2021 Buick Enclave review: Low-key comfort wagon


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You can find a myriad of midsize, three-row crossovers on the industry these days. Possibilities operate the complete gamut, from boring to stylish, inexpensive to deluxe, cozy to sporty. For those on the lookout for a crossover that is safe, inoffensive and over all else, comfy, Buick has you protected with the 2021 Enclave.

You should not Like

  • Ho-hum push character
  • Some driver-aid tech optional
  • Avenir trim isn’t really a large action up in luxurious.

Thoroughly clean seems

On the exterior, the Enclave’s styling is mildly interesting. By no implies is it a showstopper, but it’s not manila-folder bland, either. Delicate character strains in the hood and on the sides give it some flavor, alongside with entrance quarter portholes and a good sum of chrome aspects. On my range-topping Avenir check car or truck, special grilles with mesh inserts and 20-inch nickel-end wheels liven things up a smidge far more.

Inside, you are greeted by basically laid out controls, panels created from excellent supplies and a typical layout that is not fifty percent-undesirable to seem at. It truly is in this article in which the Avenir extras make the major effects, with a awesome contrasting chestnut-and-black color scheme. Genuine wooden steering wheel trim and embroidered logos in the head rests and ground mats comprehensive the Avenir treatment method, and a twin-pane moonroof presents a light-weight and airy natural environment.

All the things in the Enclave’s cabin feels solid, from the wrapped and stitched sprint topper and doorway panels to the properly grained tricky plastics applied on the lower portions. The cabin is also comfy, with individuals using in entrance savoring soft heated and cooled seats with therapeutic massage features, however more substantial aspect bolsters are on my want list. In the 2nd-row, heated captain’s chairs retain passengers delighted for extended hauls.

At the force of a button in the trunk, the Enclave’s electrical power 3rd-row seats flip up out of the ground and supply sufficient house to carry three children or a pair of shorter grown ups with no much too quite a few grievances. Legroom for the outboard seats is limited, but it’s significantly from a torture chamber and will do the job for quick commutes.

When it arrives to transferring cargo, this Buick is prepared to swallow 23.6 cubic ft of items with the 3rd row deployed. Folding the rearmost seats into the ground increases house to fifty eight cubic ft, and if you require far more than that, flipping the 2nd row of seats down opens an outstanding ninety seven.6 cubic ft. That should really be sufficient to keep everything from even the major purchasing bonanzas. 

The Enclave’s electrical power 3rd-row seats are moderately spacious.


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Checking the tech

Housed in the Enclave’s heart stack is the basically named Buick Infotainment Process, that includes an eight-inch touchscreen that is quite responsive to inputs. Its menu layout is a cinch to do the job through and controls a terrific-sounding ten-speaker Bose audio setup, 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot and Bluetooth. You can find also a standard onboard navigation system that performs lickity-break up place queries and route calculations. And for everyone who’d alternatively hand infotainment controls over to their telephones, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto abilities are packaged in as effectively.

To juice up any intelligent units onboard, there’s a smattering of electrical power resources through the Enclave. Folks in entrance can pick among a wi-fi cost pad, USB ports or a twelve-volt outlet, when 2nd-row passengers have USB ports and a three-prong outlet on the again of the heart console. Everyone in the way-again is not going to be remaining out in the cold with a pair of USBs in arm’s length on the aspect partitions.

On the security entrance, the Avenir arrives standard with a healthful list of driver aids which includes forward-collision warning with automated crisis braking, blind-location monitoring, lane-departure warning with lane-retain aid, rear-cross traffic notify, entrance and rear parking sensors and a crystal-distinct 360-degree backup digital camera. Oddly, adaptive cruise regulate is not a standard-challenge function, necessitating prospects to equip a $two,095 option offer to get the piece of tech, which is disappointing on a range-topping trim amount.

If you want adaptive cruise regulate in the Enclave, it’s an optional function, even in the Avenir trim.


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Smooth operator

Powering the Enclave is a 3.6-liter V6 building 310 horsepower and 266 pound-ft of torque, routed to all 4 wheels on my check car or truck through a nine-velocity automated transmission. Alongside one another they return an EPA-approximated seventeen mpg in the town and 25 mpg on the freeway. Throughout a 7 days of mostly floor avenue driving of the Enclave, I observed seventeen.two mpg.

The drivetrain presents ample grunt to get the massive Buick away from stoplights and up to velocity when moving into expressways. Some wide-open-throttle action could possibly be necessary during hurry hour merging, which would not audio specifically sophisticated, but the motor gets things performed with the gearbox whipping off effectively-timed cog swaps. There are paddle shifters, much too, which are a touch sluggish to react to upshift commands, but amazingly rapid to shift downward. How quite a few Enclave house owners will use them? My guess is not quite a few.

Being a Buick, ride convenience trumps everything else in the dynamics office. With my tester’s optional adaptive damping suspension, the ride is tremendous-smooth, absorbing road imperfections with simplicity for comfortable driving. Fortunately, the tuning isn’t really overly delicate, but there’s obvious physique roll rounding corners and the 20-inch Continental CrossContact LX tires on the entrance rapidly start out pushing in protest if you consider flogging it a little bit more difficult.

The V6 in the Enclave offers a respectable 310 horsepower.


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The Enclave’s steering isn’t really sharp or straight away responsive to inputs, but it’s direct sufficient and not overly loosey-goosey. The brakes you should not function a tenacious initial bite, making it possible for for smooth braking, but supply stout stopping electrical power when you dig more into the pedal stroke. 

How I might spec it

When constructing my excellent Enclave, I might start out with the Essence trim that commences at $forty three,495, which includes $one,195 for place, with standard entrance-wheel push. That would net me leather-based seats and need to-haves like blind-location monitoring and rear-cross traffic notify. For 4-time traction, I might spring for all-wheel-push that tacks on $two,000, a $495 Dim Slate Metallic paint task and $one,555 Sound and Sites Package deal for navigation and Bose audio system. All in, my excellent Buick rings up at $47,545.

In comparison, the significant-zoot Enclave Avenir with all-wheel push pictured in this article carries a significantly steeper $59,590 bottom line. To be good, it’s acquired a ton far more characteristics like the adaptive suspension, electrical power-folding 3rd-row seats, twin-pane roof, massaging seats and adaptive cruise, but is another illustration of acquiring to pay the piper handsomely if you want far more things.

This Enclave Avenir carries a $59,590 selling price tag.


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The cozy selection

The 2021 Buick Enclave begins at $41,495 for the base Favored trim that is only available with entrance-wheel push. If all-wheel push is a need to, then the Enclave Essence is the cheapest stage of entry at $45,495. From there things can insert up rapidly with any paint color apart from Summit White tallying an further cost, and specific tech niceties only staying available on far more-expensive higher trim stages.

For the shopper on the lookout for a three-row crossover with a supremely comfy ride and a spacious cabin with entry-amount luxurious finishes, the Enclave might just be the ticket. For everyone valuing attributes like bang-for-your-buck, a tighter driving character and styling, but keen to live with something that isn’t really quite as soft inside, options like the Kia Telluride, Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Highlander are truly worth checking out on the lower close of the Buick’s selling price spectrum. For Avenir funds, however, think about the new Acura MDX or Lincoln Aviator, equally of which are typically nicer SUVs.