Normally, when one thinks Buick, thoughts of both luxury and seniors come to mind. Over the years, for me, only grandparents drove Buicks. However, the brand has swiftly changed that, with a fresh lineup of new vehicles. Especially, the new Buick Regal GS.
The team at Buick recently invited us out to Palm Springs for a three-day excursion to experience their new lineup for 2019 vehicles… and we were definitely impressed.
We started things off by traveling from Los Angeles to Palm Springs in the new Regal GS. With a racing-inspired design and capable performance features that improve its street appeal, it shatters any preconceived opinions we had about what a Buick should look like. In my opinion, it’s one of the best looking Buick vehicles in years. It has a more aggressive front and rear fascia, side sills and a rear lip spoiler, making it look both fun and sporty. For the readers looking for engine specs, it comes with a 3.6L, 310-HP V6 engine, which is paired with a 9-speed automatic transmission, giving it a very responsive drive. This thing zooms down the road.
With one of the most dramatically scenic backdrops in the United States, Palm Springs served as the perfect location to experience the brand’s 2019 lineup. Palm Springs is a resort city situated 100 miles east of Los Angeles in Southern California and Buick showed us a side of the desert like we’ve never seen before.
Our first stop was La Serena Villas, a luxury hotel redeveloped in 2016 by award winning architect May Sung. With only 18 villas, the property makes for a perfect getaway to relax and unwind. The evening we arrived, Buick hosted a dinner party on the roof top deck with 360-degree, dramatic views of the picturesque San Jacinto Mountains. With a roaring fireplace, strung lights, delicious food and great company, it was the perfect way to kick off a truly unique experience.
On day 2, we took a caravan of Buick vehicles on a guided Palm Springs Architecture Tour to see the city’s world-famous collection of mid-century modern architecture — one of the best ways to travel back in time and see some of the original and unchanged homes of the 1940’s and ’50’s. Along the way, we enjoyed fascinating backstories about the people of Palm Springs and the brilliant architecture they created.
During this tour, we also got a chance to check out Buick’s crossover SUVs: the Enclave Avenir, Envision and Encore. All three are beautiful in their own right, but each appeals to a person with specific needs. The Encore would likely best serve a young adult without the need to taxi around a family, due to its small size, while the Enclave offers ample room for the entire family, thanks to the third row.
The Enclave also boasts a standard 8.0-inch IntelliLink touchscreen infotainment system, with a user-friendly layout with crisp graphics and many features. Both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, and users can connect their devices to the internet via an onboard Wi-Fi hotspot powered by a 4G LTE data connection. Unfortunately, navigation is not standard, but do people actually use Navigation anymore, being that smartphones have an abundance of apps that handle that? With that said, the Enclave was my favorite, but all three were very beautiful vehicles.
After experiencing the cars Buick has to offer, we closed out the trip with an evening of cocktails and dinner at Frank Sinatra’s Estate, the “Twin Palms”. You can feel the history in this home and you feel pretty special being able to have dinner in the home of such an icon. The 4,500 square-foot, four-bedroom, seven-bath estate is a rental for a whopping $2200-$4000 a night, and as rumor has it, it will hit the market soon, so if you have to opportunity to stay, we say DO IT.
In all, being able to experience Buick’s lineup in such an storied setting made us really appreciate all the brand has to offer. Buick hasn’t always been on the top of our list when it comes to purchasing a vehicle, but they have definitely changed that. Their entire lineup is really nice. They all have modern designs, but keeping distinguished details Buick has is known for. If you’re looking for a new or used, Buick is definitely a brand to check out.
Thank you BuickUSA for a truly unique experience and the opportunity to get an up close look at the 2019 Buick Regal GS, Enclave Avenir, Regal Tourx and the redesigned Buick Envision. Visit Buick.com for more info.
Words by Bonnie Casteel
