I agree. Buick engines are also coarse sounding. And sadly 3 cylinder turbo with just 155hp doesn’t cut it when a 4 banger basic Corolla has 168hp and a RAV4 has 200+. I think the exterior styling of a Buick looks good.

 

Monterey Car Week Free and Cheap events calendar here if anyone is interested.

 

With all due respect, you are wrong on several counts. First, the Turbo-Three in my Encore GX DOES cut it, very well, in the everyday type of driving that I do. (you yourself once said that, and have apparantly changed your mind). Second, the turbo bumps the torque figure above that of the HP, to 177....comparable to the torque figure many larger non-turbo 4s. Third, although it does sound a little coarse sometimes on firm acceleration, the turbo three, under most conditions, benefits quite a lot of Buick's well-known Quiet Tuning. Fourth, although I get mid-high 20s for MPG in the city, in can do 40+ on level Interstates, substantially more than the published EPA Highway figure....can't complain about that. The 9-speed automatic helps a lot. Fifth, if I had to do it over again, I'd get the same vehicle with the same drivetrain.....although I admit I don't like some of the changes Buick made to the dash and front end of the new 2024, or the way they are marketing the three new trim-levels.

Agreed....but more-so on the 2023s and earlier. Several of the 2024 Buicks have adopted that 'Wildcat" shark-nose look, which, while nothing wrong with it, isn't quite my cup of tea. Also, the new wide info-screens inside don't display the info I like in as efficient a manner as last years separate analog gauges and smaller screens....on the new system, you have to choose too much between what is shown at any one time and want isn't.

 

LOL. You have to have build-quality to have the reliability today's Buicks have. Something that is just thrown together on the assembly line by monkeys is not going to have reliability. Things constantly have to be fixed....of they CAN be fixed.

Believe me, I went though enough years of that nonsense to know. I owned some of the worst lemons in the buisness....and have done write-ups on them.

 

The two are different things. I am not saying that a Buick is built poorly, I said nobody would confuse it for a luxury car and thats true, Material quality is cheap in many places, fit and finish is not great in many places, solidity and quality feel are not on luxury car level...thats just a fact.

You love the interior quality of old Jags but they had terrible reliability..how do you reconcile that with your logic?

Buick does not make a luxury product, its a nicer end mainstream product similar to a high spec Toyota or low spec Lexus, Hyundai, etc.

 

I never said (or claimed) that Jags were well-assembled. But they used top-quality leather and wood...and, for years, were famous for that.

Buick, overall, today, is considered a semi-luxury product....although, until recently, they offered a luxury-grade warranty. And I'd rate the old Electra 225 (I owned one) as a full-luxury car. In the 60s, It was, IMO, more comfortable to drive than equivalent Cadillacs. The closest American brand to Buick, today, as a semi-luxo brand, is probably Chrysler Division of Stellantis (300 and Pacifica)...although the Pacifica, as you found out, has had its ups and downs in reliability.

 

Yep, the window controls and seat memory controls come to mind. Memory seat controls in my LS430 are separated buttons cut into the actual wood, on newer Lexus cars it's just one black thing of plastic with buttons.

 

i think that most of us (or at least the clear majority of us) would agree that the LS430 was probably the finest Lexus product ever produced.

 

Like I said, its like a high spec mainstream car or a low spec luxury car like a lower end Lexus or Acura. We have no interest in cars from 60 years ago, we're talking about today.

You say a Buick is like a Chrysler, I would agree...I have a Chrysler and nobody would ever confuse if for a luxury car...which is what I said.

 

Those memory seat buttons are not separate buttons, its one module the buttons are just deep enough so that they can be separated by the wood trim. No different than the newer units just a different design.

 

I would say second finest, to the 98-00 LS400.

 

Agree 100%. With respect to everyone's opinions, not going to debate that vs 98-00. IMO 430 took everything great about the 400 and made it all better. I don’t care who has owned what.

This: (minus the janky door handle)



Looks way better and more high end than this:



LS and LX seat memory controls. Window switches and lock switches are better in LS too.

 

I actually much prefer the one unit vs the spaced buttons, personally. I really dont like the button shapes or plastic colors in the LS430

Much cleaner and more modern looking IMO:

 

The newer window controls are similar. It's not BAD, don't get me wrong.

 

All Toyota/Lexus window controls are similar. What I really don't like about the buttons in the 430 is the light gray color.