After a hearty meal, a glass of Scotch by the fire, and a restful night
in Chateau Montebello, the world's largest log cabin, we set out for
Circuit Icar. Located north of Montreal at a former airport, Icar hosts
all sort of motorsports events ranging from drag racing to a full racing
academy. We took the Regal GS through three courses carved from the ice
and snow—a skidpad, a medium-speed autocross, and a handling circuit.The
Regal’s Haldex-built all-wheel-drive system can direct more than 90
percent of its torque to the rear wheels, plus it can split the torque
sent to each individual rear wheel to enhance handling response. In the
Icar Circuit’s icy low-traction conditions, the Regal GS delivered
tail-out, rear-wheel-drive dynamics once we disabled the traction- and
stability-control systems. With strong Brembo front brakes, precise
steering, and grippy tires, the Regal GS got us around the track with
surprising alacrity.
The 2014 Regal GS handled admirably and
exhibited no noticeable torque steer. At the same time, the turbocharged
2.0-liter engine suffered from enough turbo lag for us to notice some
compromise in throttle modulation, which is pretty important when you’re
sliding across the ice toward a snow bank. And since the Regal GS AWD
model weighs in at just under 4000 lbs (about 270 lbs more than the
front-wheel-drive Regal GS), we were reminded that it is more like a big
luxury car than a medium-size sport sedan. After all, the Audi A4 2.0T
tips the scales at 3693 lbs with all-wheel drive and an automatic
transmission, while the BMW 328i xDrive is even leaner at 3596 lbs.
Driving with a proper attitude
Back on the highway, the Regal GS’s 259-hp turbo-four engine proved
peppy and plenty powerful for enthusiastic passing once the digital rev
needle started to climb across the dial. The flat-bottomed, heated
steering wheel and supportive, heated leather seats stood out as welcome
comfort features while we spent the day in frigid driving conditions.
Yet
the Regal GS is not some light-and-lithe Euro-style sport sedan. Even
when you set the driving mode selector to the sportiest, GS setting
(heavy-effort steering, quicker shifts at higher rpm, and firmer
suspension damping), this car remains a traditional Buick — quiet,
composed, and tame. The Regal’s cabin is as nicely hushed as a dentist’s
waiting room on the highway, but it unfortunately stays that way even
when you really punch the throttle. No surprise, since the refreshed
Regal GS incorporates a number of features to reduce road and mechanical
noise, but a strong exhaust note is a glaring omission in a car with
sporting aspirations.
Both in everyday highway driving and on the
track, the 2014 Buick Regal GS AWD remains a refined luxury car with
all-weather capability. It’s not a sport sedan, though. Think of it as
more like Sinatra than Elvis.
Some career counseling lies ahead
The 2014 Buick Regal GS AWD is the sportiest variant across the Regal
lineup, but when Buick tells us that it wants this car to compete with
the Audi A4 2.0T and BMW 328i xDrive, well, we advise some career
counseling. The Regal GS is an excellent example of the conundrum Buick
faces as it seeks to draw in younger customers. It can’t be so thrilling
that it sends loyal, conservative Buick buyers scrambling for their
heart pills, but it needs to give outsiders a sporty reason to ditch
German or Japanese luxury sedans for an American one, even if there is
some money to be saved in the bargain.
The 2014 Regal GS is a
nice-looking car with new fascias front and rear plus HID headlights and
LED taillights, but the GS AWD costs just over $40,000. At $32,790, the
2014 Buick Regal Turbo with all-wheel drive offers the same power and
the same all-weather capability, though without the Regal GS’s sporting
and luxury features. For most Buick buyers in the snowbelt, this will be
the way to go.
We’d argue that Buick understands the character of
the traditional luxury car better than almost everybody, and it’s the
right brand for plenty of people in America, not to mention China, too.
But if Buick really wants to make cars that rival luxury-trimmed models
of the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series, it has a ways to go. It is possible to
get there in the end, as Cadillac has proven with its Cadillac ATS 2.0,
but the road is long and there are plenty of ice bridges along the way.
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