04 Regal LS Rental Report

Sounding good so far...

That's disappointing. (Same as my Windstar) My Olds has separate twi-light delay & dashlight dimmer knobs (sounds like the bean counters have been at it again).

wonder how that will work as the wiper hardens or gets covered in dirt/snow...

Hmm sounds like the "sporty" side bolsters are indicative of the general comfort level then? You think that on this continent they'd start putting in useful cup holders. If we can't get England's "B" roads or Germany's Autobahn's for God's sake give us a nice comfortable living room to drive !

Personally I think we're ready to go back to push button auto's

you want to use an armrest to "rest your arm"?? hmm perhaps the focus groups didn't address that issue when they were suggesting low profile "Z" rated tires for luxury cars.......

Now that's just dumb. Either put it up where you can see it or put basic controls on the steering wheel.

Factory Fog Lights tend to be more for image than for function.

See my earlier "sporty' comment. The notion in the auto industry is that everyone want's to drive a Lotus all the time. Have these people forgotten that most of us use our vehicles within the parameters of the law "most" of the time.

This is a real shame. My Olds has the perfected 4 piece visor's that cover both side & front with additional plastic slide outs. A truly brilliant design.

Digital Dash with button switch worked well on my old Lincoln, I take it that they went for a traditional "Look" dash?

That's not necessarily a bad thing ;-)

Arn't Regals W-bodies like Impala's?

The Impala and Park Ave. share a platform. My mom has a Regal LS, same car Harry got as a rental only hers is a 2000 and doesn't have leather, the Impala was A LOT bigger. More headroom, larger trunk. My parents and I shared one when we went to Oregon, I was there for a weekend, they were moving on to a cruise of Alaska. My sister was also there for the weekend. You can imagine the luggage we had to fit in that car, EVERYTHING fit in the trunk.

Road noise was tremendous, we were in the Portland area, those roads SUCK. you can barely hold a conversation in your vehicle while driving on them. We were on 205 and 5...

PDX

Regals shares a basic design with the Impala, Monte C, GP and Century according to Consumers Guide.

Forgot to mention the Regal had no ABS or Traction Control ( $600 option ), and the car braked & handled just fine in the rain.

========= Harryface =========

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

Yep.

Nope, the Park Ave, Bonneville, and LeSabre all share the same platform.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Face" Newsgroups: alt.autos.pontiac,alt.autos.gm Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2004 12:34 AM Subject: 04 Regal LS Rental Report

The original Goodyear Eagle LS tires on my '99 Regal LS roared on course pavement. The next set of Firestone FT-70c's were much quieter, a bit smoother, had much better wet weather traction, but at the sacrifice of some handling. Currently, my third set of tires are Goodyear Eagle GA's. I'm back to my original complaints. They are even noisier and impossible to balance, but they were given to me. I'm trying to wear them out so I can buy something I like better.

Over 82,000 miles since new, I've averaged a bit over 22 MPG. I average about 60% city, 40% highway, often have a heavy foot, and I idle a lot. I've gotten as high as 28 on a highway trip and as low as 14 during city driving exclusively.

The Concert Sound II sound system is sufficient for most people, but a 10" subwoofer and amp cured my desire for a tad more bass.

I guess I've never been offended by the footwell nor have my toes ever hit the lower dash trim.

After you've lived with the car for a while, you can operate the climate control blindfolded. 99% of the time, I prefer to leave mine on the AUTO setting and let it do its thing. One exception would be that in some mild temperature conditions, it prefers to direct cold air to the windshield and warm air to the floor. It results in what feels like an uncomfortable cold draft from the front of the car. I usually override it and direct the airflow to the floor temporarily.

I've yet to find a vehicle that suits my body in terms of long trip comfort. The closest I ever came was the seats in my '95 Probe.

I'm a bit confused by the wording of this comment. The MIN and MAX settings on my headlight knob exclusively control the brightness of the instrument panel lights. It has nothing to do with the delay of interior lighting unless it's set to the "dome lamp on" detent just past the "MAX" setting. In that case, the interior lights will stay on until the battery saver feature cuts power to them (about 20 minutes). Otherwise, they fade out in about 40 seconds or shut off immediately when you press the LOCK button on the keyfob. Perhaps this particular example was defective?

Interesting. Very interesting. Mine has shift indicators in the instrument cluster and down by the shift lever itself. So do two '04 Regals on a local Buick dealer's lot here.

I agree that the armrest is too low and too far back - particularly the further forward and the higher you have the seat adjusted. LOL @ the comment about the storage area behind the ashtray! Many '97-up Regals were actually equipped with a lamp assembly inside the ashtry storage compartment, however, it's not connected to anything. Some of those Regals also had a microswitch activated by the ashtray console lid making the lamp functional. Mine has the lamp, but not the switch. Maybe I'll add it next time I have to pull the console for some reason.

Personally, I've never desired duplicate climate controls on the steering wheel for anything more than show or entertainment purposes. The AUTO setting seems to do just what it's designed to do in my opinion. I akin this to having a RF remote for the thermostat in your home, walking around changing it everytime you feel a degree or two too warm or cool. :o)

Yup. Purely for cosmetic purposes. I even resorted to installing lower wattage bulbs in my fog lamps after the original wattage bulbs kept resulting in cracked plastic fog light housings.

Eh, poor driving posture anyway. You should have both hands firmly on the wheel at all times.

I wear sunshades.

Not an issue for US Regal's drivin in the US. The MPH markings are plenty large.

I've put 82,000 trouble-free miles on mine since I bought it new in '99. Although a bit of a grandma car in non-GS form for someone 26 years old, I'd buy another one when this one dies. However, that's a moot point (unless I buy a used one) since its replacement - the LaCrosse - arrives in a few months. I'll miss the availability of the SC 3800, but I'll reserve final judgement until I drove a LaCross CXL with the new 3.6L VVT V-6.

Roger

Same platform as the Olds 88,98 of a couple years back. Are ya sure the Impala doesn't have the same platform as all of these cars? I checked out the Impala's dimensions a few months ago (to replace my wife's '97 Olds

Positive, the Impala is W-Body. I know for sure that the LeSabre and Bonne are on the H-Body. I can find out what platforms go with what cars but it may take a little bit of time.

Impala, Grand Prix, Century, Regal, Cutlass, Monte Carlo, Intrigue and what used to be the Lumina are all W-Body. Firebird, Camaro are F-Body. Cavalier and Sunfire are J-Body. Malibu Classic, Grand Am, Alero, Achieva, later model Cutlass, Skylark are N-Body. Corvette (and maybe XLR) are Y-Body. Park Avenue is C-Body. Aurora is G-Body. H-Bodies are the LeSabre and Bonneville, Eighty Eight, LSS, Regency Seville and Deville are K-Bodies. Montana, Silhouette and Venture are U-Body.

Those go back to 98..some go before that. Got it all from Mitchell On-Demand.

Ooops... I meant CXS, not CXL. The CX and CXL have the 3800 Series III while the CXS has the 3.6L VVT V-6.

Roger