When The Normal’s Buick Division axed the LeSabre and Park Avenue names in 2005 (after 46 and 30 years, respectively, although the Park Avenue returned a few years later in China), the alternative top-of-the-line Buick sedan grew to become the new Lucerne. It wasn’t the Buick with the most important price ticket that yr— these honors went to the Terraza minivan and Rainier SUV— but it surely grew to become the flag-bearer for a bloodline of cushy, prestigious Buick sedans that stretched all the best way again to the early days of the American auto industry. Lucerne gross sales for the 2006 and 2007 mannequin years went fairly nicely, and now sufficient time has handed that a few of these cars are showing up in the self-service car boneyards I frequent. This is a first-year instance with the elective Northstar V8 engine, present in a Northern California yard final summer time.
Loads of American vehicles have been named after cities in Italy, France, and Spain, however the Lucerne is the one one I can consider that bears the title of a Swiss metropolis (to be honest, your complete Chevrolet Division is named after a Swiss man, so Switzerland did not actually get shortchanged by The Normal within the naming division). CXL was the Lucerne’s mid-grade trim degree, sandwiched between the CX and CSX.
The high-zoot Lucerne CSX obtained the 4.6-liter Northstar as normal gear, however this quad-cam V8 and its 279 horses price additional on the CXL. The bottom engine for the CX and CXL was the good old 3.8-liter pushrod Buick V6, rated at 197 horsepower. No US-market 2006 Buick could possibly be bought new with a handbook transmission; this automotive has a four-speed automatic.
In a Buick tradition stretching again to the late 1940s, this automotive boasts flashy “Ventiports” on the fenders. In previous years, the variety of ports on either side designated the automotive’s supposed swank degree; beginning with the Lucerne, they indicated the variety of engine cylinders. So, whenever you’re crawling round your native Ewe Pullet and searching for Northstars, search out the Lucernes with the four-hole Ventiports.
“Leather-based-appointed” energy bucket seats and “wood-toned” trim have been normal on the CXL, in addition to an MP3-capable CD participant with six audio system. By 2006, most American car buyers looking for one thing large and opulent selected trucks and truck-like machines, however the market nonetheless supported fairly a couple of sedan fashions such because the Lucerne.
Most US-market GM autos obtained these little sq. “Mark of Excellence” fender badges throughout the late 2000s. Quickly after The Normal filed for Chapter 11 in 2009, although, they disappeared.
The automotive the press cannot cease speaking about.
Heated washer fluid. Look out, snowflakes!
