When we bought our new Solstice GXP coupe they had a Lacrosse in the showroom. I sat in it and liked it......very nice car. I wish I'd had a chance to drive it, but we just didn't have the time. I'm 32 and have liked Buicks for a long time, so they aren't just for the old crowd. Every so often I find myself trolling the classifieds for a Grand National and I'm starting the restoration on my 65 Riviera early next year. I do like the direction they are heading now.
When pepole start knocking Buicks, I just sit back and chuckle to myself. I don't like driving them because of the lack of "road feel", but they sure are reliable. And we are probably going to end up with a new Lacrosse in the driveway this summer.
My wifes last 3 cars have been:
81 Skylark (traded in with 110K miles)
89 Century (traded in with 130K miles)
00 LeSabre (currently has 65K miles)
All were bought new and maintained at the dealer. The wife is a fanatic about maintenance. Oil and filter change and tire rotation every 3k miles. All services as scheduled in the owners manual.
The only one of the 3 that has given any problems is the LeSabre which has had all 4 power window mechanisims replaced at least once. The last two were well out of warranty but the dealer split the cost with us.
They have been so reliable that the Century was traded in with the original 11 year old battery still in it and the LeSabre still has the original battery also.
I may not like them to drive myself but I never have to worry about the wife being stranded somewhere.
they watered down the Opel looks a bit more than I wouldve hoped to make that Regal, but I still like it. Put some Buick center caps in those Opel wheels for me please!
Im looking forward to some boosted 6cyl goodness...may have to change my name
The chineese do love buick for some reason. Been there, saw that, and wondered why?
Now, the fact that they are heralding this car and this brand as the second comming of GM does not bode well for GM's future.
GM has a very simple problem and no ability to detect it. It abandoned the youth market in the early 70's. Times were tough what with the fuel and emissions issues and the old young people attactors in the form of Muscle Cars were not really working in the new world. So rather than adapt and make fun modifiable cars for the young crowd, GM decided to just feed of the older crowd who had already had enough excitment in their lifetime and just needed a comfy cruiser to get them to the grave. Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and GMC all stood for stodgy and reliable; 'nother way to say Boring.
So far, no sign that GM has clued into this lack of youth entering their customer pipeline. The marketing plan for the existing brandnames worked fine and GM customers kept buying GM up to the day they die. But no one is replacing them...
It is simple.. one of the emporers before they became communist liked buicks...
NOHOME, if I was looking to buy a new car, a Cobalt SS would be on the short list.
Z31:
If you are a young first time car buyer and looking at GM then good for you. Me, I am way to old to change my spots and go looking at GM after leaving the flock for 35 years. Other than the vette and the camaro, not sure how many gm products I could even name! Is this cobalt an attainable vehicle for the average first itme male car buyer or would you be an exception?
I'll take one of these for $350. 
I got to spend a few days with a Lacrosse. It's not something I would buy, but it's really a pretty nice car, just as nice as a Camry or Accord.
I spent a couple of days in a Buick Enclave last year when the inlaws were car shopping. I liked it an awful lot - smooth, quiet, nice interior, comfortable, roomy. They went with a Nissan Murano because they didn't want anything that big. I actually tried to get my wife to accept one but she wouldn't go with a domestic nameplate and we got her a CPO Volvo XC90 instead. I liked the Buick better but garage fit would have been a problem. But she's the problem Buick and GM face - Buick is not seen as a premium brand in her eyes, same as 90% of our friends/peers in our upper middle class town who should be Buick's prime market. Instead the school parking lot for band concerts, etc. is full of Honda Pilots and Odysseys with more than a few Volvo XC90s.
that was one of GM's issues.. in their massive bid to badge engineer everything.. they devalued everything but Chevy, GMC, and Caddy... and even caddy took a serious hit.
Was I the only one to think "Grand National" or "GNX" when I saw this thread title?
the turn signal stalk...lol. I have been more disappointed in the interior panel fitments than anything else on GMs.
I just checked out Buick's website, to try and gain some insight on their choice to send a geezer coach to an auto-sport magazine. I noticed the heading reads, "New Cars: New Sports Cars: New SUVs..." So I had to check out the Regal....220hp turbo ecotec!?! From Buick!?! This will be interesting, however disappointing compared to the 'old' Regals.
RexSeven wrote: Was I the only one to think "Grand National" or "GNX" when I saw this thread title?
The last great Buick? No, probably not. Hope you're not disappointed!
^^ They have one of those at a dealer, along with an Impala SS. I might have to go testdriving tomorrow just for fun. And if the Buick Dealer has a LaCrosse, I'll test drive that if mom wants to come with me. She will come with me. My mom is awesome. Even if she can't drive stickshift.
Buick would really be better off if it just had one model per year. That way, they wouldn't have to mess with the finicky business of model names, which always seem to be disappointing. Skylark? Roadmaster? Lacrosse? These do not do the brand justice. The word Buick is so beautifully humble; GM just needs to embrace its utter middle-classness. It's the kind of car that should derive respect without envy. Even "Regal" sounded too pretentious.
"Hey, what is that?" "Oh, it's just my new Buick."
My $2010 challenge car will have a Buick 3.8 in it from a 91 Regal GS
NOHOME wrote: So far, no sign that GM has clued into this lack of youth entering their customer pipeline. The marketing plan for the existing brandnames worked fine and GM customers kept buying GM up to the day they die. But no one is replacing them...
Sadly, I'm not sure this is a bad marketing strategy, as young and broke often tend to go together like college and ramen. Toyota's pretty much told the youth market to go turn their so-called music down, quit dressing like skanks, and grow up, and look where it got them.
(Or in another 10 years, it could get them where GM is now.)
MadScientistMatt wrote: Interesting. The interior looks more VW than the last Buick I rode in.
You're not the only one that sees VW. Maybe it's just the picture, but the exterior looks like a Jetta's fat older sister.
MadScientistMatt wrote:NOHOME wrote: So far, no sign that GM has clued into this lack of youth entering their customer pipeline. The marketing plan for the existing brandnames worked fine and GM customers kept buying GM up to the day they die. But no one is replacing them...Sadly, I'm not sure this is a bad marketing strategy, as young and broke often tend to go together like college and ramen. Toyota's pretty much told the youth market to go turn their so-called music down, quit dressing like skanks, and grow up, and look where it got them. (Or in another 10 years, it could get them where GM is now.)
Indeed.. GM needs to go back to "teirs". Start with a chevy, work your way up to a buick, then into a caddy... it worked great for decades.. why they ever ditched it, I will never know
mad_machine wrote: Indeed.. GM needs to go back to "teirs". Start with a chevy, work your way up to a buick, then into a caddy... it worked great for decades.. why they ever ditched it, I will never know
At some point, all the division managers decided they needed a full lineup to have something for everyone in their dealers, sometime in the '70s or '80s. And they let it go so far as to have Pontiac minivans, Oldsmobile SUVs, and similarly inexplicable combinations. May have been that the dealers were complaining of gaps in their lineup. Why they didn't go with the more reasonable solution of having all GM dealers carry all GM lines is beyond me.
Funny thing is, for all the talk about brand management in the '90s, GM actually did a horrible job of managing its brands. Well, most of them - Saturn definitely stood for something, and Chevy did a good job of being the basic transportation division with a few sporty things. But they really didn't do a good job at making their other divisions stand for anything - Pontiac, for example, instead of getting associated with exciting and fun to drive cars, just stood for plastic body strakes and red gauges.
mad_machine wrote: I do not know.. a couple of good models with some younger demographics and people my not think so poorly of owning a Buick.. look at Caddy and what the CTS did for them?
Make the regal a rebadged CTS and I'd buy a buick. 
More than anything, that super-lame name will kill sales singlehandedly (along with it being badged a Buick), regardless of how great the car might actually be.
No offense to those who live in Lacrosse, which it is surely named after (probably not the sport).
But really, look at Hyundai's new one: The GENESIS. When you tell the country club crew that you have a Genesis, it sounds impressive (just don't say "Hyundai Genesis.".
Lexus/Infiniti...they go with the whole moronic euro-sedan number/letter scemes that are en vogue.
Caddy...the "meaningless letters" names...CTS, STS...those at least sound sophisticated.
LaCrosse? Sounds like a really cheap 1980s American econocar.
btw, me = 34 years old, white-collar....Buick's likely target audience for a car like this in this price range.
mad_machine wrote:MadScientistMatt wrote:Indeed.. GM needs to go back to "teirs". Start with a chevy, work your way up to a buick, then into a caddy... it worked great for decades.. why they ever ditched it, I will never knowNOHOME wrote: So far, no sign that GM has clued into this lack of youth entering their customer pipeline. The marketing plan for the existing brandnames worked fine and GM customers kept buying GM up to the day they die. But no one is replacing them...Sadly, I'm not sure this is a bad marketing strategy, as young and broke often tend to go together like college and ramen. Toyota's pretty much told the youth market to go turn their so-called music down, quit dressing like skanks, and grow up, and look where it got them. (Or in another 10 years, it could get them where GM is now.)
I agree, but not those tiers:
Start with a SATURN (sell only inexpensive, low-option, marginal-performance cars available as strippers)
Work your way up to a Chevy (sell full range from Vettes to Malibus to pickups)
Apex at caddy (luxury or ultra-performance only)
no need for a "sporty" marque like Pontiac was at one point: just have the Vette and Caddy-Vette, Cobalt, and maybe one other sportscar.
no need for Buick....it doesn't fit anyplace. The only person I know that would even think of BUICK when buying a new car is my grandfather.
+1 on the portals.... hahaha
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