Remember When GM Stuffed A 5.3L V8 Into A LaCrosse?

"Jacques L' Autre" (jacklauterdale)
08/06/2013 at 23:12 • Filed to: None

The year was 2008, and GM was at the peak of a performance revolution. Everything from the lowly Malibu to the Silverado had an SS badge, or some other mark denoting it's "sportiness." Always looking to make more money in the least innovative way possible, pre-bankruptcy GM decided it would be a great idea to take the 5.3L V8 out of their Impala SS, and shoehorn into the Buick LaCrosse. Why they thought our blue haired citizens would want some torque steering and fancy sport tuned car to run to the bocci ball courts, Old Country Buffet, and the bingo hall before 4 o'clock, I'll never know. Yet, they did, and if you were a salesman at your local Buick dealer in the mid-2000s you would get the pleasure of learning how exactly the LaCrosse Super competes against such racing titans as the Toyota Avalon XLS.

DISCUSSION (6)

itschrome > Jacques L' Autre
08/06/2013 at 23:22

they should have used the Northstar V8 instead of that hunk of junk 5.3 v8. but seeing how the lucerne had the detuned version and they wanted to keep it upmarket they instead gave the lacross the 5.3..

To GM:

even worse when when they killed of the north star instead of developing it further... oh well..

delete-me-please123 > Jacques L' Autre
08/06/2013 at 23:29

"Always looking to make more money in the least innovative way possible"

You have arranged our English words into a fucking amazing sentence.

Milky > Jacques L' Autre
08/06/2013 at 23:55

Holy shit that video ..... I sincerely hate old GM, HATE.

Sparf > itschrome
08/07/2013 at 19:26

Wait, wait, how the hell is the LS4 a "hunk of junk"?

itschrome > Sparf
08/07/2013 at 20:43

Unreliable, unresponsive to the point of feeling laggy, annoying cylinder de-act, a bit too heavy for the application, just kind of shitty in every way. it's a hunk of junk, while I applauded their effort the engine its self was a miserable failure. looked great on paper but just lack luster. the last gen N* with 320 Hp, lighter more compact and a hell of a lot more responsive would have been a much better call.

Sparf > itschrome
08/07/2013 at 21:18

Huh, weird, because it's still a popular engine for swaps (which obviously don't keep the cylinder deactivation, of course). Personally I'd go with a Vortec L33 though (also all-aluminum, slightly more power, longitudinal like it should be and cheap at junkyards because it's a truck engine).

The Northstar is a great engine as well though, it's unfortunate that it didn't last.