That’s a Buick!?!? – Part 2

It’s been a week and a half or so since GM unveiled the 2011 Buick Regal, and I’m still reeling. I mean…Buicks are supposed to be dumpy and boring…and this new Regal? It’s anything but.

Just look at what’s being said about the newest Buick:

It’s safe to say that this is a Buick the likes of which we have never seen before. – Autoblog

So let’s see what we have here; A gorgeous, fun-to-drive, quick, comfortable, well-equipped American sedan built with the quality of its German competitors… and it’s a Buick. – Jalopnik

It’s probably the most fun, nicest-looking, sporty FWD mid-size sedan in the market. And we’re saying that about a Buick, not an Acura TSX or Mazda6. – Jalopnik

I know it’s been pretty easy to write off American cars over the last couple of years. I’ve done so myself. But there’s a rebirth afoot. Ford is stepping up. The refreshed Fusion recently won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, and the impending arrival of the new Fiesta and Focus look to keep the good times rolling. GM, meanwhile, is kicking some serious butt in the crossover space, with the new Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX. With the Regal, it looks like they may have a good shot at revitalizing an all-but-obsolete brand.

That’s the thing, though. Buick has been so bland, so boring, for so long, that it’s going to take a hell of a lot to siphon off the sort of buyers who’d also cross-shop Acuras and Volkswagens. The Regal’s good…by the sound of the early reviews it may even be great…but it’s still a Buick, and in the end that will be the biggest obstacle it has to surmount.

That’s a Buick!?!?

Every so often, something comes along that completely shakes up all of our established perceptions about the way the world works.

I had one of those moments this week, when GM debuted the new Buick Regal. Good God in heaven, a Buick I not only actually like, but would even consider putting on the shopping list.

It’s been a weird year for me as I’ve followed the various gyrations in the auto industry, from Honda and Toyota seriously dropping the ball (Crosstour and floormats of death, respectively), to Kia and Hyundai coming on strong, and GM and Ford throwing out not just passable, but seriously compelling and competitive new vehicles.

I can’t wait to see what the next few months hold, as we move into the next auto show season…

 

And Then There Were Cars…

I didn’t realize it at the time, but if you look back through the pictures of me as a little kid, a theme emerges. In almost every single shot, I’m clutching a car, truck, or some sort of four-wheeled thing in one of my hands. Maybe it’s a coincidence that I grew up to be a car nut, but…maybe not.

Fast forward a few decades, and now I have a little boy of my own. And ever since he could, well, move, I’ve been watching for that interest in cars. To date, nothing. Oh, he’s shown a complete a total fascination with the Pixar film, but as far as actual cars go, he really hasn’t taken to them. Save as convenient projectile weapons.

In the past couple of weeks, though, that’s changed. And now he’s carrying around cars, kind of driving them around on the floor, running them down his little slide.

I couldn’t be happier. I mean, I want him to like what he likes, whatever that may be. But cars…that’s something I can get into, something I can nurture, something I can bond with him over.

And so tonight, after dinner, I took Nolan to Wal-Mart. Yeah, I know…shudder…but their Blu-ray prices absolutely spank Best Buy, and I wanted to pick up Monsters, Inc. So while we were there, we wondered over to the toy section to get a car or two.

I picked out one, and Nolan picked out the other.

Next up…history and sci-fi…

 

 

My Completely Arbitrary Highlights of the Frankfurt Auto Show

So the Frankfurt Auto Show (aka Frankfurt Motor Show, aka Internationale Automobil Ausstellung) is unfolding this week in, you guessed it, Baltimore Frankfurt. As auto shows go, it’s a pretty big one, second only to Detroit, and so a lot of important vehicles tend to get trotted out and shown off.

I’m not about to cover everything, but I wanted to highlight a few of the new rides that grabbed my attention. If you want full coverage of every ugly-ass supercar mod job and retarded city car concept, be my guest. But this is my blog, and hence, my list.

SUV Nostalgia?

Jalopnik, one of my favorite sites for all things automotive, recently posed an interesting question.

Will the SUV be worshiped as a nostalgia totem in 20 years?

The logic is pretty simple. Once upon a time, there were muscle cars. The Mustang, the Camaro, the Firebird. Then the 70’s happened, and the energy crises brought that party to a crashing halt. Now, thirty years later, we’re in the midst of a revival. Between the 2005-on Ford Mustang, the Chevy Camaro, and to a lesser extent the Dodge Challenger, the muscle car is popular again.

Could the same thing be in store for the SUV, which has an eerily similar trajectory (cheap to build, highly popular, almost defining an age, then crippled by high gas prices)?

In my opinion, yes and no.

FAIL.

Back in July I wrote a post about the Honda Crosstour and the troubling direction the design seemed to be taking.

This morning, Honda released photos of the Accord Crosstour and, well, yeah.

A few words come to mind. Hideous. Retarded. Unnecessary.

I would much rather have received this (the Euro-market Accord Estate):

One of the things I hate about living in the U.S. – the general revulsion toward hatches and wagons. And I don’t even think it’s a real revulsion. As the Mini Cooper, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Scion xB and xD, Subaru WRX, Mazda3, Kia Soul, VW Jetta Sportwagen and more and more cars prove every year, people crave options beyond a sedan or an SUV. But manufacturers still repeat that “Americans don’t like wagons” mantra. And then shove crap like this at us.

It’s Time. Kill Chrysler.

Earlier today, I came across a really interesting statistic by way of Twitter:

AOLAutos: Study shows Americans 18-64 years would rather buy a car badged Fiat than Chrysler. Amazing.

My initial reaction was to laugh. Amazing? Obvious, more like.

I mean, would you rather drive this train wreck of a car:

Chrysler Sebring

…or this?

Fiat Bravo

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized yeah, it actually is kind of amazing, when you consider the average American would probably be hard pressed to name a single car Fiat sells. In a lot of ways, it’s the perfect commentary on just how bad Chrysler’s situation has become. Americans would rather buy a car from a brand they are largely unfamiliar with, that has a reputation for pretty much the opposite of reliablity, than from a long-established domestic marque.

And you know what? They’re right.

“Too Good to Waste”

UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST.

GM’s bankruptcy has been dominating headlines of late. Their past (and present) missteps have been examined in excruciating detail, and schadenfruede is in the air.

But one thing that’s often gone unremarked is how good some of their cars have been getting lately. The Chevy Malibu and Cadillac CTS are both very competitive in their respective categories. The new Camaro is a critical darling and a sales success. And the next-generation Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX look like they have the stuff to go up against segment leaders, if only buyers can be persuaded to take a look at them.

But one of the best vehicles GM has brought out in the past few years is undoubtedly the Pontiac G8. It’s a performance bargain that, according to several reviews, out M5s the mighty BMW M5 at a fraction of the price. And it’s a handsome car, too, eschewing the affinity Pontiacs past displayed for garish body cladding and a proliferation of hood vents.

Pontiac G8 GXP

It was also slated for extinction along with the rest of the Pontiac brand.

A few weeks ago, GM CEO Fritz Henderson squashed speculation that the G8 would be brought under the Chevrolet umbrella, because, as he said, “I’m not a fan of rebadging”.

First of all…what? GM is the king of rebadging. They’ve gotten a lot better about it in recent years, and actually gone to lengths to differentiate products across their brands, but they still rebadge like crazy. Just look at the Chevy Traverse/GMC Acadia/Saturn Outlook/Buick Enclave. It’s basically the same vehicle dressed in different clothes.

Second…is it rebadging if the brand in question is being killed off?

Fortunately for anybody who actually likes to drive, GM realized the absurdity of killing off the G8 and today announced that it will in fact stick around as the all-new Chevy Caprice. In the words of Bob Lutz, “it’s kinda too great to waste”.

UPDATE: It would appear I spoke to soon. GM is killing the G8/Caprice/whatever after all. Too bad.

The Routan Survives

I sure didn’t see this coming.

The Volkswagen Routan is about as cynical a vehicle as they come. Beneath the massaged sheetmetal, it’s basically a rebadged Chrysler Town & Country. Same platform, same crappy engine.

Psst...it's just a Town & Country

I wrote about the Routan a year ago, and my opinion still stands. Volkswagen had a chance to really shake things up with their Microbus concept, and instead they took the lazy way out and foisted this warmed over, uninspired box on the buying public.

And the buying public smelled a rat. Despite a Brooke Shields-heavy ad campaign, the Routan never lit up the sales charts, never posed a serious threat to the Honda Odyssey or even the Kia Sedona.

So when Chrysler entered bankruptcy, I figured the Routan was a goner.

Imagine my surprise, then, at the announcement that the cow in sheep’s clothing would live on.

Volkswagen must be pulling in some hefty margins. That’s the only explanation that springs to mind.

The Latest Cat…

I read a stat a few years ago that BMW was not only the most searched auto brand, but also the most actively avoided.

It makes sense.

On the one hand, BMWs largely live up to the brand promise of the “ultimate driving machine”. But they also have a stigma about them (if you’ve ever heard the joke about the difference between a BMW and a porcupine, you know what I mean). The same’s true for Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln. Luxury brands tend to be polarizing. They attract partisans.

And then there’s Jaguar.