2005 Buick LaCrosse Test Drive

Buick's Revolution

The 2005 Buick LaCrosse is way better than the cars it replaces. But has it improved enough to put the ailing company back on the map?

The 2005 Buick LaCrosse is an elegant and capable alternative to the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, champions of the midsize sedan category, but doesn't match their quality or refinement. It does, however, represent a monumental improvement over the boring duo it elbows from the lineup — the Century and Regal.

The LaCrosse is Buick's harbinger of change. This svelte yet unexciting midsize sedan signals a new direction for the company — bolder and better. It happens to be both, compared with previous Buicks. But the cars it replaces were so inferior that even a quantum improvement hasn't elevated the LaCrosse to Accord and Camry territory, despite Buick executives who say otherwise.

"The Buick LaCrosse is a better car than the Camry," says Mark LaNeve, General Motors' vice president of sales and marketing. "Put a Toyota badge on it, and it would sell just as much as the Camry does today." That would be a good thing, considering that Toyota sold 98,504 Camrys in the first quarter, compared with 19,281 LaCrosses for Buick.

Drive one around for a week, and you'll probably be perfectly content. We were. In fact, the LaCrosse endeared itself to us with its stable, comfortable ride and willing steering set-up. But step back into a Japanese or German competitor and it’s clear that Buick still has some catching up to do.

The 2006 LaCrosse is set to hit showrooms in late July or early August, but a Buick spokeswoman wouldn't say how it will differ from the 2005 model we tested — or even whether it would differ at all.