We consider ourselves seasoned, not senior. We have many miles on us, but that’s because we drive more than most folks. We were eligible for early retirement, but we’d rather have the opportunity to continue driving as many Buicks as possible — as long as they are as good as this week’s test car, the 2008 Buick Lucerne Super.

Forget nostalgia. We are not wistful for the days when Buick was a metaphor for Middle America.

Buick now symbolizes upwardly mobile China, where Buick automobiles are hot sellers. That’s OK with us.

Please hold the jokes about Buicks and slow drivers. We’ve heard them. We aren’t laughing. We — I and my associate, Ria Manglapus — can tell you from experience that you can speed your way to jail in a Buick Lucerne Super just as quickly as you can in any other luxury sedan. We wish to say here that speeding is not our thing. We do not advocate it. In fact, we abhor it. We do our best to avoid it. But sometimes we err.

That error usually occurs in cars such as the Buick Lucerne Super, cars so seductively smooth and sneakily fast that you can be over the limit miles before you know it.

We love driving. We love cars. It is with that affection that we tell you the 2008 Buick Lucerne Super is an honest-to-goodness fine automobile, worthy of consideration by anyone willing to spend $40,000 on a full-size, front-wheel-drive sedan.

It hits all of the right product-appeal notes. Fit and finish are superb, right down to the microfiber lining that, thankfully, has replaced the ugly mouse-hair headliner covering in previous Buicks. Ergonomic common sense rules the interior, where taste and beauty also reign in a work of supple leather, suede and mahogany wood inserts. The seats are among the most comfortable we’ve occupied in any car at any price.

We note here the complaints of a few fellow automotive scribes who contend that the Buick Lucerne, of which there are four iterations — CX, CXL, CXL Special Edition and Super — can be a tad sloppy in turns and corners. We disagree.

The tested Lucerne Super handled beautifully — “really surprisingly good for such a big car,” Ria said.

We suspect that the sloppiness experienced by our fellows had more to do with their driving than with Buick’s engineering.

Automotive journalists too often demand that cars, regardless of their design intent, respond as if they were engineered for Formula One racetracks. It is a ridiculous requirement, one that unfairly penalizes good cars for doing, well, exactly what they were meant to do — transport people and goods quickly, safely and comfortably through civil society.

The Buick Lucerne Super does all of those things and does them with class. We like class. The older we get, the more we appreciate it.

Bottom line

Complaints: Buick often is reviled in its home market as a grandparents’ car. That’s bad for two reasons: It disrespects the dignity of grandparents, who deserve honor, and it stigmatizes Buick in the minds of younger buyers who are missing out on a good thing simply because they refuse to give Buick a chance. Also, we’d like to see at least a five-speed automatic transmission in this one. The four-speed automatic gearbox is outdated. Ride, acceleration and handling: It gets excellent marks in all three categories. The Lucerne Super is a cruiser, a good long-distance runner. Head-turning quotient: Classic beauty outside, elegant interior inside. Safety: Standard equipment includes ventilated front disc brakes, solid rear disc brakes with antilock control, side and head air bags, and electronic stability and traction control. We also recommend the optional “side blind zone alert” and “lane departure warning” technologies, respectively $395 and $295 extra, to help avoid lane-error collisions. Purse-strings note: We like the Lucerne Super. But it’s priced as high as cars that have a better image. Image affects resale value.

2008 Buick Lucerne Super

Base price: $38,980

As tested: $43,830

Type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, large family sedan. Available with base CX, popularly equipped CXL and CXL Special Edition, and luxury Super trim levels.

Engine: 4.6-liter, 32-valve V-8 (V-6s are available in CX and CXL models) with a four-speed automatic transmission

Mileage: 22 mpg (highway)