Those familiar with the history of the marque know this is far from the first Buick to come to market with a performance orientation. In fact, back in the late 1980s, Buick had a formidable run of turbocharged V6-powered Buick Regals, culminating in a 1987 Buick Regal GNX capable of outrunning the 1987 Corvette to 60 miles per hour and in the quarter mile.
These days, while zero to 60 is still quite relevant, so are slalom times, braking distances, steering feel, and cornering attitudes. If you’re a manufacturer who needs your contemporary sport sedan product to be considered hot, you have to make sure handling and overall refinement measure up accordingly. It’s all about the overall execution of the entire package.
The good news is the 2016 Buick Regal is more than competent in this regard. The bad news is that for the 2016 model year, Buick’s product planners have inexplicably hamstrung the base model of the lovely sedan.