We drove a $66,000 Volvo S90 and a $48,000 Buick LaCrosse to see which sedan we liked better — here's the verdict

Volvo

• Volvo is mounting a big comeback in the luxury space, under Chinese ownership.
• Buick is beating expectations after nearly being killed off by the financial crisis.
• Between the S90 and the LaCrosse mid-size sedans, the Buick has the edge.

Two venerable names in the auto industry: Volvo and Buick.

Two names that have endured hard times. Volvo was bought by Ford before the financial crisis, after establishing itself in the US as a no-nonsense purveyor of stolid, self-consciously unstylish (some would say boxy), yet very safe family sedans and station wagons. But Ford shed the brand, and it was up to Chinese carmaker Geely to sweep in and save the Swedish day.

Buick was the original General Motors brand and has been around for over a century. But it, too, went through a rough patch during the financial crisis and was nearly killed off by GM, joining Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn. Buick was deemed too important for GM's China ambitions — in the Middle Kingdom, Buick is considered a luxury brand, not a mid-luxury marque as it is in the US, one notch below Cadillac in the GM hierarchy.

Buick survived and has thrived, riding a wave of surging crossover SUV sales.

Volvo is also back, with an impressive lineup of vehicles including its high-tech XC90 SUV and its innovative XC60, a Business Insider Car of the Year finalist for 2017. 

Last year, we tested out Volvo's new mid-size sedan, the S90 (we had earlier enjoyed the S60), and we also got a crack at the latest version of the Buick LaCrosse, also a mid-size four-door.

Here's the thing: on paper, the S90 is a luxury sedan that should run with Audi, Mercedes, and BMW, while the LaCrosse is a mid-market car that shouldn't. But also on paper, the two vehicles match up closely with each other, although the S90 takes advantage of luxury pricing.

So we decided to compare the two, with the idea that Volvo has always been the Buick of luxury brands, while Buick has always been a level below the Big Boys, even if it offered a near-luxury experience.

How did it go? Read on:

Up first, the 2017 Buick LaCrosse. As tested, at just over $48,000 in Premium trim, it tipped the sticker scales at over $16,000 less than the S90. But it didn't have all-wheel-drive.

LaCrosse has been in the Buick lineup for about decade, and it's now the brand's flagship sedan. The 2017 model is a bigger vehicle than LaCrosses' past, providing what a lot of Buick owners crave: plenty of legroom and comfort.

The exterior design is stately, with just enough gentle curves thrown in to keep it from being cookie-cutter or uninspiring. The trio of chrome ventiports on each fender is a classic Buick touch, and the car looked just great in the "Quicksilver Metallic" paint job we sampled. In a nice change, Buick has gotten rid of the abstract, all-chrome Tri-Shield badge on the grille and brought back a version of its old-school, red-silver-and-blue cloisonne-style emblem. (Sadly, the old badge still lives at the center of the steering wheel.)

An all-wheel-drive version is available. The engine is a 3.6-liter V6 making a respectable 305 horsepower, absent any turbocharging or supercharging. Fuel-economy is 25 mpg combined city/highway, which is pretty good for a car this size.

The bottom line is that there isn't much to go wrong with the LaCrosse — only a new eight-speed automatic transmission could be an issue, and during the week I drove the car, it wasn't. Multi-speed autos have been cited by Consumer Reports as a source of reliability problems for cars and trucks, but Buick ranked high on the publication's latest reliability survey. I didn't care for the shifter, a confusing departure from the traditional PNRD, but that's a minor complaint.

You might say that the total LaCrosse package sounds pretty boring, but it's the opposite: it's exciting to experience a car that is reassuringly unlikely to let you down, all while delivering a level of comfort, technology, and refinement that's about as close to a proper luxury vehicle as you can get for under $50,000.

How about the interior?

The near-luxury "content" that your fifty thousand bones buy you isn't on the same stratum of plushess that a lot of BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus owners will be accustomed to. The luxury is low-key, un-blingy, but most of the boxes are checked off.

There are eight-way power seats, heated and cooled, and with a massage function for the driver and a lumbar support.

The leather upholstery ("Ebony" in our tester) strikes a nice balance between firm and cushy. The steering wheel is heated, a feature I think is now expected rather than desired among well-heeled buyers. The familiar blue-green Buick lighting gives the straightforward instrument panel a nice dose of throwback Buick-ness. The heads-up display is futuristic and useful. And the back seat is commodious, with ample space for adults. 

And the overall fit and finish is excellent — superior in many ways to a BMW 3-Series that I checked out (in fairness, the 3-Series isn't in the same segment). This is exactly what you'd expect from a Buick, plus a little more, but not so much that you're starting to feel that the brand overdid it.

The overwhelming impression is tasteful, and an improvement on the mechanically similar and also superb Chevy Impala. Fire up the 11-speaker Bose audio system, find a nice stretch of open highway to cruise on, point the LaCrosse down the asphalt, and you'll be in 21st-century American-car heaven. 

And what about the technology — not to mention the driving experience?

The technology package is impeccable.

In my book, GM currently has the best overall infotainment offering in the auto industry (called "IntelliLink" in Buicks), combining an intuitive touchscreen interface with 4G LTE wifi connectivity, seamless Bluetooth integration, and OnStar, which among other things forever eliminates the requirement to fiddle with the GPS navigation system or wrestle with a voice commands. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto availability tops everything off.

Driving a Buick sedan is nothing like driving a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes four-door, or even an Acura or Infiniti saloon, but that's the way it should be. For over a decade, Buick has been steadily tightening up the suspension without making its cars too taut, so in sportier driving modes you can get a dose of peppier performance. Our test car featured paddle-shifters to allow semi-manual piloting, but in practice, I didn't use them much. There's no slosh in the LaCrosse, and the big sedan can handle corners capably, even though you aren't going to want to push your luck in any way.

Not that you would be induced to. With advanced "QuietTuning" soundproofing, the LaCrosse cabin is a peaceful place to spend time, even as the car propels itself to 60 mph from a standing start in about six seconds (another complaint: an engine auto-stop-start feature helps with fuel economy, but unlike on many other vehicles with the tech, you can't turn it off with the LaCrosse). At cruising velocities, the LaCrosse is brilliantly placid without ever feeling like a large rolling couch. A set of advanced cruise-control and driver-assist features makes extended freeway journeys a joy.