Buick Rainier Ball Joint

The Lucerne's highest model stands a good $9,000 above its lowest - one of the wider ranges in passenger sedans. Let's see what it picks up along the way.

The first of four is the Lucerne CX, which at $25,990 is pretty packed in most ways - power everything, ABS and all-speed traction control, six air bags, etc. - but lacks minor things like dual-zone air conditioning, auto-dimming rearview mirror, MP3 playback, leather steering wheel, universal remote, lighted vanity mirrors, and power seat; it's also the only one with cloth seats.

$2,000 more buys the $27,990 CXL to fill in those blanks while upgrading to 17-inch wheels and the "Ride and Handling" suspension. Another $2,000 buys the $29,990 CXL V8 with the Northstar engine, which includes the "sport" suspension, dual exhaust, magnetic steering with a faster ratio, and a rearview mirror-embedded compass.

The final $5,000 buys the V8-only CXS, way up at $34,990. It gets memory settings for the seat, mirrors, audio, and climate controls, heated seats, a sport steering wheel, side mirror turn signals, 18-inch wheels, Magnetic Ride Control, and StabiliTrak stability control.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Rainier Ball Joint and the like.

Buick Rainier Auto Body Parts

The Buick of minivans is generally what we'd expect a Buick to be: big, quiet, comfortable and loaded with conveniences.

If anything stands out about the 2006 Buick Terraza, it's how well this minivan takes care of its passengers. It comfortably seats seven in a nicely designed and finished interior. The base Terraza CX is loaded with standard features, including a DVD entertainment system for rear passengers and a one-year subscription to GM's in-demand OnStar tele-aid service. Terraza is also available with GM's unique PhatNoise removable hard drive, which allows the onboard entertainment system to play or display MP3 music files, photographs, video games and the latest movie releases.

Terraza's build quality meets or beats the best in the class, and it has the minivan essentials covered. It comes standard with a V6 engine, and it's available with all-wheel drive. With the optional towing package, it can pull 3,500 pounds.

For 2006, the Terraza offers side-impact airbags for rear passengers, and Buick has increased the standard warranty to a premium-grade four years or 50,000 miles. Yet the biggest news for 2006 is an optional 3.9-liter V6 with variable valve timing and a 22 percent increase in horsepower. Choose this engine and Terraza morphs from one of the least powerful minivans available into one of the most powerful.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Rainier Auto Body Parts and the like.

Buick Rainier Alternator,cars

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Rainier Alternator and the like.

Ride quality is simply outstanding, very

quiet and steady and predictable.

Handling is not great because of body

roll from soft suspension settings and

car rocks over bumps and uneven road

levels. I prefer this type of shock/spring settings.

Transmission is very smooth with good

gear choices and stable up hill and

downhill shifting.

Performance is good, V-6 has lots of

torque at middle engine speed and is

quick for passing and acceleration onto

freeway ramps.

Engine noise is minimal, but still has

a throaty exhaust sound of power.

Interior appointments are good, like

the map lights on the rear view mirror

and seats are very comfortable and hold

your seat firmly, comfortable on longer

trips. Power windows, locks and mirrors

are nice.

Build quality is excellent, could not

find any body seams out of alignment,

one piece side body stamping works

well to insure good alignment of body

doors and hood/trunk lid.

Dual range A/C and heat controls are nice for my wife.

Nice rounded and sculpted styling looks

great.

Buick Rainier Air Filter

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Rainier Air Filter and the like.

Everyone thinks General Motors has too many cars for too many brands, and everyone is right. Moreover, cars like this one have fallen out of favor - mostly because those who want to go bigger also go taller, heavier, and truckier - but if there's still a place in our landscape for whopper sedans, you've got to admit that Buick is a fitting place for one to go.

GM is improving the case for its stay. In a move that helped everybody, they dropped its Pontiac Bonneville brother, reducing this "G-body" platform of cars (first set in motion by the Oldsmobile Aurora) to a more manageable two-member family, the more expensive being the new Cadillac DTS. Buick finds further favor in the decision to consolidate the former LeSabre and Park Avenue into a new sedan called Lucerne, which, if you shop at Safeway, might lead you to conclude that this new Buick is as safe as milk.

It should at least go down easy. Buick's average buyer - now 68 - doesn't like surprises, and he will find lots of familiar parts to go along with the proven platform, such as the 3800 V6 engine, 4-speed automatic transmission, most of the dimensions, and restrained styling. But several things elevate this beyond a simple rehash-and-rename job.

Buick Rainier AC Condenser

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Rainier AC Condenser and the like.

That's good, because if Terraza falls short of the best in class, it's most obvious in the driving. The standard 3.5-liter V6 is adequate, no more. And while Terraza is quiet and comfortable in the Buick tradition, it feels less responsive than the minivans from Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota. That more powerful 3.9-liter V6 should help.

For now, Terraza's real strength lies in other important minivan virtues, and to considerable extent in its value. Comparably equipped, it retails for less than the Chrysler Town & Country or a loaded Toyota Sienna, and that's before the incentives GM frequently offers.

Like its contemporaries from Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn, Terraza stands on more solid competitive ground than previous GM minivans. It shares its chassis and mechanicals with the Chevy Uplander, Pontiac Montana and Saturn Relay, and the differences are defined by minor styling changes and varying equipment levels. While each brand may indeed appeal to different buyers, smart consumers will shop them all. Price differences among the GM minivans amount to a few dollars when they are comparably equipped, and all are available with the most popular features. The choice may come down to satisfaction with a particular dealership.

Like its GM counterparts, Terraza's long-nose, truck-style exterior design is intended to create the image an SUV more than a minivan. We say no one will mistake the Terraza for anything but what it is: a minivan with the flexibility, features and family-friendly conveniences minivan buyers expect.

Buick Radiator

The Buick of minivans is generally what we'd expect a Buick to be: big, quiet, comfortable and loaded with conveniences.

If anything stands out about the 2006 Buick Terraza, it's how well this minivan takes care of its passengers. It comfortably seats seven in a nicely designed and finished interior. The base Terraza CX is loaded with standard features, including a DVD entertainment system for rear passengers and a one-year subscription to GM's in-demand OnStar tele-aid service. Terraza is also available with GM's unique PhatNoise removable hard drive, which allows the onboard entertainment system to play or display MP3 music files, photographs, video games and the latest movie releases.

Terraza's build quality meets or beats the best in the class, and it has the minivan essentials covered. It comes standard with a V6 engine, and it's available with all-wheel drive. With the optional towing package, it can pull 3,500 pounds.

For 2006, the Terraza offers side-impact airbags for rear passengers, and Buick has increased the standard warranty to a premium-grade four years or 50,000 miles. Yet the biggest news for 2006 is an optional 3.9-liter V6 with variable valve timing and a 22 percent increase in horsepower. Choose this engine and Terraza morphs from one of the least powerful minivans available into one of the most powerful.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Radiator and the like.

Buick Performance Chips

The Buick Rendezvous is easy to like, with solid engineering, useful flexibility, and a handsome appearance. Rendezvous is what the industry calls a crossover vehicle. It blurs the lines between sport utilities, minivans, luxury sedans, and station wagons. It carries people more efficiently than an SUV, and it drives more like a minivan than a truck.

Rendezvous seats five passengers, or seven with the optional third-row seats. Its seats are roomy and comfortable and the interior is elegantly designed. The controls feature big knobs and are easy to operate.

The new Rendezvous Ultra is luxurious with elegant leather and wood trim. It's roomier and can carry more cargo than a Lexus RX 330, the archetype of luxury crossovers. Though not as quiet as a luxury sedan, the Rendezvous rides better than most SUVs. All-wheel drive is available, improving traction and handling in slippery conditions.

New for 2005 is a passenger-sensing system for the right front seat, which turns off the corresponding airbag if it detects a small-size occupant, or no occupant at all, thereby avoiding possibly injuries to a child or small adult and/or an unnecessary replacement of the airbag. A status indicator on the instrument panel tells occupants if the airbag is on or off. Even with this feature, however, the second or third row is the safest seating position for a child.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Performance Chips and the like.

The 2005 Buick LaCrosse replaces both the Regal and the Century as Buick's midsize sedan, representing 50 percent of Buick's annual car sales. Buick says it has the competition, specifically the Ford Five Hundred, Dodge Intrepid, Honda Accord, and Toyota Camry, beat on a number of fronts, including quietness and overall refinement. This is a car that was well on its way to completion when GM vice-chairman and product guru Bob Lutz joined the company, and charged the Buick team to delay the program one year, get the car right, and then introduce it. It's pretty clear that the wait, and the extra effort and money invested into the program, were worth it.

LaCrosse is not an all-new car by any means. It's built in Canada on GM's W-car intermediate platform, one of the oldest in the GM chassis inventory. But about 80 percent of the parts and systems underneath are new, along with new interior and exterior designs.

The LaCrosse has a rich, high-quality looking interior with attractive woodgrain trim, nicely presented instruments and controls and available leather seats with nice-looking gathered stitching. Buick's Quiet Tuning has made the new LaCrosse one of the quietest, most pleasant cars to ride and drive in among the entire class.

The LaCrosse rides smoothly and quietly, but its steering is much more precise than previous models and it turns into corners crisply with little body lean. The V6 engines offer good power, growling under acceleration, but smooth and quiet when motoring along, and the transmissions work flawlessly.

New features make a well-equipped LaCrosse a safe, all-weather family car with nice conveniences. Among them: a remote starting system that will work from up to 500 feet away, great on cold winter mornings; OnStar, which will dispatch emergency crews to your precise location if you have a wreck and don't respond to operators' calls; XM Satellite Radio to pick up FoxNews, CNN, ESPN and other broadcasts; and StabiliTrak, which can help keep you from skidding off a slippery road.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Parking Light and the like.

Most Recent Buick Century

The most recent Buick Century was produced from 1997-2005 in a midsize sedan body style only. Like its predecessor, it shared its platform and engine with several other General Motors vehicles, but this Century differed more in terms of styling. Its chief exterior designer said at the time of its introduction, "We purposely avoided anything that could be considered trendy" for a long shelf life. Mission accomplished, as this Century roamed the Earth for nine years in not-so-trendy anonymity.

There was only one engine offered, a 3.1-liter V6 that sent power to the front wheels. This engine initially produced 160 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque, but was upgraded to 175 hp and 195 lb-ft in 2000.

For most of its life, this Century was offered in Custom and Limited trim levels. Both came standard with six-passenger capacity, keyless entry, full power accessories and dual-zone climate control. Items like cruise control, leather upholstery, a sunroof and a power driver seat were early options on both trim levels, and later became standard on the Limited in the 2000s. To commemorate the turn of the actual century, Buick offered a Special Edition package that included a monochrome exterior and special badges.

In terms of safety, items like antilock brakes, traction control, a tire-pressure monitor, front side airbags, OnStar and an integrated child safety seat switched from being standard, optional and not available at various points through the Century's nine-year run. Make sure to examine a used example carefully to be certain that it has the safety equipment you are looking for.

A used Buick Century from this generation is a comfortable car with a very good reliability record, but it has a floaty suspension, unresponsive handling and so-so brakes. In general, most other midsize sedans are a better choice. Even related GM vehicles from Oldsmobile and Pontiac provide better driving.

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Park Avenue Wiper Blades and the like.

Buick Park Avenue Window Motor

2003 Buick Century 4dr Sedan Shown

Now with its state of the art facilities like that of its Buick Park Avenue Window Motor and the like.

The Buick Century is a nameplate that was produced for almost half a century. It first appeared in 1936 and ran for six years, then reappeared for four more in 1954. Both of these generations were known for having shorter bodies with V8 engines to create a performance-oriented Buick -- a descriptor that would apply to the reborn Century in 1973. As with so many cars of its time, though, fuel economy regulations and the gas shortage turned the next Buick Century into a tamer, downsized car. For the next 27 years, it would follow along this path, providing affordable, comfortable but not particularly interesting transportation for millions of Americans.