From the Passenger's Perspective: 2013 Buick Regal

I don't like Buicks.  I really don't.  I think they're dimwitted, slow, boring, ugly, and far too cheap-feeling.  I also buy into the stereotype that the average age of a Buick owner is 112.  This Regal marked the first time I've been in a Buick, and in fact the first time I've been in a GM product since I was little in my dad's Chevrolet Silverado.  This particular Regal was a rental car for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
On first impressions, this white Regal seemed very boring.  Sure, it isn't ugly, but it is the most generic-looking car I've ever been in.  Something that emphasizes this fact is the cover of the owner's manual.  In my family's Mercedes-Benz C-Class, there is a striking photo of the car in front of what I remember as being a cityscape or some buildings.  In the Regal, though, you get a black and white picture of a bridge and the words "2013 Buick Regal" in block letters in the lower left-hand corner.  Ghastly.

The interior isn't a whole lot better.  All of the buttons are absolutely gigantic, probably owing to the older demographic who buy this car.  For example, the traction control (On a Buick?!) button is about 4 inches long and an inch tall.  It is huge.  And in the center is a tiny, tiny little white picture of skid marks behind a car.  It's much the same story with the parking sensor button.  This Regal has Buick's IntelliLink system, which is the most user-unfriendly system I've ever seen.  To navigate the system's very limited features you have to do a combination of spinning the wheel and clicking it from one side to another, not too complicated.  The problem is that it is virtually impossible to do because the wheel only moves to the sides about a billionth of an inch.  And the wheel is on the center stack, not the usual place on the center console like what BMW and Mercedes do.  Another thing was that every time I  clicked the wheel, it never really did the same thing twice.  However, I was finally able to get into the car's settings.  So I hope whoever rents that Buick next can speak French-Canadian, can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, and knows how to tell time on a 24-Hour scale.

Another thing I noticed was that the steering wheel was absolutely massive.  It is like something you'd find on a 1600s pirate ship.  Except with more useless buttons.
The driving experience is rather similar.  Obviously, it doesn't handle with much aplomb, but it is reasonable.  However, the engine is pretty pathetic.  It has virtually no power, and whenever you go near the throttle, it makes a terrible belching noise, and doesn't give any noticeable change in velocity whatsoever.  The handling is bearable, not exactly sporty, but that isn't what the car is for.  This car was clearly made for a specific demographic.  I won't say which demographic that is, but I think you know what I mean.  Many of them live in Florida.
So the Buick Regal is not my kind of car.  It try's to do luxury, which takes away from the driving experience, but then it doesn't do luxury very well either.  However, it is rather comfortable, even though the seats are a bit stiff.  The Regal is, however, a decent little runabout that retirees (oops) can use to run around town and occasionally visit friends.