Buick Reatta

Squint through the mists of time and memory and you might see a dash of old-car romance in Buick’s new Reatta convertible.

There is a lot of the racy 1955 Ford Thunderbird convertible in the Buick Reatta and the $34,995 Buick Reatta convertible just went on sale.

The Buick Reatta should have been a convertible, not a hardtop, when introduced in January, 1988, because successful sporty two-seaters always have been convertibles. Ford knew that a quarter of a century ago when it unveiled the 1955 Thunderbird as a convertible.

The Buick Reatta, derived from Buick’s sporty Riviera four-seater, also is expensive in hardtop form at $28,335. Buick Reattas are pricey because they are limited-production cars (only about 8,000 sold annually) and are loaded with items ranging from anti-lock brakes to electronically controlled air-conditioning and an anti-theft system. Still, the Buick Reatta convertible’s price seems excessive, considering it falls far short of the performance of a comparably priced Corvette convertible.

Highlights of the new Buick:

Buick Reatta convertible: Buick should offer a power top for a $35,000 auto, but at least the top is neatly hidden by a hard tonneau cover when lowered and fits in with the Buick Reatta’s rakish lines when raised. The Buick Reatta has decent trunk space when the top is down, which is not the case with all convertibles.

The 165-horsepower V-6 offers lively, but hardly neck-snapping, acceleration, doing 0-60 m.p.h. in 10 seconds. A four-speed automatic transmission works well with the engine and enables the car to get 27 m.p.g. on the highway. City economy is only 16-18 m.p.g. because the 3,562-pound Buick Reatta is heavy, especially for an auto with only a 98.5-inch wheelbase.

There is a good amount of dashboard shake on rough pavement because body stiffness suffers when you chop off a car’s top. The front-wheel-drive Buick Reatta’s handling is excellent for an auto that’s not a sports car, but the firm suspension causes ride quality to suffer on bumpy pavement.
Construction quality is good, partly because the Buick Reatta is built in small “craft stations” instead of on an assembly line. Civilized and fun to drive, the Buick Reatta shouldn’t disappoint as long as you’re not expecting fire-breathing performance to accompany the car’s racy appearance.

The Buick Reatta is especially nice, especially in convertible form. But the Regal Gran Sport four-door is a much better buy, for about half the price.