Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Buick is a model General Motors introduced to go toe to tire with the likes of the Lexus ES and Mercedes CLA, and it generally proved up to the task. An add-on vinyl roof and lots of chrome trim make this one unique, let’s see if its price makes it even more so.
So we established last Friday that some of you never knew that Mazda once took a thinly veneered version of the Ford Explorer and sold it as the Navajo. Based on the comments for the 1994 Mazda Navajo that was the object of our consideration, even fewer of you cared. Add to that the seller’s statement that the ad for the truck had been “reposted at a higher price due to the amount of offers I have been getting” and things weren’t going to end up well for the faux-Mazda. Its $7,800 asking price did take a drubbing, and when the dust settled, the result was a 71 percent No Dice loss.
Hey, are your grandparents still around and driving? If so, what’s their weapon of choice when they head out to do whatever older folks do when they’re not at home watching cable news or complaining about… well, pretty much everything?
If I know old people, which I don’t, then I’m going to bet your Nana and Pop-Pop drive something like this 2011 Buick LaCrosse CXL. Hell, the ad even describes this Buick as an “older couple’s car.”
To be honest, this does appear to be a pretty good ride for older folks. First off, it’s a reasonably roomy sedan which should make getting in and out easier than one of those crazy-tall SUVs or cross-whatevers the kids are all driving these days. The LaCrosse was built on a stretched Epsilon platform, which is shared with the Opel Insignia and Saab 9-5. The later edition traded that Euro-centric platform for one shared with the Chevy Impala, although that version of the LaCrosse was killed off after just a couple of years when Buick came to realize that those SUVs and Cross-whatevers really were where the market was at. Today, Buick sells nothing in the U.S. other than cookie-cutter cross-overs.
That means that this LaCrosse truly represents an earlier time. And isn’t that what older people like — stuff from when they were younger?
Power here comes from a 182 horsepower 2.4 liter Ecotec four which is mated to a six-speed automatic with a manual mode that will likely never get used. Befitting a car that was owned by older folks who had probably stopped rat-racing it to work five days a week, this Buick has extremely low mileage. That only totals 32,000, which puts this at just 3,200 a year. Heck, I think I walk more than that.
The Burgundy paint looks as-new and is accented by a sort of faux convertible roof and a whole bunch of added chrome trim around the windows. Chrome also covers the factory wheels and those are fitted with Vogue-style yellow stripe tires. On the hood, the traditional Buick Ventiports have been changed to gold color. All the rest of the factory trim, however, remains silver.
There doesn’t seem to be any customization inside, but the two-town leather and fake wood trim do stake a decent middle ground between old-school luxury and more modern sensibilities. This being a CXL, the car’s loaded to those Ventiport gills with accessories. Unfortunately, it is an old enough car that it lacks any sort of big touch screen in the center stack. Instead, you get traditional buttons and a small blue-tinted screen for radio and HVAC readouts. Everything looks to have stood up to father time with minimal wear evident on any of the tactile surfaces.
According to the ad, the car comes with a clean title and an apparent one-thousand dollar discount seeing as it’s listed at $13,800 in the headline and $14,800 in the copy below. I’m thinking we go with the lower number.
With that question settled, it’s now time for you to weigh in and let us all know what you think about this Buick and that $13,800 asking. Does that seem like a good deal for a car that some might call ageless? Or, does that price have you saying “back in my day…?”
You decide!
Lincoln, Nebraska, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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