Saturday, August 06, 2011
The relaunch revival, really of Buick’s storied, then abused, then abandoned GS performance moniker is quickly approaching.
The $35,310Regal GS hits dealerships this fall. This fall is soon, so as the car enters its final development phase, GM invited us out to its Milford, Michigan, proving ground to take a turn behind the wheel. With the caveat that our impressions were derived only from the smooth, tight, and twisty handling course at the grounds (it replicates some of the most challenging sectors from various racetracks around the world), read on to see what we gleaned from a preproduction GS.
Regal GS: A Primer
But first, a refresher on what has happened with the hottest of Regals—the first to wear the GS badge as more than mere window dressing in along time—since its debut at the 2010 Los Angeles auto show. The car’s dedicated crew of engineers took the show car’s 255-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four, itself a version of the 220-horse 2.0 in the Regal Turbo, and bumped total output to 270 hp to go with 295 lb-ft of torque. The supplementary oomph over the turbo comes from cranking up the boost to 20 psi versus 15 and gifting the GS a freer-flowing exhaust and a slightly reworked intake system. Furthering the true-GS mantra, this hopped-up Regal finds itself fitted with other performance goodies such as larger front brake rotors with four-piston Brembo calipers, nicely bolstered seats, available Pirelli P Zero performance tires, and GM’s trick HiPer Strutfront suspension setup. That latter works with Buick’s adaptive “interactive drive control” system (it controls damping and steering and here includes a unique, stiffer GS mode) to help get the power to the ground without much torque steer.
Yes, the GS eschews an all-wheel-drive setup (as appeared on the GS concept) for front-wheel drive. GM engineers tell us the decision was made in the interest of saving weight and cost. The 2.0-liter feeds its power to a six-speed manual, which was originally tipped to be the only transmission, but a six-speed automatic will show up on the options sheet at a later date.
Aesthetic clues to the GS’s sportier mission go beyond the badge. The car wears more aggressive front and rear fascias, rocker-panel extensions, a decklid spoiler, and its own 19-inch wheels. If you want to upgrade to the P Zero summer rubber, you’ll also nab a set of attractive upsize 20-inch rollers.
The Drive
The first thing we did when we slid behind the wheel was to put the car into its unique GS mode. Hitting the button—located to the far left of the upper center stack, next to the driver—firms up the suspension and dials more weight into the steering. The next thing we did, of course, was to introduce the go pedal to the floorboard. Wide-open throttle didn’t light our hair on fire—we expect the GS to post a 0-to-60-mph time of six seconds flat—but we found immediate positives, namely, a lack of torque steer and the fact that we could row through the six-speed manual with gusto. We’re told the transmission is fundamentally the same as the unit in a previous manual Regal we tested, and there we thought it was, frankly, terrible. But it was much more satisfying to use here. A Buick spokesperson confirmed that running changes have been made to the gearbox. Learn More...
Source : http://www.caranddriver.com
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