2000 Buick Blackhawk Concept

2014 Buick Lacrosse

 

Today's Buick isn't yesterday's Buick, and the LaCrosse sedan sketches out vividly what it's given up in the name of progress. Mostly, customers who pay cash and live in places with names like Shady Pines.
If you yearn for bench seats and pitchy handling, you're about a decade too late. Buick's moved smartly to the center, but the LaCrosse still will satisfy anyone who admires its vintage styling drama and budget-Caddy accoutrements. It's engaging, and sophisticated. Dare we say, worldly? We do.
The graceful LaCrosse has lots in common with the new Chevy Impala--but the LaCrosse was here first, and the impact of its soft-shouldered, snappily creased body panels hasn't faded. It's been tweaked a bit for 2014 with new LED eyeliner and taillamps, but the pleasantly thick shape has always had most of the details down pat. If we worked at GM, we'd personally pry every fake porthole off its hood and banish them forever, but there's not much else to find fault with on the big Buick. The cabin's revamp this year remolds the center stack into a less complex shape, and an Ultra Luxury package slathers it in tamo wood and wraps the cockpit in semi-aniline leather. There's almost no change to the LaCrosse's two distinctly tuned visions of performance. There's a base model with GM's eAssist mild-hybrid technology; it returns respectable, refined performance while earning an EPA highway number of 36 mpg. The 304-hp V-6 version is our idea of a more traditional luxury-car experience, and probably yours too. The LaCrosse is no performance car, but it does handle better than its predecessors. In Touring guise, with the optional magnetic adjustable suspension (and included V-rated performance tires and variable-effort power steering), the LaCrosse gains a more responsive feel that doesn't come at the expense of ride quality.
With space for five, as well as a back seat that's good enough for three, the LaCrosse has a level of seating comfort that's a step above compared to mid-size sedans. Interior appointments and standards of refinement in the LaCrosse's cabin are truly luxury-car caliber. Upper models also get upgraded perforated leather and ventilated heating and cooling features, along with more adjustments and memory settings; and across the lineup, Buick's 'Quiet Tuning' philosophy reflects in a tight, near-silent interior.
The LaCrosse earns some of the best safety scores in the entire GM family, with eight standard airbags and top safety ratings from both U.S. agencies. Blind-spot warning system, adaptive cornering headlamps, and rear side thorax bags are all available, as is a head-up display (HUD). This year, the LaCrosse also bolts on new safety technology that buzzes, blings, and vibrates to warn of impending danger--some of it useful, like forward collision alerts, and some with less certain payoff.
It's a premium sedan, not a luxury one--at least, that's how the 2014 LaCrosse is billed. And yet, the most expensive models can be trimmed out like Cadillacs, with Bose audio and an upgraded instrument panel. The IntelliLink touch-screen interface updates to a new edition that's essentially Cadillac's CUE minus the haptic feedback--it has 60 favorites slots and space for a thousand contacts, to go with connectivity with smartphones for hands-free or streaming audio functions, as well as access to apps for Pandora or Stitcher audio. It's advanced technology that would have been light years ahead of the archetypical Buick customer of the past--but falls right in step with the drivers taking a second look at Buick today.

2014 Buick Regal

The Regal may have the most vintage name in the new Buick lineup, but it's the best driver's car the brand offers. It's a version of Opel's Insignia, endowed with Euro manners--and devoid of anything rear-wheel drive or any engine with more than four cylinders.
New in 2011, it's being updated for the 2014 model year, with more infotainment and safety equipment countering a drop in power output on the Regal GS. The Regal's big optic hook--the Nike-like swoosh stamped into its flanks--hasn't been altered. It's still one of the best-looking cars GM builds, and the LED "wings" factored into its headlamps and taillights add a little more depth to the brilliant design. The grille's been retouched, and a metallic band now connects the taillamps.
The tasteful cabin merits its own upgrades. The big shield of controls on the center stack melds better into the dash, and an 8.0-inch LCD touchscreen replaces a smaller screen there, while a 4.2-inch screen tucked in between new gauges displays info from the available nav system, phone, audio system, and vehicle. On the Regal GS, the center of the gauge cluster swaps out for an 8.0-inch LCD screen with customizable looks for different driving modes (Touring and Sport). Two-tone themes with wood trim on some models liven up the already attractive cockpit.
Buick's carried over the Regal with GM's eAssist mild-hybrid pack for 2014; the 182 horsepower accrued from its four-cylinder and battery/motor duo yields middling gas mileage compared to some full hybrids like the Ford Fusion, and handling and refinement have fallen short of the rest of the Regal lineup in recent test cars we've driven.
The other Regals are where enthusiasts flock, and for good reason--and it's in them that the biggest changes take place. The Regal Turbo and Regal GS now get a single turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder to replace last year's last-gen turbo four, which was offered in 220-hp and 270-hp spec. The new turbo's related to the one found in the Chevy Malibu and Cadillac ATS, with a twin-scroll turbo and direct injection. There's no longer a distinction between the two in output, however: Buick's settled on a single quote of 259 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, down 11 hp from the last GS but up 39 hp in the Turbo, both with the same choice of six-speed automatic or manual transmission as before. Buick says 90 percent of peak torque is available as low as 1700 rpm, but hasn't given performance estimates versus last year's sedans yet.
The Regal also can be fitted with a new all-wheel-drive system, one that uses anti-lock control to simulate a locking differential across the rear wheels. Variable torque distribution front to rear allows the system to send up to 90 percent of the power to the rear wheels, which could improve on the Regal's already zesty, immediate feel. We're predicting the taut feel baked into the Regal's ride and handling, the muted damping of a good German sedan (hint: that's where it was developed), and the reasonably good steering feel in the turbocharged cars will remain intact.
The Regal GS' three-mode Interactive Drive Control system carries over, and exerts some influence over the AWD system, when it's ordered. Computer-controlled shocks Brembo front brake calipers return for the 2014 model year as well.
As for safety, Buick's earned great crash-test scores with the Regal in the past. This year, it adopts a standard rearview camera (and on the GS, front and rear parking sensors), and adds optional adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitors, a lane-departure warning system, and a forward-collision warning system.
Bringing the Regal's infotainment system another huge step forward this year, Buick has upgraded the available IntelliLink system to a simpler, more brightly colored interface based on Cadillac's CUE, without its haptic feedback--but also without the Regal's old knob-style controllers. The touchscreen interface allows users to reconfigure the home screen, to choose up to 60 favorites across its suite of applications, and to store up to a thousand contacts--while integrating smartphone-based streaming audio and accessing navigation with natural-voice commands. Bose audio tops off the package.
We'll have more on the 2014 Regal later this year, with a first drive before it goes on sale in the fall.