Cars.com reviewer Mike Hanley said the 2015 Buick LaCrosse full-size sedan fits right in with the brand's ongoing renaissance. "It's comfortable, it's quiet, it's well-crafted, but there's room for improvement in a few areas."
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♪Bright Music♪ (car braking) ♪Upbeat Music♪ The Buick brand is in the midst of a product renaissance. Case and point is this car, the LaCrosse full-sized sedan. It has a lot of things going for it.
It's comfortable, it's quiet, and it's well-crafted but there's room for improvement in a few areas. I like a lot of things about the LaCrosse driving experience. It offers a good blend of ride comfort and controlled body motions, the steering is nicely weighted and the V6 engine and six speed automatic transmission delivers smooth performance. Apart from the brakes, which can feel a little mushy and numb under your foot. All of the things you interact with to drive this car work well together. A couple of things contribute to the premium feel of the LaCrosse's cabin. This is a quiet car for one; Buick has done a good job reducing unwanted wind noise and preventing other noises from intruding in the interior. They're also nice upscale of materials throughout, like this upper door trim and on the dashboard. I like the dashboard layout, which is simple and easy to understand. There's a standard eight inch touchscreen that runs Buick's IntelliLink multimedia system. System menus are easy to use, and I like that Buick includes physical home and back buttons right below the screen to make it easy to go back to a familiar starting point. 4G LTE connectivity is a new OnStar feature for the 2015 model year. And it turns a LaCrosse into a mobile wifi hotspot. So you can bring along your tablet and have internet access. A three gig three month trial is included and the system is about as fast as you find in a 4G smartphone. The capacity of climate controls however, are disappointing. They look pretty cool with their brushed metallic surrounds and are easy to reach, but they're maddening to use when it's cold out and you're wearing gloves. It just wouldn't work at all when I had on a pair of gloves. And it's all the more inexcusable because switching to regular buttons, which are elsewhere on the dash, would solve the problem. Visibility is a problem too. The front roof pillars are thick and another editor momentarily lost track of a bicyclist that was in front of one of them. Rear visibility is a problem too, because of the tall trunk lid in the small slot like rear window. A backup camera is newly standard for 2015, and that helps views considerably. Backseat leg room is abundant for taller passengers, but there's not a lot of headroom to spare. The cushioning and seating position contribute to overall comfort but the sleek roof line really intrudes on your view out the side window. The trunk measures 13.3 cubic feet with the V6 engine and 10.8 cubic feet with a mild hybrid four cylinder, which has extra hardware. Now both of those numbers are small, considering the LaCrosse is external bulk, but they're also a bit deceiving. We were able to fit two sets of golf clubs and more than 10 grocery bags at different times into the trunk and had room to spare. There's a standard split folding backseat too, so if you need more space, you can fold down the seat and expand the cargo area. With a starting price of a little less than 35,000 dollars including the destination charge, the LaCrosse gives you a lot of car for the money. Buick has continued to improve it over the years. And now I think it's just a few changes away from going from a good car to a great car. (car engine)
