1980 Buick Riviera Base Coupe 2-door 5.7l on 2040-cars

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2022 Buick Envision Plus three-row crossover is like an Envision, plus

Buick exited the sedan segment when it axed the Regal, but it's going all-in on crossovers and SUVs. It released a dark preview image that gives us an early look at a three-row family-hauler named Envision Plus. Announced only for the Chinese market as of writing, the Envision Plus is — as its name implies — positioned above the Envision in the company's range, though it's smaller than the Enclave. It's mechanically related to the crossover it shares its nameplate with, but it appears to receive a specific design with a new-look front bumper and a more upright grille. It also wears a boxier silhouette that allowed Buick to add a third row of seats. Extra seating aside, we expect the Plus will offer an interior close to the standard Envision's, which we described as "a scaled-down take on the Enclave's interior" in February 2021. Similarly, Buick will likely offer the Envision Plus with the same turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder as the smaller model. It produces 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, and it spins the front or the four wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission. Buick will release more details about the 2022 Envision Plus in the coming weeks, and it will unveil the model at the 2021 edition of the Shanghai auto show opening its doors on April 21. While the company hasn't confirmed plans to sell its latest crossover in its home market, we wouldn't be surprised if it arrives here before the end of 2021. Auto shows were put on hiatus in 2020, at the height of the on-going coronavirus pandemic, and the upcoming Shanghai show is the first major industry event in over a year. In addition to the Buick people-mover, we'll discover Toyota's first global electric car. It will arrive as a near-production concept close in size to the hot-selling RAV4. Related video: 2021 Buick Envision Running Footage

Junkyard Gem: 2002 Buick Regal Joseph Abboud Edition

Ever since we saw that snazzy green 2000 Buick Regal GSE last month, with its supercharger and Monsoon Audio speakers, I've made it my junkyard-searching goal to find a genuine Joseph Abboud Edition Regal among the not-so-interesting Luminas and Vues in the GM sections of my local car graveyards. While this publication once stated that the Joseph Abboud Regal was "the low point of the brand" (in my view, the nadir was achieved with the Iron Duke-powered Skylarks of 1980-1985), my great love of designer-edition Detroit cars overrides any so-called rational opinions on the subject. It took less than three weeks of walking the aforementioned junkyard GM sections to find a Regal with the mark of the famous menswear company on the fenders. The heyday of designer-edition cars came during the 1970s, when Lincoln offered Continentals co-branded by Bill Blass, Givenchy, Pucci, and Cartier. At the same time, American Motors teamed up with Levi's and Oleg Cassini, and fashion-industry players continued to work with car manufacturers here and there after that time. It appears that the Abboud package got you nice leather seats with these monograms, plus the stylish fender badges. Otherwise, it was just a nicely-equipped but unspectacular late W-Body. For you GM trivia fans out there, the W platform stayed in production for an impressive near-three-decade span, from the 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix through the (fleet-only) 2016 Chevrolet Impala Limited. The final W-based Regals rolled off the assembly lines in 2005. This car has the 240-horsepower supercharged 3800 V6, so it's the GS version. You could get the Abboud package on the non-supercharged LS Regal as well. If you did, you got the better tires and suspension used on the GS. These Roots-type Eaton M90 blowers are by far the easiest superchargers to find and extract from a junkyard car. In fact, there's such a glut of these things at swap meets that the going price now hovers around 50 bucks. This car looks to have been in decent shape when it arrived in the junkyard. The original owner's manual was still in the glovebox when I found it. The 240-horse supercharged engine was Harley Earl's idea, turns out. He'd been dead since 1969, but that's a technicality. Some tips for selling the new Regal.

Buick Enspire spied for the first time, loses concept's electric powertrain

About a year ago, Buick showed a high-performance electric crossover with wide, aggressive, curvy lines that was called the Buick Enspire. Now we have our first look at the production version. While it does seem to be styled like the crossover, it also seems to have lost its electric powertrain in favor of internal combustion. At the front of the crossover, we can clearly see it has the skinny, scowling headlights of the concept sitting high on the front fascia and flush with the hood. The main grille looks like it may be smaller, but it could also just be that the actual open section of the grille doesn't fill up the grille area of the fascia. In profile, the crossover has an attractive long nose, low roof and rising belt line. The rear shows the most change, as the rear pillars are much thicker, and the taillights don't appear to span the full width of the crossover. It's in the rear that we can also see the evidence that the Buick Enspire will actually be gasoline powered. Looking very closely under the rear bumper cover, we can see two exhaust tips turned to face the ground. Based on the size of the crossover, and the fact a Cadillac XT4 was being driven along with the prototype, the Enspire is probably using the XT4's platform, as well as its mechanical bits. That means it probably has a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Power will also probably go through a nine-speed automatic to either the front wheels or all four. This prototype looks to be pretty far along, so we'll probably see the production version in about a year. Considering the Enspire's size and likely powertrain, it may even replace the similar Buick Envision. And since the Envision is Buick's worst selling crossover (unless you count the Regal TourX as one), it would be ripe for replacement.