This is how the 1988 Buick Regal was more modern than the G-body | 1988-1996 Buick Regal
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- Опубліковано 27 тра 2023
- Going on sale for 1988, the all-new Buick Regal served as the replacement for the outgoing RWD G-body Regal. Going on sale as a 2-door coupe and eventually offering a sedan body style, the new Regal was more aerodynamic than its predecessor while offering contemporary styling.
Great video and thanks so much for posting. As a W body lover, (I own a 91 Cutlass Supreme International Series coupe and 1993 Grand Prix STE sedan), these cars are comfortable and have a very good build quality.
A few things to add...the GS package didn't debut until 1989. For 1988, the Custom package was essentially a pre cursor to the GS package. The 1988 Custom coupes had 15 inch aluminum alloys, full digital gauge package, fog lights, body kit, and sport steering wheel. One thing that wasn't mentioned, rear buckets with console could be had on a first year 1988 Custom car. This would carry over as an option for the 1989 model year on the GS package as well and was offered until 1992. All rear buckets/console coupes had the script FOUR SEATER located at the bottom of the rear quarter window glass. For 1989, the GS package took over the Custom package and a few things were changed. No more 15 inch alloys and a 16 inch alloys were added. Starting sometime in mid to late 89, the 2.8 could still be offered but a new larger 3.1 V6 debuted. By 1990, the 2.8 was phased out and a very few 1990 coupes were optioned with the newly debuted 3800 V6. The 3.1 was the only other offering and most 1990 coupes got that engine.
One more interesting thing that most people didn't know and was not mentioned here...the Regal sedan was the ONLY W body SEDAN to offer rear buckets/console. Yes...in a sedan! Only available from 1991-1992 and in Medium Slate Gray, Light Beige, Garnet Red, and Blue. I believe Gray is most common, followed by Red, then Blue, and Beige being the rarest. I can't remember the exact number for 1991 but at least a 1,000 or so sedans got rear buckets/console. For 1992, I am absolutely sure that only 525 sedans got rear buckets/console.
Great review and hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing these tidbits. This is great little-known information that only die-hard W-body enthusiasts would know. I plan on speaking on the GM10 GP soon, so if you have any tidbits on that car from an owner’s perspective, shoot me an email.
@@MotorMaster_Stunticon Will do! Thanks for focusing on these cars, I love both of my W's. I'll look forward to seeing your review.
I have owned a 1993 Regal and a 1995 Regal. The 93 had the 3.1 and the 95 had the 3800. I am definitely a fan of the older interior. Something about that flat dash was cool. It was unique! The car also had a burgundy interior so that even added to it! P.S. I have since bought 3 more regals since I posted this comment. A 94(with old style burgundy interior), and a pair of twin 96 Buick Regal. I am currently daily driving one of those 96 Regal's. It has the 3800 series 2 and it has been reliable so far!
Oh yeah gotta have those 80s burgundy interiors!
Hi , I have 1996 Regal , could you let me know how check the life of my battery???
@@norbertobrajas1528 TopDon makes a good battery tester. Basically it looks like an obd2 scanner. If you look up battery tester you may be able to get one locally, although online would probably get you the best choice for the price.
Nice video Rob I love the old school buick regals
I had 3 of them 1,91 gs coup 1,89 limited and 1, 90 cutlass Supreme international... I really loved my gs the all digital dash (though my kids would call it corny nowa days since it was lcd. I think the most unique feature was the bucket rear seats with the armrest in the center... yes it cut seating capacity to only 4 but wow it was so beautiful to look at
I bought a new 1988 Olds Cutlass Supreme on this platform. Hated it, and got rid of it after less than 2 years. Final straw was when the turn signal stalk fell off the steering wheel column. It was my first and last GM purchase.
We bought one of the first ones when they came out in the fall of '87. When the outside temperature fell in the single digits, the horn started honking intermittently by itself in the garage. The "wood" on the dashboard was Contact paper like you use to line your kitchen shelves. Around 60,000 miles they told us the transmission was starting to fail. It was basically garbage.
You obviously noticed the "contact paper" before you bought it. Lol
I had a 1988 Buick Regal. I bought it from a friend whose daughter had trashed the car. I replaced suspension, brakes, tuned it up and cleaned it up. The white paint would never be white again (mildew stained). The blue fake convertible top was in terrible shape. The leather seats were cracked. But that car was bulletproof reliable. Drove like a dream. And I loved it. It was one of many cars I’ve wasted money on. Lol. In the end my wife said to junk it because it was a “third” car that wasn’t getting used. What a shame. 15 years later I still miss it. I do wish I’d a 1996 with a 3.8 though.
Very good! Well done! You covered all the points and aspects. I liked the footage as well and images. There are a few things you shared I wanted to comment on. The other W bodies eventually did get the 3800 V6 in the second generation. The Regal also got a supercharged 3800 V6 as well in the second generation. You had some info I knew that you did put in the video. Excellent! The updated instrumentation panel was shared with Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. You can go check, but I remember when they did that. I thought that was odd, but it was to save money. It also happened to Oldsmobile Achieva and Buick Skylark as well for 1997 I believe. I also like how you discussed and shared the W bodies as a whole. I also like how you got the dimensions as well. The interesting thing is all the W Bodies grew in size in the second generation. I also think when they came out for 1988, all the W Bodies were underpowered. They corrected that over time. I also like the fact you discussed how GM got caught off guard by the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable. It is as you said. If they had got them out first... things would have been different. I liked the photo of the design studio Regal. The coupe looked stripped when they updates in 1995. Thank you again.
Agreed. And yeah they all got the 3800 with the 1997 redesigns. The 1998 Cutlass Supreme…I meant, the Intrigue…had the 3800 then it got that shitty Northstar derived engine. The 3800 was/is way more reliable. Yeah we discussed the L67 in that 1997 Regal video. I plan on covering all of the GM10s soon. Always liked them, especially the Cutlass Supreme convertible.
Yeah the GM10s were underpowered in 1988. They got more power over time, but by then, their buzz was wearing off. The GM10 Regal was supposed to be a huge hit, but wasn’t. Glad they improved on the 2nd-gen W-body.
@@MotorMaster_Stunticon Well stated. That was funny when you said 1998 Cutlass Supreme.. It actually was supposed to be called Cutlass Supreme as you know it was changed to Intrigue. I think that hurt that car as well. I know the first Intrigues had the 3800 V6. They would be better to own. It then got the "Shortstar" or "the short north". This good to hear about you covering the GM -10's. They were underpowered the first few years and as you said got more power over time. The second generation made a huge difference on so many levels. People fondly remember those.
The dual airbag dash was also used on the Grand Prix. The Regal, Grand Prix, and Cutlass Supreme used the same dash to keep costs down when the government started mandating dual airbags. It goes like this. For the Cutlass Supreme, starting in 1994, only a driver's airbag was offered. Starting in 1995, dual airbags. For the Grand Prix, dual airbag dash starting in 1994. For the Regal, driver's airbag only in 1994, then dual in 1995.
Oddly, the Lumina didn't see airbags...driver or passenger until 1995 when the redesigned happened. This also includes the 1995 Monte Carlo nameplate debuting again for the first time since 1987.
Another great vid! These were mildly entertaining to drive when they had the 3800 engine.
Yeah that 3800 was a beast. Too bad they all didn’t get that mill. Thanks for the support.
My favorite car is my 92 regal GS 4 door. Drove it to 282,000 miles when I deemed it unsafe due to an accident and rust. Have had 4 regal GS in total. 90,92,98,18. The 98 regal is approaching 400,000 miles. I seriously doubt the 2018 will make it anywhere close to that miles. The 3800 was unstoppable.
Love this generation of the Regal coupe, as well as the Oldsmobile. Would love to have either today.
Indeed. They often get a lot of hate, but I wouldn’t mind owning a W-body for nostalgic reasons.
I look forward to these!💪🏽
Heck yeah!
In my opinion, these W cars were underappreciated because GM decided to use a name that people would reject as a legitimate replacement. Same for Nova, Impala, Monte Carlo, or Malibu. Had they come up with all-new names, I think these would have been better off.
Yeah but I think they didn’t want to give up the brand equity that came with the old name.
Also, it was nice to keep those legendary nameplates going. Unlike today-they’ve all but disappeared. Out of all the cars you mentioned only the Malibu is still around.
Very good point, because it's actually a pretty nice car in itself that I would own , except for the dislike I have for it because of the fact that it replaced the gorgeous 81-87 style.
Nice one! I liked the GS design just not the weak interior. I had the 88 GP-SE with a manual that had a HORRIBLE clutch that only lasted about 12mo. Later I had the GTP with a HORRIBLE water pump. Buick was attempting to go RWD until the bean counters halted it. They had successfully converted the Regal and Reatta chassis' to RWD and let Motorweek drive them. They had turbo and supercharged 3.8s. I think I have the video saved. Motorweek said both were excellent.
The RWD Reatta and Regal with supercharged 3.8s sounds interesting.
Horrible water pump? Are you sure it was the water pump? Those are easy to change out.
@Greg Johnson yep. It was a common issue. Mine only had 30k on the clock so I saw it as ANOTHER GM quality harbinger. I filled it up with coolant, rolled it into a stealership and got an Intrepid RT.
@@fgeiger41 Hmmm.
@Greg Johnson I loved it other than that and it had no exhaust sound from stock. Gm used to have some of the best exhaust tones. People used to trip out over the sound of my SE
This was the only early generation W body cars worth buying,it was the only one that came with a 3800 V6 , the other cars weren't large enough to take a 90 degree engine
Friend had a Regal GS. Had the usual GM problems like sticky EGR valve and crap door handles but it was badass until getting totalled at 150k.
Yeah I heard about those door handles.
Too bad the car was totaled.
Cool 🥰
The styling for the Regal coupe started out as a proposal for the Cadillac Allante that was not selected.
You're thinking of the Reatta, not the Regal.
I think this generation of Buick Rengal would be the last time that Buick competed in nascar, same thing with the Oldsmobile cutlass supreme that came a year later after this generation of Regal came out.
Nice. For a younger guy, you know a lot about these older cars. Good stuff.
The GS mane the GRAND SPORT 👌 W BODY
My first car was a 1991 buick regal limited that i affectionately called.."white lady"
Nice. So which was quicker between your Monte Carlo, Probe or Regal?
@@MotorMaster_Stunticon probe for sure👍
Without a doubt 👌
In the 90s one of our neighbors had a Buick Regal and at the time I thought it was the ugliest car I ever seen but I was also like 7 or so when they moved in.
Buick makes nothing but garbage now but back in the day those engines were extremely comfortable and extremely reliable
Yeah it was more "modern" then the G-body and ugly as H compared to the G-body...inside and out.
Yeah I like the G-body.