Part of High Gear Media

News

Hong Kong Witnesses First Aston Martin One-77... Supercars
May 27, 2012

Wreckage of Aston Martin One-77 that crashed in Hong Kong - Image courtesy Weibo

2013 Volkswagen CC Gets Sporty R-Line Trim Luxury
May 27, 2012

Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Weather Forecast Racing
May 27, 2012

SEE ALL NEWS

Topics

Reviews

Videos

2013 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG: First Drive

SEE MORE VIDEOS

Spy Shots

2014 Audi S3 Hatchback Spy Shots

2013 Porsche 911 GT3 Spy Shots

2013 Aston Martin DBS Replacement Spy Shots

Car Tech

Volvo Explains Its Pedestrian Airbag System

The founders of Google and one of their autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids

California On Track To Be Next State For Autonomous Car Trials

Audi Offering 4-Year SiriusXM Traffic Subscription On Select 2013 Models

Home

News

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasure: Buick Reatta

Guilty Pleasure: Buick Reatta

Murilee Martin

Contributor BIO

Once pushed an Opel Manta 50 miles using a '63 Impala wagon with tires tied to the front bumper More

LATEST ARTICLE
Guilty Pleasure: Isuzu I-Mark Diesel
When you start looking at the General Motors family tree, things really start getting weird when... Read More

N/ALEADERBOARD RANK
56ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
0COMMENTS POSTED

2,059 views Mar 30, 2011

Welcome back to the Guilty Pleasures series, a weekly journey into the land of cars we shouldn't, yet do want. The ideal Guilty Pleasure car sold for a bundle when new, failed miserably in the showrooms, and only gets discussed later— if it is remembered at all— in semi-mocking tones. The Buick Reatta, a fancy two-seater built for the 1988 through 1991 model years, qualifies on all fronts.

Guilty Pleasure Buick Reatta

The Reatta was based on a cut-down version of the GM E Body chassis, shared by the Riviera, and powered by Buick's venerable 3.8 liter pushrod V6. Not exactly the two ingredients you'd choose when cooking up a BMW-beating sports car, particularly when you don't have an acceptable manual transmission to bolt to the engine... which also failed to measure up to the mighty power numbers of the turbocharged version used in the Buick Grand National of a few years earlier. Given the, well, maturity of the typical Buick buyer at the time, however, The General's marketing corps figured they'd be able to get away with the not-so-upscale running gear as long as the luxury was there. And, damn, the Reatta really was luxurious!

The cars were handbuilt by Buick's best workers, and we must assume that the Mickey's Big Mouths were rationed much more strictly than on, say, the Cavalier line. Reatta buyers, who had to fork over $25,000 for a new '88 model (about the same as a new BMW 325i or Acura Legend), also got the Electronic Control Center, a touchscreen digital instrument panel that looked like something off the Space Shuttle and excelled at confounding nonagenarian Buick purchasers.

Guilty Pleasure Buick Reatta

Needless to say, I really want a Reatta, and I've also been hounding 24 Hours of LeMons racers to ditch their RX-7s, Mustangs, and E30s and start running this fine two-seater Buick instead. Yes, you can find a running Reatta for less than the LeMons-mandated $500 limit; for example, you can get this one in trade for a pair of Air Jordans, or this much nicer one for a mere grand. Unlike the Chrysler TC By Maserati (a future Guilty Pleasures honoree), sellers of Reattas aren't burdened by hallucinations that their cars are worth five-figure amounts, so you can pick up a pretty good Reatta for the kind of price you'd pay for a beater 10-year-old Sentra.

Guilty Pleasure Custom Buick Reatta

Of course, I might want to forget about getting Grandpa's dead-stock Reatta and pick up this beautifully customized '89 for $4,500. Why didn't GM offer that interior as an option?