Human
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- Joined
- Dec 22, 2019
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- Buick Ownership
- Present: 2013 Lacrosse hybrid. Past: 1984 Century Custom (1992-96); 1977 Skylark coupe (1983-88).
So, as of yesterday, I am the proud owner of a second 2013 LaCrosse. Ironically, this comes on the six-year anniversary of my acquiring the first one. I've mentioned in other threads that my mother, age 89, had a 2013 LaCrosse, almost identical to mine, that was the last new car my dad bought. Mom had long said she wanted me to have her car when she was done with it, and in the last few months had begun talking more and more about doing that, but she has been having difficulty coming to terms with the idea of not having a car. She has admitted freely that this was purely psychological, but it was still a barrier for her. At one point, I half-jokingly suggested we trade cars, and this week, we did essentially that. She passed hers on to me and I left the one I've had for six years for her to drive on the exceedingly rare occasions she needs to. My sister lives a mile away and doesn't want her driving at all, so she provides the vast majority of her transportation needs, to the point that I have put far more miles on her LaCrosse than she has in the past year or two. All that said, it still felt strange yesterday when I got in the car at DMV after taking her license plate off and putting mine on, knowing that it was now my car.
So, how do the two cars compare? They're both 2013 eAssist hybrid leather editions, but my old one is almost a calendar year older, having rolled off the line at the beginning of the production run in July 2012, while hers left the factory at the tail end of the run in June 2013. Mechanically, my old car is showing its age with 137,000 miles on the odometer, compared to hers--my new one, to be exact--showing only 15,000 miles. It's a little more deluxe version than my old one, with its diamond pearl paint job and sunroof. Otherwise, they are identically equipped, except for one somewhat unusual add-on.
When Dad bought the car in the fall of 2014, he couldn't get past the fact that it did not have body side mouldings and they weren't even available for those cars. So he special ordered some aftermarket mouldings and had them color matched to the car. I think the mouldings are actually for a 2006-2016 W-body Impala. They look just like the ones that were on the 2011 Impala I got from them when they got the LaCrosse. Before I could take the Impala home, he supervised as Mom and I put the mouldings on the LaCrosse.
When I was transferring stuff between the two cars on Wednesday, looking at the two side by side, I noticed that some things on Mom's former LaCrosse looked a little more weathered, despite the car being slightly younger; for instance, the black plastics on the grille and fog light surrounds have faded to a charcoal gray, but are still jet black on my old car. The center caps on the wheels also look more weathered. The biggest thing, and the one I will correct ASAP, is the headlights. The ones on mom's former car are hazing over, while the ones on my old car are still crystal clear. I can only attribute that to the fact that my new LaCrosse has been parked outside its whole life, while my old one was likely garaged by the first owners.Had they been as easy to remove and install as they were on my Impala, I would swapped the ones from my old car over, but I really didn't feel like taking the front ends of both cars completely apart. Instead, I ordered a Cerakote headlight restoration kit from Amazon Wednesday night, and it arrived this morning, so I'll be polishing those old lenses up in the next day or so.
As one can imagine, driving the two cars is much the same experience, except Mom's former LaCrosse seems to have a bit more power and it definitely gets better gas mileage. I stopped off halfway home Wednesday, topped off the gas tank and reset the fuel economy calculator, and averaged almost 39 mpg. My old LaCrosse never got more than 35, and struggled to achieve 30 on its last couple of road trips. But no matter, it's now comfortably in retirement in the parking lot of my mom's retirement community.
So, how do the two cars compare? They're both 2013 eAssist hybrid leather editions, but my old one is almost a calendar year older, having rolled off the line at the beginning of the production run in July 2012, while hers left the factory at the tail end of the run in June 2013. Mechanically, my old car is showing its age with 137,000 miles on the odometer, compared to hers--my new one, to be exact--showing only 15,000 miles. It's a little more deluxe version than my old one, with its diamond pearl paint job and sunroof. Otherwise, they are identically equipped, except for one somewhat unusual add-on.
When Dad bought the car in the fall of 2014, he couldn't get past the fact that it did not have body side mouldings and they weren't even available for those cars. So he special ordered some aftermarket mouldings and had them color matched to the car. I think the mouldings are actually for a 2006-2016 W-body Impala. They look just like the ones that were on the 2011 Impala I got from them when they got the LaCrosse. Before I could take the Impala home, he supervised as Mom and I put the mouldings on the LaCrosse.
When I was transferring stuff between the two cars on Wednesday, looking at the two side by side, I noticed that some things on Mom's former LaCrosse looked a little more weathered, despite the car being slightly younger; for instance, the black plastics on the grille and fog light surrounds have faded to a charcoal gray, but are still jet black on my old car. The center caps on the wheels also look more weathered. The biggest thing, and the one I will correct ASAP, is the headlights. The ones on mom's former car are hazing over, while the ones on my old car are still crystal clear. I can only attribute that to the fact that my new LaCrosse has been parked outside its whole life, while my old one was likely garaged by the first owners.Had they been as easy to remove and install as they were on my Impala, I would swapped the ones from my old car over, but I really didn't feel like taking the front ends of both cars completely apart. Instead, I ordered a Cerakote headlight restoration kit from Amazon Wednesday night, and it arrived this morning, so I'll be polishing those old lenses up in the next day or so.
As one can imagine, driving the two cars is much the same experience, except Mom's former LaCrosse seems to have a bit more power and it definitely gets better gas mileage. I stopped off halfway home Wednesday, topped off the gas tank and reset the fuel economy calculator, and averaged almost 39 mpg. My old LaCrosse never got more than 35, and struggled to achieve 30 on its last couple of road trips. But no matter, it's now comfortably in retirement in the parking lot of my mom's retirement community.
