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Anyone have any time in the seat of a Buick Regal GS. I followed one in to work today and it was a pretty sharp car. I remember reading average reviews of the car. Basically, they knock it for being FWD which is fine by me because I need/want a FWD. They also point out the price and how expensive it it. Starting at 35,000 and the tested model was 38,000.
Anyway, I looked and found a couple of used ones (2012) for 27,000 which is still pricey in my opinion. Especially when you compare it to a 2011 BMW 3 series which can be had for basically the same price and it might even include AWD which is a big deal to me.
Eventually, I would love to get back into a modestly priced sporty sedan with a stick. So, thoughts on this car and what would a used 2012 Buick GS actually cost.
I like the GS, but haven't got any seat time in it. It's German made, and is incredibly popular over there in Opel guise. I believe it was one of the most common sedans I saw while overseas, and only a couple of them were in the high performance skin (equivillant to the GS).
I've heard reviews that the manual transmission was a bit finicky, and not very crisp. But overall, I think it's a good looking, and understated sedan with decent performance and modest size. As long as it conveys that German "Fun to drive" levels without being overly "harsh" it should be a pretty nice vehicle.
Go test one, and tell us what you think!
PS - The regal was originally on my short list of cars to look at, along with the larger LaCrosse. With a growing family, we required trunk space, and the Regal was lacking because of the "passive hybrid battery in the trunk". The same was true for the LaCrosse, which is why I stayed in the Volkswagen family, and added Diesel fuel to increase my fuel mileage. If memory serves me right, both the LaCrosse and Regal were listed as having smaller trunks than my wife's old Grand Am (which was pretty tiny) and significantly less space than either my Jetta or the Passat we had considered...I'm not sure if the passive hybrid system was carried over to the GS, if not, it might have even more potential, by lacking one of the most undesirable characteristics of the car.
I've driven it and to be honest I'm not impressed. The power delivery is decent but there is a noticeable amount of turbo lag. The understeer is typical of a FWD but not entirely out of hand. I wouldn't trust it during hard cornering to be honest. Honestly, I personally decided that it wasn't worth my money when they made the decision to make it FWD considering the concept had all wheel drive. That killed any positive feelings I had for it. I rather get the BMW xDrive 3 Series.
I've driven it and to be honest I'm not impressed. The power delivery is decent but there is a noticeable amount of turbo lag. The understeer is typical of a FWD but not entirely out of hand. I wouldn't trust it during hard cornering to be honest. Honestly, I personally decided that it wasn't worth my money when they made the decision to make it FWD considering the concept had all wheel drive. That killed any positive feelings I had for it. I rather get the BMW xDrive 3 Series.
The Opel version in Europe gets a turbo 2.8L V6 engine with AWD,...we get a dumbed down wimpy version as usual. Proves once again that GM gives their best made vehicles to Europe and Australia then give their home country the leftovers. Closest they came to doing it right was the Saturn Astra. They messed up by bringing over only the 1.8L engine and leaving behind all others. The Pontiac G8 and GTO but by the time they brought it here, it was already an old platform. Thanks a lot GM.
The Opel version in Europe gets a turbo 2.8L V6 engine with AWD,...we get a dumbed down wimpy version as usual. Proves once again that GM gives their best made vehicles to Europe and Australia then give their home country the leftovers. Closest they came to doing it right was the Saturn Astra. They messed up by bringing over only the 1.8L engine and leaving behind all others. The Pontiac G8 and GTO but by the time they brought it here, it was already an old platform. Thanks a lot GM.
Hail GM and its infinite wisdom. This is why I don't buy GM vehicles (even though I love a couple of them). I've driven the Opel Insignia OPC Unlimited edition on a trip in Europe last year ago and it is amazing. The only thing I wasn't necessarily pleased with was the fuel economy but let us be honest, if you can afford the car than you can afford the gas (at least that's my way of thinking).
The Opel version in Europe gets a turbo 2.8L V6 engine with AWD,...we get a dumbed down wimpy version as usual. Proves once again that GM gives their best made vehicles to Europe and Australia then give their home country the leftovers. Closest they came to doing it right was the Saturn Astra. They messed up by bringing over only the 1.8L engine and leaving behind all others. The Pontiac G8 and GTO but by the time they brought it here, it was already an old platform. Thanks a lot GM.
dont fully blame gm. remember who owns the biggest share of gm stock. also remember that the US government is putting a massive amount of regulation on cars that are sold in the US, everything from emissions, to safety, to fuel economy that the automakers are forced to make less than impressive cars for the US markets. if this country were to adopt european standards in regards to automotive regulations, then we would see the neat european cars in this country, and not the detuned cars we see today.
Hail GM and its infinite wisdom. This is why I don't buy GM vehicles (even though I love a couple of them). I've driven the Opel Insignia OPC Unlimited edition on a trip in Europe last year ago and it is amazing. The only thing I wasn't necessarily pleased with was the fuel economy but let us be honest, if you can afford the car than you can afford the gas (at least that's my way of thinking).
You don't buy a performance model for it's MPG! I test drove the Astra when it first arrived. It was a very solidly built car with great handling and styling. Mistakes they made were not making small changes to the dashboard control labels and not offering up a more powerful engine for the XR performance model (performance in tires and styling only). The other problem was the automatic transmission geared for fuel economy and yet only providing so so MPG numbers compared to others in this class. The Cobalt engine and transmission, both base and SS would have been a better fit for this Astra. Probably couldn't fit the Cobalt powertrain in the Astra without some major reworking of the engine bay. The current Chevy Cruze and Buick Verano are both based on the current Astra, without the great look, hatchback version, and performance model. Even the Verano 2.0L turbo isn't really a performance model. Reviews I've read say this should have been the base engine for the Verano to match it's near luxury desire. The base 2.4L engine, while having more power than the Cruze 1.4L turbo, is a slow thirsty engine setup. I wonder if the new 2.5L engine would be better, but why bother?
Before it even gets started..NO! ITs NOT A MUSCLE CAR. lol
Is the Grand National a muscle car?
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