Not A Jest: 2011 Buick Royal To Approach’s With Handbook Transfer
This is going to blow your mind: The 2011 Buick Regal will be offered with a manual transmission. Seriously. Really. We're not joking.
What's next? A pole-dancing nun? A sane Courtney Love? Ham-and-cheese-flavored ice cream? Here's how we know that the Regal, reborn as a quasi sports sedan and basically a rebaged version of the Opel Insignia, will come in a three-pedal version: We drove it. Look for a full story to come.
But, suffice to say, we hopped in the Regal-ized Opel at a GM event this morning in Michigan, rolled down the window and called Jim Federico, the man behind the Insignia/Regal, over and said something to the effect of “This is a manual. What the hell?” To which Federico responded that the 2.0-liter turbo version of the Regal (which will arrive a few months after the car debuts in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2010) will eventually be offered with the 6-speed manual we were about to drive.
While in no way consistent with what Buick has been for at least a couple of decades (a former Buick PR person once told us that we would begin loving Buicks when we became elderly), the inclusion of the manual indicates GM 's intent to young-up Buick using performance.
It's probably no coincidence that GM also had in attendance the Opel Insignia OPC model that is powered by a 325 hp version of the 2.8-liter turbocharged V6 also used in the Cadillac SRX turbo and the Saab Turbo X. This lends credence to the recently floated and Bob Lutz-attributed rumor of a GS performance version of the Regal going on sale in the U.S. in the near future. No word whether any future GS would carry this turbo motor.
Now back to your regularly scheduled car world.
