If you read our review of the 2011 Buick Regal, it was pretty plain to see we liked the car a lot. It's probably the most fun, nicest-looking, sporty FWD mid-size sedan in the market. And we're saying that about a Buick, not an Acura TSX or Mazda6.

The Regal is more or less exactly the same as the Euro-spec Opel Insignia, which means by commutative property, since we like the Regal, we like the Opel Insignia. When GM takes that enjoyable, 220 HP front wheel drive car and puts a stonkin' 325 HP, 2.8-liter turbocharged V6 with a six speed manual and a Haldex all-wheel-drive system in it capable of rear-axle torque vectoring, it's a fair bet we'll be giddy with excitement. Then they add 14-inch (front) Brembo binders, Recaro bucket seats, 20 inch wheels and body work so aggressive it makes one's inner hoon squeal. GM brought one along during the Regal drive and let us have a crack at it.

It might not be the fastest, hardest cornering, most extreme factory tuner in the world, but God damn it looks good. This could have the three-cylinder wheeze-fest from an old Geo Metro and we'd still want to roll around naked on it. That's not to say it isn't fast, 0-60 MPH takes 5.8 seconds, which is impressive for a car that weighs 3,990 Lbs.

But lifting off the accelerator is a high crime. Maybe it's the super-grippy Recaro buckets, the Darth Vader meets Tron interior graphics or the knowledge that you're driving one of the only OPC's to ever grace these shores, but you can't help but drop the transmission down a couple cogs and obliterate the speed limit with dangerous regularity. It's easy to find oneself hunting for even the slightest bend in the road to exaggerate into a high speed corner. The car's good, but more importantly, it's involving.

The OPC bases much of its greasy bits on the Saab 9-3 Turbo X powertrain, though it's tuned to a higher level, it makes many of the same moves. That Saab had only 280 HP, but the torque vectoring AWD system is identical.

Compared to the Regal, the Insignia OPC is more of a boy racer, such things are obvious based on the obnoxious body work and giant wheels, but it lives at an interesting intersection of hooligan and grown up. The car is tighter in corners, but doesn't punish you over jarring bumps, turn-in is faster, but it isn't tiresome. Should you lose your mind and want a more sedate experience, you can turn the car down a couple notches with three different suspension settings, each progressively softer until its throttle response and damping rate is rather pedestrian.

The fact that GM brought this car to a Buick Regal media launch is not a signal lost on us. We aren't saying GM is preparing a version for the United States, but the shoulder shrugs and veiled smirks from GM engineers say they're at least thinking about it. Although there was much talk of the letters "G," "N," and "X" but none of it coming from anyone wearing a GM badge — and unfortunately, GM's CEO's already nixed the idea. Still, a car fan-boy can dream, can't we?

But maybe we're reading this wrong. He said "do not look for GNX." He didn't say "do not look for a GNX." Maybe he's saying there is a GNX and that he really doesn't want us to find it because it's so good.

OK, probably not...

Few cars have been as fetishized as the Buick GNX, the ASC McLaren modified Regal with performance said to meet or exceed the capabilities of the Corvette at the time. This example has never been plated, never been on the road, never even had an oil change. Heck, it's still got the air put in the tires at the factory. In the ensuing 22 years of storage, the investment club has seen its foresight rewarded, as the value of the car has gone up considerably from the original $29,290 transaction price. They're selling it now for more than triple that cost, with an asking price of $95,000. An eye-watering sum, but we're betting someone out there's got that kind of Darth Vader money for it. [Craigslist]

With the Buick Regal proving to be a huge sales success here in China, and the Regal 2.0 Turbo planned for a reveal at the Shanghai Auto Show next week, the chances of a high-performance version being developed (or badge swapped) is entirely within the realm of possibility.

As strange as it may sound, Audi is Buick's biggest competitor here in the People's Republic of China and the A4 is the Regal's main foe. Audi also sells the high-performance S4 model here, which is also the Opel Insignia OPC and Vauxhall Insignia VXR's performance target. Why not slap a Buick waterfall grille and a GNX badge on this biatch and call it a day? We've seen stranger things happen.

We were a little startled to find that 64% of voters felt the low-mile 2001 Mexi-Beetle was overpriced at $10,900, but perhaps our readers are more interested in Barrett-Jackson-grade stuff. So be it! This GNX looks just about perfect, though there's no description other than a bunch of lo-res photographs. If it's all legit and the numbers are real, it's going to be a priceless worship object to millions of car freaks; after all, this is one of GM's all-time great musclecars, with astounding performance for its time. But is 145 grand totally out of line? You decide!
[IMMKE.com, thanks to David for the tip]

One of the most tired cliches in all of autojournodom is "Darth Vader's Ride." You've read it one million times, I've used the phrase several hundred dozen times and we think of it every time a pitch-black Corvette Z06 passes by. It's old, it's worn and until further notice, the Maybach Excelero owns that appellation forever. Nonetheless, we're old enough to remember the first time an all-black coupe was mentioned in the same sentence as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Twenty years ago, it was good old Car & Driver that (as we recall) created the trope when they subtitled a piece on the special-edition Buick GNX, "Darth Vader, Your Car Is Ready." For a 12-year-old car nut with Empire Strikes Back bedsheets and two or three shoe boxes filled with Star Wars trading cards, that was enough to peg the GNX as the coolest car ever. Even better, my father's childhood friend Joe Silverman showed up to my Bar Mitzvah in a pitch-black GNX and took me on a joyride. Obviously, that was the highlight of my passage into manhood. Two decades later, very little has changed.

The first thing you need to understand about the two-door GNX — dubbed the "fastest production sedan in the world" (more on that later) — is that it's not just a hopped up G-body. Of course it is exactly that, but it is also a last gasp, a closing argument, a punch before dying. The GNX is Ali rope-a-doping Foreman in the jungle. No, check that – the last great Buick was the equivalent of George Foreman beating Michael Moorer to regain the heavyweight championship at the age of 45, two decades years after he lost the title to Ali. The GNX is the legitimate heir to the legendary GSX. You see, GM's RWD G platform was set to be replaced by the FWD A-body chassis in 1981. But due to high sales (hint, hint) the General decided to keep the Gs around for a few more years. The GNX then, was the final chance for Buick's engineers to show the world their unholy yet good stuff. And boy did they.

In 1982 Buick introduced the Nascar-inspired Grand National package for the aging Regal. For a small sum you could get an optional turbocharged (but not intercooled) 3.8-liter V6 good for 180 hp. Not bad for the early '80s. The car disappeared for a year and then popped back up in 1984 with fuel injection and an intercooler. Power continued climbing year by year and by the time 1987 showed up – the final year for the G-bodies – GM's juiced 3800 was cranking out a very respectable 245 horsepower. But that wasn't nearly enough. So, 547 fully optioned (though no t-tops or sunroofs) Grand Nationals were handed over to ASC/McLaren for a bit of polishing.

Remarkably, ASC/McLaren didn't alter a single bolt on the engine. But everything else was tweaked to within an inch of its life. Out went the factory turbo and in came a fast-spooling, ceramic-impellered Garrett turbocharger. The intercooler was beefed up and cold air was fed from it to the turbo via a ceramic-coated pipe. A Performance chip was added. The transmission was reprogrammed (though, still mechanically stout enough to handle the extra twist), a special torque-converter was added and a transmission-fluid cooler was bolted in place. A custom, low-restriction exhaust was fitted. The GNX was the only Regal ever offered with 16" wheels. These were machined from a lightweight alloy and were wider in the back than the front (P255/50VR16 vs. P245/50VR16). Wider arches, functional heat-sapping fender vents, a strengthened aluminum pumpkin and gallon after gallon of black paint were all part of the kit.

Results? The official numbers were blood-pumping. 276 hp, 360 lb-ft of torque, zero-to-60 in 5.7 seconds and the 1/4 mile in just over 14. Let's put this in perspective. The Corvette in 1987 was capable of hitting 60 mph in 5.9 seconds and turning a 14.5-second quarter mile. A Porsche 928 S4 of the same vintage was good for 5.5 seconds and 13.9. Those numbers are basically identical to a 1987 911 Club Sport's. Ferrari's wild-looking 12-cylinder boxer-engined Testarossa, a real live supercar, managed 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.6. Only the Lamborghini Countach LP500 QV was significantly faster, hitting 60 mph in 5.2 and breaking the 13 second barrier with a time of 12.9. Still, as the GNX only cost $29,900 (the GNX package was jaw-dropping $10,995 option over the Grand National's $19,000-ish sticker). The Countach? How about $100,000, more than three times as much.

Only thing was, the GNX's factory numbers were bullshit. GM being GM, it didn't want any of its vehicles outperforming the Corvette. So Buick was forced to fib. When the press cars were handed out, journos discovered actual power was closer to 300 horses and an unbelievable 400 lbs. ft of torque. The ASC/McLaren boys also went to work on the chassis, essentially building a dragster for the street. They ditched the rear control arms in favor of a ladder bar/panhard rod setup. The back of the ladder bar attaches to the passenger side of the differential (to prevent left-side up, right-side down twisting during brake stands) and the front attaches to a frame crossmember. For further stability they added a stamped diagonal brace behind the rear seat. All this tuning added up to a shocking zero-to-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds and quarter-mile best of 13.26 at 104 mph. Essentially, those were Countach numbers from a Buick sedan (although the Regal had just two doors, its structure and interior volume made it a sedan, technically – this is still being argued). These numbers are competitive even today; a Shelby's GT500 takes 4.5 to hit 60 mph and covers the 1/4 mile in 12.9.

The GNX also looked the part. All 547 dash-plaque numbered examples were black-on-black with all the badges (save one in the grill) deleted. Few cars have ever looked more bad-ass. Fewer still ever tried. The GNX is just evil, especially from the rear. That makes sense, considering the rear is the vantage point from which you'll most likely observe a GNX. (Look at those taillights!) Darth Vader indeed. Sadly, 1988 was the year Buick decided to "damage" itself and pursue the AARP/golfer set. But no matter how screwed up the Tiger Woods brand is today, none of that sadness can detract from the infamous glory of the GNX. My dream? To one day take a GNX onto a golf course and do some serious donuts. Which is of course, to paraphrase George Carlin, the kind of dream that kept me out of the really good schools. So be it. A final note: we're well aware that the GNX can't turn left or right. It was never supposed to. – Jonny Lieberman

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The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1

Related:
2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: A Fleet Of Buick Grand Nationals And A GNX Get Their Cruise On; Crowning The King Of 1986: Audi Quattro S1 vs Ford RS200 vs Lancia Delta S4 vs Peugeot 205 TI6 [Internal]

"Dedicated to the preservation and performance enhancement of turbocharged Buick V6-powered vehicles." —Michigan Buick Turbo Club

We ran up to the Moose Preserve, a local watering hole north o' Square Lake Road on Woodward Avenue, for a quick drink with a PR maven from one of Detroit's biggest badges, and in the parking lot noticed a gathering of some cars we hadn't seen much cruising from yet — Buick Regal Grand Nationals, and lo' n' behold, a specialty GNX edition. We felt pretty damn lucky to get a glance at a fleet of the turbocharged performance vehicles that spelled the end of the 80's side of the modern muscle car era. If you haven't had the chance to see one of the GNX sedans up close, let's just say this — these cars are known for their performance, and more importantly, over-performance as the under-rated GNX outpaced the factory's power claims: 0-60 mph in just 4.7 s with a 13.4 s/104 mph quarter-mile. According to folks out in the lot last night, these numbers made the GNX the fastest production sedan ever built. Although there was only one GNX there, all of those Grand National's made for one pretty sight on a Wednesday night before the Dream Cruise.

Michigan Buick Turbo Club [Hemmings.com]

Related:
'Angry Buick' is Not Necessarily an Oxymoron [internal]

Popular Hot Rodding's Johnny Hunkins grabs the paddles and shouts "Clear!" in an attempt to revive Buick's flagging fortunes. Noting that Buick lacks a halo car, Hunkins goes on to misspell "LaCrosse" and "Infiniti" on his way to the pronouncement that what the dentists' division really needs is a modern-day GNX. Legendary in automotive-enthusiast circles, the highly-collectible, 275-horse '87 Regal was one of the hottest cars in a decade not known for especially hot cars. While we agree that Buick needs something we're not sure that a reborn GNX is it. Still, we agree that Buick could really use a Zeta-based car, if indeed the on-again, off-again platform lives.

The Car That Saves Buick? [Popular Hot Rodding]

Related:
Is Buick Considering a New Grand National? [Internal]