Our make-believe reporter returns yet again with another slate of riveting questions to ask that “sixty-something” married couple, John and Laurie Wiles, the $64,000 question, “Can a married go to bed at night without being angry after talking about cars?” Stay tuned and find out in their review of the 2014 Buick LaCrosse…
2015 Buick LaCrosse with Baroque Red Metallic exterior color and 19-inch alloy wheels.
First Impression
JOHN: I love a car that says “quality.” I expected the Buick LaCrosse would be a quality car, so my expectations were pretty high. But when I too a close look and got in, I thought about those great Buick commercials, “If you haven’t seen the LaCrosse, you don’t know Buick”. They (whoever they are) are correct. I thought this is going to be fun.
LAURIE: My first impression was, I WANT ONE! And it was my last impression, too. This would be my “BCF”—“Best Car Forever” (I made that up.)
2015 Buick LaCrosse with Ebony, offered with Soleil Keisel leather seats and Cellini Wood decor.
You both seem to have strong reactions to this car. Why this one, more than others?
JOHN: Like a fine painting, a car gives an impression and evokes emotions. The LaCrosse has ‘style’, nice lines, luxury details, and when you appreciate that with the eye, you want to believe the ride and handling will prove you right.
LAURIE: It’s a legacy thing for me. My grandfather drove Buicks. He swore by them. He’d trade out every three or four years, not because he racked up the miles, but because he loved Buicks. After he died, my grandmother drove his last car until her own death—twenty years later. It was a blue Riviera. If that’s not a testimony to Buick, I don’t know what is. Buick, thanks for the memories!
2015 Buick LaCrosse next generation IntelliLink 8 inch screen.
The LaCrosse is Buick’s top-of-the-line. Why this four-door sedan?
JOHN: Luxury cars usually come with ‘sticker shock’ prices. The LaCrosse has all the bells and whistles for about half the money of a car in its class. Let’s put luxury aside and discuss the most important feature of any car—safety, my divining rod. The LaCrosse has lots of air bags, side blind zone alert, rear cross traffic alert, forward crash alert, rear vision camera, heated outside mirrors, and a power rear sunshade that lowers when you back up. It is wonderfully comfortable, and so road-quiet that I could whisper “sweet nothings” to my lovely Laurie, handles smoothly and has nice appointments (like my wife.) I have to agree with Laurie. This is a car I would be very happy owning for a long time.
Laurie: I’m not vain, not really…
JOHN: (coughs)
LAURIE: …but for me, the car’s sleek looks on the outside and elegant, rich appointments on the inside attract me like Bergdorf Goodman’s semi-annual clothing sale. Granted, the car we were driving had the Ultra Luxury Package—Sangria Opus leather seating, leather-wrapped center console and door armrests. But the thing that excites me about the LaCrosse is its real-wood instrument panel: it’s easy to reach, easy to see, and you don’t need a college course to learn how to program the radio or adjust the climate controls.
2015 Buick LaCrosse with Midnight Amethyst metallic exterior color and 19-inch alloy wheels
What about the mileage?
JOHN: Generally, when you get to be my age, you mostly drive to the store, out to eat with friends, maybe a day trip somewhere, and an occasional long drive. If you aren’t filling up very often, then 21 miles per gallon, which is what this car gets on average, is very satisfactory to me.
LAURIE: John’s right. Pinehurst is a very compact village. Anything you need is within a five-mile radius of home. That’s not to say we don’t take long treks—we do; but we’re past the day-to-day commute chapters in our lives. But if we craved breakfast at Brennan’s, one of New Orleans’ treasured restaurants in the French Quarter, it would cost $104.55 in gas—a pricey breakfast, but an affordable, luxurious, twelve-hour road cruise down to “the Big Easy.”
Final Thoughts?
JOHN: As Shaquille O’Neal once said, “If you don’t know the LaCrosse, you don’t know Buick.”
LAURIE: Yes. The Buick Intellilink Infotainment System allowed Johnny to the car. All the time. “Hi, LaCrosse. Play ‘Hotel California,’” and the eleven-speaker Bose surround-sound system pounds out the acoustic guitar intro, and Johnny’s rockin’, and I say, “Why don’t I drive?” Then he says, “Hi, LaCrosse. Go to the Full Moon Oyster Bar,” and “she” guides us to our favorite restaurant. You can’t beat the fresh-shucked oysters at the Full Moon. And you can’t beat the Buick LaCrosse.
Learn about Buick’s Intellilink Infotainment System at http://www.buick.com/owners/intellilink-radio-guide/2014.html
MSRP for the standard LaCrosse—which is loaded by most standards—is $39,755; fully loaded, $48,735. The Buick LaCrosse sweeps the Government 5-Star Safety Ratings with full marks across the board.
* * * * *
Driving Me Crazy Columnists Laurie and John Wiles.
John and Laurie Wiles have a combined driving history of ninety-five years. Laurie is one of only thirty-six journalists who are members of the prestigious New England Automotive Press Association (Tom and Ray Magliozzi, hosts of National Public Radio’s “Car Talk” among them.) Since 1998, Laurie has test-driven and reviewed over eight-hundred new model cars, trucks, and SUVs. John, a lifelong car enthusiast, has owned more than forty vehicles (so far.)
John and Laurie recently got the idea of combining on a weekly car review. Laurie explains. “One day, a gorgeous blue Porsche Cayman pulled in the drive. Johnny slides behind the wheel, cocks an eyebrow, and says, ‘The name’s Bond. James Bond,’ like he’s Sean Connery or something. The next week, a Chevy Camaro rolls in. Johnny gets one glimpse of that muscle car and shouts out, ‘Can you say N-A-S-C-A-R?’ Once I realized he wasn’t speaking in tongues, I realized his voice, together with mine, might be fun. After all, ‘sixty is the new forty.’”
John adds, “Men and women have very different opinions about cars and I think it’s good for people to get an understanding of what a couple think about a car, and what they like and don’t like. Of course, that doesn’t mean they have to agree on everything—you know, like the way it is in a marriage.”
Laurie, whose professional name is Laurie Bogart Morrow, is the author of a dozen books, including The Hardscrabble Chronicles (Penguin Putnam) and The Giant Book of Dog Names (Simon and Schuster. John is a retired program manager in the National Defense contracting industry and a teacher in the public school system. They live happily in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
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