Matthew DeBord/BI
Spring is not an illusion for the Buick LaCrosse Avenir.
- The 2018 Buick LaCrosse is available in a new "Avenir" trim level.
- I tested a well-equipped $47,485 version of the sedan.
- On a medium-length road trip, the Buick surpassed my expectations and made me question why I think we need a big SUV to haul around a family of five.
The passenger-car business is collapsing in the US. The big, soft-cruising sedan was once the mainstay, the great American family car.
But now the great American car is actually an SUV. Sales of utes have boomed for years, and the automakers aren't complaining because they make hefty profits on these vehicles. Consumers like them better, and that has raised a conundrum: Are sedans worth keeping around?
If you're planning any family road trips in the future, you might want to give sedans a second look - and your first-second look should be a Buick. Specifically, the new premium Avenir trim level.
Recently, I drove my family of five and my dog on a 500-mile round-trip journey. Normally, I use trips such as these to sample big old SUVs, with three rows of seating. But a planning screwup on my part led to a 2018 Buick LaCrosse Avenir landing in my driveway instead of a Cadillac Escalade.
So we undertook a throwback family jaunt. And it worked out far better than expected.