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If you qualify for a "company car", in most cases, US companies have strict specs for the cars your pay grade is eligible. At one company, while most folks chose Oldsmobiles, I would always opt for a Buick. Back in the day the GM line ran Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac - in that order. If you had to choose a company car, you got as high in that family tree as possible. Even the low-line vehicles would often turn out better than some of the higher level offerings. Buick, among GM cars was always just a tad better than even the Olds (my Dad, whose tastes ran to Chrysler products for the most part (he WAS an engineer, after all, and could usually ignore the cartoonish styling of the day) even settled for Olds and Buick as he moved toward retirement. I figured it was the engineer in him.
If you qualify for a "company car", in most cases, US companies have strict specs for the cars your pay grade is eligible. At one company, while most folks chose Oldsmobiles, I would always opt for a Buick. Back in the day the GM line ran Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac - in that order. If you had to choose a company car, you got as high in that family tree as possible. Even the low-line vehicles would often turn out better than some of the higher level offerings. Buick, among GM cars was always just a tad better than even the Olds (my Dad, whose tastes ran to Chrysler products for the most part (he WAS an engineer, after all, and could usually ignore the cartoonish styling of the day) even settled for Olds and Buick as he moved toward retirement. I figured it was the engineer in him.
That was many, many years ago though. Today, take an Enclave vs a Traverse. The Enclave is no nicer than a high spec Traverse. They are a different design, one may appeal to you over the other but I have driven both for a week each and they are identical in terms of build quality and materials etc.
Nobody would ever sit in a Buick and confuse it for a Mercedes, or even a Lincoln or Cadillac or Volvo. Thats my point:
Originally Posted by SW17LS
Buick build quality is nothing like a luxury car
And thats true, they are well built for what they are but nothing like a luxury car.
I need to post some pictures of the Enclave interior next time I'm around it and that will settle this really quick. It's bad. It's very comfortable and "nice" but the fake wood and faux stitching are bad and that's putting it mildly. The shifter and climate controls and the actual real wood part of the steering wheel are very high quality but that's it. The rest of the buttons and overall the interior feels cheap and unsubstantial.
That said, I'm sure it drives as well as a Lexus RX. It is tomb-quiet and has a fantastic ride and really good handling/chassis tuning. Powerful, satisfying V6. It would be a great car to drive across country.
Lexus fell off recently, it's not the same anymore. Mercedes feels smoother now, the 500 controls feel similar to the ES these days
when you say 500 are you referring to ls500 or lc500?
if lc500, i don't agree at all, and the controls haven't changed since it was introduced in 2018. for '24 the trackpad and analog clock are gone though.
and i don't agree with you on ls500 either... i spent quite a bit of seat time in both an ls500 and an es350. es is great value, and actually the ls is too imo. both great cars for their intended customers.
when you say 500 are you referring to ls500 or lc500?
if lc500, i don't agree at all, and the controls haven't changed since it was introduced in 2018. for '24 the trackpad and analog clock are gone though.
and i don't agree with you on ls500 either... i spent quite a bit of seat time in both an ls500 and an es350. es is great value, and actually the ls is too imo. both great cars for their intended customers.
The LS, the LC is a much nicer interior space and better quality IMO. The LS is just meh unless you spec it to the moon and even then it still loses vs it's supposed rivals. Badly.
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)
I actually don’t like that look at all, I think it looks like a cheap fisher price toy but I get what you are saying about the quality.
The 400 may have been more durable (one of my ex-neighbors had one with over 250K on it)...but the 430 was probably better engineered and used nicer materials inside. To my tastes, I thought it was the finest-driving Lexus in history, although your 460 wasn't very far behind. (I sampled a 460 down at Lindsay Lexus). And the Mark Levinson stereo in the 460....well, that sound system was insanely good......simply in a class by itself.
The 400 may have been more durable (one of my ex-neighbors had one with over 250K on it)...but the 430 was probably better engineered and used nicer materials inside. To my tastes, I thought it was the finest-driving Lexus in history, although your 460 wasn't very far behind. (I sampled a 460 down at Lindsay Lexus). And the Mark Levinson stereo in the 460....well, that sound system was insanely good......simply in a class by itself.
Having had both I don't agree at all. There were numerous areas where the 400 had nicer materials inside, you’re wowed by the wood. 430 had plastic door armrests for instance unless you had a UL model where the 400 had leather, 430 had exposed screws at the top of the instrument panel where the 400 everything was hidden, the dash pad material in the 400 was better and unique to the LS where the material used on the 430 was more typical Toyota, as examples. From a drive perspective the 400 was more enjoyable to drive. Nakamichi audio was much better than Mark Levinson. Styling wise it was also much more attractive IMO. The 430 remains my least favorite of all the LSs I had, my dad preferred the 400 too.
MB dealer emailed me. They have their first 2024 GLSs in stock, swung by to take a look.
The one on the left is a 23, one on the right is a 24. Honestly I like them both, if it weren’t for the CarPlay thing I would swing a deal on a 23, prices went up about $3k
Here is is without the AMG sport package. Not bad.
Speaking of old LSs, this nice 98-00 was spotted earlier. Missing center caps but other than that in nice shape
