New Buick Regal – First Drive
Lets get one thing straight from the start, Im no Buick fan, the reason being that all Buick automobiles from the 70′s to 2007 have been giant land yachts, especially the American designed vehicles. The rebranded Korean Buicks that came to China under the Buick branding are perfectly acceptable, but they are not a ‘real Buick‘. The old Buick Regal was a ‘real’ Buick, in the sense that it was designed and made in the USA (later mass produced in the PRC in December 2002), it came in a series of models from a base 2.0 16V 4 cylinder models that barely moved to 2.5 6 cylinder models.
The original Buick Regal only ever seem to come in one color in China; Black. It was largely bought by government officials (usually the cheapest models with plastic wheeltrims) and businessmen, when the Buick Regal entered China, there werent many other cars in its class, which left it with a wide open market to capture. It conquered the segment in a short time, but the addition of other automakers models into China, such as the Germans with their BMW’s and Audi’s, and the Japanese with their Accords, and Camrys, soon saw the Regals massive market lead slip away. This lead GM to rebranding the current Opel Insignia to become the new Buick Regal, it’s a smaller car when compared to the previous generation, but its certainly a step in the right direction for Buick China.
The Looks
I honestly had to walk around the new Regal twice, could such a nice car have come from Buick? It’s sleek, it’s stylish, its quite frankly amazing. It has the stance of a sports sedan rather than a regular sedan, the rear end is tiny compared to the old Buick Regal’s, which was more reminnesceint of a US Navy Aircraft carriers top side in sheer size. The new Regal also comes in a variety of beautiful colors, from standard black, to a champagne/gold color. Never has an executive car looked so good. The side profile of the car also carries that sports style, the slight crease in the door leads down to the headlights, which stare like a hungry cats big eyes. The front wings carry the chrome vent, is this borrowed styling from the Cadillac range? If so, we approve. The front grill has been changed to the new Buick vertical style offering, where as the EU get the horizontal Opel branding, I maybe biased, but the Buick version looks much better. The wheels come in a variety of styles, ranging from 17inch to 19inch. If there’s one good thing about Buick, they give you a massive range of options to choose from when buying a motor.
The Interior
The insides of the Regal match the exterior in terms of good looks. As soon as you open the incredibly heavy doors (and reach over with your stronger right arm to pull it closed!) the interior envelopes the driver into a sense of relative luxury. Once the doors have been closed, the design of the dashboard and the door inserts become one nicely executed sweeping loop from left to right. The seats support the driver extremely well, the steering wheel is easy to adjust to a suitable height. The plastics are excellent to the touch, they feel solid, like a premium car would do, except is the Regal a premium car? Price wise, it certainly isnt, but in terms of looks and comfort levels, the Regal could teach the BMW, and Audi a thing or too. The steering wheel is a fat chunky model that makes the BMW 3 series feel rather pathetic in comparison, the Regals is small and heavy, which gives off that quality finish feeling. One thing that I didn’t particularly like about the new Regal was the myriad of buttons.
The Drive
The new Regal doesn’t get as many fun engine options as Europe. The Europeans get nine engines, ranging from a standard 1.6l, a 1.6T, 2.0T, 2.0T diesel engines, and a 2.0 twin turbo diesel offering, the flagship model gets a 2.8l V6 twin turbo model. So what does the PRC get? Early rumors indicated that the same range of models would be coming to China, but current offerings are limited to a 2.0l 4 cylinder producing 147bhp, and a 2.4l four cylinder model producing 170bhp.
So, I started the engine up, slightly dissapointed that China wasn’t getting a 2.7 V6 Twin Turbo model, but I was still left surprised by the amount of poke that the 2.4l can produce. The car is by no means a sloth when leaving the traffic lights, on the straights, or cornering. It handels all of it with relative ease, and all with the driver sitting in relative luxury. The six speed semi automatic gearbox does its work without noise, or even noticing it working. The Regal sits comfortably at speed just like its predacessor, however, it can corner at speed too, something which the previous Regal could never do. The brakes work just as brakes should do, hit them too hard and you’ll halt straight away, or give them a light tap and they’ll give you the confidence you need to turn whilst at speed. This review may sound like I’m a speeder, but the car does hold itself very well. At low speeds, it performs equally well.
Overall
As already stated, the previous generation Regal was mostly purchased by businessmen, and government departments who needed a large sedan to show off their wealth, or to be chauffered around, they mostly bought black cars. The new Regal blows the old one out of the water, its stylish, it’s a premium vehicle with an ecomical price tag, its sporty, its basically everything the old Buick wasn’t. But would those government departments trade their old Buick Regal for a new Regal? Probably not, the new Regal is simply too stylish, too swarve, for a government minister to drive in. Should the people see civil workers driving such well designed cars, then they are surely to protest! Several of my neighbours are civil servents, and although they may wish for a new Regal, we doubt their deparment heads would allow them to trade in their old Regal and old Brilliance BS6 in (both vehicles are naturally black). I would love to own a Buick Regal, Buick can consider me a Buick convert, if they were to produce cars like this in the USA, their financial worries would be over within the year.
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Great car! The stutter grandma GM should start realizing that a car from Germany, from their “discriminated” subdidiary Opel, is able to rescue their whole GM group in the near future! and not that dizzy joke of “chevrolet volt” – not withing the next 5 years! (stop dreaming – too little units and far too expenise at the beginning – need YEARS to become profitable!)
Lovely car and a very nice review. Thanks a lot. JASB< London
I don’t think we’ll see the Insignia come to the US. GM talked about bringing it over as a Saturn, which sells mostly rebadged Opels now, but Saturn is going to be shut down or sold.
This Reagle is to be in the US as the next Lacross. We should be seeing it on the streets shorlty with little to nothing changed (bar the engine choices…)
I’ve been watching the regal since I first saw pics, was really disappointed when I heard there’s no T model coming, however.
That being said, there is continually new encouragement when I read that it still has some pep, but perhaps that is a subjective term – I drive my POS jetta like a sports car, and have been ready to trade up for a while…just lack something stylish and quick with a reasonable price tag (sub-400k) that ends up in a good value bracket in China….even RX-8s are just a lil slow off the line for what they cost.
Tempted to test drive one of these, but being very impulsive, will likely go home with one
Rick,
My wife wants a sedan to replace her current car, so went to have a look. I was a little dissapointed by the price, (when compared to a German built Insignia) but the styling made up for it.
Nice review!
We sure do get an interesting mix of American, European, and Japanese models here, and in many cases models which wouldn’t normally be sold in their “home” market (such as the new Buick Regal reviewed here). What is also interesting is the different approaches taken by manufacturers for their China model lineups:
GM – mix of American (Chevy/Buick), European (Opel and Opel rebranded as Buick), and Korean (Daewoo rebranded as Chevy/Buick)
Ford – European models such as Focus, Mondeo, S-Max, new Fiesta. Most US models are not sold here (this is a good thing!) – the exception being the Escape/Maverick.
Honda – mostly American models (including American Accord), with a Japanese exception in the form of the Odyssey
Toyota – mix of American and Japanese models (ie- Crown, Reiz)
Nissan – mostly Japanese models
Also interesting to note that of the Japanese luxury brands(Acura/Lexus/Infiniti), Lexus is the only one which has been successful here.
The moderate success of Cadillac (which I forgot to include under GM) should also be noted as well.
The 6-speed transmission could be taking some of the credit for the “pep” – these are often geared very low in 1st and 2nd gear, which helps the car get off the line quickly. That’s not to say that the 2.4L isn’t any good – on the contrary I would expect it to be more than adequate for the driving here.
Ash, did you discuss pricing with them at all? I’m kind of curious whether there is more leverage on negotiation due to the economic situation…
Keep us all up to date if you end up buying one for your wife, would like to know what the result is
As an American living in China, I couldn’t believe that this Regal was a Buick from GM! Despite the fact that the Regals in the U. S. have the supercharged 3.8 and these have the 2.4 (Ecotec???) the styling on these is amazing for a Buick. I think that if these were in the U. S. people would be looking twice at them and trying to figure out who made them.
Looks great with the Buick grille and front bumper. I hope the US gets this.
I just sat in one of these and I was impressed. I was walking around the car market in Guangzhou (Huangpu Ave), looking at almost every car within and not within my budget! I have been leaning towards the Sagitar Champion because its just within my budget and the options and engine are good. It looks OK, but nothing special. I was planning to order it on Monday. On my way out of the mall, I saw a 2.4 flagship Regal cruising towards the entrance and made a slick turn to park. Out came 2 salesmen who walked towards a little shop at the entrance to get something to eat or drink. I don’t know how I missed this car and showroom, but I immediately walked over and asked them if I could check out the ride. At first they were a bit hesistent but eventually let me in. It was awesome inside out. I want to get the best one available, which is about 250k I think before taxes, so its about 50k over my budget. It’s got me thinking though!
Its expensive but looks great!!Well done GM and SAIC!!
german engineering at it’s best. i wonder what will happen to that car, when gm gives away opel in the next few weeks. they are selling their best child, but much better for opel, to be honest, than having to care for their dying mother.
Cory G – Like Ash stated in his review, this Regal is actually a rebadged Opel Insignia. Opel is GM’s European subsidiary. As you can see, GM’s Euro offerings are much more appealing than their US models.