The Buick LaCrosse is the car that's supposed to put the Buick back into Buick. You know, the spirit Buick had back when Buick was the high-quality, low-key, elegant alternative to flashier look-at-me luxury machinery. Back when Buick was the choice of professionals who didn't expect their car to earn them respect, but wanted their car to let the world know respectable people were aboard. Back when Buicks were all about confidence, integrity and the low-key projection of achievement. In sum, all the Buick LaCrosse needs to be is a Lexus.
The Buick LaCrosse is the lineal descendant of Buick's midsize cars going back to the 1961 Skylark. As such, while it has to deliver a premium driving experience, it can't carry a premium sticker price. So when the first LaCrosse went into production as a 2005 model it was based on the old front-drive "W-Body" platform that GM had been using under North American midsize machines since 1988. And frankly, that first Buick LaCrosse did only a modest job of disguising its ancient origins.
The second-generation Buick LaCrosse, on the other hand, entered production during the 2010 model year riding atop GM's latest "Epsilon II" architecture. Designed in Europe as a worldwide platform, the Epsilon II can run with either front- or all-wheel drive and accept virtually any of GM's 21st-century four- or six-cylinder engines. But there's noting exotic about the Epsilon II since it will eventually be GM's most common platform supporting everything from mass-market sedans in North America to Chinese luxury cars. And indeed, when the second Buick LaCrosse went into production in Kansas City, Kansas, it was also entering production in Shanghai, China.
The second Buick LaCrosse arrived in North America with two direct-injection V6s on offer, all feeding a six-speed automatic transaxle and either the front or all four wheels. And in its first comparison test on this site, the LaCrosse beat its Lexus direct competition. It may well be that the Buick LaCrosse is just the car Buick needs to fully become Buick again.
