Buick's Inside Plans & Why the Park Avenue Won't Come to the USA

[KillerMRK]

You could always buy a Malibu, or a CTS, or a G8.

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by yyy1244

What is GM thinking? Pontiacs used to be a great car line (had 4 of them) and now, who cares. Buick has instantaneously replaced Olds as your father's (or granfather's) car - all they're missing is the whitewall tires, which I still see on some Buicks. I've looked at the 2008 Impala and the interior is so cheap it would hardly qualify for a fleet rental sedan. Why can't America have the likes of the Austrailan cars or the Buick Park Avenue. It just keeps getting worse. I wouldn't consider the LaCrosse or Lucenne but I'd buy the Park Avenue in a minute - just put the 3800 in the car. I've had four of them and the cars never graces the service department. All had over 200,000 miles on them. My current Impala has the 3800 with 105,000 miles on it and I'm averaging 29.4 mpg highway/city. Best engine GM ever made. Can I burn the tires off it? - no, but gas is $3.50 a gallon.

I'm buying a new car this fall and after having GMs for 35 years, it will be an Avalon, Infinity M35 or yes, a Hyundai. I bought my wife a 5-series BMW and I've converted for good. Sorry GM. No pitty on your declining market share.

You love the 3800 but won't give LaCrosse or Lucerne a look? Give me a break. Even if you drove a last generation Bonneville, LaCrosse and Lucerne have far better interior qualities to them. The LuCerne is pretty much a reskinned DTS at a lower price point.

I am 37 and love my Buick. The trick to making LaCrosse or Lucerne look good is to not get the CX stripper models. You need the chrome appearance package or the LaCrosse looks awful. Also stay away from grandpa silver and tan colors. These cars look much better in Blue, Red, Brown, and Black.

If you buy them used you can get a greal deal as well.

Welcome to GMI by the way.

I owned a Hyundai for five years and would be another before ever stepping into a Toyota dealership.

[TriShield]

Originally Posted by yyy1244

What is GM thinking? Pontiacs used to be a great car line (had 4 of them) and now, who cares. Buick has instantaneously replaced Olds as your father's (or granfather's) car - all they're missing is the whitewall tires, which I still see on some Buicks. I've looked at the 2008 Impala and the interior is so cheap it would hardly qualify for a fleet rental sedan. Why can't America have the likes of the Austrailan cars or the Buick Park Avenue. It just keeps getting worse. I wouldn't consider the LaCrosse or Lucenne but I'd buy the Park Avenue in a minute - just put the 3800 in the car. I've had four of them and the cars never graces the service department. All had over 200,000 miles on them. My current Impala has the 3800 with 105,000 miles on it and I'm averaging 29.4 mpg highway/city. Best engine GM ever made. Can I burn the tires off it? - no, but gas is $3.50 a gallon.

I'm buying a new car this fall and after having GMs for 35 years, it will be an Avalon, Infinity M35 or yes, a Hyundai. I bought my wife a 5-series BMW and I've converted for good. Sorry GM. No pitty on your declining market share.

Absolutely spot on.

The LaCrosse and Lucerne are pure crap and virtual no-name cars with no appeal. What's Buick without the LeSabre, Regal, Riviera or Park Avenue? What good are those cars if the don't have any style and cheap interiors? The brand is less than a shell of it's former self and flatlining.

I also have a 3800 car (that I'm going to give away soon) with nearly 300,000 miles on it and it averages 22mpg all city.

[gmlifer]

Originally Posted by smk4565

Kill Buick. I was at the auto show tonight, the LaCrosse is flat out embarrassing. GM should be ashamed for making a car that bad. The Lucerne is marginally better, it has an Impala console, and fake wood. The Enclave exterior is average in person, and the interior looks like an Outlook with some extra metal trim. Nothing impressive about it either. Kill Saab too.

The Toyota interiors are boring, but at least they use better materials than most GM cars and have better fit and finish. The 08 Malibu is outstanding, forget Buick, and make an Impala as good as that Malibu.

Are you kidding about the Enclave interior? It looks like a Lear Jet interior compared to a Toyota.
Killing brands is not the answer. The answer is to make more models that equal or surpass the Enclave's style and quality. That will make other brands like Toyota irrelevent in the US.

[Hitman1970]

Originally Posted by gmlifer

Are you kidding about the Enclave interior? It looks like a Lear Jet interior compared to a Toyota.
Killing brands is not the answer. The answer is to make more models that equal or surpass the Enclave's style and quality. That will make other brands like Toyota irrelevent in the US.

Your response may be falling on deaf ears. I have not seen a post from him in a LONG time. He was one of the regular "GM sucks on every level" posters around here for a while.

[zabraden]

Originally Posted by 1G6

The continuation of the Lucerne nameplate past the end of FWD would be ridiculous. Call the new car a Park Avenue or don't produce it at all.

I would rather see it called Electra or Roadmaster. Park Avenue, though not to the extent of LeSabre and Century, seems damaged by the last few generations of Buicks that truly were "old people cars."

[GMfan1111]

I'll agree the Park avenue was always an old peoples car. The supercharged 3.8 made it fun to drive but you can tell it was designed with the elderly in mind. And I've learned to respect the phenomenal durability of the 3.8. My grandparents have a 89 lesabre with the series one 3.8 and it still runs strong.

[M_RABID]

Originally Posted by GMfan1111

I'll agree the Park avenue was always an old peoples car. The supercharged 3.8 made it fun to drive but you can tell it was designed with the elderly in mind. And I've learned to respect the phenomenal durability of the 3.8. My grandparents have a 89 lesabre with the series one 3.8 and it still runs strong.

Wow. This thread was resurected from over a year ago!

IMHO the Lucerne is every bit as nice as the Avalon. Styling is okay too (nothing extraordinary, but not fugly either). Especially compared with the Avalon.

And Enclave is the all around class leader in evey aspect except maybe power, which will be improved upon for the 2009 MYs new engine. And you can't beat Buick for Initial Quality or Reliability & Dependability. See JD Powers.

Hopefully that won't change next year when Lucerne drops the 3800.
LaCrosse runs it for one more year (which will be a short 2009 model).

[emh]

Originally Posted by yyy1244

What is GM thinking? Pontiacs used to be a great car line (had 4 of them) and now, who cares. Buick has instantaneously replaced Olds as your father's (or granfather's) car - all they're missing is the whitewall tires, which I still see on some Buicks. I've looked at the 2008 Impala and the interior is so cheap it would hardly qualify for a fleet rental sedan. Why can't America have the likes of the Austrailan cars or the Buick Park Avenue. It just keeps getting worse. I wouldn't consider the LaCrosse or Lucenne but I'd buy the Park Avenue in a minute - just put the 3800 in the car. I've had four of them and the cars never graces the service department. All had over 200,000 miles on them. My current Impala has the 3800 with 105,000 miles on it and I'm averaging 29.4 mpg highway/city. Best engine GM ever made. Can I burn the tires off it? - no, but gas is $3.50 a gallon.

I'm buying a new car this fall and after having GMs for 35 years, it will be an Avalon, Infinity M35 or yes, a Hyundai. I bought my wife a 5-series BMW and I've converted for good. Sorry GM. No pitty on your declining market share.

Avalon, M35 or Hyundai? Yikes... that's a disparate set! What exactly are you looking for -- low price? luxury? performance? image? fuel efficiency?

[Old Dood]

Originally Posted by GMfan1111

I'll agree the Park avenue was always an old peoples car. The supercharged 3.8 made it fun to drive but you can tell it was designed with the elderly in mind. And I've learned to respect the phenomenal durability of the 3.8. My grandparents have a 89 lesabre with the series one 3.8 and it still runs strong.

Not so fast....hehe!
The Park Ave & LeSabre are FAMILY cars.
The Park Ave is for more upscale tastes...
Personally to me the Park Ave is more 'stylish' then the LeSabre.
The LeSabre even more so as a Family car.
More economical if you get the Custom.
The Limited is more on par with a Park Ave.
I always 'felt' my LeSabre Limited was larger then the Park Ave I have now.
It just seemed larger but, it probably is pretty much the same...

Older People would buy a 'Bigger Buick' because they were more economical then buying a 'Bigger Cadillac'.
They made more finacial sense in those terms.
A Fully Loaded Park Avenue for example is still less expensive then a mid line Deville or DTS.
The Rides are the same as far as I am concerned.
The Options are pretty much the same as well.

Once you take a LeSabre or a Park Avenue on a long trip then you will understand what RIDE is all about.

[Sandwich]

Originally Posted by yyy1244

What is GM thinking? Pontiacs used to be a great car line (had 4 of them) and now, who cares. Buick has instantaneously replaced Olds as your father's (or granfather's) car - all they're missing is the whitewall tires, which I still see on some Buicks. I've looked at the 2008 Impala and the interior is so cheap it would hardly qualify for a fleet rental sedan. Why can't America have the likes of the Austrailan cars or the Buick Park Avenue. It just keeps getting worse. I wouldn't consider the LaCrosse or Lucenne but I'd buy the Park Avenue in a minute - just put the 3800 in the car. I've had four of them and the cars never graces the service department. All had over 200,000 miles on them. My current Impala has the 3800 with 105,000 miles on it and I'm averaging 29.4 mpg highway/city. Best engine GM ever made. Can I burn the tires off it? - no, but gas is $3.50 a gallon.

I'm buying a new car this fall and after having GMs for 35 years, it will be an Avalon, Infinity M35 or yes, a Hyundai. I bought my wife a 5-series BMW and I've converted for good. Sorry GM. No pitty on your declining market share.

You're so very right. I looked at the Lucerne but for some reason, couldn't bring myself to drop 40k on it...maybe I knew it was a decade old car, I don't know. But I agree...my "3800" old Buicks...great engine. 32+mpg. Now we've got "fuel-efficient" Kias bragging about 32mpg.

Buick did need to update their lineup...but they changed what was great and kept the stuff that wasn't. Whatever they did...GM lost me. I drove a german-built car...and was converted. Incredible build quality, design, and engineering. Why would ANYBODY pay top-dollar for GM products right now is beyond reason. Purely "allegence" which is all the American car companies have got left right now.