In the first episode of "This Is Not Your Uncle's Buick Regal," presented during the 2011 model year, we were introduced to the base version of this very European midsize sports sedan, and its turbocharged sibling.
This fall, Buick has added two more variants on this stylish and satisfying theme: an even more powerful and athletic turbocharged model, the 270-horsepower Regal GS, and the mild hybrid I'm reporting on today: the Regal equipped with e-Assist.
It's called a "mild" hybrid because the small, 15-horsepower electric motor isn't powerful enough to motivate the car by itself. Rather, it assists the base Regal's 182-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, a kindness that enhances both power and fuel economy. And that mileage boost is significant. The Regal without e-Assist has EPA mileage estimates of 19 city and 30 highway. The e-Assist model raises the ante to 25 city and 36 highway, which is quite good for a 3,618-pound midsize sedan.