2008 Buick Lucerne CXL Road Test

Not that I was ever there, but Buick's Lucerne offers a pretty good viewpoint

Buick's full-size sedan is in good form. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

to the brand's heritage a few decades back, a four-wheeled ticket down memory lane to the good ‘ol days of North American motoring. Call it an opened door to the past if you like.

It's pretty amazing what's happened to the Buick lineup over the past few years. Its offerings are half of what they were prior to 2005, but this is by no means a shadow of what the brand used to be. Before the price of gas spiked, Buick shed its Terraza minivan and Trailblazer-based Rainier, and gone too was the Rendezvous crossover. Not that I harbor any ill will against them, but good riddance - they merely weighed down Buick's lineup with product. Collectively, their appeal can't touch that of their replacement, the excellent Enclave.

Buick's other two cars are the Allure and Lucerne. The Allure is the oldest product in the Buick portfolio, dating back to 2004 (though, arguably, it is one of the freshest as it's been updated for '08 with a facelift). The other vehicle, and the subject of this test, is the Lucerne, the successor to the grand Park Avenue sedan. The Lucerne rides on a platform that was

Three holes indicate that this is indeed a V6-powered car. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

developed just prior to the widespread application of platforms named after Greek letters (the new large RWD platform named “Zeta”, specifically). Both it and Cadillac's DTS sedan ride on the same G-Body platform, and are produced at the Hamtramck, Detroit assembly plant. They're large, spacious and designed for comfort - two peas in a pod.

Unlike Chrysler's 300 or the recently revived Lincoln split grille, Buick doesn't really have any distinctive or noteworthy styling characteristics, perhaps other than its waterfall grille and the fender-mounted Ventiports. That said, this hasn't stopped GM from producing a nicely styled, well-proportioned vehicle. It doesn't look anywhere near as long as a DTS despite being fairly close in length, and it neither appears as bulky or slab-sided. It's also less garish than that aforementioned 300, and has more flow that the dome-like shape of the Taurus. I mean, I appreciate the DTS' Art & Science styling as it's a very unique approach, but I think the Lucerne's more classic European-influenced lines have greater appeal to the general public.

It can be fitted with heated and ventilated seats and a heated wood-rimmed steering wheel. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

Much the same applies to the interior of the Lucerne. It's conservatively styled and fairly nicely appointed, but it isn't going to land any two-page spreads in an interior design magazine. The controls are simple and easy to figure out, not to mention they're very familiar. Because it is Buick's flagship sedan, you'll find a few nice touches; the quality of the materials used is better than that of the Allure with a softer finish on the grained areas of the dash, while the door panels have a nice stitched trimming. If space is what you're after, the Lucerne has plenty of it, in front and in back. Though it's not quite at the top of its class, you'll be hard pressed to want more. Low door sills mean that there's good visibility too. Although the Lucerne isn't a performance vehicle, I firmly believe that GM could instantly improve things by offering seats with more lateral support. They're about was wide and as flat as Kansas, and surprisingly, there's no lumbar support, manual or power. But, you can get them heated and/or ventilated, which is a nice, premium touch. So is the availability of a heated wood-rimmed steering wheel. In true full-size American tradition, you can get a Lucerne equipped with a front bench too.

Buick has stepped up its technology on the Lucerne. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, American Auto Press)

In fact, if you're a bit surprised to hear about ventilated seats in a Buick sedan, you'll be happy to know that you can get the Lucerne with quite a few unexpected high-end options. For instance, it can be had with radar-based blind-spot cameras, which keep tabs on what's around you but not in your direct line of sight, and, it has a lane departure warning system. Sounds like the kind of stuff you'd likely see on a high-end Infiniti or Volvo, but these items are available straight across the board on all Lucernes, and not just as an option on the most expensive models.

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