The LaCrosse isn't a product of the yesteryear thinking that drove GM to build a competitor to whatever Lincoln was building across town. That's the sort of culture that got GM into trouble in the first place. Susan Docherty, vice president of Buick, GMC and the soon-to-be erstwhile Pontiac, told journalists at the LaCrosse introduction that the car must make Buick "relevant to people in their 40s and 50s." Right now, typical Buick buyers are in their 70s, Docherty said.

The LaCrosse has potential to change this. Let's just hope it proves dependable: So many promising GM products, from the redesigned CTS to the company's three-row crossovers, have received sour reliability scores a year or two out of the gate. Others, like the Chevy Malibu, have done better — and the LaCrosse rolls off the Malibu's Kansas City assembly line. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because Buick has a heck of a car here.