Comfortable & tech-forward [First Drive]

It’s been a while since I’ve driven a Buick Enclave – like at least 10 years. So, I didn’t go into this first drive with any preconceived notions. I have vague warm fuzzies about the vehicle specifically and the brand generally, especially since I grew up with a series Buicks in our driveway. I mean, the 2025 Buick Enclave looks pretty good on paper with a starting price of $46k and a lot of standard stuff, but how is it really?

Let’s dig into the deets. There’s certainly a lot of good stuff, but there are also some head scratchers.

Premium design

This is an all-new iteration of the three-row SUV, and nothing is carried over from the previous generation. However, it should be noted, the 2025 Buick Enclave does share the same underpinnings as the new GMC Acadia and Chevy Traverse, which are also new this year.

One of the first things I noticed about the 2025 Buick Enclave is the premium materials, textures and design details. For example, even though the base Preferred trim uses leatherette seating surfaces instead of leather, it looks and feels good. The stitching accents on the steering wheel and the dash materials are up-market rather than cheap.

The centerpiece of the new dash design has to be the standard 30-inch screen that houses the gauge cluster and the infotainment system. It’s a single swath of glass with a continuous screen connecting the two information areas. The icons and graphics on the screens are well designed, and I love the high-def camera view.

The exterior design has some nice details with the rear lightbar, animated welcome lighting signatures and trim-specific grille choices. The ST grim gets a more blacked-out appearance and ST badging on the grille, while the Avenir gets more chromey accents on the wheels, door handle and roof rails.

While the design is based on the Buick Wildcat Concept we saw at auto shows several years ago, I feel like at least one thing was lost in translation: the grille shape. It has a bit of a Lexus/Toyota vibe. In fact, when we arrived at the event location and saw the staging area, the person in the car with me thought the vehicles were Lexus, not Buick. That could pose a bit of a brand identity issue.

Power and handling

Yes, the 2025 Buick Enclave is equipped with a 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder turbo engine. Yes, it is the only powertrain, which means, no, you cannot get a V-6. Get over it. A well-done turbocharged-4 is a great engine, and this engine in the Enclave is one of the good ones. It delivers 328 horsepower and 326 pound-feet of torque, which is plenty of power for highway merges and passing maneuvers.

The vehicle also carries itself really well. We had a nice mix of city, highway and country roads during the test period, and the overall handling feel is one of comfort. It doesn’t lumber, and it doesn’t feel like I’m driving a boat. The lower beltline and bigger windows gives this a more compact feel, and the visibility is excellent out all the windows.

The good things

There is a lot of good stuff on the 2025 Buick Enclave. Ride comfort and powertrain fall in this category. The standard amenities are also on the good list with heated front seats, second-row climate controls, a 12-speaker Bose audio system, auto-sense power tailgate, air vents in every row, a 126-color ambient lighting system and active noise canceling inside the cabin.

Plus, the Enclave has Google built-in (the Android Auto Operating System) as well as standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. If you are using Apple Maps, directionals will show in the behind the wheel cluster and available head-up display, and you can even show your Apple Map (instead of the built-in Google map) in the cluster.

I’m also a huge fan of the configurability of the quick-access menu items on the infotainment screen, so you can make the things you use the most visible all the time.

And then there’s Super Cruise, which is quite literally the best hands-free driving system. It’s available in Buick vehicles for the first time, and you can get it on every trim as a $3,255 option. Super Cruise now works on divided and undivided highways, handles curves quite well and has an automated lane change option. I used it for about 45 minutes on a winding two-lane highway, and I was super impressed.

The bad things

For as up-market as the 2025 Buick Enclave looks, there are couple of surprising places where I felt the brand cheaped out. Take the auto up/down window switch. It’s only available for the driver’s position. In a near luxury vehicle, that struck me as odd. Then you have the sunglass holder which is only partially lined with felt. I also thought that it was weird the brake and gas pedals had a plastic look to them in all trims. I would have expected ST or Avenir to have a more sport pedal design.

Don’t get me started on the use of black lacquer.

Then there’s the wireless charger. Usually General Motors’ vehicles do a nice job with the wireless charger, but the Enclave implementation was a bit ish. I’m hoping some of this is due to pre-production, but the models we drove had a rubber covering over the charge plate that kind of bubbled up and pushed my phone at weird angles, sometimes disengaging the charge. It also heated up my phone. Since we were only in the vehicle at 45-minute intervals, it’s hard to say if it would have overheated my phone, but the fact it heated up my phone at all is weird for GM vehicle.

Finally, while I’m happy Buick included CarPlay and Auto its vehicles, the integration of the design is atrocious. It doesn’t fill out the screen and it comes off looking like early days of digital design. If you use a black background for CarPlay, it looks better, but still, it could have used another column of icons to better fill out the screen.

A word about subscriptions

I feel like it is now my mission in life to talk about subscription fees in new vehicles because pretty much every vehicle offers them in 2024, so I think it’s important to know what they are and when they kick in.

The 2025 Buick Enclave offers a 8-year free trial for the Google built-in operating system, which gives you access to the Google Play store, in-vehicle Google Maps and the Google Assistant. Because this system is so new, Buick doesn’t know what the subscription fee will be to keep these services after the free trial. But there will be a fee.

Next, Super Cruise requires a subscription. Yes, you’re spending more than $3k for the hardware, but once the 3-year trial expires, you will also have to pay for the software. Though pricing for the Buick subscription hasn’t been announced, in other vehicles, Super Cruise is $25/month or $250/year.

2025 Buick Enclave pricing

For as much as you get at a basic level, I’m impressed with the pricing of the 2025 Buick Enclave, which ranges from $46k to $59k. The trim walk with features and pricing, including destination fees, is as follows:

Preferred ($46,395): Includes 12-speaker Bose audio system, leatherette seats, auto-sense power liftgate, 20-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Google built-in operating system, 126-color ambient lighting.

Sport Touring ($48,795): Adds flat-bottom steering wheel, ST interior trim, gloss black exterior accents, 20-inch machine-faced wheels.

Avenir ($59,395): Adds quilted-and-perforated leather seats, exterior animated lighting, 16-speaker Bose premium audio, 22-inch wheels, panoramic sunroof, ventilate front seats with massage feature, head-up display, power folding third-row seats, memory seats and continuous damping control.

The bottom line

Overall, the 2025 Buick Enclave is a great three-row vehicle. It’s right-priced for a near luxury vehicle and offers some great amenities.  Plus, the ride and handling is comfortable – yet fast when it needs to be. If you can get over the head scratchers, there are still a lot of warm fuzzy feelings to be had with this Buick.

2025 Buick Enclave Photo Gallery

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