Newer Buick Regal GS: decent enough? Reliable?

Was at Carmax yesterday to get an offer on the Fit. I elected to walk the lot while they were doing their thing, and took the opportunity to sit in virtually everything I could since I'm very picky about seats and headroom, and wanted to make mental notes about what I could and couldn't comfortably fit in.

They had a '14 Regal GS 6-speed on the lot. I found the seats to be pretty comfortable and had plenty of headroom. Seems like a sleeper candidate for a reasonably entertaining sport sedan if you can live with the Buick badge. I know the next-gen Regal is due very soon so these are likely to get cheap in a hurry, and I can't imagine too many used Buick buyers are looking for a manual transmission.

That being said, the only thing I've really heard about these is negative, though it was anecdotal. A guy in a Facebook auto discussion group I'm in claimed to have bought one new as his daily and said it basically lived at the dealer for issues with electronics and computer-type stuff until he traded it in. Said the drivetrain was reliable but everything else was flaky. Not very encouraging.

So has anyone here serviced one of these, or does anyone deal with them somewhat regularly to know if they're any good or not? Seems like they could be a deal if they're not all crapheaps.

The only thing I heard about them was through some online article I read, I think it was Consumer Reports and that was that the Buick Regal was the shortest owned model of any vehicle made. In other words the average length of ownership was something like 14 months before it was sold or traded in. Sooner/quicker than any other brand or model. Now if that's true it does not sound like an overwhelmingly positive fact. Just tossing that out there.

IIRC, board consensus was the manual was an absolute mismatch for the engine. Impossible to keep in boost, ect.

Did u drive it? Sounds like a fun one to try out and form your own opinion. Also, doesn't Carmax have some sort of return policy if you don't like it after a day or two? If so, and if it's in your price range, "long term test drive" buddy !!

In reply to einy:

Didn't drive it. I was there to get an appraisal on the Fit as I'm planning to sell it and get out from under the payment, so I didn't want to tempt myself into taking on a bigger one.

Also, while Carmax may have such a return policy, I can't imagine that would be a fun process to work through with your lender.

Drive one before you concern yourself with it. I'm one of the people who thinks the manual trans sucks the life out of the 2.0 turbo. On the other hand, I drove a 2.0T CTS4 (automatic) last week and the torque management on that sucks too. It's weird, there's turbo lag after upshifts, which completely negates the point of having an automatic with a turbo in the first place. I want to see boost SPIKES when the trans shifts, not boost SAGS!

I can understand why they might have a short ownership interval. They're not very Buicky. People who buy Buicks probably want a LeSabre rolling couch, and the Regal is more like a cross between a SAAB 9-3 and a CTS.

It sounds like a bunch of old farts bought a Buick that was expected to be the typical rolling sofa, and it turned out to be something else.

Are these any different mechanically than the turbo Cobalt SS?

In reply to STM317:

Regal is much bigger, based on a mid-sized Opel (Insignia). It has the LHU turbo Ecotec which is distantly related to the Cobalt unit but a few generations newer.

Apparently these were originally supposed to be the new Saturn Aura if that says anything. I will say that the interior was suspiciously full of cheap-looking hard plastic for a $40k car, but maybe I'm just picky.

A lot of Saab 9-3 in those, good and bad I suppose. Goods engine, so so chassis, so so interior. A friend's wife has one with the 2.4 na motor. They both like it and it has been reliable.

In reply to pointofdeparture:

There you go, they are just the worst, no need to tempt yourself with another payment.

I've driven them, they drive pretty nice and they look good without being flashy. Reliability wise, they seem to hold up pretty well. We have 2 of them that are coming in with 80K miles and it's just routine maintenance. One did have to have a clutch, but that comes down to driving habits. I personally find these way better than the ATS, which I don't think is that enjoyable to drive and is plagued with the worst electronic issues I've seen this side of the Atlantic.

My mechanic has one with the auto and likes it. He also said the manual seemed geared wrong for that car and engine.

my wife and I bought a 2014 Regal T, (not GS).

pros: well built, no returns to dealer for anything drives well, suspension is well balanced for DD comfortable lots of creature comforts great touring car consumer reports has consistently rated it high for
reliability

neg: not as quick as you might think, good off the line and decent mid but nothing up top and lag (turbo? or trans downshift?) can be annoying.
The auto trans/engine don't dance together when driven hard.

Also have driven a regal GS, torque delivery was very linear and smooth.

Could be pretty fun with some decent tires, comfortable enough. Interior layout is a little cramped feeling.

One thing I could not live with day-to-day would be the steering feel. Felt overboosted right off center, and not much feedback. Driving a Fiesta ST right before probably didn't help.