I agree with the guys who have both, each car has it's own personality and experience. Even though my 69 is 350 powered it's fun to drive, brings back memories of the cars we have back in the high school days. Kinda nice to not have all the bells and whistles. As for the Turbo Regal, it's a nice ride, comfy and scary quick. Nice to have a fast car that for the most part is driven at less than half throttle. :3gears: I voted for both, I would really hate to choose. :moonu:
Bought the Grand National new it will stay, the GSX I plan to keep a long time. Wish time could slow down, selling the GSX someday is something I don't even want to think about.
The GN is really fast and a great car,but last year watching them run---very quickly---they still do not have the sound of the V8! There is just something about the V8--hard to explaino No: Pete
I voted "Old-School is fun, but turbo's really run!" But I want a v8 with a turbo. Where's Mark when you need him?
Being the proud owner of a 1987 Turbo T, light brown metallic, I love how the car drives and it still can outmuscle most cars in my cirlces. I am in the process of restoring a 1971 skylark and have the 455 at the machine shop now. The plan is to keep both cars if possible. Can't wait to drive the 71 and do a comparison. Might want to sell the 87 after that, NOT.
My GN runs really low 11's and gets 25mpg on the highway all with akly injection. Thats cool. HOWEVER, V6's never ever sound cool no matter what you do to them. Nothing beats firing up a nasty big cam big block buick in a parking lot and have all the gawkers take awe. Each car has its own purpose, and I wouldn't sell either. 2 less buicks the world will ever see in the market place again.
Voted for having them both as just bought myself a really mean 85 GN with a stage 2 engine and 88mm turbo. And man, does this thing go... :3gears: best ET 8.94, most of the time wheels spinning. It has full interior and makes about 1000 HP at the wheels. About the sound, it has only 4" downpipe and race muffler and to be honest it outsounds most V8-s. Still havent lost love for my 73 gs stage 1 with nasty 464. So good advice for buick lover is to have them both:idea2: .
At the smash of the throttle.... My 455: Burns rubber, then rolls through the intersection. My 3.8 turbo: Rolls through the intersection, then burns rubber. Having both is the "best of both worlds" that Buick has to offer. :bglasses: ElectraJim
I admit skipping much of this thread but will try and add perspective... after saying "I would have a hard time choosing". If you can only have one car at all then go modern. The daily driver aspect of the Regal is really good! I'm responding mostly to the idea of comparing the instant on power of V8 vs the slow burn of the V6Turbo. Remember that many of the GS's have had cam, header, carb, intake or even just ignition and timing changes. A similar line of mods will have a V6 car spinning tires from less than full throttle and the spool can be quick if you want it to (pointless!) in addition to traditional power mods. Turbo lag on a high powered turbo car is often a good thing. The neat thing about the GN/TurboT cars is that while accelerating the push against the seat lasts for a LONG time. The rate of acceleration on the butt dyno actually improves over distance - at least for a while. You can exaggerate this by rolling into the throttle when you take folks for a ride. I suppose its similar to taking off in a heavy jet! Rolling into it on a tuned car makes spinning tires and Gforces look effortless with the effects lasting a long time. This takes nothing away from the GS though. Especially the BB cars where instant on frame twisting cannot be ignored - even stock ones. Scariest ride I have ever been in was from Garrison. lol. The GS has a charm also that can only be found in an older car. If you can have "only one" as a second car or hobby car then the GS is a fine choice and will likely sway you for reasons other than just performance. Those that have had both will know why choosing is hard. They both slap you with performance, just differently (having car problems breeds exceptions)
As the owner of an all original, still riding on it's factory delivered tires, 16k mile 87 GN, I'd be inclined to lean towards the GN. Own 2 65 Riviera's as well, one with a 401, and one with the Dual Quad 425. OK, I want them both. I hope I never have to sell my GN. It's certainly one of the (if not the) nicest, original, non molested 87 GN cars out there.
Apples-n-oranges...GS 455 gets it done with cubes...GN 231 with fine tuning... GN can be tedious, but rewards very gratifying... ...as for sound, for GN fans it's not exhaust note but turbo spool-up and decel "sneezing"... I'm an old gearhead, if I HAD to choose...GS...I can fix it in my sleep... ...this thread has had a real run...like topic cars...:TU:
I currently own a 65 Skylark vert that is being restored, not exactly the fastest car on the road, but I didn't buy it to be fast. I bought it to cruise with the wife and kids. I grew up in the 90's (License, cars, girls, etc......) and in my time the GN was the coolest car that you could buy and everyone in my circle loved it. I'm biased to the GN as that was my generations GS, GTO, Hemi.... I've been fortunate enough in life to be in some extremely fast cars '11 Gran Sport Vette, F360 Ferarri, Lotus Evora, Chevelle's, etc.. and nothing has stuck in my mind like my first time in my buddies '87 GN back in '98. We lit the street up with tire smoke right before destroying a 93 SVT Cobra that the owner was talking mad crap on for over an hour about. As you might have guessed, I voted GN.
