2005 Buick LaCrosse

It's good to be the czar. Czars can make rash, heretical statements with impunity. Take this one from Czar (Bob) Lutz I: "In a world of $5000 rebates, doesn't it make sense to spend $500 to make a car sell with only a $2000 rebate?" Sounds like common sense, but trust us--lesser luminaries have been burned at the bean-counting stake for less. A drive in Buick's new LaCrosse suggests that at least $500 was indeed invested in this replacement (on the same platform) for the Century and Regal sedans.

The LaCrosse's mission is to form a bridge between the current Buick sedan buyer (average age 69 years) and the trailing edge of the baby boom. To retain the greatest generation, the ride remains supple, the cabin roomy (with more hiproom and rear legroom), the styling conservative, the ergonomics intuitive, and the tried-and-true 200-horsepower pushrod 3800 V-6 standard. To attempt to lure post-nuclear newcomers, Buick has narrowed the panel gaps by 40 percent (3.0 to 3.5 mm), engineered less-floaty body motions, tuned steering to be more precise, dressed up the interior, dramatically hushed the cabin, and offers a 3.6-liter, 240-horse DOHC V-6.

"Quiet tuning" accounts for much of Lutz's $500. A new equal-length exhaust system with a first-ever Helmholtz resonator in the tail pipe mutes the DOHC V-6, and a stiffer engine-transmission connection, quieter accessory drive, and acoustic engine covers quell other powertrain noises at their source. To prevent sound from entering the cabin, acoustic damping material is sandwiched inside the steel firewall and the windshield and side window glass, much more mastic material is baked onto the floor panels, and expanding foam fills the structural pillars and rails. Fiber mats and thicker carpet muffle further intrusions.

To improve handling control, spring rates are up 20 percent from the Century's, four-stage gas-charged dampers include much larger internal jounce and rebound bumpers, and new front strut mounts improve isolation. Stiffer anti-roll bars differentiate top CXS models from lesser CX and CXL variants. Bigger brakes improve feel and stopping performance, and the CXS's steering rack is borrowed from the Grand Prix Comp G model with its Magnasteer effort curves retuned. The result blends Buick ride with more Euro control.

Lutz claims, "This is the first car that is truly representative of what we want [Buick] to be again." To prove it, he provided a Lexus ES 330 for comparison. The LaCrosse CXS is notably quicker than the ES 330 and about as quiet in terms of wind and road noise, but there's more engine noise in the Buick, and its ride is busier. Of course, the fact that any comparison can be drawn at all between a $23,500 to $29,000 Buick and the $32,000 to $39,000 Lexus is promising. Long live the czar.