Buick Enclave: Looks
Enticing younger buyers into Buick showrooms is job No. 1. While the Enclave
crossover and the recently redesigned LaCrosse have chipped away at the average
age of Buick owners — it's down from 72 to 64 — the curvy Regal should lure in
shoppers at least a decade or three younger than that.
The Regal we see in the U.S. is identical to a German GM design called the
Opel Insignia. In fact, Buick proudly states that the two are virtually
identical, save for the grilles and a few light treatments. That's likely
because it would have been hard to complain about the original look. The front
is modern and unoffensive, the profile and rear quarter bring BMW to mind, and
the rear looks like it came from Acura — from before when that brand forgot what
a curve was.
Taken in all at once, the Regal looks like a more expensive car than its
$26,245 base price suggests. My hotel room was perched directly above the test
fleet of Regals I piloted for this review, and while I worked from my hotel
balcony I saw too many joggers and passers-by to count crane their necks to
check out the row of sedans. Many even stopped to peek in the windows.
The Regal's look is an elegant one that's hard not to take note of in any of the six typical colors it's currently available in: white, silver, beige, dark gray, dark blue and black. Unfortunately, the dark red that's so attractive on the LaCrosse isn't yet available on the Regal.
