mmarshall

Interesting. I referred a single guy from my church, in his 30s??? (I don't know his exact age....maybe 40 at most) to my old Buick sales rep. He took home a new Encore (leased) that very afternoon.



Today's Regal GS, with its Opel-engineering/platform, is a FAR better car than the 80s-vintage Grand National, which had a good engine in the supercharged 3.8L, but was otherwise built back in GM's Bad Old Days, with Rattle/Squeak-O-Matic assembly, parts loosening up and falling off before you even got it home from the dealership, and endless repairs and adjustments in the shop (with a 1-year warranty to boot). No, Thanks.

In fact, the Opel-derived Buicks (Verano, Cascada, Regal, Encore) are a major reason for the brand's overall excellent reliability record today, almost as high as that of Toyota/Lexus.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i don't think that was a question.

on CR, but i do think GM vehicles are just fine these days. i know lots of people who drive ones made in the past decade with no issues.

mmarshall

Yet..........you trust them for their Toyota reliability surveys. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

It has been claimed by some (I don't have any strong opinions on it myself, as I've seen evidence both ways) that one reason for both CR and J.D. Power's high reliability ratings for Buick is that they don't take into account that Buicks, as a brand, are generally well-cared for and are not driven hard or abused by their owners. There does seem to be at least some truth to that, but whether it skews the Buick ratings in relation to other brands is a interesting question. Lincolns, for example, are also well-cared for and (generally) owned and driven by gentle, conservative drivers, yet rank well below Buicks on most reliability surveys.

GM, in general, is doing better than average on the reliability front these days,....but their vehicles still run the whole gamut, from well above average (as with the Opel-derived Buicks), to well below average on some Cadllacs and the body-on-frame, V8, truck-based pickups/SUVs)

MattyG

That's very true. It's the reason why hordes of buyers went straight over the the Japanese car dealerships and got themselves into Accords, Camrys, Maximas and even Mazda 626's. But I wasn't really referring to assembly quality or durability. I was speaking about the performance of those GN's/GNX/s and their all black menacing paint jobs.

Those turbo motors in a big heavy body two door car essentially were six second cars to 60 mph and 14 flat in the quarter. That was astonishing for the time and matched the Camaros, Mustangs and even Corvettes of the day. It's also the reason they are collectibles today.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...987-buick-gnx/

mmarshall

Mercury (if you remember them) tried the same thing with its all-black Marauders, though they were too big and heavy to have the same kind of performance, with their 302 HP 4.6L V8, that the GNX had with the blown V6.

Today's Regal GS isn't quite as fast (0-60 between 6 and 6.5 seconds, depending on the conditions)............but still respectable for a turbo 4. And it will run circles around the 80s-vintage GNX in the handling department.

Fizzboy7

The media is reporting what they see. Buicks are still mainly driven by old people. I see this all day long at my work, which caters to retirees.
Now this is one great-looking Regal. It is very much a spiced-up Kia Forte sedan. If Pontiac were still around, this could be their sedan. Good job GM for designing something modern and appealing. I'd seriously consider this model if currently looking at sedans.
So what size is this? It's impossible to tell from the pics, which make it look like a small, compact. Give me a model name or two it matches up with...
With normal incentives, this could be had for a mid-$30k price.

Aron9000

I don't really care if people think that a Buick(or Lexus or a Cadillac) is "an old person's car". I'm young, I drive what I like.

That being said, I am a shade disappointed with this new Regal GS. The last version of this car(which we never got stateside unfortunately, the Opel Insigina OPC), had a twin turbo V6 with AWD, available with both a six speed auto and a six speed automatic. It had some other trick features which never made it to state-side Regals including the modified GM "HiPerStrut" front suspension(basically totally different geometry compared to the base car for better handling/reduced torque steer), the AWD was a Haldex system with a limited slip rear differential, and it also had an adjustable suspension with different settings for the firmness(it wasn't air suspension, it didn't adjust ride height), there was also an option to remove the top speed limiter as well.

The previous gen Opel Insigina OPC was a very tech heavy and advanced car when it came out in 2008, it drove and performed beautifully. As usual, we got crap in the United states, a hot turbo 4 cylinder Regal GS with FWD was the best thing we got, it was down 50hp vs the hot Euro spec Opel. Seems like we are getting crap again with the new Regal GS, its not nearly as advanced as the 2008 high zoot Insigina OPC.

LexBob2

I agree. It's the brand's task to change the perception of their cars if that's what they feel is necessary.

The new Regal should be a low risk model for Buick. If it's not successful they don't have much to lose. If it is a success will be profitable since they won't have too much invested in it.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

If senior citizens didn't buy Buicks over the last few decades, Buick would have gone the same route as Olds and Pontiac.

mmarshall

Quote of the Day. I certainly did when I was young.

The last GS wasn't that big a seller in the U.S., though Car and Driver, Road and Track, and a few other auto magazines liked it. C&D thought it was, to their standards, the best Buick they had yet driven. But most Buick shoppers, although they are not necessarily Geezers (that is where the long-held stereotype is wrong), are, regardless of age, simply not interested in drag-strip performance or canyon-carving handling.

Fizzboy7

So nice to see a normal gear shifter, one can use to manually shift up and down all gears and rest a hand on during extended drives.

Johnhav430

I went to a Buick event not sure what year, maybe 2013, and Buick was trying to go upscale having world renowned chefs, cooking lessons, etc. And it was shocking, there was no way the median age was 59, it was closer to 80. I don't mean to make light of a potentially serious situation, but a woman in a walker fell during the registration, and nobody rushed to help her because they were all seniors themselves. My guess is that even if the avg. age is 59, and there are people in their 30-40's buying the cars, they likely aren't that interested in spending their day at a Buick event. You say Porsche, BMW, MB, and it's like you delay 3 hours from getting the invite, and now you're on a wait list.

My wife and I were happy we met chef Ming Tsai at the event, got his cookbook autographed, and had our pic taken with him and actually got a chance to speak with him. This was more rewarding than my cousins bragging about eating at his restaurant in Wellesley and dropping $1500 for 6 people..lol

edit just googled the restaurant and it CLOSED this year? that is simply amazing that even someone who won emmys and awards blah blah blah has to be concerned about the rent...I would have thought he owned the property.....da**

mmarshall

Wrong. The Chinese buy them like there is no tomorrow.

Johnhav430

That's interesting, just googled, and it seems GM sold 4 mil. cars, and MB sold 1/2 mil. in China, with car sales in general soaring....(3.87 mil vs. 473k).

If I understand these numbers, Toyota sold around 1.2 mil. So it would seem that Chinese love GM cars.

mmarshall

For several years, the Buick Verano (called the Excelle in China) was the country's top-selling vehicle. That's one reason why GM is dropping it in the American market (despite its reasonable success here) and confining it to the Chinese market for 2018...to make more factory room here for Encore production....Encore sales have gone through the roof here in the U.S.