WHEN BETTER BUICKS Are Built... Canadians are building them.(News)

Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON

Ever since the Toyota Avalon arrived in 1994, car writers have called the big sedan "the best Buick money can buy,'' playing around with variations on the old ad campaign that proclaimed "When better Buicks are built, Buick will build them.''

Funny stuff. If you're toiling for Buick, though, you have to admit the ads invited satire. That has to sting.

Finally, after years of little more than wan grimaces in response, General Motors looks to be fighting back. Buick offered both a 2005 Avalon and its front-drive platform mate, the Lexus ES 330, for direct back-to-back comparison with the new 2006 Lucerne. This model replaces both the LeSabre and Park Avenue in struggling Buick's rationalized car range, just as the LaCrosse (Allure in Canada) replaces both the Century and Regal.

The new big Buick is named for a city in Switzerland, and our passenger on this first drive of the Lucerne was a big Swiss-born fellow named Bob Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors, who began by telling us his personal, chauffeur-driven ride is a DTS, but that he is swapping the Caddy for a Lucerne.

The Cadillac and Buick are built on the same platform, the G-body that has underpinned some of GM's best front-drive sedans for years. The Lucerne is offered with either a 3.8-liter 197-hp V6 or the 275-hp 290-lb-ft Northstar V8 (the first V8 offered in a Buick car in 10 years).

Lucerne's body sports lines borrowed from the Velite concept car. Once you get past the Buick waterfall grille, it has a Lexus-like look to it, and the comparison goes deeper. Fit-and-finish is excellent, the standard safety equipment is world-class, and the Buick is quieter than the Toyota-built cars offered for comparison.