Driving Impressions

The Buick Enclave offers brisk acceleration performance. Buick claims a 0?60 time in the low eight-second-range, not bad for 5000 pounds. Its 3.6-liter V6 engine features a special intake system for increased power, and for 2009, it gets direct-injection, which adds 13 horsepower and 19 pound-feet of torque. The added power makes the Enclave slightly more responsive. Because the Enclave is lighter than a truck-based SUV, you don't really miss having a V8 engine. The Enclave's six-speed automatic transmission benefits from special gearing that gives a 14.2 overall ratio in first gear for rapid acceleration and a 2.33:1 ratio in sixth gear overdrive that lets the engine run at very relaxed rpm at Interstate cruising speeds. So you get quick acceleration performance for jumping on the freeway, but long-legged relaxed cruising at high speeds. The Enclave also offers frugal fuel economy for its size. It scores an EPA-estimated 17/24 City/Highway mpg with front-wheel drive and 16/22 with AWD. By comparison, the AWD Cadillac Escalade is rated 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 true is spades with this big empty box called Enclave, the toughest kind of vehicle to quiet down. The Buick folks have taken dozens of time-consuming and expensive steps to quiet down the engine, transmission, all-wheel-drive system, and tires, isolate the front and rear suspension and steering from the cabin, and wrap the entire package in sound-deadening materials in the floor, pillars and doors, all under the rubric of Quiet Ride. 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'd come to expect from this class of vehicles. The rear suspension is especially complex and expensive, designed to work well with or without the rear-drive portion of the all-wheel-drive system, and using elaborate aluminum H-arms to put the wheels out as far as possible to the corners and allow for a wide, flat load floor up above. Flying around on Ozark Mountain two-lane roads or humming down I-44 and I-64 in and around St. Louis, the Enclave showed off ride and handling. 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 90/10 front/rear torque split, normally operates between 40/60 and 60/40 in most driving, but it can divert 100 percent of available torque to the rear wheels if necessary. No buttons, no ranges, no fuss, just traction.

Final Word

With all due respect and reverence for classic Buicks like the 1956 Century, the '63 and '66 Rivieras, and the pavement-ripping GS 455 Stage II of the muscle-car era, we'll go out on a short, sturdy limb and call the Enclave the best Buick ever built, and the most complete Buick we've ever driven. If you're in the market for a luxurious family hauler, give this one a long, serious look. It makes much more sense than a heavier, more wasteful truck-based SUV for anyone who doesn't need to tow a heavy load. NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Jim McCraw test drove the Enclave in the Ozarks. Correspondent Kirk Bell reported from Chicago.