Driving Impressions
reviewed by
The Buick Enclave offers brisk acceleration performance. Buick claims a zero-to-60-mph acceleration time in the low eight-second-range, not bad for 5,000 pounds. Because the Enclave is lighter than a truck-based SUV, you don't really regret not having a V8 engine.
The Enclave's six-speed automatic transmission has a first-gear ratio that contributes to rapid acceleration and a sixth-gear overdrive that lets the engine run very relaxed at Interstate cruising speeds. It also offers frugal fuel economy for its size, with an EPA-estimated 17/24 mpg City/Highway with front-wheel drive and 16/22 mpg with AWD. By comparison, the AWD Cadillac Escalade is rated at 12/18 mpg. The Enclave is 800 pounds lighter than the Escalade and its V6 is more fuel-efficient than the Escalade's V8.
For some years now, Buicks have been all about living your driving life in splendid isolation, and that's certainly true of the Enclave. The Buick folks have taken dozens of time-consuming and expensive steps to quiet down the engine, transmission, all-wheel-drive system and tires, to isolate the front and rear suspensions and steering from the cabin and to wrap the entire package in sound-deadening materials in the floor, pillars and doors, all under the heading of QuietTuning. In lab tests, the Buick Enclave is quieter than the Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and Acura competition, and in our road-driving experience in Missouri, it was extremely quiet. Conversations between first-row and third-row occupants at 70-plus mph were heard and understood in normal speaking voices, and the XM satellite music played through loud and clear at reasonable volumes.
The suspension on the Enclave is far more sophisticated, far sharper in handling and far more compliant and comfortable than what we've come to expect from this class of vehicles. The rear suspension is especially effective, and uses elaborate aluminum H-arms to put the wheels out as far as possible to the corners and allow for a wide, flat load floor.
Bustling around on Ozark Mountain two-lane roads or humming down I-44 and I-64 in and around St. Louis, the Enclave displayed a commendable blend of ride and handling capabilities. It provided a quiet, compliant ride, and very, very quiet road behavior. It's far more carlike than any of GM's big truck-based SUVs, with much less lean in turns. Drivers will find that it feels much smaller than its considerable size. The steering is accurate, although a bit numb.
The all-wheel-drive system operates full-time all the time, automatically adjusting to road speed, throttle position and the relative speeds of each of the four tires, wet or dry. We think the all-wheel drive is well worth the extra money. Normally, it is biased with a 90/10 front/rear torque split, and operates between 40/60 and 60/40 in a lot of driving conditions, but it can continually divert the torque to where it will do the most good, with no buttons, no levers and no fuss, just traction for practically any reasonably foreseeable condition.
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