Car of the Week : Buick Lacrosse Super

Made for just 2008 and 2009, the Buick Lacrosse Super was a wolf in sheep’s clothes. Power came from the 5.3 L LS4 small-block V8 engine featuring Active Fuel Management technology, which is routed to the front wheels, putting out 300 hp at 5600 rpm and 323 lb/ft at 4000 rpm. This powertrain was also found on the Grand Prix GXP, Impala SS, and Monte Carlo SS. The Super model was one of the fastest modern production Buick’s ever built, with a factory top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h), and 0–60 mph times of 5.7 seconds. We clocked the quarter mile when we bought it at 14.3 seconds at 100.2 mph, with 20k miles on the clock Sounds awesome right? It’s not, the car is a terror to own.

The car is great looking, with the old school portholes on the fenders, the beautiful chrome trim around the windows and a true dual chrome tipped exhaust. The interior is BROWN, every aspect is brown down to the fake wood trim. The car is supremely comfortable, the leather seats providing decent side bolstering and a lot of lovely padding. Underlying the whole experience however is the fact that it was marketed to America’s aging geriatrics. Want to red line in a drag race? Nope, the car has built in features in case the driver falls asleep. The computer management of the car is depressing, it won’t rev over 3500rpm stock, when put in park.

Only 2500 Lacrosse’ were made in the Super trim for 2008, and that’s a good thing. GM equipped the Super with the transmission used in the Super/GXP/Impala SS/Monte Carlo SS was built for the Regal GS/Pontiac GTP and only handles 280 ft lbs of torque. The LS4 puts out 323 ft lb of torque. As long as you are easy on the throttle it should be ok, but my family beats the snot out of their cars. The 4T80E transmission from the DTS with the Northstar should have been used in my opinion. Sorry it’s short guys, but i’m crazy busy this week with work. Let me know what you want done next!