The 2010 Buick LaCrosse is the best car no one will buy.

It's a shame really. The redesigned large sedan is top notch, a car fit for a king, or at least an emperor.

People should line up at Buick dealerships in droves to order the new LaCrosse, which arrives this month. It's well-priced, sharp-looking and comes with a stellar interior, perhaps the best inside makeover General Motors Co. has ever completed.

But they won't.

When Buick tested the new LaCrosse against the competition, vehicles such as the Lexus ES 350, Acura RL and Toyota Avalon, the LaCrosse crushed them, Buick executives told me. People drooled over its curvy exterior and gentle sloping roof. They fawned over the plush leather interior and nicely appointed wood trim. People, no doubt, were pulling out their checkbooks in that gotta have it now kind of way.

Then they heard the word "Buick."

"It's nice, but it's not for me," was the polite response, as they scribbled the word "VOID." No one wants to buy a punch line.

Unfortunately, that's what has become of the brand and the real tragedy is this LaCrosse isn't your granddaddy's Buick. It's not even your father's. It's a world class, quiet-riding, peppy performing sedan. But it's parked in the corner of people's minds with a dunce cap resting cockeyed across its bejeweled adaptive head lamp.

If you haven't heard, old people buy Buicks. Not just kind-of-old, but people whose children are AARP members.

In youth-oriented America, that means no one else wants to touch a Buick out of fear it will make them old, or worse, people will think they're old.

Now, Buick has made a few inroads with buyers because of its sumptuous Enclave crossover. The average age of those buyers haven't even cashed their first social security check. And I hope the LaCrosse changes minds of consumers.

The way to win back customers is to build better cars and the 2010 Buick LaCrosse is better than the MKZ or Avalon -- and on par with the ES 350, which share similar rear ends. (Hey, if it worked for Lexus, why shouldn't Buick include LED taillights and trapezoidal chrome exhaust tips? It looks good.) But will a Lexus owner ever switch to a Buick? Probably not.

There are reasons to switch, though. The LaCrosse exterior looks classic modern. The waterfall grille sparkles at the end of the long hood. The design is penned in sweeping confident strokes. There's a balance to its profile that denotes luxury without being ostentatious.

The wheels are pushed away from the edges of the car's body, providing a nice overhang up front and a shorter-looking rear end. While the LaCrosse stretches out 197 inches, its wheel base is 111.7 inches (by comparison, the Chevrolet Malibu is 6 inches shorter but has a wheel base half an inch longer). That helps make the car look less aggressive than the Malibu and more elegant.

Another big change for the LaCrosse is Buick's determination to leave soft and floaty rides behind. The ride is smooth but not too hard or too soft. Baby Bear must have calibrated the real-time active dampening suspension found on the top-of-the-line CXS model because it feels just right.

The variable speed rack-and-pinion steering provides good feedback but is never too tight or too loose. Driving around those fun twisty roads near Dexter, the LaCrosse felt well-balanced on the road. The all-wheel drive model seemed to stick through corners better, but that could be attributed to its 2-ton weight.

The LaCrosse, which comes in front-wheel drive as well, handles like a much smaller sedan.

There are two engine options for the LaCrosse, the 3-liter direct injection V-6 and a slightly larger 3.6-liter DI V-6.

During my test-drive, I liked the larger 3.6-liter V-6 with its 280 horsepower and 259 pound-feet of torque better than the 255-horsepower, 217-pound-feet-of-torque 3-liter engine. It just gave the LaCrosse the gusto I expect in a large sedan. In the past, big V-8s powered these vehicles and the 3-liter just didn't push me back into the seat as much as I wanted. Cruising on the highway, the smaller engine felt fine and in both cars the ride was amazingly quiet.

The six-speed automatic transmission seemed to lose its way during moderate acceleration, up- and down-shifting as it searched for the best gear. But if you drove it aggressively, it was much better. I don't think many owners will want to floor it at every stop light.

There's also very respectable gas mileage coming with the LaCrosse. The 3-liter front-wheel drive model gets 17 miles per gallon in the city and 27 mpg on the highway, while the all-wheel drive loses one mile per gallon in city and highway driving.

But the real coup for the LaCrosse is its interior. Man-o-live, it's nice.

Completely overhauled, this Buick smells of leather and wood. The dash curves gently around the vehicle and melds the doors into the curves, creating an unbreakable line. The LaCrosse never cuts costs with the choice of cabin materials. Even at night, drivers are rewarded with an ice blue ambient lighting package that creates the same effect as chrome during the day.

The second row offers as much room as the front (there is 41.7 inches of leg room up front while there is 40.5 inches in the back). A key requirement for a large sedan is to fit five adults, and the LaCrosse can do so easily.

Buick also added lots of luxury features selective consumers expect: Bluetooth hands-free phone operation, dual climate zones, heated outside mirrors, push button start, dual stage front and side-impact air bags, as well as side-curtain air bags and a 354-watt Harman/Kardon 11-speaker stereo. But these are checklist kind of amenities that every luxury car will have in the future. It's the additional features that push the LaCrosse over the top.

Memory eight-way adjustable seats, air filtration system, custom lighting schemes inside and outside of the vehicle, all reward the owner with niceties people enjoy.

Providing those kinds of features could push a few more people to Buick, but it's not going to be many. Sorry, I just don't think a perfect Buick could sway public opinion -- and that's not a compliment for public opinion.

Rebuilding a reputation takes time and consistency. People must know the changes are sincere and real.

The LaCrosse demonstrates how serious Buick has become, and I'm optimistic that the brand will have enough time earn a few new followers.

It should. With the new LaCrosse alone, Buick has earned it.