2001 buick lesabre review this car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale. New features for an old friend. introductionin a market often ruled by fad and fashion, it is worth noting that buick has called its basic full-size car 'lesabre' for 43 continuous years. For the past 10 of those years, buick likes to remind us, lesabre has out-sold every other full-size car. Government crash tests. buick lesabre was totally redesigned for 2000, and now moves into 2001 with new dual-stage airbags, 15-inch aluminum wheels for lesabre limited, and an oil-change interval that's been stretched from 7,500 to a full 10,000 miles. In particular, the side profile has a nice curvy upturn along the rear doors, leading to a high trunk; it's a nice classic touch, fitting lesabre's position as a premium sedan. at the front, the lesabre has a distinctive buick grille that sits well forward and is almost part of the front bumper. The headlights are well integrated into the lines of the car. Buick claims that the new body is much stiffer than the pre-2000 model, giving the car a better ride and crisper handling. safety is an important part of lesabre's image and buick has gone to great lengths to safeguard the occupants of the newest model. Dual front airbags are a given, but lesabre has side airbags for the front seats, too. In addition to self-sealing tires and a heads-up instrument display, this includes stabilitrak, an electronic vehicle-stability system that buick introduced in mid-2000. Stabilitrak helps keep the car on the correct line through a corner in slippery conditions by gently applying the brakes on one or more wheels. It cannot overcome the laws of physics, but it does add a margin of safety by reducing the effects of driver errors. The head-up display projects speed and other information onto the windshield in front of the driver's eyes. the front seat belts are mounted to the seat frame, so they move with the seat for greater comfort. The seats boast a new design engineers like to call a 'catcher's mitt.' the seat back is much stiffer than usual; in an accident it holds the person in place and the headrest moves forward to lessen whiplash. It is especially effective common low-speed, rear-end accidents, according to buick. interiorbuick totally redesigned lesabre's dashboard last year to give the interior a fresh, modern, luxurious look. The dash sweeps across the width of the car with a canopy over the instruments extending from the passenger side to the driver's door panel. This design gives the interior an open feeling and integrates the door trim into the dashboard nicely. A wide strip of faux wood trim extends along the door panels and across the center of the dashboard. the driver information center on the limited model has a digital readout that can display oil temperature, fuel consumption, tire pressure and other data. Round analog gauges are easy to read. A bench seat does not usually provide much support for the driver compared to a bucket seat and the lesabre's is no exception. A large flat writing surface also flips out. It could prove useful for people who need to have a notepad handy while on the road. But it sits at an awkward angle, and we found it difficult to use. wide doors allow easy access to the front and rear seats. Rear-seat passengers will find plenty of room. The slightly longer wheelbase and wider track of this latest-generation lesabre increased rear seating space over pre-2000 models. It still gets a bit tight with three adults back there, however. An optional rear center armrest features an opening behind it to provide space for skis and other long objects. driving impressionbig buicks have not been known as cars that excel in the handling department. Their suspensions have been designed primarily to provide a soft, cushy ride, where the car tends to float over undulations and provides little feedback to the driver. At slow speeds this is fine, but at higher speeds, or on a winding road, a soft-sprung car is not as stable as one with a firmer suspension. but when buick redesigned the lesabre last year, the engineers vastly improved its roadholding capability. As a result, the lesabre now handles much better than previous versions. That floating sensation is gone. But even the base lesabre should offer good handling. the 3. 8-liter v6 engine is one of gm's best. It performs well in the lesabre, even though it has to propel a relatively heavy car. Although not officially billed as a luxury car, it provides a more luxurious environment than most luxury cars of just a few years ago. summarybuick prides itself as the maker of premium american cars and it has upheld that tradition with the 2001 lesabre. For not much more than the price of a compact car, the lesabre delivers six-passenger capacity with lots of standard features.

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2007 Buick Lucerne CXL V6

sedan 84,433
8,995 high price
Camas, WA
autoshopper.com

8,995 2007 Buick Lucerne CXL V6

sedan 84,433 gasoline automatic

2007 buick lucerne review this car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale. Superb full-size luxury car. introductionthe buick lucerne is the brand's flagship sedan. Its clean lines are suggestive of fine european imports yet maintain buick traditions. Inside, lucerne is elegant, comfortable and easy. Underway, it's smooth and quiet; but with precise steering and a chassis that handles winding roads with aplomb. We find the lucerne to be a plush, highly competent full-size sedan at a compelling price. the lucerne cxs is certainly the most enjoyable of the new buicks to drive, thanks to its powerful v8 engine and magnetic ride control, an adaptive sports suspension developed for the corvette. Yet we might opt for the lucerne cxl v6, a very enjoyable car to drive, with agile handling and plenty of performance. The v6-powered lucerne cxl is positioned to compete against the toyota avalon and lexus es 330, while the v8-powered cxs aspires to the lexus gs and infiniti m luxury sedans. as it has done from time to time throughout its 103-year history, buick is rethinking, renewing, revising and rationalizing its model lineup. The buick lucerne replaced the park avenue and lesabre when launched as a 2006 model. The lucerne benefits greatly from the structure and chassis hardware that it shares with the recently launched cadillac dts. In this, lucerne is not breaking tradition but confirming it. Six-passenger seating is available by ordering the front bench seat 295). A comfort and convenience package 795) adds an electrochromic rearview mirror, universal home remote, illuminated visors with vanity mirrors, intermittent front wipers with rainsense, and body-colored outside mirrors with power adjustment and heat. The driver confidence package 795) includes rear park assist, remote vehicle start and theft alarm. cxl is available with the v6 28,530) or a 4. 6-liter v8 30,540). Either way, cxl upgrades with leather seats (for five or six passengers), a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a power passenger's seat, dual-zone automatic climate control, and 17-inch painted aluminum wheels. The suspension is tuned a little tighter and includes airlift rear shocks for automatic level control. All items from the comfort and convenience package (see above) are also standard. The cxl v8 adds gm's magnasteer magnetic assist steering, with a faster ratio; and firms up suspension damping a little further. To help maintain better control in adverse conditions gm's stabilitrak electronic stability control system is available as an option on the cxl v8 495). cxs 34,545) comes standard with the v8, 18-inch wheels, stabilitrak, magnasteer, and magnetic ride control for the best handling available in a lucerne. Cxs also has upgraded leather seats with eight-way power and memory for driver and front passenger. The front seatbelts come with pretensioners, so be sure to wear them. Traction control, anti-lock brakes, and a tire pressure monitor are standard on all models. The first-ever application of a dual-depth passenger airbag has two sections; a smaller section deploys in a less severe crash or if the passenger is small or seated nearer the dashboard. In a bad crash or if the passenger is not wearing their seat belt the full bag deploys for maximum effect. walkaroundthere is no mistaking the lucerne for anything but a buick. The lucerne has a handsome appearance with a good stance thanks to its long wheelbase and wide track. The classic buick waterfall grill blends in well with the large integrated headlamps. The side profile, with its steeply raked windshield, is reminiscent of several recently introduced european sedans such as the vw passat and audi a6. The rear of the lucerne features a high trunk line with nicely integrated tail lamps. chrome trim is kept to a minimum. The only stylistic link to buicks of old is the row of small portholes on each of the front fenders. Flashback to the fifties, when more powerful buicks had more holes. Still, we like them. two new exterior colors, light quartz metallic and gold mist metallic, are available for '07. the buick lucerne is built on the same mechanical platform as the cadillac dts, which was also all-new for 2006. Buick engineers shaped the outside of the door mirrors to lessen wind noise. Laboratory test results show that the lucerne is quieter than a lexus es 330. This was also evident in a back-to-back driving comparison. interiormuch like the exterior, the lucerne's interior is cleanly designed with just enough touches of wood and chrome trim to make it luxurious without being opulent. The dashboard is fairly traditional in design with a smallish instrument pod containing three round gauges in front of the steering wheel. the center stack is located high up for easy access, and contains large knobs for operating the climate control and audio system. standard on all '07 buicks is onstar with turn-by-turn service, which allows customers to talk to a live advisor, who in turn downloads complete step-by-step directions to the vehicle through the onstar system. Audio directions are then automatically played through the vehicle's stereo as they are needed, triggered by the onstar system's gps capabilities. Most people instead opt for bucket seats, which provide a good level of comfort and come with an armrest in the center console. rear-seat passengers are well taken care of with good headroom and excellent leg room. The long wheelbase also allows for a wider-opening rear door with almost no intrusion from the wheel well, making it easy to get in and out of the car. driving impressionthe buick lucerne is a smooth but spirited car. The ride quality is excellent, thanks to its long wheelbase and stiff body structure. In back-to-back driving along a stretch of less-than-perfect road, we found the lucerne's ride quality comparable to that of the benchmark toyota avalon. Buick loyalists who are used to a cushy ride will not complain about the lucerne. It might be stiffer than they are used to, but it's still plenty smooth. the steering is precise and responsive, and the suspension is well controlled, even at high speeds along not always smooth roads. A rigid chassis is the key to balancing sharp handling with a smooth ride, and lucerne really delivers. the cxs comes with magnetic ride control, which we found improved the handling a bit, though the differences were not dramatic. Magnetic ride control is an adaptive damping system designed to enhance overall ride performance. With magnetic ride control, the shock absorbers are filled with a synthetic fluid in which magnetically charged particles are suspended. By applying electric current to the particles, a computer continuously adjusts the fluid's viscosity according to varying road surfaces and driving styles. The system, which first appeared on the sporty cadillac xlr, and then the corvette, delivers a quicker response than earlier adaptive-damping setups that continuously adjusted the shock absorbers' main valves. indeed, when we tried a cxl v6, we were pleasantly surprised at just how well it performed. With the lighter v6, the lucerne seemed more agile on twisty roads. The front end felt a bit lighter. The v6 models also suffer less from torque steer, a slight tugging felt through the steering wheel when turning and accelerating at the same time. As an additional benefit the v6 lucerne is rated as a super ultra l.

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