It is once again Friday and that means it is time for another installment of Forum Friday. The thread in question this week deals with buying a first used car and not just any car, but a Buick. The original poster has around $7000 to spend and is looking at a low mile, Buick Regal and simply wants to know, is it a good car? It is now time to investigate.
The Buick Regal name has been around since the 70s and the model itself has gone through numerous changes. It started life as a huge, rear wheel drive “boat”, morphed into a midsize, high output grand tourer, changed into a front wheel drive sedan, changed again and then died. Buick recently brought it back and the Regal name was once again on the radar.
For $7000, the original poster is more than likely looking at the fourth generation Regal produced from 1997 until 2004. Excluding the current Regal, this generation is easily the most sophisticated Regal, riding on GM’s W-Body which also supports the Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Lumina/Monte Carlo and the Oldsmobile Intrigue. This front drive platform uses a MacPherson strut suspension set up front and rear, which gives it a heads up over other platforms that use a torsion rear beam set up. The Regal gets a special party piece though by way of the GS trim level.
With a very unassuming body, the Regal GS hides something very stout under its hood. A 240 horsepower, supercharged 3.8 liter V6 with 280 lb-ft of torque gave the GS a 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds. This comfortable, plush, leather trimmed family sedan could cover the quarter mile in just 14.7 seconds. Needless to say, the Regal GS was actually quite fast.
This should give any first car buyer incentive to seek out a Regal because besides its onramp power, the 3.8 liter is surprisingly efficient. The EPA rated it with 27 mpg on the highway and if properly maintained, this can easily still be achieved. The 3800 series engine has also been around for a while and has proved itself as a reliable piece of machinery.
$7000 is plenty enough to find a low mile, high quality 1997 to 2004 Buick Regal. Given the performance of the GS trim, the original poster of this thread should keep their eyes peeled for one of the supercharged models.
http://www.autotalk.com/forums/buick/buick-regal-5318/
