2018 Buick Regal GS Debuts with More Power, Aggressive Styling

The 2018 Buick Regal GS trades the traditional sedan shape for a Sportback liftback body and adds a twin-clutch rear differential more commonly found on sports coupes. A 310-horsepower V6, Brembo brakes, and a HiPer Strut front suspension round out a genuine engineering commitment rather than a badge-only performance package. Read on to see why Buick is chasing a very different kind of buyer with this one.

Buick built its reputation on quiet luxury, not lap times, which makes what just landed on Regal GS spec sheets genuinely strange. The nameplate that spent decades chasing Lexus-style comfort just picked up hardware borrowed from a very different kind of performance program, and the styling changes are not subtle either. Something has clearly shifted inside GM’s Buick division, and it did not happen by accident. The question is whether traditional Buick buyers even wanted this, or whether the brand decided it needed a different kind of customer entirely.

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A New Platform, A New Body Style

The 2018 Regal GS abandons the traditional three-box sedan shape for a five-door Sportback liftback body, built on GM’s E2 global platform shared with the Opel Insignia. It is a bigger, lower, wider car than the outgoing Regal, with a longer wheelbase that opens up rear legroom while the fastback roofline actually improves cargo access through a hatch rather than a conventional trunk lid. That single body-style decision signals how differently GM approached this generation compared to the sedan-only Regals that came before it.

The Twin-Clutch AWD System Doing the Heavy Lifting

Buried under the Regal GS is a twin-clutch rear differential capable of sending up to 100 percent of available rear torque to a single wheel when the system detects it will help traction. Combined with a front-to-rear torque split, the setup lets the GS put power down out of a corner in a way that a traditional open-differential AWD sedan simply cannot match, without requiring the driver to do anything differently behind the wheel.

310 Horsepower From a V6, Not a Turbo Four

While much of the industry moved toward smaller turbocharged four-cylinders for this class, Buick kept a 3.6-liter naturally aspirated V6 under the Regal GS’s hood, rated at 310 horsepower and 282 pound-feet of torque. That power routes through a nine-speed automatic transmission, itself a jump from the outgoing model’s six-speed unit, giving the GS more usable gear ratios for both highway cruising efficiency and the kind of quick downshifts a performance sedan buyer expects when passing on a two-lane road.

Brembo Brakes and HiPer Strut Suspension

Stopping power comes from four-piston Brembo front brake calipers, a component more commonly associated with sports cars than mid-size sedans, paired with a HiPer Strut front suspension design engineered specifically to reduce torque steer and improve steering precision under hard cornering. Its presence here is another signal that the GS badge was meant to carry real engineering weight rather than serve as a trim-level sticker on an otherwise ordinary sedan.

Aggressive Styling That Breaks From Buick Tradition

The exterior styling leans harder into performance cues than any Regal before it, with a more aggressive front fascia, larger air intakes, quad exhaust outlets, and available 20-inch wheels that push the visual language closer to a European sport sedan than the softer, chrome-heavy Buicks of the previous decade. Inside, the GS trim brings sport seats with more aggressive bolstering and a flat-bottom steering wheel, details aimed squarely at buyers cross-shopping Audi and BMW.

Why Buick Is Chasing a Different Buyer

Buick’s traditional customer base has skewed older for years, and the brand has been open about needing to attract younger buyers to remain relevant long-term. The Regal GS’s German-influenced styling, twin-clutch AWD, and sport-tuned chassis are a direct pitch to import-sedan shoppers who would never have cross-shopped a Buick a decade ago. Whether that strategy pays off depends on convincing skeptical enthusiasts that a Buick badge can carry genuine performance credibility.

How It Stacks Up Against Its Closest Rivals

Against direct competitors like the Volkswagen Arteon or Kia Stinger GT, the Regal GS’s numbers are competitive rather than class-leading – its 310 horsepower trails some rivals’ twin-turbo V6 output, and its price point sits in a crowded middle ground between mainstream and luxury badges. Where the GS argues its case is refinement and that twin-clutch rear differential, a piece of hardware few competitors in this price range offer factory-fitted rather than bolted on as an aftermarket afterthought.

Real-World Ownership Costs to Consider

A twin-clutch AWD system and a nine-speed automatic add mechanical complexity compared to a simpler front-wheel-drive sedan, which can mean higher repair costs down the road once the factory warranty expires. Buyers considering a used Regal GS a few years down the line should budget for that complexity the same way they would with any performance-oriented AWD platform, since the components that make the car quick out of a corner are also the components that cost the most to service.

What Reviewers Actually Said Behind the Wheel

Period road tests generally praised the Regal GS’s chassis composure and the twin-clutch differential’s effectiveness at putting power down, while noting that outright straight-line acceleration lagged behind the segment’s quickest turbocharged rivals. That mixed verdict reflects the car’s overall positioning – it was never meant to be the outright quickest car in its class, but rather the most composed one through a series of corners, a distinction that matters more to enthusiast buyers than casual shoppers scanning a spec sheet for horsepower alone.

The Regal GS’s Place in Buick’s Broader Strategy

The Regal GS did not exist in isolation – it arrived as Buick simultaneously leaned harder into SUVs and crossovers with the Encore, Envision, and Enclave, making the GS something of an outlier within its own lineup rather than the leading edge of a broader performance push. That context matters, because a halo performance sedan surrounded by an SUV-focused lineup sends a very different signal than the same car would inside a brand built primarily around sedans and coupes.

A Genuine Shift for the Brand

Whatever the sales numbers eventually show, the 2018 Regal GS represents a real engineering commitment rather than a styling package slapped onto an existing sedan. Brembo brakes, a twin-clutch differential, and a purpose-built suspension are not cheap additions, and Buick chose to spend that money on a nameplate that has not always justified performance hardware in its recent history. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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