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It was a long wait....but worth it.
Some of you know that I ordered a new Buick Lacrosse several months ago. The order turned out to be a marketing mess (leave it to GM to get things messed up, such as when I ordered a new Saturn SL2 almost 20 years ago, in 1999, and it was delivered with more options than I had ordered, and right after they had dropped the first-choice color I wanted). Anyhow, with the new Lacrosse, at the time, after I had asked the sales-people three times, they promised that new 2017s could still be ordered (Lacrosses are built, along with several other GM products, at the large Detroit-Hamtramck plant). So, I told them, go ahead and order it...a new Preferred model, one step up from base. The Preferred trim-level was the one, equipment-wise, closest to what I was looking for, and they were difficult to find in stock...I didn't need or want a lot of the advanced electronic-aids, AWD, or other options on the upper-level Essence and Premium trim-levels). I wrote them a check for the usual $1000 deposit on a special-ordered vehicle, briefly looked at a couple of new GM products while I was there that I hadn't seen before (among them, the all-electric Chevy Bolt), and went home.
So........what happens? I get out of bed the next morning, have my coffee, and get a call from the dealership's Sales Manager. "Mr. Marshall, GM tells us it's too late to order a 2017"...the Hamtramck plant either shut down for the annual re-tooling or cancelled all of the remaining 2017 orders without prior notice. The dealership offered to refund the deposit. I told them I'd think it over, looked at how the 2018s were going to be equipped (apparently, minimal changes except for paint-colors, and they were keeping the nice metallic gray-gold Pepperdust paint color I wanted). I looked at the (apparent) 2018 order-forms, saw that the 2018 Lacrosses were getting the new, advanced 9-speed 9T65 transmission co-developed with Ford, which, with its 60 new patents and seamless operation, was a far more impressive transmission than the Aisan-built 8-speed units than GM was buying from that company for the 2017 Lacrosse models. I decided, admittedly against the advice of a couple of my forum-colleagues, that the 2018 version, even with the (possible) loss of the then-$1500 rebate, and a possible slight price-increase on top of that, was worth the wait and possible extra cost. I was in no hurry for a new car (my whole life-style, since I retired, is built around paitience and not rushing).....I had plenty of time to wait for it, and wait I did. So, a revised order went in for a new 2018.
Well, leave it to GM to (once again) move the goal posts after the ball has been kicked. Not even a week after the second re-order had been put in for a 2018 Preferred model, I suddenly see, in Google web-sites and review-videos, that the Bozo marketers had made a late decision (again, without much if any prior notice) to yank the 3.6L V6 and 9-speed out, and substitute a new four-cylinder/electric-motor hybrid and the old GM 6-speed automatic as the base drivetrain on all but the top-level Premium and AWD models, where the V6/9-speed would remain standard. Base models would have only the new hybrid powertrain with no option, and Preferred/Essence versions would have the hybrid base powertrain and the V6/9-speed as an option. So, since I wanted the V6 (this was, after all, a big Buick by today's standards, and I wanted an engine at least worthy of a big Buick...not something running around on an unrefined, Mickey-Mouse four-banger and electric batteries), I could clearly see that the car was going to have to be re-ordered again, a third time, with the V6/9-speed option. At the time they substituted the base-drivetrain change (and also because of slow sales) they dropped the base price of the car some $1500...to down below 30K. The formerly standard V6/9-speed, on the new lower base price, was made a $2500 option (still worth it, IMO).
So, the next morning.....back to the dealership. When I told them we were going to have to re-order the car yet again, they looked at me incredulously...are you serious? They were not even aware of the new base-drivetrain status...unbelieveably, they had not been told of the change by GM marketing, even though it was on the web-sites. When I showed them what was happening, there were a couple of red faces, and then they said..."Yep......we'll re-order it again". So, they pulled the old package, archived it, and wrote up new papers, this time for a Preferred model with the optional V6 and the $140 rubber floor and trunk-mats (that $140 was a relative bargain...it included four large custom-fit thick-rubber floor-mats for front seats, back seats, and a large one for the trunk floor, Subaru-style. THIS time, after the third re-order, GM marketing, apparently, had finally gotten their s*** together, kept things that way, and the car didn't have to be ordered again.....it was just wait for it.
Well, after all that nonsense and hassle (and 3 re-orders), Karma caught up with us, and all went very well (though I actually credit God, not Karma......I am a devout Catholic). It was a fairly long wait (though quite short by Tesla standards LOL), but now, at the end of August, my car was one of the very first of the 2018 Lacrosses sent to that dealership (GM had put a priority-status on it because of the hassles and delays). And the timing couldn't have been better. This week, and through Labor Day, the General Manager of the dealership promised a $100 donation to the Red Cross, out of the dealership's profits, for every new vehicle sold....there is, of course, a critical need for help in hurricane/flood-ravaged Texas and Louisiana, where many thousands are suffering. So my delivery today, instead of what would have been three months ago of I had bought a 2017, also helped those in need. My new car listed for $37,685...though there were no official factory rebate on 2018's, they knocked $2000 off list, gave me about $700 or $800 more than my Verano was worth KBB because of its excellent condition/low-miles and because I was a repeat customer (I double-checked the KBB figures myself), so I decided to let them have my Verano, instead of the hassles of selling it myself. Their dealer-processing fee, though more than the regulated fees across the river in Maryland, was still about $200 less that what many surrounding dealerships were asking...so that was, in effect, another couple of hundred off the price. And, instead of a 2017 Lacrosse that has been sitting on the lot for months (the 2017s were quite-slow sellers) with a dated transmission, I have a brand-new car, right off the assembly-line, with one of the smoothest and most advanced FWD transmissions on the planet...though, of course, complex new transmissions can sometimes have teething problems, so we'll see how this one holds up with time. Buick, though, like Lexus, Lincoln, Acura, Cadillac, and Infiniti, offers a standard 6/70 drivetrain and 4/50 bumper-to-bumper warranty. It was not a rock-bottom deal per se, but, for a 2018, I was pleased with the ultimate deal I got, and have no complaints on the dealership's part....just with Buick/GM's marketing. Just one more reason why, like I have said so many times in the past....auto marketers are the bane of my existence. Always were...probably always will be.
The car, having passed my pre-delivery inspections and test-drive, is home now, in one of our blank condo parking spaces, as I write this...I tried to avoid my regular assigned space, as it is under a large oak tree starting to drop acorns this time of year. The last thing I want to see, of course, on a new car, is dings in the sheet metal from the nuts. A couple of more weeks, though (maybe a month at most), and the acorn season will be over. After I left the dealership early this afternoon, I buzzed on over a few miles to my brother's building during his lunch break, showed him the car, ate lunch at a nearby Carabba''s (my favorite Italian chain restaurant), and went home. My brother got some static-shots (his cell-phone is much newer and better than mine), and, if possible, I'll try and up-load them later. In the meantime, though, I'll post some Google-shots of what my car looks like in its interior/exterior colors. Even in the relatively low-grade Preferred trim level, it's still quite complex, electronically, in the video-screen climate/audio functions, and, though I can manage the basic climate-control, I still haven't gotten the conventional and XM satellite radio stations I want in the system's memory...I might need some help at the dealership for that tomorrow.
Driving this car, even though the smooth ride, with the standard 18" 50-series Continental all-season tires, isn't quite as floaty-smooth as the Buick flagships of decades ago, is still like a magic carpet by today's standards. And the new 9-speed transmission is pure butter-smoothness and quick-shifting without being slushy or inefficient...everything the reviewers said about it is true, even its silky stop/start characteristics with the engine. It's miles ahead of the Asian 8-speed that was used for 2017. In my opinion, this is the car that Cadillac should have replaced the DTS with...and didn't.
Some of you know that I ordered a new Buick Lacrosse several months ago. The order turned out to be a marketing mess (leave it to GM to get things messed up, such as when I ordered a new Saturn SL2 almost 20 years ago, in 1999, and it was delivered with more options than I had ordered, and right after they had dropped the first-choice color I wanted). Anyhow, with the new Lacrosse, at the time, after I had asked the sales-people three times, they promised that new 2017s could still be ordered (Lacrosses are built, along with several other GM products, at the large Detroit-Hamtramck plant). So, I told them, go ahead and order it...a new Preferred model, one step up from base. The Preferred trim-level was the one, equipment-wise, closest to what I was looking for, and they were difficult to find in stock...I didn't need or want a lot of the advanced electronic-aids, AWD, or other options on the upper-level Essence and Premium trim-levels). I wrote them a check for the usual $1000 deposit on a special-ordered vehicle, briefly looked at a couple of new GM products while I was there that I hadn't seen before (among them, the all-electric Chevy Bolt), and went home.
So........what happens? I get out of bed the next morning, have my coffee, and get a call from the dealership's Sales Manager. "Mr. Marshall, GM tells us it's too late to order a 2017"...the Hamtramck plant either shut down for the annual re-tooling or cancelled all of the remaining 2017 orders without prior notice. The dealership offered to refund the deposit. I told them I'd think it over, looked at how the 2018s were going to be equipped (apparently, minimal changes except for paint-colors, and they were keeping the nice metallic gray-gold Pepperdust paint color I wanted). I looked at the (apparent) 2018 order-forms, saw that the 2018 Lacrosses were getting the new, advanced 9-speed 9T65 transmission co-developed with Ford, which, with its 60 new patents and seamless operation, was a far more impressive transmission than the Aisan-built 8-speed units than GM was buying from that company for the 2017 Lacrosse models. I decided, admittedly against the advice of a couple of my forum-colleagues, that the 2018 version, even with the (possible) loss of the then-$1500 rebate, and a possible slight price-increase on top of that, was worth the wait and possible extra cost. I was in no hurry for a new car (my whole life-style, since I retired, is built around paitience and not rushing).....I had plenty of time to wait for it, and wait I did. So, a revised order went in for a new 2018.
Well, leave it to GM to (once again) move the goal posts after the ball has been kicked. Not even a week after the second re-order had been put in for a 2018 Preferred model, I suddenly see, in Google web-sites and review-videos, that the Bozo marketers had made a late decision (again, without much if any prior notice) to yank the 3.6L V6 and 9-speed out, and substitute a new four-cylinder/electric-motor hybrid and the old GM 6-speed automatic as the base drivetrain on all but the top-level Premium and AWD models, where the V6/9-speed would remain standard. Base models would have only the new hybrid powertrain with no option, and Preferred/Essence versions would have the hybrid base powertrain and the V6/9-speed as an option. So, since I wanted the V6 (this was, after all, a big Buick by today's standards, and I wanted an engine at least worthy of a big Buick...not something running around on an unrefined, Mickey-Mouse four-banger and electric batteries), I could clearly see that the car was going to have to be re-ordered again, a third time, with the V6/9-speed option. At the time they substituted the base-drivetrain change (and also because of slow sales) they dropped the base price of the car some $1500...to down below 30K. The formerly standard V6/9-speed, on the new lower base price, was made a $2500 option (still worth it, IMO).
So, the next morning.....back to the dealership. When I told them we were going to have to re-order the car yet again, they looked at me incredulously...are you serious? They were not even aware of the new base-drivetrain status...unbelieveably, they had not been told of the change by GM marketing, even though it was on the web-sites. When I showed them what was happening, there were a couple of red faces, and then they said..."Yep......we'll re-order it again". So, they pulled the old package, archived it, and wrote up new papers, this time for a Preferred model with the optional V6 and the $140 rubber floor and trunk-mats (that $140 was a relative bargain...it included four large custom-fit thick-rubber floor-mats for front seats, back seats, and a large one for the trunk floor, Subaru-style. THIS time, after the third re-order, GM marketing, apparently, had finally gotten their s*** together, kept things that way, and the car didn't have to be ordered again.....it was just wait for it.
Well, after all that nonsense and hassle (and 3 re-orders), Karma caught up with us, and all went very well (though I actually credit God, not Karma......I am a devout Catholic). It was a fairly long wait (though quite short by Tesla standards LOL), but now, at the end of August, my car was one of the very first of the 2018 Lacrosses sent to that dealership (GM had put a priority-status on it because of the hassles and delays). And the timing couldn't have been better. This week, and through Labor Day, the General Manager of the dealership promised a $100 donation to the Red Cross, out of the dealership's profits, for every new vehicle sold....there is, of course, a critical need for help in hurricane/flood-ravaged Texas and Louisiana, where many thousands are suffering. So my delivery today, instead of what would have been three months ago of I had bought a 2017, also helped those in need. My new car listed for $37,685...though there were no official factory rebate on 2018's, they knocked $2000 off list, gave me about $700 or $800 more than my Verano was worth KBB because of its excellent condition/low-miles and because I was a repeat customer (I double-checked the KBB figures myself), so I decided to let them have my Verano, instead of the hassles of selling it myself. Their dealer-processing fee, though more than the regulated fees across the river in Maryland, was still about $200 less that what many surrounding dealerships were asking...so that was, in effect, another couple of hundred off the price. And, instead of a 2017 Lacrosse that has been sitting on the lot for months (the 2017s were quite-slow sellers) with a dated transmission, I have a brand-new car, right off the assembly-line, with one of the smoothest and most advanced FWD transmissions on the planet...though, of course, complex new transmissions can sometimes have teething problems, so we'll see how this one holds up with time. Buick, though, like Lexus, Lincoln, Acura, Cadillac, and Infiniti, offers a standard 6/70 drivetrain and 4/50 bumper-to-bumper warranty. It was not a rock-bottom deal per se, but, for a 2018, I was pleased with the ultimate deal I got, and have no complaints on the dealership's part....just with Buick/GM's marketing. Just one more reason why, like I have said so many times in the past....auto marketers are the bane of my existence. Always were...probably always will be.
The car, having passed my pre-delivery inspections and test-drive, is home now, in one of our blank condo parking spaces, as I write this...I tried to avoid my regular assigned space, as it is under a large oak tree starting to drop acorns this time of year. The last thing I want to see, of course, on a new car, is dings in the sheet metal from the nuts. A couple of more weeks, though (maybe a month at most), and the acorn season will be over. After I left the dealership early this afternoon, I buzzed on over a few miles to my brother's building during his lunch break, showed him the car, ate lunch at a nearby Carabba''s (my favorite Italian chain restaurant), and went home. My brother got some static-shots (his cell-phone is much newer and better than mine), and, if possible, I'll try and up-load them later. In the meantime, though, I'll post some Google-shots of what my car looks like in its interior/exterior colors. Even in the relatively low-grade Preferred trim level, it's still quite complex, electronically, in the video-screen climate/audio functions, and, though I can manage the basic climate-control, I still haven't gotten the conventional and XM satellite radio stations I want in the system's memory...I might need some help at the dealership for that tomorrow.
Driving this car, even though the smooth ride, with the standard 18" 50-series Continental all-season tires, isn't quite as floaty-smooth as the Buick flagships of decades ago, is still like a magic carpet by today's standards. And the new 9-speed transmission is pure butter-smoothness and quick-shifting without being slushy or inefficient...everything the reviewers said about it is true, even its silky stop/start characteristics with the engine. It's miles ahead of the Asian 8-speed that was used for 2017. In my opinion, this is the car that Cadillac should have replaced the DTS with...and didn't.
Might be a little out of place in a Lexus forum...but I felt this was the car that came closest to the overall comfort, driving characteristics, and price-level I was looking for. Plus, I had waited many years for another big Buick, and all of the big GM sedans may (?) soon be an extinct species due to poor sales.
