100,000 Miles Owning A Buick Regal TourX: What I've Learned

Driving at 60 miles per hour, it would take nearly 71 days to cover 100,000 miles. For my family’s 2018 Buick Regal TourX it has taken just a smidge over five years to rack up that kind of mileage. Twenty-thousand miles per year every year for five years. It’s clear we’ve absolutely loved having this Rioja Red beauty on our side. Several years of street parking, fender benders, and long road trips would normally have a car looking pretty beat up, but this beauty is looking all the better with a few blemishes. I love my wagon, and I’ll be sad to see it leave.

My First Car: Ed Burns’s Beater Buick

A few years ago I gave you all an update on what it was like to own this car for the first 10,000 miles. Since we’ve ten-ex’d that milestone, I figured it was time for an update.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

When we bought this car back in late 2018, interest rates were insanely low and money was basically free. We got a zero-percent loan from GM Financial for 72 months, plus several thousand cash on the hood. You couldn’t do that these days on anything even resembling desirable, but five years ago the world was a different place. When we got in this car for our test drive back then it had eight miles on the odometer, and my wife and I have put every single mile on this car since. It’s been an adventure.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

I can’t say that every one of those miles has been smooth sailing, but the vast majority of them have. Being that this is a 100,000 mile German automobile, it would be really surprising if it made it there unscathed.

Just over a year ago we were on a road trip to Rhode Island for the Audrain Concours when the situation went pear-shaped. Out of nowhere while driving on the highway, systems started dying and the dash was shouting them out one by one. Throttle control got erratic, the stabilitrak started hitting brakes at random, and the cruise control quit working. We got off at the next exit with an auto parts store and ran through a few possibilities. The battery was reading low voltage, so we swapped in a new one and everything seemed to be fixed.

About a thousand miles later the same symptoms arose again. If I left the car on a trickle charger overnight the problem would again go away. Three or four trips to the dealership revealed nothing, as it always had a topped-up battery when we took it in. Eventually we happened to be close to the dealer when the emergency braking started phantom braking worse than a Tesla on ‘autopilot’, so we dropped it off and took an Uber home. It turned out to be the body control module, and it was fixed and back to us in six days for around $600. Ever since, it’s been a sweetheart again.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

Aside from that major issue, there have only been two small issues with the car that are annoying, but not a dealbreaker. The first is that we’ve had the front bumper tow plug cover replaced twice, and the first time we go on a winter roadtrip, it falls off again. Instead of paying to buy another one and get it painted again and again, we’ve just decided to live without it. The second is that the steering-wheel radar cruise switch needed to be replaced for cosmetic damage in 2021. I don’t recall exactly what it cost to replace, but it was annoyingly a few hundred dollars.

Aside from tires, oil changes, and a body control module, this car hasn’t had any failures. It’s been a great vehicle. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend one to anyone who wants one.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

I have two minor gripes with the Regal TourX. The first is that there are no parking sensors in the front bumper, despite having them in the rear bumper. It beeps at you when you’re backing up, but you could drive right through something and the car wouldn’t notify you. There’s already a radar sensor in the badge, why can’t that at least tell me how close I am to the wall in my garage? This car is so long it needs to be all the way in the garage in order for the door to close. Anyway, my second gripe is that they don’t make these anymore. Great car, it doesn’t deserve to be dead.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

I wouldn’t call the Regal TourX’s fuel economy all that great. Around town the car’s turbocharged 2-liter and all-wheel drive tend to suck down the fuel, delivering in the low twenties. When you get on the highway it becomes much more efficient, and if you keep to the speed limit, it’ll regularly deliver high thirties. My best average (below) involved a decent amount of downhill steady-state highway driving, but returned 37.4 mpg over 450 miles. Not bad.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

Good job, Opel. You made a great car. I loved it. Now it’s time to let it go. We’re moving on, because we need something that can tow several thousand pounds regularly. It’s officially time to move it on and make some space in our overfilled garage.

Photo: Bradley Brownell

I’ve towed with the Regal, usually motorcycles, and its 1,000 pound tow capacity is below what we need. I’m not typically an SUV guy, but we bought a Porsche Cayenne Diesel for its 8,000 pound towing capacity and comfort, and I actually kind of love it. I’ve committed to a few cosmetic modifications, and have new wheels and tires on the way for it. Once it’s ‘done’ I’ll make sure to deliver an update here.