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WILL KAUFMAN: I'm here with 2018 Buick Regal TourX.
This isn't your mama's Roadmaster.
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Rather than just give us a station wagon,
Buick is marketing this as an alternative
to a crossover or a compact SUV.
They've lifted the TourX a little bit,
given it a little more ground clearance,
some plastic cladding for that tough off-road look.
And then they fitted it with a twin clutch all-wheel-drive
system that's capable of shifting all of the power
to any wheel to take advantage of whatever traction there is.
It means that this car is going to be pretty
well-suited to cold weather, to sort
of soft-roading conditions.
There's not really enough ground clearance here
for extreme off-roading.
But a dirt road like this, it handles just fine.
You also get compact SUV space.
In fact, you get more space than some compact SUVs offer.
This car has 73.5 cubic feet of maximum trunk space.
When you fold down those rear seats, there is a ton of room
back there.
The backseat is also really spacious.
You actually get better headroom than some small SUVs.
I'm a extra-large human.
And I have no trouble sitting back there.
The only engine choice for the Regal TourX is a 250 horsepower
turbocharged four-cylinder.
That's pretty competitive with the power level
you'll find in a lot of compact SUVs.
EPA-estimated mileage in this car
is 24 miles per gallon combined, 29 on the highway.
It's not the most efficient car.
But it's also not bad for the class.
That's sort of typical if you're looking at a small SUVs.
One of this cars weaknesses, though-- at least, for me--
is the eight-speed gearbox.
It's a little slow to respond.
That's not an issue on a road like this.
But when you're driving on the freeway,
or you're driving on city streets,
and you ask for more power, there's just a little pause.
The car sort of takes a breath before it delivers.
It just doesn't give this car a whole lot of feeling of pep
on the road.
You may not believe it on this road,
but the Regal TourX is actually pretty quiet on the freeway
and on city streets.
It's well-insulated from traffic noise.
This model, actually, gets sound-insulating foam
in its tires, which should help a lot on the road.
It is much quieter than a lot of competitors.
So we've seen this formula from other automakers.
You take a station wagon.
You lift it a little bit.
You put some plastic cladding on it and an all-wheel drive
system.
And you sell it as an SUV alternative.
You can get something similar from Audi, from Volkswagen,
from Subaru, from Volvo.
But Buick is hoping to set the Regal
TourX apart by making it sort of an in-between luxury car.
This TourX comes in at just under $40,000.
Now this car doesn't have adaptive cruise control.
There's no lane-keeping assist.
You do get blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
And you get standard cruise control.
You also get an 8 inch touch screen.
You get a premium sound system, leather seats that
are heated, but not cooled.
So it does really slot in between the luxury
marks and the mainstream marks.
The interior design is really clean.
And by that, I mean there's not a lot of buttons in here.
That means that you have to interact with the touch screen
for a lot of what you do, including
some of the climate controls.
This is a General Motors touchscreen system.
So it's relatively easy to find things.
It's pretty easy to use.
But that's still a trade-off.
The interior looks clean.
You don't get as many buttons.
You have to spend more time interacting
with the touch screen.
Touch points in this car are relatively nice.
You have good leather on the steering wheel.
You have padded leather along a lot of the touch points.
There are hard plastics, but there's not a ton of them.
They're textured.
Everything feels well put together.
This is a German-made car, after all.
Whether or not you like the clean interior look or you
prefer buttons, that's going to be up to you.
Really, for me, my other nit pick with this car
is that these front seats feel a little narrow.
I was comfortable enough for a longer drive.
But for preference, I would have preferred a little bit
more width on the seat, especially considering,
if this is an SUV alternative, then
being held in place for lateral motion by bolsters
isn't really a top priority for me.
The capabilities of this aren't too far
off from a standard compact SUV.
This car handles dirt roads like this really well.
On-road, it's a little bit of a mixed bag.
You get more car-like handling than you would from an SUV.
Some of the other advantages to this over a regular SUV,
you have that huge trunk, but loading it is really easy.
The load floor is very low.
And there's no real lift over.
It's also easy to load stuff on the roof.
If you've got a bicycle rack or a cargo box up there,
you're not going to have to climb up like you
would with a regular SUV.
At $40,000, you are looking at some stiff competition.
You're starting to get into some larger SUVs
for people who are just looking to maximize their passenger
space and cargo space.
You're also, maybe, looking at some larger cars that
are going to have a similar amount of passenger space, much
less cargo space, but are also going to have a more
dynamic on-road experience.
So buyers who are looking to sort of fill that niche, where
they want something a little more car-like
but they still want a lot of the capability of an SUV,
this makes a good alternative.
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This dirt road that I'm on has a lot
of loose gravel on the surface.
But this all-wheel drive system works really well here.
You know, this isn't sportiest feeling car on the road,
especially because of that gearbox
and its sort of slowness to respond.
But it's actually kind of fun on the gravel.
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Stay tuned to Edmunds to find out more about this car.
We'll have a full rating review coming just as soon
as we get one in for testing.
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