A Family Sedan Firing on Fewer Cylinders - 2010 Buick LaCrosse CX - Review (original) (raw)

Around the Block | 2010 Buick LaCrosse CX

Another Family Sedan That Is Firing on Fewer Cylinders

FEWER PISTONS The LaCrosse CX comes with a 2.4-liter engine, the first 4-cylinder in a Buick since the 1998 Skylark.

Oct. 15, 2010

TESTED 2010 Buick LaCrosse CX

WHAT IS IT? Midsize family sedan.

HOW MUCH? Base price 27,245;astested27,245; as tested 27,245;astested27,670.

WHAT MAKES IT RUN? A 2.4-liter Ecotec 4-cylinder (182 horsepower, 172 pound-feet of torque); 6-speed automatic transmission. A 3.6-liter V-6 (280 horsepower, 259 lb. ft.) is optional.

IS IT THIRSTY? Not really, and that’s the point: E.P.A. rating is 19 miles per gallon in town, 30 on the highway.

ALTERNATIVES Hyundai Sonata and 4-cylinder versions of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

I HAD the great fortune a few years ago to ogle the Buick Y-Job, the sleek 1938 concept car created by the godfather of General Motors design, Harley J. Earl. The car is a wonder of speed lines, bulbous fenders and supreme class. You want to rest your cheek against a fender and whisper sweet nothings to it.

The Y-Job was powered by a 320-cubic-inch straight-8 engine, and while the car is a reminder of the industry’s glorious past, the fuel economy rules that start taking effect in 2012 could regulate the V-8 into a similar warm memory.

Engine sizes are already coming down, and cylinders are being taken away. In any meeting with an auto executive these days, after he’s discussed growth opportunities in China, he talks about how his company will meet the new standards with smaller, more efficient gasoline engines.

Hyundai, for example, has eliminated the Sonata’s V-6 in favor of an in-line 4, and Audi has done the same thing with its A4. The Ford Explorer, for the first time, will have a 4-cylinder option. Even BMW, which has not offered a 4 in a car in the United States since 1999, has said it will soon have them in its lineup.

Buick is doing its part. The new Regal is offered only with a 4-cylinder engine, and the same engine is now available in the LaCrosse CX and CXL.

The second-generation LaCrosse, which is almost 7 inches longer than the Regal, made its debut last year to considerable praise, joining the Enclave crossover in broadening Buick’s appeal beyond the older customers who had been its loyalists. The average buyer’s age is now 65, Buick says, down from 67 three years ago.

Through its recent corporate grief, G.M. has been making some appealing cars, and the LaCrosse is among them.

But the story on this version, the CX, is the addition of the Ecotec engine, the first 4-cylinder in a Buick since the 1998 Skylark. I spent a week with the front-drive CX, which I took on a family vacation to Virginia. In the 400-mile trip from Connecticut, I averaged 27 miles per gallon in mostly highway driving with four people and a dog aboard.

In most driving conditions, the engine response was adequate. There was enough power for highway merges, but not enough to misbehave. I found myself waiting for the coast to be completely clear before changing lanes, forcing me to be a good citizen. Fully loaded, the CX also struggled up hills, teaching me patience. This car is so Zen.

The 4-cylinder is standard in the base CX, as is the suedelike material on the seats. My test car also didn’t have a satellite navigation system, leading to my only major annoyance.

The closest power outlet to the dash was in the center console near my elbow. The power cord of my portable GPS unit had to be stretched taut like a clothesline, handy for drying damp clothes perhaps, but deadly when the cord’s tension sent the unit flying off the windshield.

Given its solid effort with the LaCrosse, it’s hard not to feel that Buick, which once produced cars people still sigh over, might actually be able to compete with foreign brands. But while this 4 is nice, Buick will need small engines that can do much better than 30 m.p.g. Hyundai, for example, now offers a turbocharged 4 in its Sonata that is rated at 33 m.p.g. on the highway while producing an impressive 274 horsepower.

Buick has a new turbo 4 for the 2011 Regal, but it makes about 50 less horsepower than the Sonata’s engine while getting only 29 m.p.g. on the highway. And that engine isn’t destined for the LaCrosse anyhow.

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