Buick Regal eAssist 2012 Review. I pulled up to an intersection near my house in the 2012 Buick Regal eAssist and noted that I was surrounded by three Buick LaCrosses. Four Buicks at one stoplight isn't surprising--I live in a General Motors-centric area, near the massive GM-Orion plant, halfway between GM HQ in downtown Detroit and the former home of Buick in Flint. What was surprising was that the four cars were the most stylish lookers at the corner, at least to my eye.
GM has done a remarkable job in taking Opel/Vauxhall cars and touching them up for U.S. consumption as Buicks. The best part isn't the grille swap, however. It's that Buick has managed to keep the inherently solid engineering intact. The result is a Regal that feels connected to the road and wants to run, even in this greenie version.
Thankfully, Buick didn't overdo the greenness elements, relying on a simple little "Eco" meter to help the driver gauge whether he or she is squeezing the most out of each drop of fuel. Put another way, it's completely disregardable. The same applies to the drivetrain-it cycles around doing whatever whiz-bang mild-hybrid, stop/start things its does without too much of anything transmitting back into the cabin.
Is it all worth $34,000 in this trim, for 29 mpg (combined) in a near-luxury sedan? One comparison might be a Lexus CT 200h Premium, a full parallel hybrid that gets some 40 mpg combined, for an extra $4,000 up front. The Lexus doesn't offer anywhere near the same kind of return on the dollar-to-power ratio, so unless you really have to have those extra mpg, the Regal eAssist is a smart alternative.
EDITOR WES RAYNAL: I like everything about this car except the color, which reminds me of a late 1970s Buick. It's just awful. But if that's all I can whine about, that's not bad.
The electric motor gives the Regal just that little bit of oomph it needs off the line and for zipping around town. Stop/start and throttle response from a stop is just the tiniest bit clunky. It's not bad, and not nearly as bad as GM's last-generation eAssist, but I noticed it. Still it's hard to argue with the mileage boost it gives. So a slight kick in the ass and better mileage-nothing wrong with that.
Otherwise the car drives like a normal Regal: tight, quiet, decent handler, smooth transmission-you know the drill. My only wish with the Regal is that Buick offered it in wagon form, as Opel does the Insignia on which the Buick is based. I don't know whether it would sell at all, but I'd like one for what that's worth. Buick could call it the Sportwagon, reminiscent of the wagons it had in the 1960s and '70s.
I did think it was kind of slick that one side of the rear seatback still folds so you could get some skis and such in there if you wish.
Yeah, $34,000 might be a little steep, but no one would have to pay that if in the market.
NEWS EDITOR GREG MIGLIORE: I like the Regal line, and this is a solid variant. Interestingly in 2013, it will be the base car, when Buick discontinues the standard 2.4-liter and goes eAssist as entry-level.
The light electrification provides adequate power. Passing and merging are no problem, and the transmission is smooth. The chassis is excellent, the cabin is quiet and refined and the styling is classy.
I spent a lot of time in this car, and it's solid. I could easily recommend the Regal to a wide array of consumers.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROGER HART: I wouldn't have to squint real hard to see a Regal as my daily driver. I'm just not sure it would be this eAssist model. This is a handsome car that is comfortable with decent interior space for a car this size. I would certainly hesitate calling this a near-luxury car, but it does have a feel above that of a Chevrolet, so it's moving in the right direction.
For $2,000 more than the base Regal you get the addition of the 15-kilowatt electric motor, which does provide some extra oomph when merging onto the freeway and getting up to speed in a hurry. The 2.4-liter is certainly a buzzy little thing, even with the electric assist. The uptick in fuel economy seems hardly worth it. In the fuel-economy numbers here we've not gotten close to the EPA figures of 25/36 mpg, and of the 232 miles in my trip, 120 were freeway miles. That 26-mpg number should have been a bit higher. We could talk about the EPA testing process and how it rarely reflects real-world driving, but that's another story.
But I guess the potential for better fuel economy is there, and with nearly $4-per-gallon gasoline, consumers will be scrambling for all the fuel economy they can buy. Plus, the base Regal is going away, making this the new base.
What you do get in the eAssist is the funky brake-pedal feel that we've all come to know (and mostly hate) that goes along with hybridness. You also got auto stop/start, which is such a logical thing I would think all vehicles will have it at some point.
What I'm waiting for from a Detroit Three company is for one to deliver a car like the Regal with a decent clean-diesel powerplant that would return upward of 40 mpg and make just about everyone forget about hybrids. That would be a Regal that I would be really excited about. Buick Regal eAssist 2012 Review.
Base Price: $30,375
As-Tested Price: $34,470
Drivetrain: 2.4-liter I4; FWD, six-speed automatic
Output: 182 hp @ 6,700 rpm (15 hp @ 1,000-2,200 rpm electric motor), 172 lb-ft @ 4,900 rpm (79 lb-ft @ 1,000 rpm electric motor)
Curb Weight: 3,618 lb
Fuel Economy (EPA/AW): 29/24.5 mpg
Options: Ecotec 2.4-liter DOHC I4 with eAssist and 17-inch alloy wheels replacing 18-inch alloy wheels ($2,000); AM/FM radio with CD and MP3 playback, navigation system and seven-inch color touch-screen display ($1,145); power sunroof ($1,000); unit built without power-mirror turn-signal indicators (-$50)
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120713/carreviews/120719941#ixzz2D87h2Dzj
No comments:
Post a Comment