2010 Buick LaCrosse

This week we are running our annual 10Best test, evaluating 59 cars and winnowing them down to ten winners. All week we’ll be bringing you thoughts from our notepads. Here’s the first from today:

Buicks tend not to register on our radar screens, which makes the LaCrosse a very pleasant surprise. Subdued exterior, but that’s typical of mid-size sedans in this price class. The interior is a different story. Nice goods in here—supple hides, comfortable seats, swanky design, nifty instrumentation, uniform panel gaps. Lots of features, lots of room, especially in the back.

Dynamics: a little more like traditional Buick here. Respectable steering feel, no unpleasant surprises, but unhurried responses, substantial body motions—the words “sports sedan” do not leap into the driver’s brain. On the other hand, other words do pop in there: smooth, competent, solid chassis, great forward sightlines, and library quiet.

How will Buick market this car? Hope the spin doctors don’t start making allusions to Germany’s big three—this isn’t the kind of car you take to the Nordschliefe. But in a head to head with a Lexus ES350, it’s even money the LaCrosse would hold its own in all the objectives and subjectives, then win the tie-breaker on price.