In the back seat, Buick has proven that you can have a stylish tail and still have enough headroom for adults. On the outside, the Regal looks well proportioned with large doors that open wide to make getting in and out quite easy. On the inside, headroom is very good (I can sit in the back quite comfortably) as is leg and knee room. The seat cushion is long enough to give decent leg support. Best of all, seat height is just right; you are low enough to be out of the driver’s way and high enough to not feel closed in.
Instruments and HVAC
By the time you get in and get the Regal started, you are going to notice a completely new instrument panel and centre stack. Yes, the tach and speedometer are still front and centre with the temperature and fuel gauges present in supporting roles, but the centre stack now has the power door lock switch and the seat heater switches are part of the HVAC controls.
Driving
Now that you have finished going over the interior and have that jaw you dropped back in place, you are ready for a serious drive. At first, the Regal will seem a bit slow and stodgy, just like all the previous ones. That is because, it is programmed that way. The engine needs some revs to make things happen. Once you have figured out how much right foot to use, you are ready to move on to using the transmission properly.
Buick seems to think that if you leave the six-speed automatic in drive, you are going to just pussy-foot around town. If you like to drive aggressively and leave the car in drive, then you need to use lots of “right foot” to get the revs up and make the transmission downshift to the right gear. Or, you can move the shifter to the manual-shift side of the gate and row a few of your own gears. Here the transmission does not up shift automatically very quickly, but will go up or down in the blink of an eye if you bat the shifter.
Now that you have the engine and transmission sorted out between relaxed and wound up, the same can be done for the suspension. At slow speeds, there isn’t much that can be done about some of our larger pot holes (I used to think that they only appeared in the spring, but not anymore!) except let the suspension drop in. If you do this, there is very little jarring action that makes it to your spine. This suspension soaks up a broad range of thumps, bumps and bangs.
Instruments and HVAC
By the time you get in and get the Regal started, you are going to notice a completely new instrument panel and centre stack. Yes, the tach and speedometer are still front and centre with the temperature and fuel gauges present in supporting roles, but the centre stack now has the power door lock switch and the seat heater switches are part of the HVAC controls.
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| By the time you get in and get the Regal started, you are going to notice a completely new instrument panel and centre stack. (Photo Buick) |
Driving
Now that you have finished going over the interior and have that jaw you dropped back in place, you are ready for a serious drive. At first, the Regal will seem a bit slow and stodgy, just like all the previous ones. That is because, it is programmed that way. The engine needs some revs to make things happen. Once you have figured out how much right foot to use, you are ready to move on to using the transmission properly.
Buick seems to think that if you leave the six-speed automatic in drive, you are going to just pussy-foot around town. If you like to drive aggressively and leave the car in drive, then you need to use lots of “right foot” to get the revs up and make the transmission downshift to the right gear. Or, you can move the shifter to the manual-shift side of the gate and row a few of your own gears. Here the transmission does not up shift automatically very quickly, but will go up or down in the blink of an eye if you bat the shifter.
Now that you have the engine and transmission sorted out between relaxed and wound up, the same can be done for the suspension. At slow speeds, there isn’t much that can be done about some of our larger pot holes (I used to think that they only appeared in the spring, but not anymore!) except let the suspension drop in. If you do this, there is very little jarring action that makes it to your spine. This suspension soaks up a broad range of thumps, bumps and bangs.
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| The engine needs some revs to make things happen. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com)) |