MM Mini-Review/Test-Drive: 2017 Buick LaCrosse
#31
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
All right, if you want to get into Edmund's.......they measured a Verano Turbo at 61.8 db at 70 MPH cruise.....pretty close. And an A8 doesn't cost 25-30K.
#32
Lexus Fanatic
#33
Lexus Test Driver
You've more or less boxed yourself into a corner with that statement. If the E-shifters are the answer, then why doesn't the Cadillac CT6 have one?....it debuted at just about the same time as the XT5 (and only a couple of months ahead of the LaCrosse). The obvious answer, from what i can see, is that Cadillac figured most CT6 buyers wouldn't put up with it.....and they are probably correct.
Correct. It costs more $$ for the production line to have to utilize multiple AT's for a single vehicle.
#34
Lexus Fanatic
http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/ls-460/...ad-test-specs/
Again, like Mike said you should drive the two and draw your own conclusions. I have to agree with him, that no Avalon I've driven (and I've driven a couple) is as quiet and refined as my LS.
Originally Posted by tex2670
And what makes Cadillac CT6 customers so special that they won't tolerate electronic shifters, but all of their German competition use them, and have for years? There are 2 potential reasons: their customers are old and rigid; or there is something about the electronic application that makes it difficult to adapt to all of the wide ranging engine choices that the CT6 offers.
The reason the CT6 does not have a style shifter as the XT5 does is not because they need to save cost in the XT5, I don't buy that a joystick style shifter is less expensive than a traditional style shifter, its about demographics. The CT6 is aimed at an older demographic. Its the same reason Lexus uses the remote touch mouse in some models, and the trackpad in other models...trackpad models are models aimed at younger buyers.
#35
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
ok guys we're all over the map here.
i see the term 'e-shifter' thrown around all over here... i don't even know what the term here is trying to specify. i think ALL shifters today are just an input device connected to an electronic control system for the actual gears, so in that sense aren't they all 'e-shifters'? sure there's levers (which seem 'traditional' which i guess they are in operation, but not implementation) vs. ones that just go forward/backward (bmw? my jeep, etc.) rotary dials, and buttons. as for what's 'mechanical', i guess unless there's no moving parts in the controls, like a touch screen or touch 'button', then they're all mechanical, but it's a pretty irrelevant distinction.
as for quiet and the avalon, having been in a new one recently, it didn't seem that quiet to me, with noticeable tire / road noise.
i see the term 'e-shifter' thrown around all over here... i don't even know what the term here is trying to specify. i think ALL shifters today are just an input device connected to an electronic control system for the actual gears, so in that sense aren't they all 'e-shifters'? sure there's levers (which seem 'traditional' which i guess they are in operation, but not implementation) vs. ones that just go forward/backward (bmw? my jeep, etc.) rotary dials, and buttons. as for what's 'mechanical', i guess unless there's no moving parts in the controls, like a touch screen or touch 'button', then they're all mechanical, but it's a pretty irrelevant distinction.
as for quiet and the avalon, having been in a new one recently, it didn't seem that quiet to me, with noticeable tire / road noise.
#36
Lexus Fanatic
I was a little shocked that Buick is doing this. But GM has higher MSRPs than a comparable Toyota Avalon but the Buick rebates and incentives are much higher. The MSRPs get close to Lexus but the Buick will do a 15-20 percent incentive. It seems to work for them.
#37
Lexus Fanatic
ok guys we're all over the map here.
i see the term 'e-shifter' thrown around all over here... i don't even know what the term here is trying to specify. i think ALL shifters today are just an input device connected to an electronic control system for the actual gears, so in that sense aren't they all 'e-shifters'? sure there's levers (which seem 'traditional' which i guess they are in operation, but not implementation) vs. ones that just go forward/backward (bmw? my jeep, etc.) rotary dials, and buttons. as for what's 'mechanical', i guess unless there's no moving parts in the controls, like a touch screen or touch 'button', then they're all mechanical, but it's a pretty irrelevant distinction..
i see the term 'e-shifter' thrown around all over here... i don't even know what the term here is trying to specify. i think ALL shifters today are just an input device connected to an electronic control system for the actual gears, so in that sense aren't they all 'e-shifters'? sure there's levers (which seem 'traditional' which i guess they are in operation, but not implementation) vs. ones that just go forward/backward (bmw? my jeep, etc.) rotary dials, and buttons. as for what's 'mechanical', i guess unless there's no moving parts in the controls, like a touch screen or touch 'button', then they're all mechanical, but it's a pretty irrelevant distinction..
Last edited by Toys4RJill; 10-02-16 at 08:32 AM.
#38
Lexus Fanatic
It's too bad all the car manufacturers and the SAE could not come up with a well designed system for testing and publishing how quiet a car is. We have a system for tow ratings, MPG and horsepower ratings. It would benefit us all.
#39
Lexus Fanatic
)
Glad you enjoyed it, but, to be honest, it wasn't much of a review. Since I didn't have a whole lot of energy that day (I hadn't slept well the night before), and I didn't have any specific CL or other requests for a full-length LaCrosse review, I decided to skip the long, detailed stem-to-stern coverage and do just a very short simple summary. (I had also done a short, previous static write-up).
Glad you enjoyed it, but, to be honest, it wasn't much of a review. Since I didn't have a whole lot of energy that day (I hadn't slept well the night before), and I didn't have any specific CL or other requests for a full-length LaCrosse review, I decided to skip the long, detailed stem-to-stern coverage and do just a very short simple summary. (I had also done a short, previous static write-up).
#40
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
i agree... like this format better.
#41
I think my main gripe with a lot of these new style shifters is that there are no mechanical detents, no mechanical feel to tell if you actually engaged a gear. Since the lever doesn't move back/forth through a mechanical gate anymore, you have to rely on the little indicator on the dash that the car actually shifted from drive to park. I know on BMW and Mercedes, if you just give a quick tap to the "Park" button, a lot of times it won't engage park and still leave you in drive or reverse. You take your foot off the brake and the car rolls, giving you a good scare. Or in the case of really bad designs like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, you can get out of the car thinking you are in park and have the car run over you and kill you.
Really it boils down to this being a safety thing IMO. If the lever on the console moves back/forth, you can feel the mechanical action, you can quickly glance down or just by feel know the lever is all the way at the top just by feel and that the car is in park. Same thing with the old school column shift on an Escalade vs that horrible stubby stalk on a Mercedes SUV, you know you're in park just from the feel of the lever. And I know some people hate the rotary shift ****, but I've noticed that they do have a mechanical "click" to them to let you know you changed gears. Turn the **** all the way to the left to where it won't turn anymore, you know the car is in park without having to look down at the display. Turn it all the way to the right, bam you're in drive.
Really it boils down to this being a safety thing IMO. If the lever on the console moves back/forth, you can feel the mechanical action, you can quickly glance down or just by feel know the lever is all the way at the top just by feel and that the car is in park. Same thing with the old school column shift on an Escalade vs that horrible stubby stalk on a Mercedes SUV, you know you're in park just from the feel of the lever. And I know some people hate the rotary shift ****, but I've noticed that they do have a mechanical "click" to them to let you know you changed gears. Turn the **** all the way to the left to where it won't turn anymore, you know the car is in park without having to look down at the display. Turn it all the way to the right, bam you're in drive.
#42
Lexus Fanatic
I think my main gripe with a lot of these new style shifters is that there are no mechanical detents, no mechanical feel to tell if you actually engaged a gear. Since the lever doesn't move back/forth through a mechanical gate anymore, you have to rely on the little indicator on the dash that the car actually shifted from drive to park. I know on BMW and Mercedes, if you just give a quick tap to the "Park" button, a lot of times it won't engage park and still leave you in drive or reverse. You take your foot off the brake and the car rolls, giving you a good scare. Or in the case of really bad designs like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, you can get out of the car thinking you are in park and have the car run over you and kill you.
Really it boils down to this being a safety thing IMO. If the lever on the console moves back/forth, you can feel the mechanical action, you can quickly glance down or just by feel know the lever is all the way at the top just by feel and that the car is in park. Same thing with the old school column shift on an Escalade vs that horrible stubby stalk on a Mercedes SUV, you know you're in park just from the feel of the lever. And I know some people hate the rotary shift ****, but I've noticed that they do have a mechanical "click" to them to let you know you changed gears. Turn the **** all the way to the left to where it won't turn anymore, you know the car is in park without having to look down at the display. Turn it all the way to the right, bam you're in drive.
Really it boils down to this being a safety thing IMO. If the lever on the console moves back/forth, you can feel the mechanical action, you can quickly glance down or just by feel know the lever is all the way at the top just by feel and that the car is in park. Same thing with the old school column shift on an Escalade vs that horrible stubby stalk on a Mercedes SUV, you know you're in park just from the feel of the lever. And I know some people hate the rotary shift ****, but I've noticed that they do have a mechanical "click" to them to let you know you changed gears. Turn the **** all the way to the left to where it won't turn anymore, you know the car is in park without having to look down at the display. Turn it all the way to the right, bam you're in drive.
#43
Or they'll get run over and killed by their new car that they aren't familiar with.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...sh-age-27.html
Then they'll issue a recall on the bad design once somebody is killed, for something that didn't need to be changed in the first place. Notice that on the new 2016-2017 Grand Cherokee they went back to a traditional shift mechanism with actual detents on the lever. Nobody needed to die because the Jeep designers decided to make a gimmick out of changing gears to make the car seem more "futuristic" or whatever their idea was behind that bad design.
The other thing is YOU might be familiar with how the shifter works in your car. People in general are dumb(no disrespect to Mr Yelchin), the shift mechanism has been the same for DECADES. Give somebody that crazy Buick joystick or that bad design in the Grand Cherokee as a rental car, watch them bump into something because the car rolled the wrong way thinking they were in drive while instead were in reverse, were still in drive instead of park and took their foot off the brake, etc. Same thing if somebody has to move your car in the driveway or something and they flub it up.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...sh-age-27.html
Then they'll issue a recall on the bad design once somebody is killed, for something that didn't need to be changed in the first place. Notice that on the new 2016-2017 Grand Cherokee they went back to a traditional shift mechanism with actual detents on the lever. Nobody needed to die because the Jeep designers decided to make a gimmick out of changing gears to make the car seem more "futuristic" or whatever their idea was behind that bad design.
The other thing is YOU might be familiar with how the shifter works in your car. People in general are dumb(no disrespect to Mr Yelchin), the shift mechanism has been the same for DECADES. Give somebody that crazy Buick joystick or that bad design in the Grand Cherokee as a rental car, watch them bump into something because the car rolled the wrong way thinking they were in drive while instead were in reverse, were still in drive instead of park and took their foot off the brake, etc. Same thing if somebody has to move your car in the driveway or something and they flub it up.
#44
Lexus Fanatic
Yeah as someone who owned a Grand Cherokee with the shifter in question, it's something I never got used to and I can totally understand how someone would get out of the car and leave it in an unintended gear.
I agree with Aaron, a lot of these don't have an intuitive feel and it's especially an issue when someone doesn't drive just that one vehicle all the time. For example, the Jeep was my wife's primary vehicle, I had more issues with the shifter than she did.
I agree with Aaron, a lot of these don't have an intuitive feel and it's especially an issue when someone doesn't drive just that one vehicle all the time. For example, the Jeep was my wife's primary vehicle, I had more issues with the shifter than she did.
#45
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
I agree... like this format better.
I've got a number of review-requests, though, for the Lincoln Continental, so that one will probably be full-length....or close to it.