A Touch of Grey? Part 1: Buick Regal

Am I getting older?  Is that my hair clogging the drain every morning, or is it errant pet hair that mysteriously found it's way into the tub?  Does my back actually hurt from stooping over a seized engine all day?  Is my hairline moving back, or is my cranium getting bigger?

Are Cadillacs and Buicks suddenly cool?

While I may, in fact, be losing my hair and the rest of my youthful vigor, it would seem that GM may finally be getting it.  Cases in point:  The new Buick Regal and the Cadillac CTS.

Just look at the Buick.  That's right, the photo is of a white Buick, apparently the only one made in the last 30 years not parked outside of either an old-folks' home, church, or Cafeteria restaurant.  In all seriousness, Buick used to make exceptionally cool cars.  Names like GNX, Grand National, Grand Sport, Riviera, Skylark, and Wildcat spark memories of muscular, classy, luxurious, fast-yet-comfortable, good-value for the money cars.  Sometime in the mid '70's, Buick decided that as their devout fans from the 40's and 50's aged, they would age with them.  Which worked well from a business perspective, until those devout fans started bumping up against the century mark (Buick named a car after this important event in the history of the company) and began dropping like flies.  As the hearts of these sweet old folks stopped beating, the company also seemed to lose it's pulse.

In some kind act of sympathy, GM spared Buick the reaper's scythe when the global recession hit in 2008, and rather than cut a division with dated styling and even more dated customers, they cut Pontiac.  Sure, Pontiac made it's fair share of cars that were the automotive equivalent of disposable diapers (they tended to sag as they filled with their own crap), they were making recent inroads with interesting, non-redundant models such as the Pontiac Solstice and Holden-based GTO and G8 models.

Having cut some good products to save Buick, GM needed a good Buick, and they needed it fast.  So, they took the European car of the year from the prior year, the Opel Insignia, dressed it in a Buick waterfall grille, named it Regal, and sent it to the auto show circuit.  The results?  Most people in the American market had never seen an Insignia, but they sure wanted the Regal.

Showy without being gaudy, it is a rare example of Americanizing the styling of a car without over-doing the chrome.  The lines are absolutely modern, the roofline is very chic, the fenders bulge just enough to look powerful without being exaggerated, and the wheel options are tasteful, as long as the buyer avoids chrome-plating.

Inside, the materials are a bit monochromatic but handsome nonetheless, with modern design and sporty heated leather bucket seats in place of the more tradition old-fogey velour Buick bench.  Column shift?   What column shift?  This baby has a floor mounted six-speed manual standard.  A Harmon/Kardon sound system and a flat-bottomed steering wheel add credibility for the under-AARP membership crowd.

Paired with the GS' optional turbo 4-cylinder engine with 270 horsepower and 295lb ft of torque, this is genuinely a sporty alternative to, say, a Lexus ES.   Start thinking Acura TSX without the horrific styling, and with a better optional engine, and you pretty much know where this car lies in the marketplace.

More importantly for Buick, however, is that people less than 30 years old will think it's cool.  Not because of some marketing campaign or kitschy wheel and spoiler package.  But because it's genuinely cool.