I started writing this post on the Amtrak Auto Train headed north after my Florida pilgrimage to see the 24 Hours of Daytona, hang in Florida for weeks, and attend the Daytona 500 in one fell swoop. Done. I was intrigued by the Buick LaCrosse below, a low-mileage, low-priced car with a surprising number of features for a 10-year-old GM product. Thought I would be in and out with a “quick hit” piece. Two things sidetracked me. First, I learned that the Buick shared a platform with the Cadillac XTS through 2016, and I wondered how they compared. Second, our train just hit a pedestrian in the woods southwest of Jacksonville, Florida. Tragic, although I have more time to write. I’ll try to keep it short. Like life.
Same platform, different lines. My preference is the Buick’s soft curves over the Cadillac’s sharp creases, even though I once bought a loosely similar 2018 Cadillac CT6. All personal preference. The Buick is your trustworthy, quiet, cardigan-wearing uncle up against his younger Cadillac cousin, who also bought an espresso machine and crypto. Honestly, if it weren’t for the Vsport these would be the same car – although Buick stopped making sedans in 2020 and Cadillac continues even now.
To be fair, although I’m being a little unfair with this comparison, the Cadillac XTS is the top of the line Vsport Platinum – but it’s not the CTS-V with the Corvette V8, so it’s not completely outrageous. This Cadillac has the same family DNA as the Buick. And clearly this family favored the Cadillac with a driving coach.
Switched the order up on you. The interior shot above is the Cadillac, the Buick below. Here’s what they have in common: heated and cooling seats, heated steering wheel, heads up display, auto cruise control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, driver assistance packages, Bose audio and navigation. A lot for 2016. The XTS also has seat massagers. We love seat massagers. Just like the exteriors, the interiors are soft and circular, or sharp and linear. The Buick’s cupholders are for decaf. The Cadillac all Red Bull.
Let’s look under the hood: both start with a 3.6-liter V6.
The Buick LaCrosse (above) stays with a naturally aspirated engine that ekes out 304 horsepower, which isn’t nothing, and, with GM’s Hydra-Matic six-speed, pushes 60 mph in the mid-six-second range. Not for me, but not horrible. The XTS (below) has the same 3.6-liter block (Car and Driver says it is – Cadillac says its a better block), but with twin-turbos added that increase horsepower to 410. Coupled to GM’s 6T80/6T75 series automatic with manual-shift mode, necessary for the additional power, the XTS zooms to 60 mph in a very respectable mid-four second time. Oh yeah, another difference is the Buick is front wheel drive, and the Cadillac AWD. Another reason for the upgraded transmission.
Which one would you drive? The Buick, with the added “Ultra Luxury Package”, sold new a decade ago for perhaps $45,000. Surprisingly, MSRP on the XTS Vsport Platinum was perhaps $73,000 – a whopping surcharge for the performance and complexity. But used they are within a thousand bucks of each other. Maybe the Buick is for retirees and the Cadillac is for retirees who still need to get somewhere? For sure the XTS warrants a MaxCare warranty. And with such low mileage, you could get MaxCare for another 120,000 miles on the Buick – but should you? Seems like a pretty straightforward car to maintain and fix. The Cadillac caps out at 88,000 miles of MaxCare, if that matters. I’d do it. With five years of MaxCare you could drive over 17,000 miles annually without risk of paying for a major repair. (And by the way, the Cadillac was wrecked once back in 2018.)
The 2016 Buick LaCrosse Premium is currently on reserve here in Norcross, Georgia. You can track it by the link or the Stock Number below. If you choose to. BTW – there’s an intriguing stupid low mileage LaCrosse I’ll add at the bottom of this piece if you’re interested.
Stock No: 27950006 VIN: 1G4GF5G30GF254367
The 2016 Cadillac XTS Vsport Platinum is also on reserve here in Winchester, Virginia (near me!).
Stock No: 28141142 VIN: 2G61W5S80G9128888
Amtrak Update – there is no update as of the next morning. A five hour delay into the night as the accident becomes a crime scene. The crew believes the “trespasser”, as Amtrak calls it, was a suicide. So sad. Googling it brings up nothing, except at almost exactly the same time an Amtrak train hit someone in North Carolina. Seems not infrequent – second time I’ve been on a train that hit someone on the tracks who wasn’t supposed to be there.
Originally, this 2016 Buick LaCrosse Leather caught my eye because it had only 8,000 miles in 10 years. Again, that would give you a whopping 142,000 miles of worry free driving over five years. Worth it? Tough call. With a more sophisticated machine perhaps. A naturally aspirated 3.6-liter V6? Maybe not.
Stock No: 28295121 VIN: 1G4GB5G35GF270933
