Just looking at the color of it, not to my liking.

 

Luxury should equal real stuff. I agree that should extend to leather too.

 

Depends, I guess, on how you look at it. Luxury, IMO, should equal real COMFORT. You can get what I would call physical comfort, ether with or without real wood and leather (or even with soft velour cloth bench or bucket seats like in older luxury American cars). I have to confess, though, that the nice soft leather that we saw in older Jaguar and Lexus products (Jag used to call it Connally leather) could be a real treat to sit on.

 

Anyhow, back to topic.......anybody here in Car Chat have a chance to drive a new LaCrosse yet? If so, fire away.....let's hear it.

 

cheap shot at buick. we used to say the same thing about leather and 4 cylinder engines.

 

Haha, true enough.

At least this has a V6!

 

And the Buick has a similar weight, same mileage, and more power than the ES. Makes me wonder if and when the ES will get the RX's revised 3.5L with the D4S injection system 295hp vs current 268hp.

 

Looks pretty stylish from the pics, not ground breaking, but handsome. I'm really digging the turbine wheels, the front clip, especially the grill. Its a traditional Buick waterfall grill, but its a more modern take in that its not all chrome. I also like that the color is back on the badge as well.

Although that low roofline and high door glass that is ever present on sedans now days might make it claustrophobic inside. The last LaCrosse had that issue, you didn't notice the high doors/small glass too much from the front seats. The rear seats though in the old car, felt like you were in a bunker, but it wasn't as bad as some other cars(Camaro or the last gen dodge Charger). Old sedans you can see out of so much better, the windows are bigger and lower in the door, the trunk isn't as high. I wonder if this is one reason people are flocking to crossovers, outward visibility can be rather compromised depending on the car.

 

I wouldn't ask for or expect more horsepower in this segment. Most ES and TheCrosse buyers are seniors who don't car about drag racing from a red light. MPG's and engine refinement should be the name of the game here.

 

MPG is competitive and the 3.6 GM V6 has always been a very smooth, very quiet operator. Extra HP is frosting on the cake, and honestly I think people do care about HP in this segment, otherwise you'd see all the cars with 4 cylinder engines standard and the V6 optional. I know if I spent 35-40k on a new, big sedan, I wouldn't want the same 4 cylinder engine as a Malibu or base model Camry. That's the same reason I don't like the new Volvos, they're 4 cylinder only, with a very complex supercharged and turbocharged engine that makes similar HP numbers to this V6 Buick and gets a whopping 2mpg better on the EPA test. In real life the XC90 with that same 4 cylinder engine does WORSE than the EPA fuel economy numbers and IMO looks to be an expensive money pit after 3-4 years of ownership.

 

There are more non-seniors buying the ES and LaCrosse than is the general image painted the auto press, but, you're right...they are definitely cars designed primarily for sedate driving.

The former 2Gen Lacrosse, with an optional V6, DID come with a base 4 as standard, along with a start/stop system. But it was definitely a larger 4 than what you are finding now in the base Malibu and Fusion, which is in the 1.5-1.6L turbo class.

 

You actually should expect more horsepower. If Buick is calling their cars "Luxury cars" then it should have the proper horse power ratings. In this case, 305hp is very good.

Also, congrats has to go out to GM as this Buick is not imported from China.

 

In a luxury car what horsepower gives you IMHO is effortless driving. Its not about being the fastest car on the road, its about never having to feel the powertrain struggling to meet your power needs.

 

All else equal, torque is actually a more important measure of throttle response/acceleration, especially at low RPMs. HP figures more into overcoming air resistance and the car's ultimate top speed, which is usually of little concern on speed-regulated American roads.

 

Luxury cars, because of their large number of standard and optional features (including sound insulation) also (usually) have added weight compared to their more mundane comparably-sized cars. So, all else equal (same transmissions, final-drive ratios, etc...), more power is needed to just to get them moving.