Johnhav430

It's hard to generalize, what I will say, is you'll never have that free and easy feeling with a BMW over the long run. My 335i was reliable to about 27 mos. beyond the 7/100 extended warranty, at which point the ABS failed. $4200 job at the dealer so I had to DIY due to the cost, no way I would be willing to pay that, it's insulting. In the end, I spent around $450 or so, so still haven't had any outrageous repairs. I get it, not everyone has an extra car (I took over 2 mos. to do the job) and many have no choice but to pay the dealership. With BMW, OEM and OE parts are so readily available, unlike Lexus or the Japanese cars. Stupid crazy how much a Lexus brake sensor wire costs, compared to BMW. More than double OE to OE, quadruple OE to OEM. Look at how much an OE LS430 stamped steel control arm costs, vs. a BMW forged aluminum. Pretty shameful.

Toys4RJill

Higher priced German cars will lose more money and faster than lower priced Buicks. Just think about how much model one loses on a $60k BMW after three years Vs a $30K Buick if they both depreciate at the same 50% rate. Buying high priced luxury is always a terrible money losing proposition.

Aron9000

What makes you think the Buick will only drive great for the first 50k miles??? I had an old 1991 Regal with I guess over 150k(odometer stopped working at 94k 5-6 years prior), it still ran/drove/shifted like a brand new car at 10 years old with a bunch of miles on it. Hell it even rode/handled pretty damn well for an old car, it didn't have that sort of "slop" in the steering like old RWD cars of that age/mileage would have.

Johnhav430

haha That's probably 1960's thinking. Just do a search on cars.com, there are plenty of Buick Enclaves for sale with 200k miles+. Today, with so much online etc., imho it's hard to separate what's truth, and what's simply and he told two friends, and she told two friends, and he told two friends, etc.

TripleL

On the lighter side I saw this in the parking lot this morning and thought of you Mike. A little old vs new view!

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Wow that's such a good comparison photo you took @TripleL

mmarshall

Thanks for the thought....appreciate it. Nice shot. FYI, my Verano is Crystal Red; the Lacrosse will be Pepperdust.

I haven't seen a new Lacrosse on the road yet....even in the wall-to-wall-traffic D.C. area. They are as rare as an honest politician LOL.

Toys4RJill

I still have reservations about this car for North America. I sat in one on Friday. It was stickered at almost $44K US with AWD. The exterior is outstanding. The interior is good. But at the price point I am not sure about it. I have found in interesting that there was no locking glove box and some of the plastics seemed a little odd for the price point. But the GM does there little things that I like, for example the little red LED letting you know the doors are locked. I do honestly wonder how the sales of the Lacrosse are doing compared to the outgoing model. I did hear from Motorweek that the car was supposed to have a remote touch stye interface. But it was deleted at the last second.

TripleL

Thank you.

You're welcome. Actually the LaCrosse was mine for the week. I put about 900 miles on it. I've been keeping notes on cars I've had over the last couple of years and I plan to start a thread in the near future with snipet reviews of my thoughts for these extended drives.. They will not be as detailed or informative as the great reviews you do, but I think having each of these cars for well over 500 miles and a week at a time gives a different enough slant to share some thoughts. Will include the LaCrosse of course.

Sulu

Why do you keep harping on how bad you think the LaCrosse is? Mike likes the car, and his mind is made up and he has ordered one. This was the intent of this thread; no amount of "you made a bad deal" or "the LaCrosse is a bad car" is going to make him change his mind.

mmarshall

Thanks again, TripleL. Looking forward to your write-ups....I know you'll do a good job. Every new Lacrosse I've test-driven (with the 18" wheels) has been like a soundproofed cocoon.....arguably Buick's best job yet on the Quiet Tuning. (I'm sure yours was no different). Ride comfort is not quite the old big-Buick float from years ago (I'm afraid that's gone for good)...but plenty comfortable for the roads in my area. I haven't sampled the new 9T65 9-speed transmission coming out next year on the Lacrosse V6...but the similar, sightly less-robust 9T50 that I did sample, used on this year's Chevy Malibu with the 2.0.L Turbo 4 shifted fine, with no problems. Unlike this years's Aisin-sourced 8-speed, the new 9T transmission series was specially-designed for GM's engine start/stop system....you'll also see it in some competing Ford products (including the Fusion/MKZ/Continental), as GM and Ford jointly-developed it.

Toys4RJill

Hey, I never said it was bad. Just had some reservations. No big deal! Just trying to make some honest discussion

mmarshall

I respect other viewpoints, Sulu.....including both yours and Jill's.

Jill, you are correct that the interior materials look good but are not true luxury-grade like, say, in a Jaguar...in fact, the solidness of some of the plastics inside doesn't measure up to those on the smaller, Opel-derived Buicks (Verano, Regal, Encore, Cascada); I'm well-aware of that. I also agree with your earlier comments (in other threads) that the steering wheel and column is not particularly well-done. But the plastics inside are good enough for the way I drive (I don't beat up an interior)...and they are typical of other American-designed sedans in this class (MKZ, Taurus, 300, etc...)

As far as no locking glove box is concerned, I've never used the lock on any of the cars I have owned, so there is no loss there...I simply lock the doors every time I park and walk away. I don't keep anything inside the glove box except for watts legally required in my state, and a couple of military/government passes for civilians which can be replaced if lost or stolen. (I usually keep the Owners' Manual somewhere else).

As far as the new-vs.old sales, it's obvious that the 2017 isn't selling.....outside of the one that TripleL just posted, I haven't seen one on the road yet. Buick just announced a new standard Hybrid drive train and 6-speed automatic (and a $1500 base-price drop) on the 2018's....so we'll see how that affects the slow sales. The V6 and the new 9-speed remain as an option on all but the base trim.

As Sulu has indicated, though, I love driving the Lacrosse. While sports cars, sports-sedans, snow-cars, all-weather SUVs, minivans, econoboxes, coupes, etc.... all rightfully have their place (and, as a car enthusiast, I enjoy driving and reviewing them), for my own daily-driver, comfort, to me, has become a big priority. I'm not young any more (though still in relatively good health), and, though the Verano and IS300 were both superb for a compact, I haven't had a really comfortable car since I was in college...over 40 years ago. And, for the price, no one seems to beat Buick's Quiet Tuning.

SW17LS

My big fail for Buick is the use of fake wood, and a poor approximation at that. So much of it too, huge turnoff for me in a car, and something you don't see in real luxury marques even at the same price point. Materialwise I think its fine, some of the typical GM strange grained plastic materials but hey, Cadillacs have those too.

I personally see no issue with Mike choosing the Lacrosse, like I said I think the choice was inevitable and the other options were simply a formality...what frustrates me is seeing him significantly overpay for the car.

mmarshall

The other options were not just a formality. If they were, I would not have wasted time looking at them, test-driving them, and writing them up (except for reviews, of course). And, except for a (refundable) 1K deposit, I haven't actually spent a single dime yet.....Buick keeps moving the goalposts on the differences (and costs, if any) between '17s and '18s.