Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman for Product Development, has been responsible for some of the greatest automotive hits of all time, at each of the Detroit Three automakers, and beyond, going back to the BMW 2002 (the original sport sedan).

And, when Lutz returned to General Motors, he called for a review of the upcoming Buick LaCrosse. Surveying LaCrosse prototypes, he made his decision; the car would be delayed by fourteen months. To get it right.


There was no shortage of midsize sedans on the market; even, of premium sedans such as LaCrosse, he observed.

Certainly, few could carry six passengers; yet, from a premium vehicle, one expects more than pragmatism.

Buick, Lutz urged, could do better. Buick had long demonstrated that it could strike an enjoyable balance in the face of the numerous and often contradictory demands that are placed on midsize sedans; for one, the stability and solidity and creature comforts of a large car, and the controllability and verve of one rather smaller.


Buick's Special of the early-60s was the definitive midsize sedan of its era.

In 1973, Buick Motor Division's yearly guide for the media stated of the new Century and Regal, "this all-new intermediate series, the big story at Buick for 1973, offers sleek, contemporary styling, and numerous upper series features which provide a new level of luxury and convenience for intermediate-size cars."

So it did. Century and Regal would, together, go on to become the quintessential American midsize duo, offering space and - in the case of the supercharged Regal GS - performance well beyond the norm.

Three decades after their introduction, the Century and Regal would be replaced by LaCrosse.

Buick tasked its new car with fielding the fluid styling; the fluid power delivery, and the fluency of conduct and responsiveness that would do justice to the Tri-shield badge.

LaCrosse has delivered.


Launching a new automobile is an exercise fraught with potential pitfalls. From development through testing, there is ample room for error.

Yet this is, after all, a Buick.

In J.D. Power & Associates' 2005 Initial Quality study, LaCrosse was named the Highest-Ranked All-New Redesigned Launch Vehicle in North America.

It was no surprise when, later that year, AutoPacific's Vehicle Satisfaction award in the premium midsize class went to LaCrosse.

LaCrosse is, in 2009, the most dependable midsize sedan available - according to J.D. Power (2009 Vehicle Dependability Study).

That's reassuring. And it's typically Buick.

J.D. Power & Associates' 2006 Assembly Plant Quality study gave the Oshawa #2 plant, home of Buick LaCrosse, its Gold award, following a Silver award in 2005.

Moreover, the 2006 Harbour Report found Oshawa #2 to be the second most productive plant in North America.

Oshawa #2 has been in operation since 1953. Buick's excellent performance is further proof of the continuous improvement that has long been a part of Buick culture.


Meanwhile, looking at Toyota/ Lexus' competitors to the LaCrosse, the Toyota Avalon has suffered from bad U-joint welds; faulty catalytic converters; a leak in the oil-supply line for the variable valve timing system; vehicle drifting; rattling; abrupt shifting, and engine knocks (per Automotive News).

This, following on the heels of more than 1 million Toyota vehicles recalled, globally, for items such as flanges (which could break and cause wheels to fall off), faulty intermediate steering shafts, and sliding yokes. U.S. recalls of Toyota cars and trucks rose more than tenfold from 2003 to 2005, to more than 2.2 million vehicles, including a recall for a steering relay rod which could crack under extreme steering maneuvers.

Writing to Automotive News, Toyota Avalon owner Kevin Clingenpeel complained, "I pulled up next to a Ford F-350, and I could hear my valvetrain clicking louder than his valvetrain." Clingenpeel added that neither Toyota nor its dealers were forthcoming about these problems.

Indeed, Toyota appears overwhelmed by the complexity of the luxury car segment. "The Avalon is the most complex vehicle Toyota Division sells, so just by definition it's a problematic vehicle," explained Toyota spokesman John Hanson ('Avalon shows dent in Toyota quality; fixes sought for problematic vehicles,' Automotive News, May 1st, 2006).

Avalon owner Toyota Seider, a Toyota driver since 1982, told the publication, "Toyota's build quality has declined in recent years, and there seems to be nothing the dealer can do." Seider indicated that his 2006 Avalon would likely be his last Toyota.

"Seider is far from alone," qualified Automotive News, explaining that "Internet chat rooms such as Edmunds Town Hall are littered with complaints from Toyota loyalists about the redesigned Avalon..." ('Avalon shows dent in Toyota quality; fixes sought for problematic vehicles,' Automotive News, May 1st, 2006).

Mind you, Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press noticed problems with the Avalon as far back as March 24th, 2005. "Pieces are not supposed to fall off new cars. Particularly not new Toyotas. That's the reason people buy Toyotas. The company's mission statement is practically, the pieces stay where we put them," he began.

"Mission not accomplished," Phelan concluded of the $34,629 Avalon XLS he was testing, finding "several quality defects - including a dial that fell out and left a hole in the dashboard.

"The dial to adjust the brightness of the instrument panel lights fell out of the dashboard the first time I touched it. The result was a hole the size of your index finger, and the certainty of the visit to the service department.

"The ceiling-mounted buttons for the front dome lights squeaked, and they were made of what felt like the thinnest, cheapest plastic I can ever recall in a Toyota.

"The spring-loaded drawer that holds the controls for the navigation system never came all the way open on its own, and several pieces of colored trim on the dash and doors did not quite align."

Product is king, except when it is not, and it is stereotyped for past transgressions, real and imagined. Test drive a Buick LaCrosse, and you might be further convince that this is not a good time for a Toyota's dashboard to be coming apart in its driver's hands.

Less than a month after the car's launch, Toyota recalled the 2007 Camry for the transmission's tendency to "lose" two gears during operation. A fastener within the transmission, the company said, could come loose in the first 500 miles of operation.

Toyota recalled just 150 of the 5,800 Camrys equipped with the fastener, treating the problem with a technical service bulletin sent to dealers. What, then, of the remaining Camry owners? "They must wait for the transmission to fail before it can be repaired under warranty," reported Automotive News ('Bad transmission fastener can lead to limping '07 Toyota Camry,' Automotive News, May 1st, 2006).

As for Honda and its premium Acura brand? Says Chris Denove, co-author of Satisfaction: How every great company listens to the Voice of the Customer, "Honda recently had transmission problems, but it got a pass because people expect Hondas to have good quality" (Detroit Free Press, April 10th, 2006).

That's a perception gap. As defined at some length in our "Why Buick?" section, it helps neither the consumer, nor the industry; an industry which Buick has repeatedly led in quality, in J.D. Power independent studies, since 1989.


The LaCrosse front fascia draws from those of the 1959 and 1960 Buicks, taking its mix of grace with traditional Buick stoicalness from the '59 car, in particular.


Since 1959, Buick has clung to the belief that, if a car should have the durability of a tank, it need not look like one. LaCrosse is an exercise in solid unibody construction, in a body of fluid lines, with diving hood meeting a curved belt-line which gestures with the spirit of older Buicks. Certainly, there is more effort here than in many a challenger. Understated the LaCrosse may be, but its curvaceous surfacing and form belie the mass-produced nature of its segment.

Despite its entry-level stature in the Buick line, LaCrosse celebrates the romance of the automobile more than might a parallel waterline and oversized details atop a body that blandly wraps, and thus visually de-emphasizes, the very wheels responsible for the car's motion. This might describe several of LaCrosse's competitors.


Achieving incomparable stance means poring over every detail, down to 5/8ths of an inch. How important is stance to a car's design? Jaguar design director Ian Callum gives it absolute priority. "The way the wheels sit relative to the body, and the body relative to the ground," for Callum, is critical.

"If you get that right, you're halfway there, and doing that is what I pursue above everything else" ('Early draws,' Autocar, July 27th, 2004).

The LaCrosse team spent considerable time perfecting their car's fender-to-tire relationship. For Buick, this is a key aspect of visual athleticism; and the gap has been closed by 5/8ths of an inch versus Buicks of just a few years ago.

Similarly, LaCrosse panels fit in under three millimeters, a painstaking improvement from the 3.5 millimeters of earlier models.

Contrast such attention to detail with the Toyota Avalon's flat surfaces; bluff front end, and front overhang which drags lethargically over its front wheel. Avalon's wheel-arches themselves make no attempt to integrate into the body, leaving an under-tired appearance. And the LaCrosse's streamlined door mirrors make Avalon's oversized units look as though lifted from a truck.

Years ago, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz made headlines for his speech to the 2001 Automotive News World Congress, in which he described several automotive designs "either like a whole family angry kitchen appliances: demented toasters, furious bread machines, and vengeful trash compactors," or "the assemblages of mere steel tubes, leather, and plastic... in a manner that befits an exercise machines."

Understated the LaCrosse may be, but such a description could never fit it.

Despite what Lutz described as "designers no longer designing for the public, but rather for each other, trying to be ever more off-the-wall than the competition," he also observed concepts that "seemed to be drowning in a sea of sameness: tiny windows, flat fronts, rhomboidal headlights, and slab sides.

"It reminds me of the height of the abstract art boom in the 1960s and 1970s, when you viewed one blue circle and one line on a canvas, and then had to read a two-page description of what the artist meant," Lutz concluded.

Understated the LaCrosse may be, but appreciating it asks simply that one observe light dance across its gradually delineated planes; such a refreshing change from ham-fisted, incongruously shared approaches to surfacing.

A flare at LaCrosse's rear deck recalls the '59 Buick's Delta Wing. These are Buick lines, in their intricacy beyond the functional form of mass-produced conveyance; Buick lines, in the context of modern Buick understatement - with a few assorted highlights. "Chrome is making a comeback," says LaCrosse designer Dennis Burke of the chrome accents sprinkled across LaCrosse.

It is, one might suggest, Grace - Beyond Precision. Every detail matters. As Buick explained in a 1963 ad, if it means that we have to spend a little more to give you a little better - we do.


Aesthetic fluidity is a fine thing to behold. Yet refinement in premium passenger cars should extend to fluency on the road; fluency, in ride and roadholding. In this respect, LaCrosse is in a class of its own. Refusing the compromise, Buick here shows mastery of the tenuous balance between comfort and grip, all the while clinging tenuously to the road with a linearity - a fluidity - foreign to its competition.

Such fluidity is the result of fine tuning a well-designed suspension. Engineered under Ed Hufnagle, these are the parts that keep LaCrosse's tires perpendicular to the road; and you, shielded from road imperfections, yet glued to your intended trajectory.


With up to 300 horsepower on tap, for LaCrosse it is particularly critical that power does not expose the limits of rigidity; or of a front-wheel-drive layout. A MacPherson configuration underpins virtually all front ends in this class; yet, at its rear, LaCrosse goes a step further with all-aluminum multi-link arms.

Toyota's Camry; Avalon, and Lexus ES350 cut corners and costs in placing a cheaper, dual-link MacPherson at the rear end, year in, year out, choosing to change instead the peripheral pieces you see.

Not Buick engineers, who spend their budget fitting LaCrosse with premium parts inside, out, and underneath, in search of sure-footed compliance. LaCrosse's rear suspension is a trailing-arm tri-link, compared to Camry/ Avalon/ ES350's dual-link system. In addition to superior fluidity, trailing arms have strong resistance to "lift" (the rising of the rear end during braking), and resistance to "squat" (the settling of the rear end during hard acceleration).

For LaCrosse, 80% of Buick's premium tri-link rear suspension is new, including pieces that improve suspension travel, further defining suspension geometry in three dimensions. Jounce bumpers are longer; 85 millimeters, versus 65 millimeters. On the wheel's rebound, damper bumpers are four times longer (40 millimeters versus 10 millimeters), for better cushioning.

With regard to ride, LaCrosse is, of course, at an advantage by dint of its size. The inherent ride quality afforded by LaCrosse's significant wheelbase, and the grip enabled by its wider front and rear tracks, and its lower center of gravity, permits its constant-rate front and variable-rate rear springs to be 20% stiffer than perhaps we have been accustomed to from Buick. A new front strut mount doubles the damping compared with previous designs (and, as befits Buick's standing, is the first application of this design on a General Motors midsize car).

Front and rear suspensions are aided and abetted by stabilizers, resisting roll and camber change on 225/60 (or, on the higher-powered LaCrosse CXS, 225/55) series tires.


Approximately twenty square inches connect you and your car to the road. A car's tires are among the most important aspects of your safety and its performance. That's why LaCrosse, like every Buick since 2006, features standard tire-pressure monitoring.

LaCrosse places more importance on tire width over tire diameter, and the director of Ford's legendary Team RS European performance division, Jost Capito, would agree. "You want grip, but you have to balance the torque steer and steering feel... that's the main task with a front-drive car," muses Capito, explaining his choice of 8-inch wide, 18-inch tall rims for the 2006 Ford Focus ST, over 19-inch wheels ('Refocusing,' evo, September 2005).

The overall sense of control LaCrosse ensures is part of active safety: that which helps to avoid a collision, in the first place. Active safety is as important at Buick as passive safety. Bringing the center of gravity down toward the front roll center has endowed LaCrosse with superlative steering response; feedback, mind you, with significant on-center highway feel for this class of car.

And, of course, the steering wheel tilts and telescopes; an important aspect of driver comfort (and thus control), yet surprisingly overlooked by several competitors. One might expect nothing less from a brand for which ergonomics is a core value.


Traction is a Buick hallmark. LaCrosse must retain it at all times. Anti-lock, all-around disc brakes are (naturally) standard on LaCrosse; because discs shed water and dissipate heat faster than the rear drum brakes of Honda's base Accord and Toyota's base Camry.

It helps, too, that StabiliTrak, a sophisticated electronic stability-control system, keeps LaCrosse securely pointed in the right direction on ice; snow; gravel; wet pavement, and uneven road surfaces.

The StabiliTrak story is one of a multitude of sensors, harnessing massive on-board computing power. The measurements of an accelerator pedal position sensor; a brake master cylinder pressure sensor; a steering-wheel angle sensor; a lateral accelerometer; a yaw rate sensor, and wheel speed sensors, are sent to a computer hundreds of times per second. If the driver is steering LaCrosse through a curve, the system predicts the path the driver intends to take, and continually compares this with the vehicle's actual path.

When predicted and intended paths are the same, all is well.

On slick surfaces, however, the difference between the steering-wheel angle and the direction in which LaCrosse is actually turning is likely to be greater. The appropriate brake is precisely applied, and engine power is reduced to keep LaCrosse on course. StabiliTrak pulses the outside brake in an oversteer situation, and the inside brake in an understeer situation.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz emphasizes that StabiliTrak is programmed to be as unobtrusive as possible. "You just think you're one of the world's best drivers, and sadly the rest of the world doesn't recognize it," he muses.

"Our software guys will define a line all the way around the complex inside perimeter of the physical boundaries of the car so that you can go all the way to the limits in any direction before the system takes over. The system still intervenes to save you from yourself, but you really have to take it to the very edge before it kicks in" (Corvette C6, Phil Berg, MBI, 2004).

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that this type of stability control can reduce single-vehicle crashes involving cars by 35%.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has also found electronic stability-control systems to be very effective in averting accidents.

Additionally, 'tis a small thing, perhaps, but LaCrosse features standard Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs). General Motors cites studies proving that low-wattage headlamps, turned on during the day to make your vehicle more visible to other drivers, have helped reduce daytime multi-vehicle crashes by 12.5%, and accidents between cars and pedestrians, by 15%. GM figures that more than 85,000 crashes have been prevented by DRLs, since 1995.


Inside LaCrosse CXL, premium Nuance leather meets gathered-stitch French seams. Head restraints are infused with silk and, across the dashboard, controls are intelligently positioned, ensconced in soft-touch materials. At the dashboard's center, a pair of vents trace a truncated arch, the shape of which is something you'll find on Buicks going back to the 1940s.

All Buick LaCrosses come with standard remote keyless entry; standard power driver's seat; power windows with express-down driver's window; 6-speaker CD player, and full interior illumination with delayed entry/ exit lighting and theater-style dimming. On all LaCrosse models, a graphic equalizer and automatic headlights are standard.

All LaCrosse models receive standard dual-zone climate control (with up to a 28ºF/ 16ºC difference between zones); a Driver Information Center; remote start; XM Satellite Radio, and steering-wheel-mounted audio controls.

XM Satellite radio beams over 150 channels of clear, digital-quality sound across 800 terrestrial repeaters to your Buick. 67 of these channels are commercial-free music and news; sports; talk; comedy, and instant traffic and weather updates. Subscription costs $12.99 a month. In addition, Buick customers with GMAC financing can choose to include the XM subscription in their car payments. Select XM with LaCrosse, and receive three trial months of service.

Optionally, Buick will upgrade the stereo to 9-speaker Concert Sound III, a system which towers above the vast majority of factory audio installations, and one that has been progressively refined since its introduction for 1980. At your request, Buick will also equip the CD head unit with a 6-disc changer; add a power-sliding sunroof; power the passenger seat and heat both front seats; heat the outside mirrors, and equip LaCrosse with a 492-foot (150-meter) remote starter.

Many a Toyota/ Lexus product has committed the error of overly short seat bottoms. Not so, the Buick. In an age when it seems that everything related to an automobile's design and development is done by computer simulation, LaCrosse is the first GM vehicle in more than a decade to have its interior designed the time-honored way: with the aid of an Interior Craftsmanship Buck, or ICB. At the earliest design stages, real people could sit in a real interior mock-up, and critique the position and usefulness of the instruments; controls, and console. For Buick, ergonomics is vital.

LaCrosse's capacious 16-foot trunk is cavernous, no doubt. Yet, if space is a luxury, the correct packaging and utilization of it is intelligent luxury. For the trunk, this means a low lift-over height, with lid hinges which are careful to not intrude, and a standard trunk net. Rear seats fold to provide pass-through access.


"Apart from the look of a vehicle, its acoustic behavior is the aspect most directly observable to the user," confirms BMW director of Acoustics and Vibration, Dr. Peter Zeller.

For Buick, quiet is an important ergonomic quality. Buick's unique QuietTuning process is designed to reduce or tune out unwanted noise and harshness throughout every area of the vehicle.

Attention to areas such as exterior aerodynamics and component isolation, and to the fine-tuning of all related elements, achieve the quietest ride and most desirable frequency ranges for every Buick. Gearbox noise; load reversal; auxiliaries; road noise; resonance effects; mechanical squeaks and rattles; idle noise, and pass-by noise must all be minimized. Engines and actuation sounds (windows and other devices, for instance) are to be tuned.

LaCrosse's QuietTuning is exemplary. "We've never done an application that has been this quiet before," confirms LaCrosse noise and vibration performance manager Dan Nolley (Ward's Auto World, April 1st, 2005).

First, the exhaust system was tuned for minimal noise, vibration, and harshness. Next, acoustic laminate was used on the windshield and front side glass. Expanded baffles were placed in the roof pillars. Melt-on sound deadeners peppered the entire lower body structure. For good measure, Buick added additional sound-absorbing material throughout LaCrosse's engine; passenger, and cargo compartments.

In addition, steel laminate was installed in the front-of-dash body area. Laminated steel is a type of sandwiched sheetmetal that uses two layers of steel bonded together by a polymer core with viscoelastic properties. This core reduces vibration transferred throughout the panel. By reducing vibration, noise is also reduced. Laminated steel is also 100% recyclable.

QuietTuning is carefully designed and applied within every LaCrosse model, and is by far the most painstaking process of reducing noise, vibration, and harshness in this segment (and, in some aspects, well beyond the segment).

Toyota, for instance, does not attempt an acoustic, noise-reducing windshield unless one opts for the niche Camry Hybrid. Moreover, while LaCrosse's front side glass is also laminated, the substantively more expensive Jaguar XJ adopted this feature more than two years after the Buick's introduction.


General Motors color trend manager Christopher Webb may spend up to two years studying and testing a Buick color, for durability in both senses of the word.

It is important work. Webb estimates that 34% of customers, in 2006, would walk out of the dealership if they could not get the color they wanted. That's up from 27% in 1996.

Interviewed in 2006 for Buick's The Style Review in-house magazine, Webb cites studies showing how color influences mood and behavior.

Blue, for example, is calming; while fiery oranges and yellows stimulate. White suggests purity; green is associated with nature and money, and purple is thought to represent royalty.

Indeed, if Webb and his team have their way, a purple-toned LaCrosse may debut soon.

While such cultural associations tend to endure, trends in taste and preference change over time, reflecting the fluctuating moods and priorities of a society. Metallic car colors, for instance, soared in popularity during the recent tech revolution.

Today, Webb notes that "brown is an ascending luxury color, and is making a big comeback... especially in interiors."

Yet Webb admits that color trends are currently in a state of flux. "It's a generation change," he told The Style Review. "Formerly, the more mature, luxury market wanted conservative colors - silvers, grays, blacks - while the youth market wanted high impact. That's been reversed somewhat."

LaCrosse is available in nine exterior and three interior finishes.


Buick's premium midsize sedan is powered by the latest generation of the legendary Buick 3800 V6, renowned for its torque and robustness, and the benchmark for overhead-valve V6 engines in packaging, efficiency, smoothness, and reliability.

Now in Series III (L26) form, this is an evolution of the engine that occupied Ward Auto World's "10 Best Engines" list for a decade. Then, they called it "one of the 10 Best Engines of the 20th century."

Now, it is 30% quieter than its predecessor, and enables a SULEV (Super Low Emissions Vehicle) designation for LaCrosse.

Numbers - 200 horsepower @ 5,200 rpm, and 230 foot-pounds of torque @ 4,800 rpm - are just part of the story. The 3800 maintains its strong low-end performance, now even smoother thanks to Electronic Throttle Control, which places a sensor at the pedal to measure its angle, and seamlessly opens the throttle to the precise desired rate. The technology permits LaCrosse to offer traction control, the better to manage the power.

Meanwhile, LaCrosse's 4T65 4-speed automatic is smooth and responsive, with no blemishes in its long record of service; certainly, nothing like the problems that have plagued Honda/ Acura and Toyota/ Lexus automatic transmissions.

Meanwhile, LaCrosse Super is among a select few in its class to offer a V8 engine, behind its proud, new waterfall grille, shared among all LaCrosses as part of a standard Chromed Appearance Package. Boasting 300 horsepower, LaCrosse Super accelerates to 60 mph from rest in 5.7 seconds.

Super evokes the glamour and elegance of rail travel of the late '30s, harking back to a time when American was on the upswing, having weathered the trials of the Great Depression.

In LaCrosse Super, Active Fuel Management saves fuel by using only four cylinders when driving with a light load, while seamlessly switching to eight cylinders when brisk acceleration is called for.

Not that you'll much hear either engine. LaCrosse's sheer quiet resonates only with the marque's mastery of refinement, unequaled among its peers, while luscious curves present to the world the antithesis of plebeian family transport.


Exemplary active safety is backed by passive safety in the unhappy event of a collision. Several factors go to work, protecting the Buick driver and passengers from harm.

LaCrosse has received the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) highest, 5-star rating in driver and passenger frontal collision safety. LaCrosse has, additionally, received the Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) highest, Good rating for frontal-offset crashes.

The applause is hardly surprising.

In the event of a collision, LaCrosse's energy-absorbing, full-perimeter aluminum engine cradle moves from quelling vibrations to directing impact energy away from passengers. Depending on the severity of the collision, standard dual-stage frontal airbags deploy, while standard side-curtain airbags cushion the head and upper torso.

General Motors, we might add, was first in the industry to offer child-friendly side-impact airbags.


We spend more and more time in our cars. They get us to work; they take us to play, and some even become part of the family. An OnStar-equipped car goes further.

Rest assured that, like all Buicks since 2006, LaCrosse comes with OnStar as standard equipment, thoughtfully packaged with a complimentary, 1-year Safe & Sound subscription.

It's a premium feature for a premium car; a premium car whose ambience and amenities befit its brand and stature. And it represents the kind of reassurance for which Buick has long been known: the same philosophy which lends LaCrosse's platinum-tipped spark plugs a 100,000-mile service life, and its coolant, an estimated 150,000 miles of usefulness in protecting your engine before needing a change.

As a Buick owner, you become one of 5 million OnStar subscribers. On average, OnStar talks to a subscriber once every two seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 40,000-50,000 calls come through on a typical day; 60 of these are emergency airbag deployment calls.

Between April and June 2008, an average 2,000 subscribers per month were helped by OnStar, following an air bag deployment. An average 8,000 emergencies per month were assisted by OnStar. An average 54,000 GM GoodWrench Remote Diagnostics instances were performed by OnStar, per month. An average 65,000 subscribers asked OnStar to send a signal to unlock their doors, per month. And an average 15 million calls per month were made by OnStar subscribers with Hands-free Calling.


Since 1997, Buick door locks have popped open automatically in the event of an air bag deployment. Today, with OnStar, you get the help you need even if you can't ask for it. In a crash, built-in vehicle sensors can automatically alert an OnStar Advisor, who is immediately connected to your vehicle, and who can request emergency help to be sent to you exact location.

In the real world, there's no such thing as a typical crash. You can hit something, or be hit by something, from any direction, and at any angle. Using Automatic Crash Response sensors built into your Buick, the Advisor can even relay critical crash information to emergency responders, such as the severity and type of the crash (rollover? multiple impacts?). As a result, responders are better equipped for any scene.

OnStar Advisors are available 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, and will stay on the line for as long as you need.

OnStar is the only safety, security, and communications system to combine these important safety features. Through April 2009, OnStar has applied for more than 500 patents for research it conducts in Detroit.


Not only can OnStar call for help if you can't, but it can guide you to your destination, or send you an e-mail when your car needs an oil change. Once a month, your Buick gathers information about its condition, organizes it, and sends it to you in an e-mail. The e-mail covers diagnostics, notifications (including recalls), and maintenance recommendations for your particular mileage and driving style.

The 1985 Buick Riviera offered a factory-installed cellular telephone. Today, all new Buicks come with Hands-free calling, built-in, with a powerful 3-watt digital/ analog system and external antenna for superior reception. Every Buick comes with its own phone number, enabling you to make and receive calls from your vehicle, at the touch of a button. There is no additional equipment to buy, or contracts to sign. It's easy to add minutes, while driving. Another benefit of hands-free calling is that it offers a better connection than a cellphone, and may well work in places your cellphone will not. To make a call, press the OnStar "phone" button, say "Dial," and the system prompts you from there. You can even program name-tags for frequently dialed numbers.

If you or someone in your vehicle has a disability or medical condition, OnStar can provide information on handicap-accessible rest stops and restaurants, or find nearby full-service stations that pump gas for you.

OnStar Turn-by-Turn navigation offers directions. Your Buick downloads directions from OnStar, and prompts you with street names and arrows.


As far back as 1923, Buick installed a transmission lock, promising that it would reduce theft insurance rates by 20%. Anti-theft ignition locks debuted in 1969; 1980 brought a theft-deterrent door and trunk lock mechanism, plus a starter interrupt system to prevent the engine from firing. 1986 saw the debut of touchpad-based Keyless Entry on the Electra; 1988 improved the theft-deterrent door-lock mechanism and saw car-specific identification stamped on major body panels; 1990 saw the introduction of the Buick/ GM Pass-Key anti-theft system, and 1994 brought forth the revised Pass-Key II.

Today, more than a million vehicles are stolen across the U.S. and Canada every year. Should you ever report your vehicle stolen, OnStar can pinpoint your vehicle's location using GPS information. If the car in question is a 2009 Buick, OnStar can even remotely slow a reported stolen vehicle down, under instruction from law enforcement.

Buick's programmable automatic door-locks have resisted carjacking since 1992, a system reprised from that used in the 1976 Electra. Today, if your keys get locked in the car, call OnStar and an advisor can remotely send a signal to quickly and easily unlock your door.

Can't remember where you parked? OnStar can remotely sound your horn and flash your lights, with a far greater range than your key fob, to help you easily find your vehicle.


We've talked much about Buick reliability. If, as tradition and J.D. Power & Associates surveys suggest, Buick reliability is a given, then one might expect that Buick would stand behind its cars.

This, it does, with a 4-year/ 50,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty which soundly beats Toyota and Honda. As a Buick owner, you enjoy no less a warranty than that offered by Cadillac.

A 5-year/ 100,000-mile powertrain warranty protects against problems with major driveline components, including the engine, transmission, transfer case, and axles. If makes roadside assistance, and courtesy transportation, available.

In short, it means that you're protected. So is the next owner. No questions, no hassles.

To maintain your Buick's appearance and value, additional clear coat is sprayed over every vehicle, in critical areas. For additional protection against chipping, vulnerable lower body-panel areas receive an application of anti-chip protection. Galvanized steel with a zinc coating, and protective anticorrosion dips, are used extensively. Exhaust systems, today as since 1991, are made of stainless steel.

So confident is Buick in the body integrity of its products that it warranties its cars against corrosion for 6 years.

Meanwhile, all new Buicks offer the same, 4-year/ 50,000-mile length of roadside assistance coverage (1-800-ROADSIDE). Locked out? Out of gas? Need a tow? Buick has you covered for 4 years and 50,000 miles. This is peace-of-mind coverage that beats Toyota, and Honda offers none at all. At Buick, such reassurance is complimentary.

Recently, MarketWatch.com Inc. referenced the program in an article praising roadside assistance plans as being "among the few purchases that pays for itself the first time you use it" ('Motorist's best friend,' Marshall Loeb, MarketWatch.com Inc., May 21st, 2006).

Your Buick dealership even offers a year of roadside assistance with pre-owned Buicks.

They used to say that the Buick was the automobile of those possessed of "uncommon good sense" ... (more)

They used to say that the Buick was the automobile of those possessed of "uncommon good sense" ... (more)