When was the last time you heard the words, “Whoa, that Buick is hot!” The answer is probably never, because those words are rarely assembled together in an English sentence. That’s likely to change as Buick continues to build cars that look nothing like the Buicks of the past.
Truth be told, though, Buick’s design has been surprising auto journalists and car buyers for the last five years or so. In fact, millennial car buyers may not even remember when Buicks were exclusively for grandpas.
With the new Regal, spotted ahead of the Geneva Motor Show and based off the stunning Avista concept, we can officially declare, without hesitation, that Buick is hot.
Here’s what Car and Driver says about the new Regal,
In Europe, the mid-size Opel Insignia is GM’s largest mainstream car offering and is sold in sedan, hatchback, and wagon body styles; it competes against cars such as the Ford Mondeo (our Ford Fusion). We Americans get the Insignia sedan as the Buick Regal.
Odds are good that we’ll also get an all-wheel-drive wagon version of the Regal, giving the Subaru Outback some real competition for the first time. We’re pretty confident that the wagon will arrive here, because it’s been spied testing, shown to dealers, and even gone through focus-group testing.
The new Regal is expected to ditch its current 2.4-liter 4-cylinder base engine and gain a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder mated to GM’s new 9-speed automatic transmission. Expect about 250 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque from the pair.
We have to hand it to the good people over at GM for turning Buick around so quickly. Remember when Buick was on the chopping block along with Hummer and Pontiac? There were many people, myself included, who thought Buick should go and Pontiac should be saved.
The General has proven me wrong with the resurgence of Buick and its calculated appeal to young people.
The 2018 Regal should be in dealerships by summer 2017.
Would you buy the Regal sedan or an AWD Regal wagon?
-tgriffith
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