1971 Buick Skylark Base Sedan 4-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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NC dealer falsely announces return of Regal Grand National, Regal GNX

Like many new car dealers, Liberty Buick GMC gets so excited about its brands' new wares that it puts out press releases announcing when new models are on the way. That's not typically national news, but the Charlotte, NC store has created a bit of internet hubbub by announcing that it will be "one of the first dealers in the country to offer the Buick Regal GNX," and it's even started to add customers names to a waitlist. Only one problem: Despite seemingly annual rumors and calls for such a model, Buick hasn't announced any Grand National models at all – let alone a GNX – and no such models are actually in the cards. The Liberty Buick press release talks in a nostalgic, venerative tone of the original 1982-1987 GN franchise, and goes on to say: "These returning relics will be based on the highly-acclaimed Alpha vehicle architecture currently used in the Cadillac ATS, 2014 Cadillac CTS, and soon to be in the sixth-generation Chevy Camaro. Alpha is the internal name of a General Motors vehicle architecture engineered to underpin compact and mid-size rear-wheel-drive vehicles." In the release, Liberty Buick claimed the GN/GNX models would arrive in late 2015, citing a coupe bodystyle, including a rather fantastical-looking GNX rendering from Bestride.com. Unsurprisingly, none of this is true. Autoblog reached out to Buick for comment about the release, and brand communications manager Nick Richards confirmed that the company had discussed the matter with Liberty Buick representatives. Richards went on to say that the release was wholly incorrect, proclaiming "an agency [for the dealer] picked up a lot of stuff off the internet" and ran with it, including an old Car and Driver story from 2013. The dealership subsequently issued a retraction, with Scott McCorkle, owner of Liberty Buick GMC saying: "We love the idea of the Buick Regal GNX coming back to our showroom but for now, it's only a concept. Bottom-line, the article was incorrect.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Pre-owned bargain alert: Buick Regal

For the past couple of years, Buick has been very aggressive in promoting short-term low-mileage leasing. The plan was to get people in the door to experience the new Buick. Once they realized Buicks are now sleek and full of Euro Chic, people might want to buy one. It's debatable if that plan worked, but one thing is for sure: There's a massive amount of low-mileage Buick Regals out there. The price of Regals is all over the map due to lease returns and dealers aggressively discounting 2015 models to get rid of them. But at the $17,500–20,000 range there are a good number of 2013 to 2015 Regals with under 15k miles for sale. The Regal might come with 2.0L Turbo or 2.4L Hybrid. The Hybrid is a bit slow; stick with the Turbo and drive with the traction control off. They all come moderately equipped with leather, heated seats, alloy wheels, and dual-zone climate control. If you have a little more cash to spend, go for the 2012/2013 Regal GS, which is based on the Opel Insignia OPC. The Regal GS comes with 270 horsepower and 295 lb-ft from a turbo engine and a HiPerStrut suspension to reduce torque steer. They all come standard with Brembo brakes, navigation, sunroof, and premium sound system, in automatic or manual. Just make sure you budget money in your savings to replace the front tires. Trust me on this. You can purchase a Camry or Accord with some equipment for under $20,000 with a bit more miles and years than the Regal. But ultimately the Regal feels more premium, drives better, and is less boring. Make the right choice and buy something unique.Related Video: