I’ve always reported vital statistics about my rental cars here on this old blog, but I’ve never before had an image of any car. Well, with this last trip, things have changed; we rented a Buick Lucerne CXS, which turns out to be the top-of-the-line Lucerne.

The life-to-date fuel economy increased from 21.7 MPG to 23.3; a noticeable, though not earth-shattering increase. As it turns out, this ol’ Buick had a 4.6L NorthStar V8. I noticed it had plenty of punch motor-wise, but compared to a Saturn, a lot of cars do.

There was also an electronic doo-dad that tracked LTD Average speed; with road driving, that went from 45.3 MPH to 55.3 MPH.

And talk creature comforts; I’d previously decided that heated leather seats perfectly symbolized America’s decline into excesses reminiscent of the Roman Empire. This car had them, SWMBO used them; she has a bad back, and finds it tedious at best and uncomfortable at worst to sit for any extended period. The butt-and-back warmers helped her to endure being confined in the passenger seat. It even had a heated steering wheel; I tried that out, just to say I had.

Having never experienced a dual-zone front air conditioning system, I’d have to label that a winner. SWMBO likes it significantly cooler than I; the dual-zone made it possible for us to maintain our preferred degree of warmth.

Then, there were the side rear-view mirrors, which automatically tilted down when the car was put into reverse, as well as the totally glare-free inside rear view, which made rolling across chunks of Tennessee at night tolerable.

There are doubtless features we totally missed, not knowing which buttons to push and all.

Why don’t I buy one? At a base MSRP of $35,440, it’s simply above my vehicular purchase threshold. I’ve lived in cheaper houses than that; don’t laugh, I come from humble roots, and am proud of that. However, when our travel plans call for long distances via car, I’m renting another one just like this one.

-k-

The picture was lifted via screen-capture from the Buick website. If any humorless GM/Buick tightasses object; then:

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