1969 Buick Skylark Base Hardtop 2-door 5.7l 350 Cu. on 2040-cars

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Buick begins offering 24-hour test drives

Even as the year's sales charts show a decline, Buick says its brand image is improving. To bolster that soft metric while it works on overhauling its lineup - consumers are clamoring for more crossovers - the brand will begin offering overnight test drives as of July 23. Buick trialled the program in Phoenix and got a good response, so it rolls out as an ad-supported nationwide campaign called "24 Hours of Happiness" as of July 22. The push is on probation for three months while Buick evaluates it, but they expect it to continue beyond 90 days. Cars will be sourced from the loaner fleets that dealers offer customers whose cars are in for service, so only dealers with such fleets will be able to participate. General Motors did the same thing in 2003 and 2004, at the time saying it led to more than 500,000 "extended" test drives and close to 190,000 sales. That program had a cash component, in that buyers were offered $250 if they chose a non-GM vehicle after their test drive. 24 Hours of Happiness won't come with any inducements; Buick is taking the long view, positioning this as support for the brand instead of as bait for immediate returns. The Phoenix dealer who ran the program first said that it got fewer bites than he expected, but that customers who took a car home "were far more likely to buy the vehicle." Cue the Regal GS hooning in three, two... Related Video:

Lexus tops JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study again, Buick bests Toyota

It shouldn't surprise anyone, but Lexus has once again taken the top spot in JD Power's Vehicle Dependability Study. That'd be the Japanese luxury brand's fourth straight year at the top of table. The big news, though, is the rise of Buick. General Motor's near-premium brand beat out Toyota to take second place, with 110 problems per 100 vehicles compared to Toyota's 111 problems. Lexus owners only reported 89 problems per 100 vehicles. Besides Buick's three-position jump, Scion enjoyed a major improvement, jumping 13 positions from 2014. Ram and Mitsubishi made big gains, as well, moving up 11 and 10 positions, respectively. In terms of individual segments, GM and Toyota both excelled, taking home seven segment awards each. The study wasn't good news for all involved, though. A number of popular automakers finished below the industry average of 147 problems per 100 vehicles, including Subaru, (157PP100), Volkswagen (165PP100), Ford/Hyundai (188PP100 each) and Mini (193PP100). The biggest losers (by a tremendous margin, we might add) were Land Rover and Fiat, recording 258 and 273 problems per 100 vehicles. The next closest brand was Jeep, with 197PP100. While the Vehicle Dependability Study uses the same measurement system as the Initial Quality Survey, the two metrics analyze very different things. The VDS looks at problems experienced by original owners of model year 2012 vehicles over the past 12 months, while the oft-quoted IQS focuses on problems in the first 90 days of new-vehicle ownership. Like the IQS, though, the VDS has a rather broad definition of what a problem is. Because of that, a low score from JD Power is no guarantee of extreme unreliability, so much as just poor design. In this most recent study, the two most reported problems focused on Bluetooth connectivity and the voice-command systems. The former leaves plenty of room for user error due to poor design (particularly true of the Bluetooth systems on the low-scoring Fords, Volkswagens and Subarus), while the second is something JD Power has already confirmed as being universally terrible. That makes means that while these studies are important, they shouldn't be taken as gospel when it comes to automotive reliability. News Source: JD PowerImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Buick Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Jeep Land Rover Lexus MINI Mitsubishi RAM Scion Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Auto Repair Ownership study

Buick Regal lives on in China, gets visual and tech updates

Axed from the American market after the 2020 model year, the Buick Regal lives on in China. It's selling well enough across the Pacific for the General Motors-owned brand to justify investing in a round of updates that includes a new-look exterior design and more interior tech. Chinese buyers only have access to the sedan variant of the Regal; the TourX wagon briefly sold on our shores isn't available. The facelift includes sharper-looking headlights, a big grille that occupies most of the space on a redesigned front bumper, and Buick's new logo. Not much has changed when you look at the Regal from the side, it still features an upswept line that runs across the bottom of both doors, and Buick chose not to publish photos of the rear end which strongly suggests little has been updated. New wheel designs are available as well. Most of the changes made to the interior fall in the technology basket. Buick notably added its QuietTuning noise-cancelling function, which promises to make the cabin quieter, while shift-by-wire technology frees up space for two big cupholders on the center console. Connectivity is part of the package, too: Buick's eConnect infotainment system includes an artificial intelligence-powered Baidu voice assistant. Power for China's Regal comes from a turbocharged, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine whose output hasn't been released. Alternatively, the list of options includes a 2.0-liter turbo-four rated at 233 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. It spins the front wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission. In contrast, the Regal sold here was available with anywhere from 250 to 310 horsepower depending on the trim. Pricing for the 2023 Buick Regal starts at 159,800 Chinese yuan, which represents around $22,400. China is the Regal's last bastion. Buick left the sedan segment in the United States after it swept the Regal out of its range in 2020, and no evidence credibly suggests that a successor for our market is in the pipeline. Opel — which General Motors sold to Peugeot in 2017 — developed the Regal and sold its own version of it called Insignia across Europe until 2022. Here again, the model won't be directly replaced. Continuing our global tour, Australia-based Holden tried to market a variant of the Insignia as a replacement for the rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered Commodore from 2018 to 2020. The model flopped and retired after a lackluster career, and Holden closed shortly after. Related video: