Paolino

I'm almost certain the wood in the Lucerne is real. I haven't heard one comment about the woodgrain being faux from any of the write-ups, and that is something they'd rag on immediately. They did so in the LaCrosse... I believe "acres of ultra-glossy, faux wood" comes to mind. Another reason I feel it might be real is because you have a choice between two woods as Fly stated once after he received his 2006 Lucerne Brochure. What annoys me is that the website doesn't state this, nor are the woods accurately shown. You see the "chestnut" but rarely see a good picture of the other type, which is much warmer (I believe a golden walnut). I noticed the other wood when looking at the all-cashmere interior (vs. ebony or titanium), but that could just be my eyes playing tricks on me. Any insight guys?

Wow, the SE interior is nice from the little bit we can see. I was never a fan of the current generation's SE because it was a joke... they slapped on amber gauges and a spoiler... OOOH! :rolleyes: But this is very stylish in my opinion--clean, contemporary... much better than anything available by GM in this segment.

Uh... if you decide to open up the bottle of wine and celebrate, PLEASE do not get into the Lucerne after and drive away!!! It's not that I care about your safety, it's that I care about the Lucerne being left in one piece! lol :) Just kidding... congrats! I can't wait to see some pictures--make sure you borrow a digital camera and take TONS of pictures!! :) And that includes some nighttime shots of the interior illuminated :)

Buh, buh, buh.... my BABY!!! (searches for crying smilie (I know, oxymoron)) What on Earth have they done to you! :(

Wait... nevermind... FWD and 375hp? Can't imagine that'd work too well.

Fly, you forgot something... CXS - 4.6l-std/6.0L-opt ^_^ Let's say it's the "Super" or "Reserve" or "Limited" or whatever, boasting 360-375hp :)

Haha, well, status wasn't as important as it is today. My Century has HORRENDOUS fake wood... if you look at it REALLY closely, you can see the dot-matrix printout--I mean, you have to put your eyeball up to it, but you can see it. Not to mention it is formed in the most impossible ways that real wood could never handle. And guess what, I hate it! lol But then again, that's comparing a car from the early 90's to cars of today. The Lucerne's wood, well, I just have to beleive it is all real. It looks way too high-quality to not be. And it all matches. As for the Park Avenue, the real wood and the fake wood didn't match. The fake wood grain was different and darker.

Funny, and I agree with you too, but the center stack is a huge problem in the LaCrosse as well.

I hate to say this (and I LOVED the Aura concept!), but I refuse to have hope in the Aura until I see the production and hear specs/features.

Fly... it's not easy to try and relax yourself before bed and get drowsy when you read something like your post and just LAUGH. That was beautiful--"... bring forth new innovations, such as innovative innovation...etc." and the looped commercial on DVD. Beautiful, just beautiful!

I tell you, I'm all about the olive ash burled wood. Gimme gimme gimme. Oh, and 469hp Supercharged Northstar is nice too LOL

Happy Birthday BV!!! :)

People here are SO not looking at the Camry from other peoples' eyes. I'm telling you, people will LIKE this. They will see it as classy. They will see it as luxurious for a midsize car. Someone here mentioned that good thing this car is so ugly, now it'll deter them to better-looking domestics. Umm... where? As far as I'm concerned, the domestics are just the same when it comes to the look department. None of them are edgy except the 300. The Malibu was horrendous and now it's tolerable imo, the impala is nice, but there's absolutely no excitement in the design. The 500? No. The Fusion/Zephyr/Milan trio is about as close to aggressively stylish as any domestic has come in a LONG time (again, except for the 300) There has been SUCH a lack in style for so long amongst cars, that everyone now has just accepted what things look like and I truly believe most have just forgotten what an edgy car looks like. Then throw them something very bold, and they FLOCK to the 300. But again, the majority in many many years, have been very conservatively designed.

Is it me or does it not seem any different than how the Toyota Hybrid system works? I just got the impression by saying it was a "Two-mode" hybrid system, it would work differently.

I hate to say this, but the only way the media is going to change is if GM spends years and years putting out cars of no less quality than the Lucerne and cars that match the enthusiasm/quality/style of the Solstice. GM needs awesome cars, continually coming, and eventually the media might change their tune. I get a little frustrated because my friends who are not as knowledgeable about cars (and the scary thing is, I know SO little about them really--I just can pick out a car on the road by its taillamps or headlights, and tell you the hp/torque/size/options of things. I by no means can do all the incredible things to cars, that the people on this site can do nor do I know history of cars before the early 90's), but ALL of their opinions are "domestic=bad" and "foreign=good". I have one friend, his father is a dr, so they always had the nicest cars. My friend is now a dr, and he has a nice new foreign make every 3 years. Here's this difference: My friend's younger sister had a friend in high school doing a survey for a senior course on something simple: "Would you buy a new Buick or Cadillac?". She surveyed the father and then the son. Father's answer: "You know, I would consider it. I miss the way Buick used to be, a nice *insert large engine displacement measured in CUBIC INCHES here*, and that boat would fly. Those were real cars. They were gorgeous, commanding, powerful... you 'made it' if you owned one." Son's answer: "No way. They're junk... If you want to know what kind of cars I want, just ask." The list spouts off german/asian makes. Not one a domestic. But I'll share a secret with you... every now and then when I had to bring him down to my level (modest income), he'd ride in one of my family's Buicks, and every now and then, there'd be like 1 thing he'd find to compliment. So, there's somethings till there, GM needs to just emphasize it and bring on more for people to look at. I think they're starting to finally. On another note, I won't tell you what he said when he drove my Century for the first time LOL! Let's put it this way, his cars have consisted of: Audi S4 Manual, Acura TL M, Lexus SC400 Auto--you get the picture. Then he drove my Century. Whoah. lol

Ugh. Not an Uma fan here.

I need the dash to be of a decent quality in my car. I am not saying it has to be super-smooth, or as soft as a baby's butt, but c'mon, it shouldn't feel hard and hollow or shine like a mirror. I put impartial--yes

Hmm... a 5-pound bag of ice in your crotch? I wonder if Buick made it standard we'd see a Toyota commercial next year with the Avalon featuring the "Crotch-freeze standard on Avalon XLS. It takes 0.05 seconds for you to realize your crotch is hot in the summer... with Avalon's standard bag of crotch-ice, you're that much closer to comfort, as well as saving future sperm which can breed future Toyota buyers."

The Avalon commercial made my friend and I laugh out loud... they start going on about how it takes like this absurd fraction of a second for the human mind to respond to the falling raindrop that hits your windshield... like the computer doesn't also take a fraction of a second to pick up the drop!? And that they made it a life-or-death situation when this SINGLE droplet fell on the windshield! LOL I would have approached the commercial at a completely different angle, say, a man driving with the wipers on intermittent and then a car splashing the windshield or something and the wipers coming to his rescue. But hey, it's just me.

Funny, I saw a Lucerne in the front. It must have just been the headlights.

God no, they'll say the Impala is loud and obtrusive compared to the serene quiet cabin of the Camry.

I think this commercial is a good start--what would be nice is if these commercials aired close to one another... for example, you have the heated washer fluid commercial, then another commercial then maybe another Buick commercial. Or one Buick commercial at the start of each commercial break in a show's hour (or half hour). I just think this commercial would work best as if it were in a sequence of commercials.

Well, you have to admit, from the pictures the interior is at the least impressive.

The interior and drivetrain of a car are my two top selling points... exterior comes third. Only because, I drive the car, therefore I want to enjoy it's ride, pickup, etc., and I sit in the car, therefore the interior is very important to me. The Malibu and G6 interiors are junk in my opinion compared to this. And the Impala, although the refresh is MUCH better than the previous interior, still is not equal to the Camry shots we're seeing here. However I have not felt the quality of the materials of the new Camry as it is not out yet, I am going to assume it is as previous Camry's were, substantial.

I disagree. The LaCrosse and even the Lucerne can benefit from some minor tweaks to make it really competitive. I'm sorry, but the Camry due out in a few months blows the LaCrosse out of the water--take a look at the interior, the available 268hp V6 + 6-speed auto, not to mention that the Camry is also known for it's quiet soft ride... That's more than enough competition for Buick. Oh yeah, and it has Nav for those who want it and a hybrid variant for those who care. Buick needs to stop aiming for the passing grade of 65 and start leaping towards an A. The Lucerne is an EXCELLENT vehicle, which shows that Buick wasn't just looking for a good car, but a great car. The LaCrosse, albeit far superior to its predecessors, was still just average with the competition--competition that was to be replaced in a year or two with something even better.