1987 Buick Regal Grand National Long-Term Road Test - New Updates

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited September 2014 in Buick

image1987 Buick Regal Grand National Long-Term Road Test - New Updates

Read daily updates on our long-term road test of the 1987 Buick Regal Grand National and follow along as our editors live with this car for a year.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    Can we not comment on individual entries now? I gave this transition from IL to Edmunds a shot, and I am NOT liking it so far. I miss having just a simple page of new entries and being able to comment on each one.
  • jecpontiacjecpontiac Member Posts: 1
    It really is sad to see such a HUGE step backwards. Like stovt, I would like to see this work because this was one of my favorite internet stops, but I don't see how it can survive in this format.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,639
    This new format is simply terrible.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • zoomzoom22zoomzoom22 Member Posts: 6
    The new format blows. I tried, but can't continue to give you guys a chance....

    Issues:
    -can't comment on individual entries
    -there are often entries that I miss because they don't show up for a long enough time on the newest entry highlight for each car
    -the newest entry picture/title for each car is usually outdated and inaccurate (which brings up the topic of how organizing these posts by car and not in a chronological blog format was a really, really dumb idea and a huge mistake)
    -the ads suck (no, Edmunds, I'm not interested in purchasing a Nissan Quest) and the site is so outdated looking that it is almost funny
    -Edmunds isn't tablet or phone friendly. Why does the menu bar for each car move with the story as I'm trying to read it? More importantly, why does that menu bar even exist?
    -why isn't there a link back to the main long term blog page once I'm done reading about a certain car? Why??? WHYYY????

    Edmunds has officially killed this blog - it really isn't even a blog anymore. It isn't user friendly, its clunky and very tedious to navigate and use. I feel like a car shopper when I come to the "new" insideline, not an enthusiast.

    EPIC FAIL.

    Oh, and "What's Hot" is a really stupid name.
  • firstwagonfirstwagon Member Posts: 0
    I don't like the format either but I gotta comment on the Regal.

    The reason it doesn't get driven as much as the other car is it's just an 87 Regal with a cool option package.

    The Regl and it's corporate clones were not good cars. Buick did a great job of modifying it but it's still at it's best in our memories and tucked away in someones car collection.
  • firstwagonfirstwagon Member Posts: 0
    I don't like the format either but I gotta comment on the Regal.

    The reason it doesn't get driven as much as the other car is it's just an 87 Regal with a cool option package.

    The Regl and it's corporate clones were not good cars. Buick did a great job of modifying it but it's still at it's best in our memories and tucked away in someones car collection.
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    Hopefully the format will evolve. As to the Buick, your comments are exactly why the Buick was such a breath of fresh air back in the day. The car was just a Regal, until you put your foot in it and it ate Vetts for lunch.
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    Hopefully the format will evolve. As to the Buick, your comments are exactly why the Buick was such a breath of fresh air back in the day. The car was just a Regal, until you put your foot in it and it ate Vetts for lunch.
  • greenponygreenpony Member Posts: 531
    The community has been destroyed with this website migration. I think that's what everyone most takes offense to.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    This is the first time I've checked in on the "new" site since the official debut. I'm not a Rhodes Scholar but I'm also not a moron, I had to look all over for where to click to comment, but at least that is back in some form--still not as good as the old blog format. If the goal was to create web traffic, it's not doing it for me. And I've given Autoblog a shot but it's not in the same league, and the posters there are generally dim-witted based on what I read.

    Maybe your editors are too afraid to drive the car they way they drove the other "old" long term cars, because it is a more pristine collectible quality car. I mean, who was going to cry over dinging up a salvage title 911? No one drove the Z06 hat way.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    I just went to the Cadillac ATS Long term post, hit the link "See full article and comment." and there is no way to comment. I'll try this site again in a couple of weeks to see if it is still this bad before I just give up. You could probably get interns to fix the whole site up for almost no money and it would be better than what you have now.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    "Check back daily for all the test drive news on your favorite car"

    that's pretty funny when some cars like the Fusion were last Updated in August 2012!
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,639
    Scott, nothing about the Grand National is even remotely close to as annoying as this new website format is. Nothing.

    I still love the Buick. This, I do not.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    I'm about to cheat on this website with several other websites. Scott, we've met and talked. You know I've been around here for a while. I provided video for the 500's GMR run. Heck you even threw me the keys to the LFA that one glorious time. I'm about as loyal as it gets to InsideLine. The community we had there was great. So I wanted to give this move every chance to succeed, but I'm just not feeling it. I have a week off work right now so I have time to click on every individual vehicle to see if there are new blog updates, but when work and classes start again that's just not feasible. And all I want to do is respond to Takahashi's antenna puns and I can't. I'd really love to see the guy/team who did the IL redesign project a few years back get tossed the keys to Edmunds and do an extreme makeover. I think from a content perspective this consolidation can be very helpful, but the layout needs fixing fast.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    Where is the long term Lexus RX450h?
  • robert4380robert4380 Member Posts: 8
    So let's get this straight. Some long term cars currently have commenting enabled, and others do not? And for the ones that do, such as the Buick, all of the comments for every single separate blog entry are all lumped together so we can't comment on individual entries? And your blog entries are ordered newest to oldest, but the comments are by default ordered the reverse of that, so that the newest comments get buried at the bottom and on later pages? WHAT FIRST YEAR MARKETING IDIOT THOUGHT THESE CHANGES WERE GOOD? I used to be active in the Edmunds community, but no longer. In fact, I only came here to say that this will be my last post. If your company is purposely going to make it more difficult for your readers to be actively engaged, then count me out. You're not the only show in town.
  • chrisb12chrisb12 Member Posts: 9
    I've tried as well...repeatedly. I can't find articles about cars (updates on the long termers), I can't find comments except for this particular car - not the specific post apparently but this car in general and I can't figure out how to comment anywhere but here. It's officially sucks. You've broken my daily goto read and review site and apparently broken it completely with no thought for your readers. You are missed.
  • LASHAWNLASHAWN Member Posts: 303
    I miss reading about the Reader's Rides. Look, go back to the original format or redo this one, this totally blows man. Looks like I'll just stick to reading my Motortrend magazines for now on.
  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,639
    Hey Takahashi: you don't have to pull the fuse for the radio to shut down the antenna motor. Replace the fuse. Open the hood and look in that fender for a wire and connector. Disconnect same. Listen for motor stopping. Problem solved.

    My god, this format is awful.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 19,639
    Hey Takahashi: you don't have to pull the fuse for the radio to shut down the antenna motor. Replace the fuse. Open the hood and look in that fender for a wire and connector. Disconnect same. Listen for motor stopping. Problem solved.

    My god, this format is awful.

    2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6

  • dalawdalaw Member Posts: 37
    In addition to the questionable format that this long term blog has adopted, the other annoying thing is that this site is so white, so plain, that it is nauseating. This has none of that sophisticated colors and graphics found on sites such as motortrend.com or the old Insideline pages.
  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    I'm not suprosed that the staff is getting a bit bored. In the end what you have is a faster than average mid '80's Buick, with all the softness and lack of discernable driving dynamics that entails.

    Back then at least you were faster than everybody else. Today a V6 Camry transportation appliance shows you its tail lights.

    The Ferrari and Porsche offered driving entertainment to offset their relative lack of performance compared to modern cars. The GN really doesn't, because it was never a good driving car to begin with.

    Still, I am really gald you got it.

    I don't plan to visit IL very often any more, but if I did I would say the next car should be a 90-93 300ZX turbo. I think you would find that, interior styling asisde, it compares very favorably to modern sports cars both in speed and drving dynamics.
  • jpnpowerjpnpower Member Posts: 0
    My gosh Mark, great job!
  • jpnpowerjpnpower Member Posts: 0
    Can someone explain to me the evil of swirls? I really don't car about them, is that unusual for a car-guy? All I care about paint is that its there, unscrached, and shiny. Who cares if there are "swirls". Oh yeah, everybody except me...
  • boff_boff_ Member Posts: 51
    Looking forward to updates on this, as I have a new black car that I'd like to keep looking nice (although that is basically impossible in a Canadian winter).
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    Yes I have microfiber towels and yes I have quick detailer. But no way am I washing my car, driving it for miles, using quick detailer and THEN starting to work on the finish.

    There is a car wash literally 3 blocks from my house. Once in awhile, when it's early spring and I have not gotten my hoses out and hooked up yet and want to wax my winter car, I will wash the car at the car wash (by hand), *slowly* drive it the 3 blocks home, carefully wipe off any tiny traces of soiling from the drive, then start waxing.

    I guarantee that after driving for miles, the lower quarter panels and especially the trunk, rear valance and bumper will be way too dirty to wax and too dirty to use quick detailer.

    If you were serious about this, you would have found a way to wash the Buick AT Meguiar's HQ.
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    I must say, all of your tips at the end of part 3 I absolutely agree with. The one about not washing microfiber along with cotton...no, really - don't wash microfiber with cotton. You will not really affect the ability of the microfiber to do its job, but every time you wipe a car with it, it will leave cotton lint on the car's finish.

    I mostly agree with the part about the D/A polisher being safe, but just remember - anything you are doing to the car's finish by hand, you are doing in spades with the D/A. Use accordingly.
  • s197gts197gt Member Posts: 486
    hate the new format.

    got that out of the way....

    can you tell us what kind of electric dual-action polisher you used?

    i am familiar with all the techniques you described but i've only been using my arms/hands. i'm ready to step up to power tool...

    i am probably going to get the griot's 6" random orbital polisher as i have seen a lot of good reviews and the price is right.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    Technologically, this site is giving me so many reasons to visit infrequently. Comments should be listed by default in newest order first--when I click on a sort field, then log in to comment, I cannot get the "Post a Comment" entry box--I jut get a message in a gray-scale panel saying {"response":{"status":"OK","code":"200","message":"Authentication is successful.","

    Now that I have that out of the way, why is it that the ATS has no posts for 4-5 days, but you guys feel it necessay to post on the Buick that it was low a pint of oil? Let's hear some real car news. Did Edmunds lay off all the editors, and you guys have more cars than drivers? If so, you may as well let other staffers who are not professional writers comment on the idle cars. I mean, the last post on the Traverse is almost TWO YEARS OLD. Mark, this is in no way a criticism that you posted an entry about low oil, since it was previously common to report mundane posts on long termers. There just should be some balanced reporting on the other cars.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    Where is Readers Rides? I find nothing new, nor nothing old on Edmunds
  • mtakahashi_mtakahashi_ Member Posts: 12
    s197gt: I was using the Meguiar's dual-action polisher. I've seen it for sale between $150 and $200. Get at least three different polishing heads.
  • mtakahashi_mtakahashi_ Member Posts: 12
    noburgers: The Reader's Rides blog is gone, as is Straightline. Sorry, I liked them too.

    The long-term blog will get better, it'll just take some time. Timeliness, layout, functionality...I have faith these issues will all be resolved in due time.

    All of the staff is still hard at work, and I think big things are on the horizon. I'm glad you and several other regulars have stuck with us. Don't give up on us, I swear we'll make it worth your while.
  • noburgers_noburgers_ Member Posts: 79
    Mark, thank you for your reply. It's good to know someone at Edmunds is actually monitoring the blogs. I'll check in every week to see how things look. When there are improvements I will be more likely to visit more frquently. The current navigation is so bad that I don't enjoy visiting right now. By the way, the finish looks great--even better than the job you did on the black plague.
  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    Why would you use high mileage engine oil in a car with under 20k miles?
  • cello_onecello_one Member Posts: 0
    I enjoyed the Detailing of the Buick. But attempting to track down recent posts have left me clicking through each Long-Term Car and then scrolling through posts that are just tagged to the car, and not the topic - see detailing in this post... when did that post occur, why am I posting now. The user community will have a hard hanging on to continuity and having "discussions" related to a specific post. And putting Most Recommended instead of chronological order means I am going to miss the current thread because of time constraints.
  • cello_onecello_one Member Posts: 0
    I have found the full thread for the car now. I also appreciate Mark's reply to the thread and will try to give the site a chance as I have time. I have not been on the site but for a couple of times since the cut-over.
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    It was Volvo who did the trellis type A pillar. It was on the concept car that eventually became the C30. I also thought it was a brilliant idea, if it could work.
  • kplacerkplacer Member Posts: 97
    I won't be visiting again until the presentation and functionality is vastly improved. This site is absolutely terrible compared to what we used to have.
  • cello_onecello_one Member Posts: 0
    And how do you see the full list of comments? Do you have to Post?
  • cello_onecello_one Member Posts: 0
    Ahh, there is comments about 3,000 lines up from the Comment section at the top of the page... huh...

    Oh well, blame that one on bad placement and an unsolvable error between the back of my chair and the keyboard...
  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    Maybe I could ID what's different if you still had high res pictures that I can enlarge to see better.

    But since the executives at Edmunds apparently think we all still are using AOL dial up and don't have the bandwidth to support such new fangled features, no, I can't pick out what's different.
  • hybrishybris Member Posts: 365
    I honestly don't have the time or patience anymore to try and figure out what is different on this car especially since doing so would require going back and forth to all the previous posts (Which is a chore) and doing so without being able to zoom in on the photos.

    So please just give us the answer already.

    BTW While before all the other articles had comments this car and its comments where something of a oasis for commenting despite its "all comments for all posts for one car in one place" setup. But now the other cars have better comments which are broken down into their individual blog posts so now will someone least fix this cars comments?
  • moralmajoritymoralmajority Member Posts: 1
    The character line at the top center of the grille (and presumably carried back along the hood) is higher.

    Two things unrelated to the GN:

    -This new format absolutely sucks. Way to discourage your entire readership, Edmunds.

    -You need a more appropriate picture than a Chevy Volt to accompany the "Compare Popular Vehicles" link at the bottom of the page. Perhaps a car that actually IS popular?
  • sharpendsharpend Member Posts: 177
    I miss Inside Line. :-(
  • markinnaples_markinnaples_ Member Posts: 251
    Grand National emblem above the right headlights on the last GN?
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    Nice post Mark, sounds like the lady may be a keeper.
  • jay5magicjay5magic Member Posts: 1
    Add another negative comment to the change. harder to navigate, no comments to specific articles and too many ad pushes. i think motortrend may be a better choice for me. Have been using the old sight for several years, but this negative change baffles me.
  • isaaclisaacl Member Posts: 7
    is the difference in the car how raised up it is? It looks like it sits 6 inches higher or something to me!
  • ultimgrocgettrultimgrocgettr Member Posts: 13
    GM cars of this vintage have a recirculate feature. Set the AC slider bar to MAX. That is the recirculate setting....GM cars have MAX NORM and BILEVEL for AC then VENT, HEATER, DEFROST for the other functions. This was their preferred climate control layout for 25 plus years.
  • jederinojederino Member Posts: 0
    Congrats on the relationship status! Great story, and a great way to experience a classic car.
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