There is a stigma when it comes to Buick. At least, there is right now & since 1995. They were seen as your grandparents’ car, by everyone except your grandparents. They were big, underpowered, somewhat plain land yachts, contending only with the Lincoln Town Car. But ever since GM had its corporate eyes opened (ie: when it almost went under) by consumers unwilling to spend money on expensive & cheap rebadges, some massive reinvention came along. The 2010 Buick LaCross was the beginning. The 2011 Buick Regal isn’t the end, nor probably even the middle, but the middle of the beginning. Or something… Point being, a Buick is no longer your grandparents’ car. Read on.
I do not own this image, but I forgot who I took it from...
So, last Thursday (11/2) I headed over to Sellers Buick at Grand River & 10 Mile Road in Farmington Hills. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, being a younger-than-I-am looking twenty-two year old (I hate it now, but I’m sure in ten years I’ll wish I looked younger). I’d done some quick shopping & pricing online & found out that a very base Regal would be my best bet at affording anything that the General has to offer, other than Chevrolet.
I was warmly greeted by the receptionist who paged a salesman for me. That’s how I met Carl Merollis. We talked for a bit & I told him what I wanted, he looked for it, found it, gave me other options…overall, very helpful. At one point, he inquired if I would want a sunroof package, to which I responded, “well, it’s nice, but I can live without it.” Carl was incredibly respectful of that & didn’t push it on me any further. At Ford, when I was looking at a Fusion, I was told that “it would be cheaper” to add a sunroof, even though I gave them the same, “I can live without it” answer.
The helpfulness didn’t stop there, but we ran some numbers & came up with about $275 per month for a 39 month lease, with a $1500 down payment & approved co-signing credit through US Bank.
The numbers I was getting from Ford for a Fusion SE (Sync, 6-speed manual, sunroof, cloth seats) were around $300 per month. While not TOO much different from $275, it adds up.
So, let’s get back to this Buick. The base model Regal (RL1 package) comes with the following features as standard: leather seats, heated front seats, USB hookup (basically Sync), 3.55 mm input jack, 182hp I4 VVT engine, & 6-speed automatic transmission with Selectshift.
Yes, that is all standard on the RL1 package. For $275 per month. I won’t even lie, just from the included features alone, I’d take it over the Fusion. But there’s more…
After we crunched some numbers & I told Carl what I was looking for, he grabbed the keys to an RL3-equipped Regal. Same mechanics, just a few more fancy things (power passenger seat, rear backup sensors).
Just like when I took that 2010 Mustang GT for a spin, Carl didn’t come with me, which I again thought odd, & actually voiced this. He expressed a respectful opinion of his confidence in my driving & showed me a few quick things he thought I might need to know for the drive, & walked back inside the dealership.
First of all, the Driver Shift Control trans is fun as hell. I DO wish they offered the Regal in an authentic stick without having to upgrade to a Regal Turbo. I really like that third pedal. But still, DSC is awesome.
The Regal is powered by a 2.4L I4 VVT DOHC engine that makes about 182hp & 174 lb. ft. of torque & sips a nice 20 miles per gallon in the city, 30 miles per gallon on the highway. Not too bad. As is typical with FWD cars like this, it pulls a little to one side (in this case, the right) when accelerating hard. Yes, I did some pseudo-performance testing while on the drive, but I didn’t beat it to hell…
On that note, I should probably clarify that this car is pretty quick, for a four banger that weighs about 3,500 pounds. The 6-speed trans shifts very smoothly, which I thought was because of a dual clutch, but apparently it’s just really good engineering, because the Regal doesn’t have a dual clutch.
And speaking of the engineering, these cars, the Regals, are German engineered & are actually imported from Germany to the U.S. Which kind of sucks, just because it takes about five weeks to get one, assuming it’s already built. It doesn’t suck because it’s an extremely well built car. Nothing feels cheap.
Anyway, back to the test car itself. Interior was very nice. There’s a little bit of plastic moulding that starts at the back portion of the front doors & wraps forward to about the middle of the dash, but not all the way. It provides a wonderful contour & actually accomplishes what many auto companies dream of doing: it makes the driver (& probably the passenger, too) feel like the car is hugging them. It’s cozy, but not tight. 
As if they designed & engineered the car around the driver, instead of forcing the driver to conform TO the car. Everything is well placed & almost literally “at” your fingertips. I say “almost” because the far right portion of the radio controls were a little far from my fingertips, but I’ll just attribute that to me being short.
Road noise is very good. Or should I say, nonexistent. I was able to do a little highway driving on I-96W to get a feel for how the car feels cruising at specific speeds, while switching lanes, engine noise, & of course, road noise. It is a very quiet car. I would not mind spending a few hours on the road in this car.
As for handling, well, it’s a 3,500 lbs., FWD, German engineered car. How do you think it handled… If you said “very well,” then congratulations, you’re smarter than a fifth grader. Lane changes on the freeway were executable with one finger, but I wouldn’t advise driving that way. The steering itself isn’t too light, but it isn’t too hard either. I would describe it as “responsive.” Which it is. On the street, it handles well, but still feels well planted. And it should. It’s over five feet wide, low to the ground, & steered with 18″ alloy wheels (standard, too).
The trunk is huge, too. You could easily fit luggage for five people in the cargo area & have a little room left over, which is always nice. Didn’t check the rear seat legroom, but by glancing back, it’s about the same as a Fusion. I’m seeing a very desirable, & reoccurring, theme here…
That strake (character line) is nice. Well done, Buick.
Anyway, a few things that really stood out to me, at least design-wise, were, of course, the strakes on the exterior side sheet metal. The doors look, literally, sculpted. They can look one way in a certain light & a completely different way in another light. It’s so cool! Also, I didn’t see them at the time, but apparently it has daytime running LED lights up front. Nothing too fancy, just a few acute angles, but it looks good. Audi good, not “aftermarket” good, which doesn’t really ever look good…
Overall, the car is a new theme from Buick. Where once we thought of them as our grandparents’ car, we should now consider them on par with BMW & Mercedes-Benz. For close to literally half the cost. Like I said at the beginning, this is not your grandparents’ car any more. Buick is changing. I suggest you change with it.
Questions or suggestions? Send me an email..
Tags: 10, 2.4, 2010, 2011, Benz, BMW, Buick, Car, Control, dealership, DOHC, Driver, DSC, Farmington, Fusion, General, GM, GMC, Grand, GT, Hills, LaCross, Lincoln, Mercedes, Mile, Motors, Mustang, Regal, River, RL1, RL3, SE, Sellers, Shift, Ten, Town, VVT
