which is a vary ambiguous term. But Lexus buyers don’t tend to like aggressive styling. That said, beautiful does not always have to mean aggressive.
In that regard, Mercedes has been slowly moving in the overall direction of Lexus. They’re much less performance-oriented now than they were a decade ago with the last generation of their vehicles.
Infiniti is on the other end of the luxury spectrum from Lexus. Their main goal is performance — and they’ve done well to accomplish it. I’m really impressed by the way Infiniti cars and crossovers drive… but their styling doesn’t strike my fancy, even though I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with it. Recently, they’ve announced plans to introduce some FWD-based cars into a RWD/AWD-only lineup, which I think is a mistake (and I think we discussed this earlier).
Acura doesn’t really count. They’re just plain confused as to where they want to go and what they want to be. Actually, they’re not so much confused as they are cash-strapped. There was a plan about 7 years ago before the recession that called for Acura to compete on a global basis with BMW and Audi in performance autos. They were going to have their own platforms and design… and were going to be treated as an independent company… like Lexus.
But those plans stalled for a year before taking effect… and then they couldn’t secure financing to execute the plan. Then the recession hit. So Acuras are still rebadged Hondas. They’re not bad, but they’re not leading in anything. There was a study a few years ago that concluded that Acura buyers were indeed much more likely to have been Honda owners in the past. But this wasn’t the case for Lexus or Infiniti.
At the end, it all comes down to the brand’s goals. Lexus is laser-focused on soft luxury — and that’s why they do so well. The HS doesn’t count… and neither does the LF-A. That said, I don’t know if GM has plans to position Buick squarely agains Lexus, since most future Buicks will be shared and closely developed with Opel, which definitely provides a much more sporting driving experience than Lexus (and is also a lot less refined). We’ll see 🙂
We miss out at Buick GMC only dealers all the time. The guy who buys a 62k Denali from me. Also almost always has some sort of sports car. And he dosn’t care about a turbo 4cyl. I need something to sell to that customer. So I would like to see a sport version with magnetic ride, and 6.2, air ride, basically CTS V little bigger different design.40-50 grand and it would easily sell.
Some of the problems we miss out on with the Taurus people listed above would help. Buick Intell link infotainment system is going to help a big help and make a big difference in dealing with someone who cross shopin with taurus.
with the selectable suspension you will be able to find a softer or firmer ride depending on your likes, Buick has a great feature in their new suspension geometry and set ups an they will focus on these differances in performance to take advantage of the competition. One word is buzzing around the next Lacrosse and that is Sexy, it seems both men and women like the future product and no compromises have been taken, think of the next sedan as a sweetened current product, made right in all areas, for Europe China and the US more of a global player with a few differant names to the product in Europe but all the DNA from that area as well as the current success of the design direction made possible by the global engineering efforts.
There are going to be a bunch of people from dealerships in Detroit next week I wonder if it’s showable and they get to see it??
how about a bigger trunk that is the only reason i bought the lucerne some people still need this space
Alex thx for breaking down everything, I did not know that ably Acura, great reporting. Hopefully Buick will take it higher in future products, look forward to hearing how Verano drives…
Definitly needs a twin-turbo V6 with 370-400 hp in GS trim with deep tone exhaust. Also longer trunk deck with built-in spoiler and full length taillights. Move license plate to the lower bumper. Add front fender side louvers that function as heat extractors for turbos. Front window pillars are too thick and are visability hazard. Needs to shed some pounds and add cylinder deactivation to 4 during highway cruising.
Not sure that’s where Buick is going, though. At that point, why not buy a CTS that can do what this thing would be able to do… only better (since it’s RWD-based and has proper weight distribution)?
But isn’t it the CTS is kinda heavier than the Lacrosse?
Currently, they’re about the same weight (LaCrosse 3,835 lbs, CTS 3,949). The upcoming Alpha-based CTS may or may not be heavier than the current-gen… but I don’t think that matters as much as the Front-Rear weight distribution.
At the end of the day, a RWD-based vehicle will always outhandle and outperform a FWD-based car thanks to that better weight distribution/balance. But this doesn’t mean that the LaCrosse can’t try to be sporty… I just don’t see Buick heading in the direction of chasing power.
I though that Alpha will be lighter then Zeta and Sigma II, I heard that the next Camaro will be riding on Alpha and will be a lot lighter then the current model. But then again, next CTS will be bigger then current so that weight will probably wont change. I hope that ATS will reclaim the worlds fastest production sedan around the nurbergrin.
From what we know so far, the Alpha will have similar weight issues as the Zeta and Sigma. Here’s one article on the matter.
But now that i thought…. will the next gen Malibu will weight about the same as the Lacrosse??
It will probably be around the 3,600lb mark, since it’s going to be a bit shorter and ride on the same wheelbase as the Regal, which itself starts at 3,600lbs.
Because if it is about 3600 for Malibu then it’s gonna be a little heavy considering sonata is about like 3300 I think
Yeah, but the Sonata also drives like crap. Looks ok, has a good interior… but it doesn’t even compare to the driving dynamics of the current-generation Malibu.
That said, I don’t know if “normal” drivers will be able to notice the difference.
I felt both Sonata’s and Optima’s interior are crap…. Some people (who happened to own a Malibu with 3.6 and compares to the Optima) says their turbo 4 just doesn’t really provide that boost of the 274 hp that it advertises. And i’m not sure if the Camry will be any lighter. But I’d still take the next gen Bu compare to the Camry and Sonata.
Well, the Sonata’s interior is certainly better than that of the current-gen Malibu… especially when it comes to the most frequent “touch points”. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Malibu’s cabin, but it’s just not as modern — in all respects of the word
But the Sonata — that’s the only one I’ve had some serious wheel time with — just sucks when it comes to handling. That’s its worst attribute.
For me the interior of Sonata kinda looks blend I mean in Malibu you get different colors in the interior ie. black, beige, the wood trim, etc. and For Sonata I just don’t find it special except for the material of the top dash is what I can find on the Lucerne.
For one, please stop cloning to models different brand names and come up with some original ideas.
We have a 2010 LaCrosse and have a number of ideas for improvements.
1. More visibility to the rear is needed
2. Bring on the rain sensor wipers
3. Use a standard Qwerty key layout for the Nav system
4. Allow editing of the name, etc. of the recorded cds.
5. Introduce a vehicle software upgrade system so new features and bug fixes can be deployed after the car is built.
6. Improve the lumbar support for the driver seat
7. Add lumbar support for the passenger seat
8. Provide an easily accessible power port to both the drive and front passenger.
9. Slightly wider arm rests on the front doors.
10. Better fuel efficiency – Can you say Clean-Diesel?
11. Upgradable On-Star features
That’s a good list to start with.
I echo earlier comments about visibility out the rear, front/Side and also between the doors (I heard this was done to meet new rollover safety standards), but I have two major beefs : how the 6 speed auto shifts and the trunk! For a car this size, a 13cu ft trunk is too small!
I’ve overcome the auto transmission issue by shifting myself using the manumatic feature (which, by the way is the best implementation of this concept I’ve seen anywhere). Along the lines of earlier performance vs comfort discussions, I love to know I have lots of power available, but rarely do I use it. With $4 gas, I care a lot about fuel economy. The auto shift points are too late such that in a manumatic mode I get 24mpg vs 22 or less if I let the car shift when it wants to with the 2010 3.0l direct injection engine.
Turbo the eAssist a bit. (Old timer here. I’ve averaged 25 mpg for the last 24 years with LeSabres, with the 3800 running at 2000 rpm at 72 mph. Wisdom seldom comes to the young.)
Make Heated rear seats available’
Does anybody know what is the driving range for both the 4 cyl and 6 cyln lacrosse?
Our 2010 LaCrosse managed a 1200 mile trip at 26 MPG. It was mostly interstate, but included several days driving in the Colorado Rockies. I would love to see GM get a clean-diesel engine for passenger cars and light trunks (smaller than the Duramax)