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So, this is middle age:

You get a call from Buick about a “hot” new car.

Forget that “hot” and “Buick” rarely make sense in the same sentence. The Buick rep on the phone is insistent. “You’ll like this car!” he says, referring to the 1997.5 Buick Regal GS.

The car arrives a few days later. It’s black-on-black with a blacked-out grille. It’s classic Detroit — a mishmash of funk, wealth, and Midwestern sensuality, accented with brushed aluminum wheels to make it look sporty.

You open the driver’s door. It’s heavy. But it closes with a ca-chunk instead of a thunk. There is a qualitative difference: A thunk has less vibration, which means it sounds richer.

You slide behind the steering wheel — easy to do in the Regal GS, because the front bucket seats are large and deep enough to accommodate people with bucket bellies.

There are niceties inside. The seats are exceptionally comfortable. The instrument panel has been simplified, though the center console remains busy with myriad sound system and climate control buttons.

You’re beginning to think: “I like this car,” though the admission offers little comfort. It’s an image thing. The very name, Buick, bespeaks sixtysomething, which isn’t appealing to someone aged 49.

You key the ignition and step on the gas. Epiphany! Ten miles down the road, you realize that none of it really matters — age, change, the whole shebang. What’s real is movement. And Regal GS handles that with aplomb.

Background: The new Buick Regal’s mission is to lower the age of Buick buyers. That’s not a gist. It’s business. People too old to drive don’t buy cars. Ditto dead people.

Buick’s greatest potential for repeat sales exists among the fortysomethings, versus the sixtysomethings who now constitute the bulk of Buick buyers.

To help reach the younger set, Buick revamped its Regal line, which consists of the tested GS and the base LS.

The new cars are a tad longer than their predecessors; they offer a bit more room for heads and legs; and, compared with previous models, they are mostly free of gimcrackery such as chrome brightwork and polyurethane forestry.

External design is clean, modestly muscular, with hints of get-down attitude and upper-crust affluence.

But the real deal is in the driving, where the Regal GS excels. The car comes with GM’s supercharged Series II V-6 — a 3.8-liter job rated240 horsepower at 5,200 rpm with torque rated 280 pound feet at 3,600 rpm. It hums!

But “sporty” here excludes manual transmissions. There’s a standard, electronically controlled four-speed automatic for the GS and the 195-horsepower LS.

The Regal GS employs roll-cage construction, double-side galvanized metals and a cross-car beam to the rear of the instrument panel — all of which means that the car can take a hit, resist rust, and roll rattle-free.

Dual front air bags and power, four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock backup are standard on the Regal GS. So are se at belts. Use them.

1997.5 Buick Regal GS

Complaints: Fat “A” and “C” pillars framing the front windshield and rear window. They compromise overall visibility and aren’t aesthetically pleasing. No “thunk” in the doors, a deficiency that can be corrected by installing more sound-deadening materials in the door panels and sills.

Praise: Excellent design of rear-view mirrors, which are large and compensate for some of the visibility lost to the “A” and “C” pillars. Superior overall road manners. The front-wheel-drive Regal GS, which seats five, is a long-distance runner.

Head-turning quotient: The slightly graying set took favorable notice. The under-40 crowd hardly gave it a glance. Demographically, Buick may be on to something.

Ride, acceleration, handling: Aces for ride and handling in what essentially is a mid-size family car. Acceleration gets high marks but receives a few penalty points for occasional, pronounced downshifting. Aces for braking.

Mileage About 25 miles per gallon: 17- gallon tank, estimated 410-mile range on usable volume of required premium unleaded, combined city-highway, running with two occupants and light cargo (16.7-cubic-foot cargo capacity).

Sound system: AM/FM stereo radio and cassette with console-mounted, single-disc CD player. GM/Delco Concert Sound II system. Excellent.

Price: Base price on the Regal GS is $22,945. Base dealer invoice is $20,995. Price as tested is $25,545, including $1,060 in options and a $540 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: A good value. Compare with Pontiac Grand Prix, Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable, Dodge Intrepid, Nissan Maxima, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Mazda 626, Volkswagen Passat GLX sedan.