Thats pretty wild. The lacrosse and lucerne. They look pretty nice but I dunno. Thats pretty brave to axe all those old models that won so many awards.

 

the reason GM is getting rid of old names is due to people who have had problems with a model and refuse to get another "park avenue" or whatever... so if there is no more Cavalier, yet a Cobalt, the Cobalt has a clean slate as to reliablity... during the 80's Buick was very poor quality...

 

The Lacrosse has been out for about a year now, and the Lucerne was revealed quite a while back. Been hiding in a cave or something?

 

Lucerne looks pretty nice. I think Buick just gave up on the Lacrosse, made it look nice in the front but completely forgot about the rear.

 

hopefully it'll get a freshening...

but all in all, it would be on my list of cars before certain imports... it looks nice enough...

 

but on that note... enough isnt always enough you know?

thats why we are complaining... sure for an old person, these cars are the way to go, for young hip people, they'd much rather have a charger or 300c, or a new impala, not a buick... and until buick's are better then, "Nice Enough" they'll be a nitch brand for comfort...

 

I don't see too many young people running out to buy a hip new Impala, even of the SS flavor. At least, not the vast majority.

 

It isn't problems with reliability in Buicks, its the old fart image!! Do you even remember an '80s Buicks? LeSabres, Park Aves and Centurys from that era were some of the most bulletproof cars made in that era. We STILL use as free loaners some late '80s Olds 88s, 98s and Cieras that all have 170-215k miles...all are Olds versions of the aforementioned Buicks. They're a little rusty, but they're bulletproof.

Picture a 15-18 year old loaner car we give out for free. Imagine how much these cars are abused and beat on. And yet, they keep cranking along Some other dealers question our sanity to keep, insure and register a fleet of 10 "clunkers" for customers. Hey, the way we look at it is this...do you want to drop off your out-of-warranty car and wait for a ride or a shuttle, or do you want a free car to go wherever you want?

Believe me, the response through the years is one of the only reasons a tiny guy like us can continue to compete well. The costs are higher, but the benefits are huge.

 

I totally agree with you here. It's not about quality, it's to try and wash off a little of the old man stank. Nonetheless, I don't think LaCrosse or Lucerne are very good names. Why not Invicta and Electra 380 (V6) and 460 (V8)? Or Centurion, Roadmaster, Wildcat (I know, doesn't really fit today's Buicks, but was a cool name )names with some Buick history, but maybe not as challenged by geriatric association as Century and LeSabre (though I still think both are great car names with long, long histories)

 

that is such a great idea!

 

I suppose in a way, that's good advertising to your customers as well. It's like saying, 'hey, look at how well GM's cars hold up over 15 years'.

I still question ditching the LeSabre name. It had an excellent reputation and was consistently the best seller in its market. People keep saying that it's an old fart's car, and yes that's true, but so what? Old farts have loads of money to spend and are very loyal. What's wrong with taking their money?

And besides, isn't the idea of GM having 37 different brands so that each one can cater to a different audience? If Buick leaves its market to go after younger folks, it's just going to step on Chevy/Pontiac/Saturn's target market. Except it won't have any credibility with those folks. So it will lose its cash cow market just to flounder elsewhere.

 

Well, we've often wondered how bright we were to take these old things and throw them out there for customer use. But look at it this way...if they get scratched, who cares? If they get a dent, it adds character The biggest problem we have with them is they tend to get thrashed on the inside, and then they get a little odor to them

The real old guards are slowly getting replaced. We had an '89 Ciera (180k) get broadsided by a kid in a Civic when our parts manager was driving it. Another one ('89 Delta 88, 211k) just rear ended a Tahoe yesterday...as you can imagine, THAT didn't go well. And no, it wasn't the car's fault...the lady admitted she was on her cell phone And finally, a moment of silence for my favorite "clunker"...'88 Delta 88 coupe, 165k miles I took this car in on trade myself 4 years ago with 100k (that shows you how much use these cars get!!!), and it was mint when we got it. Black with red crushed velour, it had everything these cars could have back then. It just got hauled to the boneyard...we lent it to a 17 year old kid who plowed it into a tree on a rainy day It was still near mint otherwise.

Normally, our attrition level is nowhere near this high...our average loaner is on for a good 6-7 years AFTER it comes in on trade. After taking inventory earlier of what we actually have now (this post got me interested in going out to service and having a look around), our fleet now consists of...

1) '94 88 - 148K
2) '90 Pontiac 6000 (remember those??) - 126k
3) '94 Grand Prix SE Sedan - 170k
4) '94 Acheiva - 135k
5) '87 Ciera 3.8 - 235k (we're starting to get REALLY apprehensive over loaning this one out...but the car won't die!!!!)
6) '95 Acheiva - 109k (the baby of the fleet )
7) '89 Ciera 3300 - 148k
8) '92 Olds 88 - 164k


Most of these cars came in on trade at 100k, we got them cheap and made them loaners. As you can see, the miles add up quick. And you'd be amazed how little $$$ we put in them.

If we had a fleet of Toyotas this old, they likely wouldn't pass for a sticker because they'd all be rotted into the ground GM's not reliable? My a**

 

With all those old H- and C-bodies getting thrashed around in city duty, do you have many problems with their trannies?

 

I understand what you're saying here, and I agree overall (I think they could have given LeSabre an image makeover without a name change) the problem Buick runs into is that their average buyer is 68 years old and as those buyers fade into the sunset, there isn't anyone to replace them - so Buick has to reach out to new buyers. Most of the baby boomers, the first of which are getting ready to turn 60, have grown up as import buyers for pretty much their whole lives so they are not primed to replace the existing Buick buyers and unless something changes won't be buying Buicks when they hit the age of the current average Buick buyer. I don't think Buick has to totally cannabilize the Chevy/Pontiac/Saturn market - I think if they could get buyers who were in their 50s they'd be happy.

 

If young people were like that, we would still have Camaro around dont you tihnk?