If you haven’t driven a Buick lately, you really should. Of course, the brand’s attractive yet conservatively luxurious styling has
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
to work for you. It’s more traditional than modernistic, targeting a market where Lexus used to be before it got all edgy, an elegantly rounded place where creased and creviced Cadillac will never venture. Still, there are a lot of buyers looking for more classic designs that don’t necessarily break the mold, where luxury is still expressed in curvaceous bodywork, chromes, leathers and woods. That’s Buick, and they’re doing a fine job of carrying this torch forward.
As you probably know, the General Motors entry-level luxury division sits below Cadillac and above Chevrolet (and GMC depending on the model in question), and to its credit GM has done a pretty good job of differentiating Buick models from those riding on the same platform architectures. For the most part Cadillac is a separate entity sharing only two models with Buick and GM’s more mainstream brands,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
the XTS luxury sedan, which uses Buick LaCrosse and Chevy Impala underpinnings, and the Escalade that shares its body-on-frame architecture with the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe. This leaves Buick as the top rung in GM’s volume brand ladder.
Some reading this might think I’m stating the obvious being that GM’s brand pecking order is hardly news, but let’s not forget that many newer Canadians and younger drivers won’t be aware of the age-old nameplate. Buick is a global brand for sure, but unlike Chevrolet that can be found in most markets around the world, this American-rooted brand is only available in select markets including Canada, the US, Mexico, China and Taiwan.
Those
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
familiar with Chevrolet may notice a few similarities between some of its models and those offered by Buick. For instance, Buick’s best-selling Canadian model at 7,161 units last year is the very well sorted compact Verano sedan, which does an excellent job of masking its Chevy Cruze genus through unique exterior styling yet gives too many hints away inside, while the next most popular Buick at 5,683 buyers last year is the Chevy Trax-based Encore that has a harder time hiding its short length, tall profile and similar taillight design, although you’ll be hard pressed to notice much the same inside. Buick’s flagship crossover SUV is number three on its sales charts at 3,528 takers during 2014, the Enclave that I’m reviewing here sharing underpinnings with Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia, but
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
other than a V-shaped rear window on the Enclave and Traverse there’s little to let you know they’re near identical under the sheetmetal, although the layout of the gauges, centre stack, lower console and other details give their familial relationship away once inside. Still, you really need to know how cars are put together to notice the specifics I’m pointing out, and on top of that Buick goes the extra mile by finishing all of its vehicles to a much higher standard than GM’s more value-oriented brands, raising most of the premium brand’s models up to near-luxury status.
Buick has two additional models, by the way. Its LaCrosse flagship sedan found 1,557 buyers last year while sharing its architecture with the Chevrolet Impala and,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
as previously mentioned, the Cadillac XTS, whereas the mid-size Regal, one of my favourite Buicks (although I seem to be in the minority in this respect), only managed to pull in 816 new fans during 2014 despite arguably more appealing styling than its Chevy Malibu platform partner (and a better looking sheet metal than many of its rivals).
Certainly the Regal deserves a great deal more attention than it gets, as does the entire Buick brand, at least in Canada. It’s respected in the US and Asia with “global” sales of 1,170,115 vehicles during calendar year 2014, Canada’s contribution a paltry 18,745 units. Anyone in Canada questioning whether Buick deserves true premium brand status need only look at its sales numbers to appreciate that its rarity on the road gives it an edge when it comes to exclusivity.
Of
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
course, while the exclusivity pitch might work for selling Bentley and Rolls Royce, if it were a motivating factor when choosing an entry-level luxury vehicle at the lower end of the market then Scion would be considered an ultra-premium brand. It’s not, so Buick is left selling very good cars and CUVs to its usual 70-plus crowd or younger buyers choosing a Regal for all the right reasons and, like its latest TV ad depicts, considering themselves “early adopters” for buying something new and different. On that note I’ve seen quite a few upwardly mobile (seemingly) single young women driving top-line Regal GS models and I must admit they make North America’s oldest automotive brand currently in existence seem a very youthful 112.
The
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Enclave has become a family favourite, quite often piloted by youngish couples along with a gaggle of kids in back. Truly, there are few better family vehicles available this side of a minivan. That point in mind, it was to escape the stigma of the ultimate family hauler that GM abandoned its lineup of mid-size vans back in the mid-aughts and created a broad assortment of seven- to eight-occupant Lambda-based crossovers, which initially included the Saturn Outlook that hit the market with the GMC Acadia in 2006, followed by the Enclave in 2007 and Traverse in 2008 (the Outlook was discontinued in 2010 following elimination of the Saturn brand).
The
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
current threesome did fairly well for GM in 2014, resulting in 13,387 sales (Buick placed last with the aforementioned 3,528 units, Chevy next with 3,886 Traverse deliveries and GMC getting the lion’s share with 5,973 sales of its great looking Acadia), but this said it took GM three very unique models to overcome single-model Nissan Pathfinder (9,688) and Toyota Highlander (9,749) sales, while the Kia Sorento (13,982) found yet more buyers, the Ford Edge and its seven-passenger Flex partner (17,940 plus 2,365 for a total of 20,305) clearly lead the three GM models in popularity, the Dodge Journey (24,715) did even better, and the Hyundai Santa Fe (32,474) was the hands-down winner. To GM’s credit there are a number of mid-size SUVs that it left in the proverbial dust, Honda’s Pilot just being one.
Just looking at the Enclave’s 3,528 sales and measuring its success in the premium
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
seven-passenger mid-size crossover SUV segment is also interesting. The Acura MDX took top spot with 6,272 Canadian buyers last year, while the BMW X5 found 5,470, Infiniti slightly outpaced the Enclave with QX60 3,613 sales, Mercedes-Benz GL found itself pulling up the rear with 2,339 deliveries, Audi’s aging Q7 faring rather poorly with only 1,959 buyers, the geriatric Volvo XC90 only managing to find 427 new owners, and Lincoln’s oddball MKT picking up the scraps with a thoroughly embarrassing 289 takers.
So Buick can feel pretty good about the Enclave’s sales success, but keep in mind that at $48,060 it’s priced significantly lower than most of these competitors, excepting the $43,400 QX60, $47,160 MKT and $52,990 MDX, so its sales should probably be a bit higher.
For
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
that money you get an attractively styled, luxuriously equipped near-full-size crossover SUV that seats seven or eight occupants and holds an incredible amount of cargo measuring 682 litres (24.1 cubic feet) behind the 60/40-split seatbacks, 1,985 litres (70.1 cubic feet) aft of the ultra-convenient 40/20/40-split second row, and finally 3,286 litres (116.1 cubic feet) when both rear rows are laid flat. What’s more there’s a large hidden storage compartment under the cargo floor as well, handy for stowing valuables away from prying eyes.
The second row buckets are pretty sophisticated, too. To access the third row, tug on one of two levers at the side of the lower portion of the seat and that cushion pops
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
upwards to make room for the seatback and lower cushion to fold together, the entire seat then rolling forward to give easy access to the rear. It slides back just as easily. Likewise, flip the seat down to make room for more cargo, at which point the headrest automatically flips downward and out of the way. Slick stuff.
I don’t normally start a review with cargo capacity and rear passenger access, but with the Enclave I decided to first focus on what it does well, after which I’ll point out a number of areas that it could improve upon. Therefore, along with the last two points mentioned, an addition to the “What I like” column is its great looking interior. Again, you’ve got to appreciate classic luxury to warm up to the Enclave’s “domestic” parlour club atmosphere that’s rich in contrast-stitched leathers and padded
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
leatherettes, woods and faux woodgrain, chrome trim, and more. The leatherettes include an attractive soft-touch dash top with real stitching (you can’t get that in an Infiniti QX60), while not all premium SUVs feature as nice a roofliner that also extends down three rows of padded and fabric-wrapped pillars. The same material covers the visors and they’re very well finished. Ditto for the vanity mirrors themselves; GM has been doing details like this longer than anyone else and it shows. Additionally, most of the cabin’s switchgear is nicely done, especially the large “wheels” used for directing ventilation airflow that feel as if they’re made from metal and are rubber rimmed to boot, while the radio, primary HVAC and second-row HVAC knobs get the metal/rubber treatment as well.
The Enclave’s seats are extremely comfortable while firmly supportive with good power-adjustable
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
lumbar support, albeit very little lateral support. The cooling fan that came as part of my tester’s front ventilated seats was a bit noisy, but nevertheless appreciated during the hotter summer days, while GM’s heatable seats continue to be amongst the best in the biz due to separate controls for back and lower cushions plus three-way temperature control.
My tester’s Bose audio system delivered superb sound for all genres of music, while I really like how the volume automatically mutes when the phone connects. The HVAC system reacts similarly, with fan speed slowing to reduce noise so you can hold a conversation over the Bluetooth wireless system.
Of course, the “like” and “loathe” columns are clearly white and black issues, while
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
there are also a lot of grey areas that might be good in some ways yet could still use improvement. For instance, the infotainment system’s touch-sensitive switchgear is great, while surrounding buttons are very tight and well-damped, but the buttons around the HVAC system are a bit wiggly and hollow feeling. This said the Enclave is hardly alone, with many premium brands lacking in the switchgear department. On the positive, the rotating knobs I mentioned a moment ago are some of my favourite elements of the Enclave’s interior design, especially their clear centres filled with digital readouts; very slick stuff. What’s more, the heatable steering wheel rim warms up quickly, but it only heats the leather portion of the wheel, the genuine wood remaining cold.
Another questionable item is the bin under the centre armrest. It’s velvet-lined, which is very nice, but it’s too small for a vehicle this large, limiting its usefulness. There’s
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
an even tinier bin atop the dash that also gets the velvet treatment, but I’ll give this one a big smile because most rivals offer nothing of the sort. It’s good for a wallet, gas cards plus loose change, and I applaud that it’s now missing the USB charger that I previously criticized for being poorly placed. GM has moved it down to the lower centre stack where it’s more useful, so kudos to the product planners for listening to we journos (and I’m guessing your customers too).
Additionally,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the Dual SkyScape panoramic sunroof with its powered tilt and sliding front glass panel and fixed rear glass panel with sunscreen was wonderful, and the Panasonic rear entertainment system tucked in between a bit on the small side as far as screen size goes, but still a nice addition in a family vehicle.
Last and probably least, Buick makes strange use of a new for 2015 plum-wine-burgundy colour for the upper dash, instrument panel, centre stack side trim and the rims that run along each side of the lower console, along with light beige for the headliner and pillars plus black everywhere else. Obviously someone liked this combination or it wouldn’t exist, but for me it doesn’t work at all. It came with an exterior colour I happen to like a lot, however, Dark Chocolate Metallic that costs $515 extra, and this point brings up
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
something I really appreciate, that the Enclave is available with 10 exterior colour/shade choices from standard trim, plus four interior motifs.
As for the “What I don’t like” column, the fake chrome wheel covers overtop the alloy rims are a no-go. Sure they protect the rims from curb scrapes and are no-doubt cheaper to replace than a wheel is to fix, but this is the premium segment and therefore real chromed alloys are expected. Inside, the plastics that aren’t covered with nice leatherette or metallic trim are subgrade at best, and not suited to a premium model, particularly those used on the lower dash, glove box lid, lower door panels, and the entire centre console that are too glossy and pickup truck-like. Actually, GM is doing a better job with the interior plastics for its superb
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
new top-line Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra twins. I’m not totally against using hard plastics where needed, and while I’ve been critical of luxury brands that don’t finish off their glove box lids with nice pliable plastics at the very least, Audi’s Q7 doesn’t bother and auto scribes continually praise it for unparalleled quality (I don’t agree with them, incidentally), at least Audi makes that hard plastic look like the matte finished soft stuff. Ditto for the Enclave’s roll-top centre bin cover that’s too cheap feeling, as is the plastic quality inside.
Also, if you remember that “domestic” luxury comment made earlier, fake wood is unacceptable in a $60+k vehicle, unless done in environmentally friendly pseudo materials that also feel substantive instead of hollow and cheap. Volvo does a good job of this, although there’s a lot of reclaimed hardwood on the market that can satisfy today’s eco-friendly requirements while fulfilling a luxury brand’s need to
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
be authentic. Likewise for the cheesy plastic overhead console that might have been passable a decade ago but doesn’t measure up now, and it’s missing a sunglasses holder as well, which is a minor negative in my books.
As far as features go, I have long criticized GM for endowing its cheapest cars with high-quality, high-end features and denying its flagship models from the same. For instance, despite this being a recently updated model, the Enclave still soldiers forward with the cheapest key fob in the entire industry. I know of zero compact cars on the market, even the $10k Nissan Micra and all of GM’s subcompact and compact models, that expects to get away with such a crumby key fob, yet the Enclave’s
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
is a combination of an ultra-cheap featureless key finished in Little Tykes plastic and a poorly made plastic dongle that barely hang onto each other via a cheap metal ring. If I were a GM salesperson and had to hand this piece of junk to a customer graduating up to an Enclave from his Chevy Equinox I’d be embarrassed, especially considering the Equinox has a really nice high-quality switchblade-style key fob. It’s a minor issue for some, but for most buying into the premium sector the key fob they throw onto the counter of their country club juice bar table should be somewhat presentable. On top of this there’s no way to buy a top-line Enclave with proximity-sensing access and/or pushbutton ignition system, but rather you’re left in yesteryear (more like yester-century) with that awful key fob. Get with the program GM, and start giving buyers of your top-line models the types of features available
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
in your entry-level models. For any other automaker this would be a no-brainer, but getting GM to wake up to the obvious seems to be akin to getting Quakers to embrace the internet.
On the subject of infotainment, the Enclave’s 6.5-inch touchscreen display is too small for this size of vehicle and filled with old school graphics on medium-resolution screen quality. Let’s face it. In the $50-$65k crowd, even the kids are using high-definition smartphones let alone the latest tablets, while watching their fave Saturday morning cartoons on 65-inch HD smart TVs at home, and these are the hand-me-downs from their parents’ upgrades. So why would someone using the latest Samsung Galaxy S6 or my Note 4, or for that matter an Apple iPhone 6s, want to navigate through the Enclave’s mediocre attempt at infotainment? And it’s
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
not like GM doesn’t have a lot of excellent infotainment systems in its arsenal. The one I tested recently in the aforementioned Buick Encore was excellent, while Chevy’s tiny Spark mini car has one of the more innovative infotainment system’s in the entire industry, not to mention a decent key fob.
I wish the Enclave’s infotainment system were perfectly functional so I’d have something good to say about it, but not so its navigation “upgrade” at least. Whenever I need to go somewhere that I haven’t been before I make use of the nav system if the car I’m testing has one, so I punched a destination into the Enclave’s infotainment display and off I went. When I noticed it was asking me to follow a route that wasn’t the quickest way to my known destination I suspected it was seeing a problem in traffic that I couldn’t foresee (as NavTraffic was included) so
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
I dutifully followed. There came a point, however, that I knew the nav was pointing us way off course so I pulled over, checked my destination, and after confirming that it was set correctly, reset the guidance. Again it sent me in the wrong direction, but frustratingly asked me to follow the route back from where I had just come, although in the opposite direction from where it was telling me to go just a few moments before. Already knowing the direction I needed to travel, I started heading that way I needed to go hoping that the guidance system would clue in and find its way. No such luck, as it kept telling me to turn around. Sick of hearing the calming voice give me bad directions I pulled over, cancelled the directions, and reached for my Note 4 smartphone, entered the address in Google Maps and pressed navigate. Away I went. Almost all the way there, I decided to give GM’s system one more try, and third time lucky it joined Google in repeating similar
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
directions and finally found the destination perfectly. This said if I had been new to the city I would’ve certainly been lost if I relied on the Enclave’s navigation. This is where I make a request for GM to follow it’s own lead by integrating the excellent system it uses in the Chevy spark, that simply allows full integration of a person’s smartphone so that Google Maps, in this case, shows up on the display of the car.
As for features that I found glaringly missing in my top-line tester, there’s no bright, shiny colour TFT multi-information display amid the instrument cluster, like every other competitive premium (and many mainstream volume) model, while the cruise control was plain old cruise with no adaptive capability (ditto for premium and mainstream brands), and there were no rear seat heaters. Seriously? Yes, you can get heatable rear
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
seats in a run of the mill Hyundai compact sedan let alone the best-selling Santa Fe mid-size CUV, but not in a $65k Buick luxury ute? Nothing more needed to be said here.
Included in my Premium tester is standard AWD, plus adaptive cornering headlights, power-folding side mirrors with driver-side auto-dimming and auto reverse tilt-down for both sides (auto-dimming really should be included on the passenger’s side too), memory settings for those side mirrors, the driver’s seat and the upgraded power tilt and telescopic steering column, as well as the cooled front seats I mentioned before, 10-speaker Bose audio, rear seat audio controls and earphone jacks, those 19-inch “chrome-clad” wheels I mentioned earlier, plus forward collision alert and lane departure warning.
Missing
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
from last year’s Premium upgrade is the towing package that now costs $550 extra and allows an increased rating of up to 2,041 kilos (4,500 lbs) of trailer compared to the base model’s 907-kg (2,000-lb) rating.
New for 2015, all Enclaves feature the heatable steering wheel I noted before as standard equipment, while carryover standard items include machine-finished 19-inch alloys (that I like much better than the chrome-clad upgrades), chrome side roof rails, automatic on/off HID headlights, powered heatable side mirrors with integrated turn signals, powered windows with driver express up/down and front and rear passenger express-down (these should be auto up/down all-round), the leather- and wood-trimmed multifunction steering wheel I noted before, tri-zone automatic climate control, the smallish IntelliLink colour touchscreen infotainment system that I wasn’t all that impressed with, a backup camera system,
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
satellite radio (you can thank GM for helping to make satellite radio a reality by being an early adopter across its entire line), three USB ports (including two charge-only plugs in the rear of the centre console), six-speaker audio, Bluetooth hands-free phone, rear park assist, perforated leather upholstery, heatable eight-way powered front seats, a powered liftgate (that you’ll need to use the key fob to actuate as, let’s remember, there’s no passive proximity-sensing access), plus a great deal more.
Standard safety features include four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, electronic brake-force distribution and emergency brake assist, traction and stability control, side blind spot alert, and a driver’s inboard airbag as well as the usual assortment of six airbags for a total of seven.
Odd
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
but true, my $55,560 tester was missing a cargo cover and cargo net, the former at least which should be standard but will set you back an additional $150, while alternatively you could go for the $475 Winter Protection package that includes those two additions along with all-weather floor mats for all three rows and an all-weather cargo mat.
A $1,355 Hit the Road package adds body-colour moulded side steps, roof rack cross rails and that all-weather cargo mat just mentioned, while an oddly named but nevertheless well priced Experience Buick package with a current option credit of $1,685 and therefore reduced $900 cost includes larger 20-inch alloys, the dual-pane panoramic sunroof, plus the trailering package, hitch and a heavy-duty cooling system for a Class III rating (this one is a no-brainer add-on).
Lastly, the navigation
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
system with NavTraffic will set you back $2,110, a big sum to pay for a system that did its best to get me lost.
That puts the price of a nearly loaded Enclave at $60,915 plus $1,750 for freight and pre-delivery inspection. You can also add a block heater for $100, front license plate mount for $15, wheel lock kit for $60, and some pricier paint at $995, while eight-occupant seating can be added at no extra charge, the finally tally of a full-load Enclave Premium AWD model coming to $63,220, freight charges included, putting this model well into premium territory, yet still a lot less expensive than a well-equipped German SUV, but this brings up a different point altogether.
Where
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
the Enclave delivers a fabulous ride and decent handling, it won’t win any awards in the slalom. To be totally fair Buick isn’t targeting a go-fast demographic, instead delivering on its age-old promise of ultimate comfort and serene quiet, which it totally lives up to, while these attributes go along perfectly with that parlour club atmosphere I noted earlier. This makes it wonderfully livable day in and day out, but those with sporting pretensions need to look elsewhere.
Likewise for its 3.6-litre V6 that while incorporating direct-injection only makes 288 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque, while its six-speed automatic transmission is missing the other two forward gears most of its competitors include as standard, and there’s no auto idle-stop or regenerative braking system to save on fuel, which means that its claimed five-cycle EnerGuide fuel economy rating
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
is merely adequate at 14.2 L/100km city, 9.9 highway and 12.3 combined with FWD, or 14.6 city, 10.2 highway and 12.6 combined with AWD. At least it uses cheaper regular fuel, something most of its premium-branded rivals can’t claim and something I totally appreciated when it came time to fill up.
So, all said, here’s the summary you’re probably not expecting: I like the Enclave a lot. While it’s a bit pricey for what you get (although don’t forget that your local GM dealer will likely give you a substantial discount without much coaxing… at the time of writing GM was offering more than $5k on the build configurator without even asking), and it’s missing some key features including a host of electronic safety items some of its competitors offer for less money overall, plus it’s not exactly a stellar performer and much of its interior comes across a bit on the cheapo
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| Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
side, it does everything most luxury SUV buyers want, is so very comfortable in all seating positions (most rivals’ third rows are pathetic at best), hauls more gear than any competitor and looks great doing it. Other than the usual annoyances I experience each time I test an Enclave (that I’ve expounded on ad nauseam already), I really enjoyed my weeklong test and once again found it to be one of the easiest SUVs to live with, especially if your active lifestyle includes kids in the rear and/or cargo hauling. For this reason I have to recommend it, as long as you get a big discount.
In the end I look forward to the day that I can say nothing but positives about the Enclave, and while this will likely require a complete makeover I’ll be first in line to give GM both thumbs way up when this SUV deserves it. For now, it’s a very good SUV that at the very least deserves more attention than it gets.
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