2011 Buick Lacrosse Cxl With 1062 Miles. on 2040-cars

Auto blog

1987 Buick Grand National was made to be Kevin Hart's 'Dark Knight'

The Meguiar's booth at the SEMA show isn't the only place comedian and actor Kevin Hart is combining cars and cinema, his "Michael Myers" 1969 Plymouth Road Runner brooding in the car care products pen, while his SpeedKore "Hellraiser" 1970 Dodge Charger also menaces. Hart bought a 1987 Buick GNX last year and put it on Instagram with the caption, "Sundays are perfect for old school drives…. If you know you know." Looks like old G-Bodies are perfect for restomod builds, too, which we all already knew, but this car isn't the GNX that featured on social media. This is the 1987 Buick Grand National, one step below the GNX and half the price at the time. It's nicknamed "Dark Knight" and it's one of the stars of the Magnaflow exhaust booth at SEMA. Going back to work with regular collaborators Dave Salvaggio of Salvaggio Design and Sean Smith, of course there's a lot involved in the overhaul. Still, we appreciate how the team stayed true to the ethos of the Grand National in ways that made the build more complicated than it already was. Take the engine. The original came with a 3.8-liter V6 wearing a single turbocharger to register an official output of 245 horsepower and 355 pound-feet of torque compared to the GNX's 276 hp and 320 lb-ft. Instead of swapping it for a V8, it's been replaced with the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing. And instead of leaving both turbos on, the engine junkies plumbed a single turbo in a layout recalling the 1987 engine even as it cleans up the original Chutes 'n' Ladders mess of tubes. We didn't get an output rating for the setup. The Cadillac's twin-turbo mill makes 472 hp and 445 lb-ft. in the CT4-V Blackwing. We would bet Dark Knight's engine's pretty close to that with the single large turbo at the prow, plenty of juice for a car weighing 3,545 pounds. Exterior upgrades include a custom front fascia with a carbon fiber hood and splitter. The interior shows the same tasteful restraint, polished design and nicer materials draped over the stock 1980s layout. That shifter controls GM's 8L90 eight-speed automatic instead of the original four-speed auto.  Elsewhere, Salvaggio did the same here as with the Michael Myers Road Runner, creating a custom frame to increase rigidity and get the car closer to the ground on its 19-inch HRE wheels in the Buick's original weave look.

GM re-recalls 11k SUVs

General Motors is recalling a bunch of previously recalled SUVs because, well, they still aren't quite fixed. The latest repairs are necessary on 10,974 SUVs in North America, including 9,932 in only the US. Affected models include the 2006-2007 Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Trailblazer, and GMC Envoy; plus the 2006 Trailblazer EXT and Envoy XL. While not listed by NHTSA, a statement by GM to Autoblog says the 2006-2007 Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender are also affected. In these SUVs, it's possible that liquid could get into the driver's door master power window switch module and cause a short circuit. This could potentially lead to a fire, and owners are urged to park the vehicles outside until repaired. GM has been trying to fix this issue for years. It started as an investigation into fires, and that led to a recall for about 250,000 vehicles in cold-weather states. A nationwide campaign came in 2013 for 193,000 of them in the US. Last year, the automaker decided to replace the whole module as a repair. However in a recent investigation of these recalls, GM discovered that this latest group of SUVs never received the new part. According to documents submitted to NHTSA (as a PDF), "Some dealers incorrectly used the labor code associated with module replacement when, instead of replacing the module, they only added a protective coating to the module." To fix things this time, the models finally get the correct component. Related Video: GM Statement General Motors is recalling 9,932 older midsize SUVs in the U.S. because they were mistakenly excluded from an earlier recall. Certain 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL, and 2006-2007 TrailBlazer, Envoy, Buick Rainier, Saab 9-7X and Isuzu Ascender vehicles may continue to have a condition in which the printed circuit board inside the driver's door may corrode and short if exposed to certain fluids such as melted snow containing road salt. GM is aware of four fires but no crashes, injuries or fatalities associated with the expanded recall. The total number of vehicles being recalled, including Canada, Mexico and exports is 10.974. Customers are urged to park these vehicles outside until repairs have been made. GM reported this recall to the NHTSA on September 23.

March Madness upsets good for auto advertisers

There are no Cinderella teams left in the NCAA men's basketball tournament - the fairytales ended with Georgia State's loss to Xavier over the weekend. And even though the Sweet 16 is composed of elite teams - at the time of writing the lowest-ranked squad is 11th-seeded UCLA, which has most championships of any school in the country - there are still underdogs and surprises, and they are good for NCAA business and advertisers. Last year the March Madness Live app, which allows users to watch games on the go, was downloaded 4.5 million times, a jump of more than 40 percent over 2013. Buick sponsors the iOS version of the app, but more than a million of those downloads were for the Android version, sponsored by Infiniti since 2011. Part of Buick's engagement is a "Boss Button" on the livestream sites that can quickly mask the page with something your boss won't question you over. It also sponsors a trick-shot competition for fans, has a display in Bracket Town during the Final Four, and its cars lead the team buses through the city. Infiniti said last year's tourney increased online searches for the brand by 25 percent in March, and things are going even better this year: it's round-by-round bracket game drew 477,859 total entries in 2014, this year's game has signed up 534,350 already and the tournament has another two weeks to go. The luxury brand is all over the event, promoting the QX60 through to the Final Four, then moving its efforts to the Q50. It sponsors the Coaches vs. Cancer charity and will have an Infiniti Lounge near the Final Four venue in downtown Indianapolis. So for the two automakers keeping their own scores... come on, Wichita State! Six brackets, six chances to win a trip to #FinalFour 2016. Official rules at http://t.co/4b9GyGJ4wP. #RoundByRound https://t.co/ZCsFatVlja - Infiniti USA (@InfinitiUSA) March 19, 2015 News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Marketing/Advertising Buick Infiniti app sports ncaa march madness