regfootball

Second / Revised review Driven: 2018 Buick Regal Sportback Preferred II 2.0t (the original review is in the first post of this thread. This post is a second / revised review) HIGHS: prior review -Nice understated shape conceals a cleverly integrated hatchback design -'Decent' propulsion from 2.0t engine -Nicely shaped upper dash with touchsreen oriented slightly to driver. Interesting at least from a design standpoint. -Sporting driving position and good room in both rows, mostly, plus the biggest benefit being improved leg room over previous model -Really nice cargo space, with seats up, or seats down, the cargo area of this vehicle and the flexibility of it in a car like this IMO is a major draw -View outside of this vehicle is improved over its platform mate (Malibu, my daily driver) due to the rear door glass being longer and taller. View out the front and rear is essentially the same. -AWD availability is a nice plus, thanks Buick. added -shifter was more aggressive, seemed to downshift better. Driver may have been more throttle aggressive as well. -Preferred II cloth was ok by me. It has a nicer pattern and more stitching compared to regular Preferred trim. This maybe should be the standard cloth. I would still want a more elaborate leatherette / cloth mix or leather still anyways. -Heated Steering wheel! on Preferred II trim. -Back lumbar support was exceptionally comfortable and noticeable. Seat felt way better than my Malibu and for some reason better than the last Regal drive. -loved the dash angled to the driver. LOWS: previous -I can't recall any of the GM vehicles I have driven with this ubiquitous 2.0t engine, where i have actually been wowed or impressed by it. It has decent thrust, but honestly you gotta spool it up a bit, the tranny doesn't respond instantly, it's not a five star smooth tranny, and it's kind of rough and noisy overall as a powertrain (AT LEAST FOR IT'S PRICE / CLASS). I was hoping the 2.0 would make the car match the near luxury description but I don't think it's overall a smooth enough powertrain to meet that claim. It's neither smooth, nor sporting or exciting. And this is with front wheel drive. I will reserve final judgment until i get in the GS with the v6, which is the engine I think most people will really end up liking in this car. added For whatever reason, the powertrain felt better this time. The 2.0t still doesn't feel like a very elastic motor to me. It does not seem to like to rev to me. Ever. On like 10+ vehicles I have driven with the 2.0t . I guess that part of it is not a deal breaker however. -Heavier than it's Malibu platform mate. No doubt acceptable due to the larger engine, but the benefit of the extra weight doesn't manifest itself in any real tangible way anywhere in the ride and drive of the car. -Not really any quieter inside than my Malibu. Strange, because this Buick is supposed to have quiet tuning, and goo in the tires to help make it quieter. The ride isn't really any more plush, either. added For whatever reason, the car felt reasonably quiet inside. -Steering is sort of dead and mushy. That's not GERMANIC now, is it. -NEED TO BE ABLE TO TURN OFF THE AUTOSTOP WHEN YOU WANT TO. -Not really much nicer inside than in my Malibu. The lower dash is the same 'less expensive' plastic you see in cheap Chevy's. The door panels are a little nicer, but not that much more. Many switches and buttons are the same. The console is nicer (I don't like the shifter centered in the console now actually, it's quite a reach) I guess...except for cupholders in front of the climate controls. The upper dash material is an upgrade over the Malibu, but it's not a PREMIUM dash material either. -I can't really tell for sure if the seats are better. My Malibu seats are poor. The Regal seats seemed to hug me more, but they still felt thin and insubstantial. The leather quality was slightly better, but still nothing to write home about. Added as mentioned above, the cloth in the Preferred II was ok, still would want leather, but for cloth wasn't bad. Seats and back support felt far better this time around. -Rear head room suffers a bit with the hatch design. I don't mind the tradeoff personally, but the Malibu retains a bit more headroom, and the Regal TourX really has much more....so get the wagon if rear head room matters. -Sunroof was nice to have considering how bunkerlike the Malibu can feel....but again the hatch design limits the size of the sunroof here compared to the Malibu's BAMR. I can live with the compromise here myself, and again, the wagon will satisfy your urge for BAMR if you need it. I would encourage GM to develop a way to integrate a larger moonroof with the hatch design. I think it could be done, but would require time and money on a redesign effort. Added This time the car had a normal moonroof. While not quite a awesome as a larger moonroof, it did lighten up the cabin inside some. I tend to think the rear vision camera surround view rear view mirror would be beneficial on this car because of the really small rear window. -Options / packages on this car are, simply put, stupid. But that merits its own post. At least in this car, the heated steering wheel and leather heated seats were both included. You can actually get this car with heated steering wheel but without heated seats. How f-cked up is that? In 2019, Fusion, Toyota, and others will have things like blind spot and cross path detection as standard equipment. And those are not 'premium' makes. Added -The very nice person accompanying me on the test drive and I spent a lot of time mocking how stupid it was for Buick to offer this car from the factory trimmed out with a heated steering wheel but without factory heated seats. This sheer utter complete stupidity of this to sell vehicles in snow / cold states alone is cause for product planners to get canned. I don't give a shit if the car is built in Germany and that creates logistics issues. Honestly, Buick pull your head out of your behind. -I'll let others decide if they think the styling is too tepid. I don't mind the understated styling but do admit that the color selections that are available on this car leave me wanting. I like the red on the GS, and the smoked pearl metallic is nice. And Buick seems to think they should charge extra for paint colors when they don't make the ride and drive anything special. -pricing. I think the average nature of this car would be easily forgiven if the pricing were in line with being an average car; not priced for a premium marque. Like the LaCrosse and Envision, it is best to wait out the model year if you are buying and wait for the inevitable 7,000-10,000 or more in discounts...which might bring the pricing in line with what the vehicle really is. You can't say this vehicle is appealing at the prices it is at now. Added The rear hatch while masterfully done, is pretty large and is on the border of really benefitting from a power hatch setup with your remote. It is large, heavy and clunky to close / slam shut. SUMMARY: This probably seems like a negative review, but you should consider it more of underwhelmed and let down. This car as I drove it just doesn't have any kind of endearing personality to speak of! At the end of the day, it took Buick two extra years to bring to the US it's own Malibu clone, which doesn't have much more to show for it.... apart from the clever hatch and base 2.0 engine upgrade over the 1.5. I actually am very curious now to be among the first to try the 2019 Malibu 1.5t + CVT combo. But that's an aside for another discussion. The 2.0 that general motors puts in so many vehicles has never impressed me, and that's due more to it's character than anything. I had hopes this would be the ONE CAR that it would feel sporting in; one that would make the car feel at least a little, like a SPORTS SEDAN. Nope. I will wait with baited breath to someday find a v6 GS to test, as i think it will be the only Regal worth anything. At least worth anything more than just being another option in the midsize, genericar class. And I hope Buick is working on a twin turbo six option as well for the GS (GSX?). I tend to think this car won't move the needle in marketplace excitement until it has a tire shredder under the hood to brag about...The v6 will promise smoother revs and deeper lungs at least......... Still, as a replacement in the bottom end of the Buick lineup for the Verano, I am ok with this. Just please, sex it up! Added The car seemed nicer this time around. Still not sporty but pleasing. Ok for a Preferred trim I figure. Buick needs to change the available colors and allow a GS body trim package for a front wheel drive Regal. All the muted and dark dreary colors Buick offers now needs to be balanced out. I would like to see a GS style body trim package available for a Regal wagon that is not a TourX as well. Hopefully this car may be available with a newer turbo four some day but due to the Opel break off, probably not. After driving this and the LaCrosse back to back I must say for a daily driver I would prefer this but either car is ok.

DRIVEN: 2017 Buick LaCrosse Essence 3.6 FWD ; Driver confidence, Sun and Shade, Sights and Sounds. HIGHS: Car looked good in good color combination and 20" wheels Pretty good interior space front and rear... deceiving when you look at it but the leg room in back is nice. Acceptable pull from generally smooth v6 Nice gauge cluster, GM making progress Seats more comfy than I am used to in GM vehicles lately Not wholly serene, but not noisy inside. Nice view in and out of the car. And large panel sunroof helps relieve the cabin of claustrophobia that can be present in many of the smashed roof sedans today. I was ok with most of the interior materials. Dash and console laid out decently for the most part. I sort of liked the new joystick shifter. Falls to hand nicely and looks sort of tech. Car had paddle shifters. Disclosure, I should have tried using them and the Driver Shift Control. LOWS: Overall vehicle dynamics are sort of confused. Neither plush and soft, or sporty and taut. Not sure what this vehicle is supposed to ride or drive like. Car does feel big (and heavy...particularly nose heavy), and so may please those that like heavier cars. I think the 20" wheel package does something to this car. Steering seems to require extra effort, and the ride seems like you feel the road too much. Maybe the 18" setup is better for this car? Trunk is not huge, could be bigger in a car like this I think. The console is less intrusive than I thought, but I think perhaps for many customers it may be too high and too intrusive. A little redesign of this may help I think. The v6 is nice to have but without a turbo doesn't feel super torquey. Takes work to get the car up to speed. Maybe the transmission could be a bit better too. So perhaps the AWD car and its different trans has more responsiveness there. Provisions should be made to allow the driver to turn off the Auto Stop Start when they desire. SUMMARY: Car has some traits lovers of all the 80's, 90's, 00's era of larger GM FWD cars will like. At the same time, 20" wheel package and strange steering and ride tuning in this example make me wonder what GM is trying for. I probably need to try one with the different wheel package. I was neither put off by the car or overwhelmed by it. The basics are there for a car in the vein of traditional FWD GM sedan fans will like. The engine was neither sporty or super cruisey. The most beneficial improvements in the short term that can be done for this car are this, take a look at revising the console area around the shifter to be less intrusive, for ride and handling a less harsh ride, communicative and sharper steering on models trying to be sportier, cushier and quieter on models trying to be cushy and quiet, and something more athletic feeling for ride if a sports model. No doubt I should try another version of this to see what's up since i know they have different suspension setups available for this car. If GM gets rid of the Impala and XTS or even just cuts production of the Impala significantly, GM could actually look to sell more LaCrosse and sort of be the attainable large sedan choice in the GM fold almost exclusively. So it is worth it for GM to look at ways to improve the good starting effort and keep this car running in the lineup for awhile.

I have a second test drive of the new Regal which turned out to be more favorable, and so I'll come back and make note of that yet today if i am able. It really was a case where the person accompanying me and the route and situation in general allowed for a better test drive and so will be making some modified impressions in a few areas.

i could say the same for you

If GM had ever decided to go tit for tat with Tesla they could have pulled the trigger at any time and built direct competitors to them and exposed Tesla as the amateurs they are (at manufacturing). For whatever reason GM and the other big marques have been dragging their feet getting into EV's full bore (I think its battery cost, charging network, the distraction of autonomous vehicles and CAFE, and oil influence) GM in particular at any moment they REALLY WANTED TO could come out with amazing EV's that would define the industry and relegate Tesla to the scrap heap pretty darn fast. That's another topic though, and I believe GM under Barra has become far too like many other companies these days far too engaged in marketing, social media, politics, etc.

This large four is long stroke and it said designed for truck use, so even if it seemed like it were suitable for a camaro I'm not sure it would be a great fit due to that long stroke design. Piston speeds would be more than a big bore cylinder setup. But now for use in a truck this could be exactly the game changer. I've had thoughts the last few months of getting a pickup when my Malibu lease is done and to be honest the specs of this engine and if it got 20-22 mpg on a daily basis it would be perfect for what I would use a pickup for. Daily commuting and to move up to a good winter state 4wd vehicle. I'm not wed to any of GM's pushrod v8's. I've admired fords move to turbo 6's in trucks. Biggest question for me is if this big cylinder long stroke 4 is smooth enough. If the new Tahoe down the road has this engine, even better.

Always puzzles me how GM NA can't ever seem to make use of the Opel stuff and now Opel is gone. Maybe GM should have brought the previous Insignia wagon over......

i thought the R spec had more power. I still never find myself very interested in Hyundais or Kias.

Something Xt5 sized in the Buick lineup with said engine....would be cool.

The Model X is selling like gangbusters around here now. I would never want falcon doors. I've seen one model 3 on the road. It's smaller size is noticeable and also it has far less presence than the S. Looks more like an average small - midsize car that's a combination of 90's design and space age design.

Mitsubishi Equator?

is France on the offensive to keep cutting emissions and fuel economy too much? Maybe this is multi manufacturer punitive response.

^^^^ right. I'd be surprised if Buick actually wants to sell any more than 25-30k a year of the sportback and tourX combined. The TourX is incidental, and the base Sportback takes over for the Verano as the entry car, so they don't have to bring over the Astra / Verano. I think if Buick really set their minds to it, and configured the choices right, the Sportback could sell very well as crossover alternatives, but they would have to drop MSRP's which GM doesn't like doing. Every time i see a tourX and the shitty looking wheel cladding, I get wound up because a GS wagon would be awesome and it would really be a nice niche; I think they could sell a few, since they just want to be niche anyways. I'd like to see Regal add a twin turbo 6 to really put the car on the map but i suppose that will never happen. Imagine a 350-400hp GS wagon or sportback.

Over the last few weeks I keep warming up to the 2017+ LaCrosse with more and more of them hitting the used market. Some are as low as 22-23k. Ones in colors you want plus options you want are tough to find but the main takeaway with the LaCrosse is v6 availability and slightly larger size. It really IMO set up Buick nicely to market the LaCrosse even with sedan sales dwindling, as the Regal is hatch only and is not Buick's entry car. (No longer Verano). The LaCrosse is the only sedan now, and the Impala is becoming familiar and fading. XTS getting put out to pasture. Ford ditching sedans too. So perhaps LaCrosse sales may possibly increase if they appeal to v6 buyers who don't want Impalas and if the prices drop some. The raised console is a problem. It does put the shifter joystick in a good spot but the dash itself could stand to be a bit nicer and the raised console area has some cheapness and such, apart from being too tall. Older buyers still sometimes want bench seats which this car will never have...but buyers like that don't want the intrusiveness of the console they way it is now. Even the new Regal's console is intrusive too. A 2-3 year old LaCrosse in the right color, with the huge moonroof, and maybe AWD for super cheap may be a nice future ride. The styling change affected me but now the new body is growing on me some. Buick doesn't really care if the Regal sells too huge. They would probably prefer the LaCrosse to sell well and just import a set but manageable number of Regals each year since the import them from Germany and now Opel is out of the mix. The Regal is there just to round out the lineup. Not be a huge piece of it. Enclave is Buick's $$$$ car these days. The LaCrosse is for the guy who just got his spouse the Enclave but he wants a Buick too.

sounds like its too pricey for a lot of the marques. And i do think moving the show to October may help. Apart from that though I wonder if having the show in LA or New York makes the most sense from the world stage aspect. No offense, but Detroit? It's time may have passed.....

coming up on 6 months by the way. will put some 6 month thoughts up soon. Filled wife's tank tonight and on way back, urban driving.... pulled 37 mpg most of the way and ended up about 34 for that whole 10 mile stretch. Has no trouble getting 24 mpg average now that weather is nicer and it seems like it is getting broken in.

Congrats! you get a 2017 or 2018? yep, i don't like the less storage and yep, the seat mounted screens my kid loves too. pacificaforums.com is a great place for all the minutia of what is going on with those vans.

well if you get the black label crap and the high end revel audio etc. its ridiculous but then can spec out near 60k... for Fusion deluxe

i looked into the 400hp MKZ, those sticker for 60k. Even with mammoth discounts, if Ford can't make big bucks on a tarted up Fusion with that sticker, even with low volume, they deserve to go under.

well, this is what they want people in. or they will tax the living sht out of you. there's reason the ridiculous fuel economy standards are there. punish you either way. comply and drive the crackerbox or pay through the but in taxes and fines if you want a truck or something. Sad thing is the Ecosport is such a pile of crap with poor mpg and no power

Huge discounts in future are inevitable for the Eclipse Cross. To get one now while they are holding close to MSRP is a recipe for being upside down, if one isn't willing to wait. Of course, maybe there is a chance they won't have to for awhile, but Mits history suggests the discounts are needed. Now, i must try an Eclipse Cross. Still at the end of the day, I would judge it vs an Escape 2.0 at a low price.

All of FCA is down except Alfa which is up 40,000 percent! FCA overall is up, almost entirely because of Fiat! There you go, kill everything except Jeep Ram and Fiat!

not suitable as a US 3 row Jeep. probably means its wonderful for China.

i like your writeup, for fairness. I've looked at this vehicle several times since it came out and have driven it many times. Why? At one time it was to potentially be my inexpensive Cobalt replacement with AWD. So in that aspect it was a step up. And the Mitsubishi dealers here are very good and the actual prices you can buy these things at are jaw dropping low if you factor in incentives and discounts and the standard warranties. I had always looked at this as one of the first steps up from the old Suzuki SX4 of which i am quite familiar with and actually sold for awhile. And for a small SUV, it's room and space are very very good. Which is great for larger guys. Vehicles like HRV, CX3, Juke etc. don't seem to have the spaciousness of the OS. I like the interior in spite of its cheap spots and datedness. I like its simplicity. I don't like the non reclining rear seats. The cargo area is good sized. I have also found that at highway cruising, regardless of 2.0 or 2.4 it is comfortably decent at speed and can get close to 30 consistently on the highway with AWD. The Encore has an extra sense of luxury to it that this may lack, but comparatively, you can make a case for an Outlander Sport as a better buy / product than a Trax. Me personally, I would never get a Kona, HRV or CX3 over the OS. (side note, outlanders are not that much more than outlander sports). The OS really sort of takes over now for what the Lancer was in Mits product lineup. The volume selling small car. The eclipse Cross should have been larger. I do think the OS only makes sense up to a certain price point. I wouldn't look at a loaded one due to its datedness. But for an AWD crossover at or below 18-20k in real money, for the right buyers i endorse it. I think there is a point where you start to look at lower level Escapes as an upgrade competitior. We have some friends who have one and they have always liked it. I could be fine putting my teenage daughter in one when she starts driving, if it is a good money choice. Mitsubishis biggest fault with this so far is never putting a real awesome powertrain it it.

I would if need be but only on a lease (with full term BTB) or if I am buying, only with lifetime power train ....wait and buy one from one of those dealers that give out the lifetime wty with purchase 'for free'