Buick was blunt with its intentions for the 2018 Regal TourX: it wants a piece of the Subaru Outback’s market. That’s no easy task; the Outback commands a loyal following and has cemented itself as one of the only affordable wagon-esque rides on the market.
Is the Regal TourX up to the task? Judges from Motor Trend think it absolutely is. In a new comparison test published on Monday, the Buick Regal TourX edged out the Subaru Outback and left the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack in a distant third place.

2018 Buick Regal TourX
Judges lauded the Regal TourX for its swanky exterior design, cargo space and Buick’s wagon nearly matched the Outback in terms of capability. The only downside was a more expensive sticker price. The Regal TourX as tested cost nearly $40,000, while the fully loaded Outback rang in around $36,000.
And that led the Regal TourX to its one major sour spot: the interior.
The publication didn’t find the nicest things to say about the interior, likening the cabin to a Michael Scott-awarded “Dundie” from The Office. A sea of plastics offers little to no contrast and quality wasn’t on par with the Buick brand. The seats and infotainment system earned praise, however.
The TourX is Buick’s most aggressive piece of white space yet, now we wait to see if the Outback loyalists feel like shopping around.
Comments
Buick will need to market this car aggressively if they want it to succeed. If they just leave it out there for the market few people will notice.
At the auto show it was just sitting on the floor with nothing to highlight it. I checked it out and no one ever came around.
This car may fail just for the lack of trying in a already tough segment that few are in.
Yet they market the Enclave and I had to wait in line to sit in it?
Yep pretty that there is absolutely no advertising for the tourx… looks to me like gm is not serious about selling it. I have mine couple weeks now and love it.. my salesman told me they r not going to order more as they can’t get rid of the ones they have in stock…. and this on a brand new car!!!! Sent few emails to buick to ask why no ads yet but no response… no one who sees my car has any ideas of what it is…Wake up gm!!!!
The ones in Atlanta cannot stay on the lots long enough. They’re flying off them down there.
But, I do agree – GM seems to have a terrible habit of not advertising anything like this. Another example of it is the new Equinox/Terrain diesel. Most people don’t know it exists because GM has done absolutely zero to inform people…
One of the annoying things about these types of reviews is that I’ve never seen one that doesn’t allude to the Clark Griswold wood grain “wagons” of the 80s, which I detect a hint of it from MT in this review. I think it tarnishes the vehicle some, people are somehow turned off the product, even if it was a CTS-V with 556hp. This is a bold and different direction from Buick, and I hope it works for them because I genuinely like these types of vehicles and think a lot of people could benefit from them, and like scott3 says they need to promote it! As the erosion of the middle class continues I can see higher end cars like this being appealing people in the same way that GMC is appealing.
Alternatively, I liked how shows like Top Gear and now the Grand Tour refer to these as “estates”, and frequently make reference to how practical of a vehicle they are.
I am not sure there is a big market for these cars but there is a market and they need to aggressively to go after them.
The CUV is king no matter how you spin it in the market. People like sitting tall in vehicles that really are not much different than this car that just sits a little lower.
Buick did just what Subaru did and inject just enough truck to give it a little more butch look than a family truckster.
GM can drop a CUV and it will sell but this one will need attention drawn to it to show how good it is.
It is just sad when they have a worthy car cars are out of style. Same for the Regal too.
To be honest I like the Opel version with the body color trim. It is one sweet looking ride.
Not sure if this was a fair fight….
They should release one without the black clad. Love to see a GS but, doubt that it would happen.
But, they should offer a Tour X with a non- turbo motor to make it more affordable.
Note too that the Buick was the quickest from 0-60, more cargo space with the rear seats folded, had the best warranty, got better highway MPG than the Subaru and can be bought with less equipment for under 30K with AWD and the same drivetrain and bodystyle. I also think the carping they did on the interior is a bit over the top. I have sat in 3 of these and fit and finish, material quality etc were all fine. The seats could be made to look a little fancier with some extra stitching or pattern and a little more contrast with the tan option like brown and some wood tone would liven things up for sure. Otherwise this is a good vehicle in search of more std features at each price point.
So I sat in a new Regal at the local car show. These guys nit and pick gm interiors to death and its a bunch of crap. the interior is nice. Its a little bland but its buick its not suppose to be full of bling.
Friend just bought a new Honda Ridgeline the plastics are no different they are in any of GM vehicles. Same plastic similar look. Same with the Lower plastic that I real all these auto journalist complain about. GM/Buick needs to market this as much as possible and it will be a success.
Exactly. My co-workers BMW X3 has plenty of hard scratchy plastic on the bottom 3rd of the doors and the center console tunnel.
Constant dashboard diddlers……..more touchy than perv at a playground…..
The problem is t’s a Buick and should not be compared to Honda. Thats Chevy territory. A Buick should be a little more upscale with better quality material. After all they charge more money for a Buick than a Chevy.
Notice that they never talk about carpet it’s always about dashboard materials and some Honda’s do have hard plastics the Civic does.
I work at a used car dealership we had a 500x that I had to clean for the lot. The dashboard yes was nice but, the carpet took 2 hours to clean as all the mice in Italy lost their fur.