Buick Regal for Me?

seasoned said:

Hi Guys,

I am new to this forum and I have joined to see what the new Buick Regal owners think of their cars.
I currently own a 07 Saturn Aura XR, and for those that may not know, the new Buick Regal was origally intended to be the next generation Saturn Aura, however as we all know GM closed down Saturn and changed the replacement model to be a Buick. Given the current state of the industry, it was probably a good choice.

I have owned 2 Buick Regals in the past, a 93 third generation "Limited" and a 4th generation 99 GS (with supercharger), both with 3.8 V6 and the new Regal is on my potential shopping list. Because of GM closing Saturn, my Aura is now not worth a lot so I am thinking of running it into the ground before I buy another car so it will likely be 2 or 3 years before I purchase.
By this time they will be building the Regal at the GM Oshawa plant in Ontario, Canada where they build the Impala instead of importing them from Belgium.
I am thinking that the choices may be better then as they are limited right now with only the 'cooking' 4 cylinder available (although the turbo is coming soon).
In Europe they have a much better range of engine choices such as 2.8 V6 turbo and diesel engines in addition to a range of 4 cylinders from 1.6 litres up.

So I am looking forward to all of the responses from new owners.

By the way, don't forget to sign up for the "Reliability" study posted by Mike Karesh. This is a valuable tool for understanding reliability issues with alomost any make of car and the true value is the data comes from 'real' owners.

Talk to you soon,

Click to expand...

Seasoned,

Welcome to RegalForums.com! You may remember me from the Saturnfans.com site. I went by the name "TechnoAura" on that site.

I purchased the 2011 Regal because I (dare I say) fell in love with the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia design when I first saw it in 2008. At the time, I was excited about the prospect of the Insignia becoming the next generation Saturn Aura. Ultimately, when the Penske deal fell through, I knew I would most likely never have the opportunity to own another Aura/Insignia. Aside from being disappointed that Saturn would cease to exist, I was disappointed that I would not be able to find a car like the Aura in the under $30,000 price range. It just did not exist. To make a long story short, when I read that GM was going to import the Insignia to the U.S. as a Regal, I was excited.

Now, having driven a 2007 Aura XE with the 3.5, the 2.4 liter is a bit anemic compared to the 3.5, but I knew that going on my first test drive of the Regal. Nevertheless, I liked the exterior and interior styling, along with the handling to look past the 0-60 performance deficit. I like the fit and finish of the Regal over my old Aura and I like that the Regal has a firm ride that transmits very little of the vibrations from the road to the interior. The Aura, although a very solid car, transmitted a lot more vibrations from the road into the cabin.

I have had my Regal now since August and could not be happier. Well, my one complaint is the lack of accessories available, including all-weather floor mats. Although I keep receiving emails and brochures from GM advertising such accessories, they still are not available. Other than the lack of vehicle accessories, I think the Regal is a great car.

If you have other questions about the car, or just want to chat, feel free to let me know.

Best regards