Spreadsheet engineering is a practice performed in a number of industries, including automotive, in an effort to achieve product parity with the competition at the very least and ideally to trump the competitor at its own game. Essentially, it is a matter of creating categories based on the attributes of existing products that are considered to be players in the competitive set. Then the sum of these attributes is the basis for the product to be developed. Some people may think this sounds like the "House of Quality" that is created for a QFD initiative, but that's not quite the case. Rather than a house, it's more like a double-wide approach to product development.
According to the Competitive Comparison page on the Buick website (http://www.buick.com is the place to begin; under "Shopping Tools" select "Compare a vehicle;" then fill in the appropriate boxes for the LaCrosse CXS) competitors for the LaCrosse CXS, which is the top trim level for the model, are the Ford Five Hundred Limited and the Honda Accord V6. According to the information presented there (and perhaps it will be modified once this is posted, so if things aren’t as described, know that this was the state of affairs in late March), the Buick is the most expensive of the cars, coming it at $28,995 for base price and delivery; the Ford is the least expensive at $26, 920 (base and delivery); the Honda is in between, but closer to the Five Hundred at $27,365. What is odd about this comparison page is that there are inexplicable check marks next to some of the features/dimensions of the Buick. While one might imagine that the checks indicate categories where the Buick is superior, that's not the case. For example, in every exterior dimension listed the Five Hundred is bigger than the LaCrosse, yet the check marks indicate that the LaCrosse sweeps the segment. The LaCrosse is lighter than the Five Hundred—3,568 vs. 3,643 lb.—but the Accord is lighter still, at 3,360 lb.
So as you can see, spreadsheets aren't always advantageous.
Sitting on the powered leather driver's seat (standard) of the CXS, however, it occurred to me that there is everything and more than you'd expect in a midsize sedan. The steering wheel offers tilt and telescoping. Magnasteer variable-assist steering. The vanity mirrors both have lights. Power locks and windows. An array of buttons across the middle of the center console that allows you to check all manner of fuel efficiency and functions (with the messages appearing in the center gauge). There is traction control. The exterior, while too derivative of a Ford Taurus of the generation before the current one, is sufficiently non-disturbing so as to be okay in its way. There is a 3.6-liter V6 with variable valve timing that provides 240 hp and 225 lb.-ft. of torque which is sufficient to move the vehicle around in a responsive manner (no head-snapping in a Buick).
And the options that are loaded on the vehicle as-driven—all $3,755 of them—really made this car seem like it had lots of stuff. Consider the leather wrapped steering wheel that not only has audio controls, but temperature controls, as well. That is a good thing. The passenger's seat gets power, too. There's rear park assist (you can see three lights when you look into the optimal auto-dimming rearview mirror), which strikes me as being the sort of thing that is a consequence of spreadsheet thinking more than practical value. I mean, the vehicle has a length of 198.1 in., which is long, but it's not like you're commanding a freighter. The 17-in. aluminum wheels get covered with bright chrome (for $650), which is a nice look when tied into separate "chrome appearance package" ($295) that puts chrome-color inserts into the bodyside molding and fascias (wouldn't you think that the whole chrome thing would be wrapped together?).
Still, while the $32,750 vehicle seemed to have about everything someone would want (and things that someone wouldn't want, like the extensive use of plastic wood trim on the interior that looks remarkably unrealistic), I got the feeling that there was something missing. I don't know what that something is, but I do know why it isn't there: spreadsheet engineering.
