2018 Buick Regal Sportback GS Pre-Purchase questions

[Spartan0536]

As others have eluded to, the Regal is built with a lot of off the shelf GM components. The GS shares the same E2XX platform with the LaCrosse and the Malibu. Apart from the body panels and interior styling bits, which will be the most unique, the mechanical underpinnings are common and readily available.

This includes the suspension and braking systems. GM has some of the best handling sedans on the road. If nothing else, GM does suspension really well. As a GS owner myself, I have no concerns with the mechanical bits. Oddball exterior body panels becoming unavailable in the event of an accident is the only thing worthy of fretting over.

Speaking of suspension... I looked up the VIN of the GS you're looking at has had the lower control arm TSB completed. (After I just got done talking up GM suspensions lol)

My $00.02, just drive it. I promise your search for a new car will be over. Good luck!

I have test driven it TWICE, the second time there was a bit of a "chunk" noise during initial acceleration coming from the rear, but it might have been the rear seats not being secured completely from a previous demo. My wife will be test driving the car tomorrow, which is when the GO/NO-GO decision will be made.

Just to make things clear, my wife is not deciding if I will get the car or not, her input is valuable to me as she may also end up driving the car every so often and I just want her to be comfortable with it. The real issue is the dealership and if they can get me out the door with a decent extended warranty for under 27K, given the price is now 24.7K, I would say its likely I will end up in this Buick Regal GS.

Am I over thinking this? Most definitely; this is my job in my relationship with my wife, she runs the finances, I do the research and testing, and then give her the options, we debate and confer based on pros/cons and then make a final decision. It's an involved process but its worked countless times and if it works, don't mess with it.

Today she test drove a 2019 Nissan Maxima Platinum, the one I REALLY LIKED out of all of the Maxima's I have test driven over the last week and a half. She liked it just not for the price. I specifically wanted her to drive that version first as it gives the Maxima the best foot forward that is close to our max budget. If the Buick can win her over that, it seals the deal for me. If not then its gonna come down to hard financial decisions and aggressive negotiations (lightsabers not included).

There are a LOT of very attractive features that this GS has, and the other non-attractive ones have work arounds, like the "ASS" and no spare tire. But that trunk space and the fold down seats, that is just IMPRESSIVE, and I HATE hatchbacks, and this looks NOTHING like one.

 

[bollox74]

All due respect but I just looked the the model you listed and I just can't imaging buying a Maxima with a V6 paired with a CVT.

 

[lLePunisherl]

I have test driven it TWICE, the second time there was a bit of a "chunk" noise during initial acceleration coming from the rear, but it might have been the rear seats not being secured completely from a previous demo. My wife will be test driving the car tomorrow, which is when the GO/NO-GO decision will be made.

Just to make things clear, my wife is not deciding if I will get the car or not, her input is valuable to me as she may also end up driving the car every so often and I just want her to be comfortable with it. The real issue is the dealership and if they can get me out the door with a decent extended warranty for under 27K, given the price is now 24.7K, I would say its likely I will end up in this Buick Regal GS.

Am I over thinking this? Most definitely; this is my job in my relationship with my wife, she runs the finances, I do the research and testing, and then give her the options, we debate and confer based on pros/cons and then make a final decision. It's an involved process but its worked countless times and if it works, don't mess with it.

Today she test drove a 2019 Nissan Maxima Platinum, the one I REALLY LIKED out of all of the Maxima's I have test driven over the last week and a half. She liked it just not for the price. I specifically wanted her to drive that version first as it gives the Maxima the best foot forward that is close to our max budget. If the Buick can win her over that, it seals the deal for me. If not then its gonna come down to hard financial decisions and aggressive negotiations (lightsabers not included).

There are a LOT of very attractive features that this GS has, and the other non-attractive ones have work arounds, like the "ASS" and no spare tire. But that trunk space and the fold down seats, that is just IMPRESSIVE, and I HATE hatchbacks, and this looks NOTHING like one.

So you just have to find the worst review of the Maxima on the net and show her. You want the Regal GS it's write in the sky.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

Good luck tomorrow. My wife likes mine. We briefly toyed with getting second one for my wife to upgrade her car.

You're so right about the amount of room in the back and the large tailgate makes that space so useful and it doesn't look like a hatchback either.

 

[abizzle]

But that trunk space and the fold down seats, that is just IMPRESSIVE, and I HATE hatchbacks, and this looks NOTHING like one.

I concur there’s a ton of room back there. I made two trips to my parents’ house last summer and both times I took all my soundproofing supplies (I was taking advantage of my dad’s air conditioned shop). Not only does it hold a ton of cargo, the hatchback makes it easy to load and unload. Most people don’t realize it’s a hatchback.

It’s a great car and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase! It’s also nice to have the additional equity from the inflated prices.

 

[Spartan0536]

Well I really like the Regal GS but its now out of the running thanks to the dealership. They took it from $24,700 to $31,500 with their dealer fees and the associated taxes, that is past my hard cap of $30,000, and WITHOUT a warranty, NOT HAPPENING.

While I understand many of you on here would say things like "HELL I WOULD TAKE IT AT $31,500, that's still a good price", its out of my range for me, and that's that. I am extremely disappointed, if the price was right I would have taken it, $28,000 with a warranty and I would have been sold, they ****ed it up.

 

[shs92645]

Any dealer that attempts to collect 7000.00 in fees/taxes should be closed by the manufacturer or the state. That is outrageous.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

I feel for you. Obviously it passed the "wife test" otherwise you wouldn't have been negotiating.

I find a nearly 30% increase between the "sticker" price and the out the door price hard to fathom. Yes, I know you guys tend to use a pre tax "sticker price" and know to add on the taxes for that state, but even so.

We're used to being able to negotiate down from the "sticker price" not pay more.

Over here the "sticker price" is the out the door price for any retail goods. Wholesale and commercial deals are often pre-tax but retail is all included. Sometimes cars will have "on road costs" (usually only a few hundred dollars, things like annual registration etc) which are extra but that is stated on the sticker and are very often negotiated out of the deal.

How is one to know what the final price might be? You've wasted a fair amount of effort due to not knowing what their final price was.

 

[Jack GS]

How is one to know what the final price might be?

That's the point, they don't want us to know. Dealers here just list a lower than average market price to get us in the door and then hope we blindly accept all of the extra costs. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

 

[Spartan0536]

That's the point, they don't want us to know. Dealers here just list a lower than average market price to get us in the door and then hope we blindly accept all of the extra costs. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

There are 2 dealerships near me that do up front pricing, they are OffLeaseNow and Carmax. OffLeaseNow is by far my favorite of all the dealerships so far but their selection of cars in the segment I am looking for is not what I want. As for other GS's available, there are 7 in total across the USA, most are asking north of 30K.

I am going to try one last time before they send this car off to auction, where they will undoubtedly lose money on it vs giving me my 28K offer.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

That's the point, they don't want us to know. Dealers here just list a lower than average market price to get us in the door and then hope we blindly accept all of the extra costs. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

It obviously does work.

Over here they'd be told to go **** themselves. Plus our consumer laws have rules that discourage/prevent this sort of "price baiting".

 

[Spartan0536]

It obviously does work.

Over here they'd be told to go **** themselves. Plus our consumer laws have rules that discourage/prevent this sort of "price baiting".

Like I said, my 28K offer to them stands, but I want a warranty with it, if not, I walk and they can eat the loss. I will be giving them a cashiers check for 28K, they make money right up front on this deal, no bullshit.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

There are 2 dealerships near me that do up front pricing, they are OffLeaseNow and Carmax. OffLeaseNow is by far my favorite of all the dealerships so far but their selection of cars in the segment I am looking for is not what I want. As for other GS's available, there are 7 in total across the USA, most are asking north of 30K.

I am going to try one last time before they send this car off to auction, where they will undoubtedly lose money on it vs giving me my 28K offer.

I don't know if it's the same for you guys but a lot of sales people have targets and over here when it gets close to the end date for the target period it is much easier negotiating a good deal. Just a matter of knowing when those dates are.

I know one guy was looking at a car and offered a price which the dealer turned down. He knew the target date was getting close, he wrote out a cheque for the amount he offered and left if on the dealers desk and said here's my phone number. The dealer rang back a few days later and took that price.

Having said all that, the current market dynamics are pretty screwed up at the moment. Dealers have a bit more power as supply is constrained.

If it goes to auction, what's to stop you bidding. Sure there's no warranty but the price will reflect that and if having a warranty is important there's insurance you can buy that will basically give you the same cover.

Edit: Our posts crossed. I see you've already gone down the cashiers cheque route. Good on you.

If they're smart, if they don't have better offer prior to sending it off to auction they'll take your money. Bird in the hand and all that.

 

[shs92645]

You obviously know that you have to pay sales tax, registration fees, and the absurd doc prep fee. In RI these are regulated. It sounds to me that the unknown quantity is the warranty. Did you get a breakdown of taxes, fees and cost of the warranty? There is a huge profit margin in warranties and most of them are one step removed from useless. I do know that the GMPP is expensive because I looked at it. I’m going off bumper to bumper soon and I self insure for repairs, ie, money easily available.

 

[shs92645]

Not seeing it listed on Car Gurus. Was there two days ago.

 

[Spartan0536]

You obviously know that you have to pay sales tax, registration fees, and the absurd doc prep fee. In RI these are regulated. It sounds to me that the unknown quantity is the warranty. Did you get a breakdown of taxes, fees and cost of the warranty? There is a huge profit margin in warranties and most of them are one step removed from useless. I do know that the GMPP is expensive because I looked at it. I’m going off bumper to bumper soon and I self insure for repairs, ie, money easily available.

The taxes and mandatory fees make it go from $24,700 to $27,000, I have a tag so there is no fee for that. $28K in a cashiers check and a warranty is my offer, there is some "wiggle room" on it, but not much.

 

[RegalMN]

The taxes and mandatory fees make it go from $24,700 to $27,000, I have a tag so there is no fee for that. $28K in a cashiers check and a warranty is my offer, there is some "wiggle room" on it, but not much.

So it was really just the warranty that bumped the price up? All the other stuff is required? Or did they throw in some other hidden fees like for sealing the paint?

 

[G-58423]

So it was really just the warranty that bumped the price up? All the other stuff is required? Or did they throw in some other hidden fees like for sealing the paint?

The $31,500 was for NO Warranty. Just taxes and fees.

 

[Bill378]

So it was really just the warranty that bumped the price up? All the other stuff is required? Or did they throw in some other hidden fees like for sealing the paint?

Looking over warranty costs for this car range from $3100 (60m 100k), $3694 (60m 125k) and $4601 (60m 150k). So the dealer's offer was $31,500 (including the vehicle, tax, title, doc fees and warranty?), doesn't seem to be to off. Or is the $31,500 without a warranty? If so, did the dealer explain what's included in the extra $4,150?

 

[Jack GS]

The dealer is not offering a warranty, see post #46.