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Car Forum / GMC Cars / August 2006"Buick Lucerne can earn its own reputation"
Buick Lucerne can earn its own reputation Not since the Grand National faded into oblivion at the end of 1987, has Buick offered anything even bordering on a performance-oriented car. Ending a 10-year V-8 drought for Buick, the Lucerne is a step in that direction. at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm Edmunds.com seems to offer a different opinion. http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=109862/pageNumber=1?s ynpartner=edmunds&pageurl=www.edmunds.com/new/2007/buick/lucerne/100757160/roadt estarticle.html&articleId=109862 > Buick Lucerne can earn its own reputation > Not since the Grand National faded into oblivion at the end of 1987, > has Buick offered anything even bordering on a performance-oriented > car. Ending a 10-year V-8 drought for Buick, the Lucerne is a step in > that direction. > at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm Edmunds.com is about as useful for reviews as a Sears catalog. Out of all the domestic cars I have looked up on there, they gave most of them sh.t reports. Hell, a lot of them have great reviews from *owners* yet terrible ones from Edmunds. Even the owners that rated the Lucerne at Edmunds gave it an average of 9.3 out of 10, yet, it's still crap to Edmunds. Sorry, but no one can tell anyone what to buy. A car *I* may find astounding, someone else may find terrible. And Edmunds bitching about the seat warmers? Give me a break. What do they want? It warms your a.s, which means folks, that yes, it has to get warm. > Edmunds.com seems to offer a different opinion. > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >> that direction. >> at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm > Edmunds.com is about as useful for reviews as a Sears catalog. Out of all > the domestic cars I have looked up on there, they gave most of them sh.t [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > seat warmers? Give me a break. What do they want? It warms your a.s, which > means folks, that yes, it has to get warm. Ranks up with Car and Driver. If it does not handle like a Corvette or Porsche or high end Mercedes, it is crap. I don't know about the Lucerne, but my Le Sabre has two heat setting on the seat and neither burns your a.s. OTOH, the drivers side broke and they want $560 to repair it. >> Edmunds.com is about as useful for reviews as a Sears catalog. Out of >> all the domestic cars I have looked up on there, they gave most of [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > burns your a.s. OTOH, the drivers side broke and they want $560 to > repair it. wow, $560. Maybe get a repair manual and fix it yourself. Unplug the battery first. Might be a broken wire somewhere (probably closer to the seat than the fuse box/relays). Or perhaps the warming elements might need to be changed (but I doubt that). Or there might be some thermostat type thingy that's bad. "grappletech" <noone@removenowhere.biz> wrote in message > wow, $560. Maybe get a repair manual and fix it yourself. Unplug the > battery first. Might be a broken wire somewhere (probably closer to the > seat than the fuse box/relays). Or perhaps the warming elements might > need to be changed (but I doubt that). Or there might be some > thermostat type thingy that's bad. You can't buy just the element, you replace the entire seat bottom. Does that make sense? Yes, it is a broken wire as I've had a hot spot just before it stopped working. Probably the same element as a $7 toaster in WalMart. I got less than two winters out of it. Buick is working hard to get me to buy an import. >> Edmunds.com is about as useful for reviews as a Sears catalog. Out of all >> the domestic cars I have looked up on there, they gave most of them sh.t [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Ranks up with Car and Driver. If it does not handle like a Corvette or > Porsche or high end Mercedes, it is crap. Exactly. > I don't know about the Lucerne, but my Le Sabre has two heat setting on > the seat and neither burns your a.s. I borrowed a loaded Montana off a friend once, and it had 2 settings for the seat warmers in it as well. And it was a mini-van. > OTOH, the drivers side broke and they want $560 to repair it. Ouch. You should take Grappletech's advise and try and fix it yourself. May take some time, but worth it if you can get it working again. <snip> > I borrowed a loaded Montana off a friend once, and it had 2 settings for > the seat warmers in it as well. And it was a mini-van. <snip> Lucerne has three settings each for cooling and heating. "ACP" <noneone@nowhere.nohow> wrote in message > Lucerne has three settings each for cooling and heating. Then anyone complaining about a hot a.s is nuts. I recall Edmunds knocking the older model (97 or so) Le Sabre because it had both a holder on the cover for the gas cap and a lanyard attached to the cap. Now, if you have to pick on that as a "problem" you want to make a car look like it has a lot of negatives. Two years later, when the lanyard breaks, the other holder is nice to have. > <snip> > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Lucerne has three settings each for cooling and heating. Apparently the testers at Edmunds didn't quite figure out how to use number 1 or 2. Does not surprise me though. > Buick Lucerne can earn its own reputation > Not since the Grand National faded into oblivion at the end of 1987, > has Buick offered anything even bordering on a performance-oriented > car. Ending a 10-year V-8 drought for Buick, the Lucerne is a step in > that direction. > at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm It looks like the V-8 Lucerne is a relatively bargain-priced way to buy what is essentially a Cadillac Deville. John I got a chance to drive my Dad's 8-cyl last week. It's a beautiful, comfortable, quiet, powerful car. His has magnetic damped ride-control which GM just licensed to Ferrari I think. It works wonderfully. I recall Edmunds complaining about the four-speed. Let me tell you; that tranny is as close to CV as you're likely to get. It's been proven in generations of Caddies and Olds Auroras. I'd rather have a 4T80E than the latest flavor of 5-6-7-whatever speed. The latest ridiculous event in car reviewing comes to us in the form of CNET. They've been doing half-assed reviews of technology products for years...heavy emphasis on baiting the viewer into clicking onto their "review", only to find out it's really just a shopping site portal. What makes these weenies think they're qualified to do any kind of automotive review? I blame Consumer Reports for everything. Nok > Buick Lucerne can earn its own reputation > Not since the Grand National faded into oblivion at the end of 1987, > has Buick offered anything even bordering on a performance-oriented > car. Ending a 10-year V-8 drought for Buick, the Lucerne is a step in > that direction. > at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm You are SO spot-on about the GM 4-speed transmission. An outstanding piece of work. It's not "upscale" enough these days, I suppose, but it works, and works extremely well. A lot more than can be said for the 6 and 7 speed wonders that shift CONSTANTLY and are never at a loss for the wrong gear. > I got a chance to drive my Dad's 8-cyl last week. It's a beautiful, > comfortable, quiet, powerful car. His has magnetic damped ride-control [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >> that direction. >> at http://www.washtimes.com/autoweekend/20060803-084657-1818r.htm > You are SO spot-on about the GM 4-speed transmission. An outstanding > piece of work. It's not "upscale" enough these days, I suppose, but it > works, and works extremely well. A lot more than can be said for the 6 > and 7 speed wonders that shift CONSTANTLY and are never at a loss for the > wrong gear. I'm going to have to delurk for this. I'm a lifelong GM man, to the bone. But I have got to say that the 4T80E in my '99 Olds Aurora is a serious disappointment. It has the "viscous converter clutch". Or as I've named it, the blue haired old ladys torque converter clutch. It's designed with a silicone fluid embedded among two sets of clutch fingers and absorbs all shock upon engagement. Unfortunately, it's also prone to slip excessively and once it starts this, the converter is ruined in a few hundred miles according to what the service bulletin on this problem states. Also, the pulse width modulated VCC (viscous conv. clutch) control valve oscillates at around 30 cyc. per second when it's controlling the converter. The bore is aluminum and wears out, and this is also another situation where the VCC will slip excessively. Once the PCM senses excessive slip, it sets DTC P0741 and turns on the serv. eng. soon light. Now you can't pass the state vehicle emissions inspection since that particular code is related to emissions. With it slipping as it is now, I've lost about 3 mpg also. Also, when I changed the oil last week, it had a puddle of trans. fluid underneath and it's coming from the front seal. It's going to cost me approx. $2000 or more to get this transmission replaced and I'll have to get it fixed right so I can pass emissions. I can clear the codes as I have a good Genisys scan tool, but by the time all the monitors set, the VCC slip has set the P0741 again. I'm basically screwed on this. I've always had nothing but good luck with all my GM cars and pickups, but this particular transmission is badly designed, in my opinion. Just my .02. Garrett Fulton I'll bet there are plenty of owners of '99 Olds Auroras that have trouble free trannys. One must realize not every owner provide the proper maintenance required for their vehicles and some, on occasion, will fail ;) mike hunt >> You are SO spot-on about the GM 4-speed transmission. An outstanding >> piece of work. It's not "upscale" enough these days, I suppose, but it [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Garrett Fulton > I'll bet there are plenty of owners of '99 Olds Auroras that have trouble > free trannys. One must realize not every owner provide the proper > maintenance required for their vehicles and some, on occasion, will fail > ;) > > mike hunt An some will fail no matter how good the maintenance was. >> I'll bet there are plenty of owners of '99 Olds Auroras that have trouble >> free trannys. One must realize not every owner provide the proper [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > An some will fail no matter how good the maintenance was. Exactly. I kept clean fluid in the tranny. Changed at never more than 30,000 with a filter. My wife drives the car mostly and drives it very, very easy. If you'll look at the IATN archives, you'll find that the P0741 VCC slippage is a very common problem with this 4T80E transmission. It's badly designed, and that's the bottom line. The viscous converter clutch is weak, and the VCC control valve bore should have never, ever have been designed without a hardened sleeve in the aluminum. The people at Sonnax make a kit to fix that problem that was part of the design with a reamer and a hardened sleeve. I take excellent care of all my vehicles, almost to the point of obsesseiveness. And they've all served me well, until this Aurora. Garrett Fulton Not very likely, but a failure can occur to any mechanical part, no mater who makes it. mike hunt >> I'll bet there are plenty of owners of '99 Olds Auroras that have trouble >> free trannys. One must realize not every owner provide the proper [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > An some will fail no matter how good the maintenance was. > Not very likely, but a failure can occur to any mechanical part, no mater > who makes it. > > mike hunt And I have the cancelled check to prove it. |
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