What is the best year for the Buick LaCrosse?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Buick LaCrosse
which year?
Compare every Buick LaCrosse model year the EPA recorded, 2005 to 2019. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Buick LaCrosse year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Buick LaCrosse years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2005
315 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2005 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2006299 indexed complaint reports; exterior lighting is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2006 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2008250 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2008 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Buick LaCrosse model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2018 Buick LaCrosse
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 12
- Combined EPA economy
- 23–29 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,100–2,650
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 5engine 4power train 3
Open the 2018 evidence dossier →2019 Buick LaCrosse
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 6
- Combined EPA economy
- 23–29 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,100–2,650
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsengine 3unknown or other 3electrical system 1
Open the 2019 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2019 has 6 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2018.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Buick LaCrosse by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 6 | engine 3unknown or other 3electrical system 1 | 23–29 | 3 | $2,100–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 12 | electrical system 5engine 4power train 3 | 23–29 | 3 | $2,100–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 34 | electrical system 11power train 8engine 5 | 23–25 | 2 | $2,450–2,650 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 47 | steering 12power train 7vehicle speed control 6 | 20–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 44 | steering 13electrical system 9air bags 7 | 20–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 63 | electrical system 14steering 12unknown or other 9 | 20–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 129 | electrical system 54engine 30suspension 27 | 20–29 | 4 | $2,100–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 205 | electrical system 61engine 46suspension 31 | 20–28 | 4 | $2,200–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 169 | electrical system 32engine 30suspension 27 | 20–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 189 | electrical system 46engine 44electronic stability control (esc) 23 | 19–23 | 4 | $2,650–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 106 | exterior lighting 47electrical system 31air bags 27 | 19–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 250 | electrical system 85air bags 77exterior lighting 62 | 19–21 | 3 | $2,950–4,000 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 250 | exterior lighting 126electrical system 76steering 22 | 20–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 299 | exterior lighting 157electrical system 83air bags 38 | 20–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 315 | electrical system 84exterior lighting 82steering 51 | 20–21 | 2 | $2,950–3,100 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.