2006 Buick Lucerne Review

General Motors can close plants and slash employment all it wants, but it needs vehicles such as Buick's impressive new Lucerne sedan to be popular to regain firm financial ground.

The front-drive Lucerne sure looks promising and is offered to one of the most loyal American car owner groups. It replaces Buick's full-size LeSabre and Park Avenue, which grew too old in a fast-paced auto world.

The Lucerne shares with the Cadillac DTS an enlarged, strengthened platform used on the original Oldsmobile Aurora, which had lots of structural rigidity, and much effort went into making this new Buick one of the quietest cars on the road.

The Lucerne has Buick's traditional "waterfall'' grille, but otherwise has a smooth, conservative Lexus-like look. There's excellent fit and finish of body panels and interior trim pieces and a church-quiet cockpit. The Lucerne is built at one of GM's highest-quality plants, and it shows.

The Lucerne has lines from Buick's Velite concept car. But my dark blue metallic test Lucerne looked too conservative to turn many heads, despite its rakish windshield angle and sexy chromed dual exhaust tips. Maybe a brighter color would have helped. Nevertheless, Buick owners aren't a show-off motoring crowd.

The top-line CXS model I tested felt like a solid U.S. luxury car with Germanic overtones in that its suspension allowed fast driving on various types of roads without making a fuss, while delivering an admirable ride. No Lucerne has a sloppy ride like old-time Buicks, although the entry CX has a softer suspension than the mid-range CXL. The top dog CXS has the firmest suspension and sharpest handling.

Bob Lutz, a car buff and seasoned international auto executive who's GM's vice chairman of global product development, held up production of the Lucerne until he was satisfied with its styling, quality and performance. Is it a coincidence that Lutz is Swiss-born and that Lucerne is the name of a city in Switzerland?

"It's not that GM built bad cars in the 1980s and 1990s, but those autos didn't have the fit and finish and styling and elegance they should have had,'' Lutz said in an interview.

Buicks and eight-cylinder engines long went together, but the Lucerne is the first Buick since the 1996 Roadmaster to offer a V-8. The standard engine is a 3.8-liter, 197-horsepower pushrod V-6, but a modern 4.6-liter, 275-horsepower Northstar dual-overhead-camshaft Cadillac V-8 also is offered and provides thrilling acceleration.

About 25 percent of Lucerne buyers are expected to order the V-8, which allows the Lucerne to get eight "portholes'' -- or four for each front fender. The V-6 versions get three per fender. The portholes pay homage to a classic Buick styling cue.

Lucerne engines work with a four-speed automatic transmission. It upshifts smoothly and downshifts quickly, but should be a more modern five-speed unit.

Estimated Lucerne fuel economy is 19 mpg in the city and 28 on highways with the V-6 and 17 and 25 with the V-8, which is OK for a luxury car that weighs about 4,000 pounds.

All Lucernes have a good amount of comfort, convenience and safety equipment, including six air bags.

The base $25,990 Lucerne CX comes with the V-6 and 16-inch wheels, and with front bucket seats or an optional front bench seat for traditional (spell older) Buick buyers. The $27,990 CXL V-6 has only front buckets and leather seating material, along with 17-inch wheels. It costs $29,990 with the V-8.

The CXS is the sportiest Lucerne, with its standard V-8, leather seats, 18-inch wheels and a more sophisticated suspension.

If Lucerne list prices seem lower than what Lucerne buyers saw last fall, they're not mistaken. GM dropped the price of each trim level $1,000 last week as part of its reduced-pricing program.

The Magnetic Variable Assist steering in my test CXS (and found on all V-8 trim levels) was precise and had the right amount of firmness, and the brake pedal had the firmness to assure confident stops.

The CXS has standard Magnetic Ride Control to better handle all sorts of road surfaces, a StabiliTrak anti-skid system and Brake Assist (both optional for the CXL V-8) to enhance performance of the anti-lock brake system. Anti-lock brakes and a traction control system are standard on all Lucerne trim levels.

Wide doors with large, elegant chromed handles allow easy entry to the interior, which has understated elegance and limousine-style room.

The big, comfortable CXS seats are supportive in curves, but Lucerne gauges should be backlit, as in a Lexus, for easier reading under differing light conditions. Straightforward, easily used controls are a relief from the overly complex ones and overdone dashboards of rivals. Even the ignition switch is placed high on the steering column so it's easy to reach without groping.

Prominent red turn-signal arrow lights that flash in the outside mirrors when a driver activates the turn signal lever initially were intriguing, but soon became annoying.

The cavernous trunk has a low liftover but a lid with old-style manual hinges instead of hydraulic struts. The hood raises smoothly on a hydraulic strut, and the trunk lid will be opened a lot more by Lucerne owners than the hood.

The Lucerne is by far the best Buick to come along in a long time. But the automaker must convince all those folks who've fallen in love with Japanese or European rivals to visit a Buick dealer and take it for a spin. And that won't be easy. 

2006 BUICK LUCERNE 

PRICES
$25,990-$34,990

LIKES
Luxurious. Quiet. Roomy. Fast with V8. Good handling.

DISLIKES
Rather conservative styling. Only a four-speed automatic transmission.