The Buick Regal TourX is far from General Motors‘ most popular product, but if you have a dog or three, it may be a vehicle worth giving a serious look.
Car buying site AutoTrader recently listed the top ten best new cars for dog owners and included the Buick Regal TourX in its ranking. AutoTrader based the list around a variety of factors including the availability of leather seats (easier to clean, more durable), tinted windows (for those sunny days) and if it has a low cargo area/load floor. The presence of rear air vents and rear cargo tie downs was also a priority.
AutoTrader commended the Regal TourX’s wagon bodystyle, which gives it more cargo and passenger space than most compact crossovers. The site’s experts also figured its wide rear hatch opening, low load floor, soft suspension, available leather seats, split-folding rear seat and optional all-wheel drive would be beneficial for most dog owners.
“As one of the few true wagons on the market, the 2019 Buick Regal TourX makes an excellent dog-friendly transport,” the publication said.
This list actually does a good job of highlighting the Regal TourX’s unique position in the marketplace. The only other wagon on this list is the more expensive (albeit similar in philosophy) Volvo V60 Cross Country. The Volvo scored points for its available cargo compartment load divider and dog gate and a specifically-designed rear seat safety dog harness. Volvo also offers pet insurance through Liberty Mutual, interestingly enough.
Other top dogs include the BMW X2, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Chrysler Pacifica, Honda Fit, Jeep Wrangler, Subaru Crosstrek, Tesla Model 3 and Toyota RAV4.
Buick Regal sales were down 33.77% through the first six months of 2019, with GM moving 2,985 examples of the sedan and the TourX compared to 4,507 during the same period last year.
Click here to view the best new cars for dog owners, per AutoTrader’s experts.
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Comments
I still remember the test review of Cadillac’s CTS Sports Wagon where the author said with the seats folded down, the CTS Sports Wagon had about the same volume capacity as the Cadillac Escalade; thus, wagons offer the solid ride of a sedan while having the storage capacity of a SUV.
Had one and one of the most flexible vehicles owned! All the cargo room ever needed and the really big advantage was low height for loading a 13 ft kayak won the roof rack! All my suvs were a pain for loading and unloading the kayak.
Also had the advantages of handling well and looked dramatically different than the square box look of all the suvs!
Buick’s best kept secret.
Yes, that must be the plan. Don’t spend money on promoting the Regals, sedan or TourX. There’s a lot more profit importing SUV’s from Korea and China. The European Regal is too sophisticated for the average Buick customer.
How much longer will GM get to import this Opel? Minus the Avista concept, I do not have faith in Buicks in house designers to execute a good replacement for this vehicle. Maybe GM will not since Buick is now a soft CUV brand. I still don’t understand why this brand exists considering they still have Cadillac. Buick is definitely a shell of its former sell and once its current base goes they will be screwed. Young people don’t care about it since there is a stigma about the brand just like Cadillac.
Unless you want a huge pickup truck, SUV or crossover thing the entire lineup of the once big 3 is a shell of it’s former self and its truly sad watching them disintegrate into truck\SUV only brands.
Well…a purchase is a vote.
And there’s only one way to change the “trend”.
GM looks to loose the Opel insignia hopefully next year, already its stable mate the cascada is gone. the insignia is not a great car, I like TOP GEARS quote after driving it, asked for its good bits, the answer was four road wheels a steering wheel and a seat. the rest is crap. its not a GM car. its not a sophisticated car. its a soulless example of euro trash
Bruce
Congratulations on being one of the few people that still watches Top Gear. I’m sure they describe most of the crossovers and midsized cars on the market today using much of the same verbage.
Top Gear is to automobiles like those NFL commentators during half time second-guessing plays, strategies and how things should have been done.
All balloon-juice.
I carry two medium sized dogs often, but they sit and tied into the seat belts (with a “Four Paws” seat harness) in the normal rear seats of my Ford Fusion Hybrid, not loose in the back (I have just a trunk). I treat my dogs as children since they are living beings, too! So I can carry them safely in any four door sedan or CUV.
Anyone who leaves their dogs loose is abusive! And in some States , it can be a crime.
OK, I will bite, in what state(s) are there dog seat belt laws?
You must have very docile dogs, ours chew through their harnesses in the car.
I love it when I get dog hair all over the inside of my vehicles!
Once you spend a few minutes walking around the car, you realize it’s a great overall vehicle. German DNA with some nice features and styled well. Best part was the Buick Sales people didn’t swarm me when I came in. Yes, they were there to answer my questions, but they didn’t “helicopter” me. Even got a real Brochure…remember those? Only deduct is the “Smoked Pearl” color is NLA for 2020.
I ordered one last month. Looking forward to it.
I took advantage of a deep discount on a new loaded 2018 TourX Essence, and my wife and I couldn’t be happier. This is a near-premium vehicle at little more than an entry-level price, thanks to the discount. I realize it will take a few years to know if the impulse to own one of the last GM-based Opels was a mistake. On the plus side, this is quite different from the “Saturn” Astra situation, where GM dumped a precious few (less than 20,000) of those into the US before abandoning the car and eventually their owners. With many (170,000 and climbing) Insignia-Regals sold and continuing to sell (for now), parts should be reasonably available for years. Another plus is the excellent 2.0 liter turbo LTG Ecotec engine, popular throughout the GM lineup.
This TourX is much like driving a BMW 5-series wagon (which you can’t even get in the US!) at a Chevy price. Maybe better. With any luck it’ll turn out to be less of a headache than every BMW I’ve owned.