Images: InsideLine.com

We’ve talked about Buick’s new Regal CXL Turbo in some length here at Street Legal TV (see all the suggested articles below). We seeing signs of Buick finally becoming an exciting brand, but those signs are buried under a whole lot of luxury sedan fluff. Don’t get us wrong, we’re glad with the changes were seeing with the newly revitalized Buick brand; its just that we’d like to see an all-black turbo V6 GNX coupe or a yellow-and-black naturally-aspirated GSX someday soon.

But until that day arrives, we have to sift through the mire to find things to be excited about. Recently, InsideLine matched up possibly one of Buick’s most fondly-remembered muscle cars, the ’87 Grand National (we don’t care what a minority of hard nosed purists cry, the GN and GNX were, by all fundamental definitions, muscle cars) and Buick’s latest turbo-propelled entry, the ’11 CXL Turbo. Not exactly what we’d call a fair fight…

When compared on paper, the two are surprisingly similar. The ’87 Grand National comes in with a 108.1-inch wheelbase while the four-door is 107.8-inches long. Width, the two are pretty close as well, with the GN 71.6-inched wide and the new model 73.1-inches. Moreover, the new sedan is only 4-inches taller than the angular ’87 Buick.

At the scales, the Grand National shows its secret to quick E.T.’s touting only 3,509lbs. while the new Regal comes in at 3,765 pounds, still lighter than any new ’11 Camaro or Challenger.

On the track, the two quickly grew apart. The Grand National clicked off a 5.5-second 0-to-60 time and a limp 14.3-second quartermile at 96.1mph. The new CXL was ousted on both accounts, tripping the lights with a weak 8-second 0-to-60 and 16.1-second pass at 89.7mph.

The problem with this comparison is not that the new Buick is undertuned or the ’87 was properly geared for drag racing. In fact, it’s far more simpler: Buick didn’t build the ’11 CXL Turbo with the ’87 Buick in mind. Nowhere in GM’s mind was the comparison ever a consideration. It’s not like the ’11 BOSS 5.0L (302ci) or the ’11 Dodge Charger R/T, where their classic predecessors were strong influences on these machines’ current design, performance and execution.