Yahoo Finance 2018 Buick Enclave in Depth: Big Body Beautiful
Overall Rating:
A crossover in more ways than one, the Buick Enclave is part car, part truck, part luxury, part mainstream-and part Chevrolet. Essentially a Chevy Traverse in a snazzier package, it’s the more elegantly styled of the two size-large three-row offerings. The Enclave is a cargo-hauling champ, and both its powertrain and its on-road demeanor are smooth and agreeable. Infotainment and active-safety offerings are broad, although the latter requires upgrading to costly upper trims. Buick’s overly ambitious pricing pits the Enclave not against mainstream crossovers but rather luxury-class leaders, and in that arena its imperfections are magnified.
What’s New for 2018?
After a long 10-year run, Buick’s largest crossover finally receives a much needed redesign. Everything is changed for the better, and the new Enclave still offers cavernous space for people and cargo, but its luxury price pushes it out of the mainstream and into the luxury big leagues.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
Even in its most luxurious Avenir spec, the Enclave doesn’t deliver Audi or Volvo levels of luxury and refinement. As such, you might as well save nearly $10,000 and go with the midrange Essence, which starts at $45,295. The Essence still offers plenty of desirable features that any suburban family will appreciate, including:
• 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, onboard Wi-Fi, and six USB ports
• Perforated leather seats with heat and power adjustments for the driver and front-seat passenger
• Blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert and rear parking sensors
For those who need brawny towing capacity, Buick offers a $650 Trailering package that ups the Enclave’s capacity to 5000 pounds; all-wheel drive adds $2000 to the price of the Essence trim.
Base Price Comparison
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