I am a web developer for Davis GM, Lethbridge.  A few people in and around the dealership will come up to me and ask some pretty basic questions about some of our vehicles as if I were a salesperson, – and why not?  I’m wearing a collared shirt and dress pants.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, there is a very good chance it’s a duck.  Unfortunately I am not a salesperson, nor a duck.

I decided to write this blog about the new 2011 Buick Regal because one, its one of the hottest cars out there.  The second reason I have chose to write this blog is because I wanted to force myself to do a bit of research on this vehicle. You know, learn a thing or two about it so that I can share about some of the features when approached.

So here is what I know – Let’s start with a bit of history.  First, the last time that this European beauty was offered to the western market was in 2004. Second, the European market knows this vehicle as the Buick Intrigue, where we know it as the Buick Regal.  In 2009 the European Regal (Intrigue) earned Car of the Year honors, establishing itself as the best-selling mid-size car in Europe.  You always hear of young kids talking about European imports, how this car is better than that car etc. etc (Thank-You Fast and the Furious). I guarantee they have never brought up the Regal. Well that’s because it’s a Buick, Buick’s are for the older generation right? NO!

So many people have this idea that Buick is not a young person’s car.  Maybe I am too young to be able to trace back-in-time to figure where we got this idea, but after driving this vehicle and seeing it out on the lot, I can guarantee you it is not.  It’s a shame that a company can be stigmatized as an “older generation” vehicle because they excel at creating vehicles with comfortable interior’s and incredible suspensions.  Do people consider BMW and Mercedes Benz an “old person’s” vehicle? Maybe, I guess that depends on one’s personal opinion.  I feel that the new 2011 Buick’s have the appearance of those high-end vehicles.  Only Buick has found a way to pull it off just a little bit better.

I am simply a web developer at Davis GM and do not know a whole lot about the cars we sell.  I would love to be able to tell you that the 2011 Regal has a standard 182 hp 2.4 L ECOTEC 4-cylinder engine with Direct Injection and Variable Valve Timing (VVT) and be able to tell you what that all means, but I should probably leave that up to the experts.  I can only tell that if you lined up one-hundred and eighty-two horses to a wagon.  That wagon is going to be able go really, really fast.  The 2.4L ECOTEC 4-cylinder engine with VVT, is a little bit tougher to explain.  If I had to explain it simpler for you; those 182 individual horses are the biggest and badest horses and they can get from point A to point B without expending a whole lot of energy.  Most people think of days of analogies like that, I just did that one the spot… Good for me!

Last week I posted a 2011 Buick Regal commercial on our Facebook page. You may or may not have noticed that the soft, perfectly toned voice enticing you to buy, is none other than himself, Mr. Kevin Bacon.  If Kevin’s soothing voice couldn’t seduce you into test driving one of the cars perhaps I can.  If you’re like me and cant drive a standard and have always thought they looked fun to drive.  The Regal CXL has a 6-speed automatic transmission with Driver Shift Control allowing you shift like a pro; thats right, no clutch! . The CXL has 6 different airbags. Dual Driver and front passenger, as well as front and rear side head curtain air bags and a front seat side thorax airbag.  Talk about safety. The sound system in the Regal is unreal.  It has a 7 speaker Harman/Kardon audio system with CD player, MP3 playback and a 10GB storage for your library of songs – Between the 10GB hard drive and Buick offering 130 channels of XM Satellite radio, you’ll never hear the same song twice.

I am running this review a little longer than I had intended, it’s just that there is so much the Regal has to offer.  I wanted to go in to detail about how the odometer is not your average flat digital clock, and that each number is almost an image with shape and dimension.  That is if you didn’t happen to pick up a CXL Turbo which has the digital Heads-up Display on your front windshield… Looks like I told you anyways.  The biggest surprise to me was when I read that Regal basically uses a form of artificial intelligence to learn your driving style. The CXL Turbo offers a interactive Drive Control System that enables you to choose between three driving modes: Normal, Tour and Sport.  Each of these modes continuously adjusts the suspension, steering, throttle, transmission and stability system to respond to your preferences and driving conditions.  Lift this car of the ground and George Jetson would even be impressed.  It is these very reasons why I feel the 2011 Buick Regal is simply a spacecraft on four wheels.

Come in to see what makes this car the European standard.

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