‘SPORTISH’ PERFORMANCE THIS SEDAN’S SIGNATURE
It may not sway Euro brand snobs, but it’s a worthy four-door choice
A dozen years ago, maybe longer, there was a somewhat funny-yet morbid joke about Buick owners: They were so old that the next ride they found themselves in would be a hearse. The average age of Buick buyers was then well into the 60s. In 2015, Buick released data showing the average had dropped to 59 years from 60 during the previous five years. Progress indeed.
Here’s where karma comes in, which I realized while booting around town in the newest iteration of the Buick Regal GS. Thanks to reasonably good health and genetics, not to mention luck, I am now several years older than the average Buick buyer. Fortunately, I seldom feel my age, and the Regal GS certainly doesn’t hurt my possibly deluded outlook, with the vibrant red shade of the sporty hatchback tester accentuating its sleek coupe-styled roofline. The car looks fast.
On paper at least, the 2018 GS has the goods to pass itself off as a reasonable, quasi-domestic version of a good European sport sedan. The reason for the qualifier is that the German-built Regal is essentially a rebadged Opel Insignia.
I hope I’m not giving the plot away by saying the GS’s end result, while falling far short of amazing, is not a complete disappointment. I guess “good try” is the most appropriate sentiment. Certainly, the powertrain is worthy of a thumb’s up. Its solid 310-horsepower, 3.6-litre V6 mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive provides an alternative to other sporty hatchbacks plus other more traditional sedans. Then there’s the “performance brakes” with Brembo calipers and a sport-tuned exhaust system. And the GS has a sub-$50,000 price tag.
The problem, it seems, is that although Buick assembled many of the proper ingredients to build a true driver’s car, it just bolted them to the Regal instead of engineering them in. The car has decent acceleration — zero to 100 km/ h in around 5.6 seconds — but the tonal quality from the supposed sport-tuned exhaust as the Buick accelerates up through the gears is completely flaccid.
When the tarmac turns twisty, the Continental all-season rubber — sized P245/40R19 — isn’t the best choice for inspiring road-hugging confidence. Yes, the Regal comes with adaptive dampers and three drive modes (Normal, Sport and GS; the latter two stiffen the suspension and produce stronger downshifts from the nine-speed) but only the GS mode provides the sort of connection with the road one might expect from a sport sedan.
The biggest issue with the car is its SUV-like 1,937-kilogram weight, which does nothing to help performance and handling. And the fact paddle shifters are not offered with the GS could be seen by performance enthusiasts as a cop out.
Fuel economy for the week, which was about a 50/50 mix of suburban use and highway commute, averaged 11.5 L/100 km, far from horrendous considering the Buick’s engine, its size and its weight.
The Regal GS cabin is dominated by a pair of performance seats that are heated, cooled and massaging with adjustable seat and seatback bolsters, as well as thigh support.
Once adjusted to the way you like, which is a process, they are exceedingly comfortable — as long as your backside isn’t overly broad. The rest of the tester’s cabin was a sea of black — mostly plastic — the long-standing de facto colour for any sporting car.
With that said, there is a plenty of stretch-out room front and rear for four adults. And as long as you don’t play centre in the NBA, even headroom is reasonable for rear-seat passengers, despite the fastback roofline. Bonus points for the positively cavernous trunk; lifting the hatch reveals 892 L of luggage space with the rear seats up, 1,719 when they were folded flat.
Thanks to two option packages — Experience Buick package ($3,495) and Driver Confidence Package no. 2 ($1,995) — the tester was well contented. The first package adds a tilt and sliding sunroof, an infotainment system with navigation and eight-inch touch screen, HD radio, a premium Bose eight-speaker sound system and wireless charging, while the second adds a bunch of safety features including adaptive cruise control, following distance indicator, forward collision alert, front automatic braking and lane-keep assist.
The Regal GS is not as sporty as Buick claims it is. So let’s dial it back a bit and view it as a “sportish” family sedan, er, hatchback. Its sleek exterior design isn’t nearly as over-styled as the Camry’s, or even the Accord’s. It offers solid, if less than stellar, performance, plenty of comfort and, more importantly, standard all-wheel drive.
Unlikely to sway the brand snobs away from the European nameplates, the GS is still good enough to provide an alternative to other more popular fourdoors, and a few crossovers as well.