Buick Softy

2012 Buick Regal GS

Buick has sprung back to life with an all new style of luxury and design. The LaCrosse for instance is a very good looking luxury car with the technology similar to that of a Mercedes C-Class. The all new Regal looks much better than what it did before and is much more powerful. Now, Buick is on its way to making sports sedans, starting with this all new Buick Regal GS. It looks pretty cool with its chrome Y-Spoke rims and sporty bodykit, but look under the hood, and you'll be disappointed. You see under the hood is a 2.0-liter Turbocharged 255 horsepower 4-cylinder engine connected a 6-speed automatic or manual transmission. Now to some of you, that may sound good. However, to most of you, this isn't good, and here's why.

2012 Vauxhall Insignia VXR

This is the British equivalent, the Vauxhall Insignia VXR. It looks like the Regal GS, right? However, under the hood, it's totally different. The Regal GS had a 2.0-liter Turbo-4 engine. This has a 2.8-liter 321 horsepower Turbocharged V6 engine. This car has all-wheel drive to keep everything balanced. The Regal GS still has front-wheel drive. I don't know about you, but this makes the Regal GS look like a big softy. If you're going to make an American Spec of a European car, at least keep all the power and drivetrain the same. I guess Buick did this to attract old people. Who knows? Anyway, the GS performance brand doesn't have enough umph to be good, but luckily there is a car in the works that just might save it.

2012 Buick LaCrosse GS Prototype (Courtesy of AutoBlog & Chris Doane/Brenda Priddy & Company)

What this is is a prototype of what could be the next GS sedan in Buick, taking the body form of the super-cool LaCrosse. It has the same sporty rims the Insignia VXR has so it might mean that there's a pretty mean engine under the bonnet. We'll have to wait and see what Buick does next with this car.

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