Used 2021 Buick Enclave

The 2021 Buick Enclave is a 3-row/7-passenger crossover SUV and the brand’s largest utility vehicle. Like other Buicks, the Enclave is known for its quiet and comfortable manners, ample interior space, and reasonable pricing. As a premium SUV, the Enclave straddles the line between luxury rivals like the BMW X5 and its own Cadillac XT6 cousin, and mainstream 3-row midsize crossovers like the Toyota Highlander, Kia Telluride, and Chevrolet Traverse.

The Buick Enclave continues to provide a lot of metal and amenities for the money. Its standard V6 is strong and can tow up to 5,000 pounds. However, active safety features like automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assist that are standard on mainstream SUVs like the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot are not included in the Enclave. In fact, to get such safety features, you need to spend close to $50,000 on a Premium trim, thus negating a chunk of the Enclave’s otherwise tempting value proposition.

The Enclave moves in a smooth, soft, and quiet manner. A refined and sophisticated multi-link independent rear suspension not only contributes to the excellent ride quality, but also endows it with the ability to take corners like a much smaller SUV.

GM’s Active Return Assist electric power steering provides useful feedback and requires less effort when bringing the wheel back to the straight-ahead position. And two optional all-wheel-drive systems bring optimum power distribution and traction.

The 3.6-liter V6 generates 310 horsepower, so there’s always sufficient muscle for passing or merging. Front-drive models feel slightly quicker off the line, thanks to the lower weight. All-wheel drive Enclaves are helpful for drivers in cold-weather states, but if you don’t need the extra traction, you can save some money and fuel costs.

A less obvious but no less valid form of reassurance is the excellent outward vision, brought about by large glass areas and relatively thin pillars.

One thing to be aware of is that the 2021 Buick Enclave has a start/stop system that turns off the engine at idle, such as at a stoplight. This is pretty much the norm for new cars these days. However, unlike in other vehicles, there is no disable button for it in the Enclave.

As with the Lincoln Aviator and Acura MDX, the Buick Enclave has total seating for seven passengers. If you need seating for eight passengers, you’ll want to go a crossover like the Chevrolet Traverse or Toyota Highlander.

The Enclave’s second row consists of two comfortable captain’s seats, while the third row can technically seat up to three passengers, though that’s a squeeze. But we’re happy to report that unlike some 3-row crossovers, the last row actually has adult-worthy legroom.

Up front, the Buick Enclave is surprisingly minimalistic. All models have an 8-inch touchscreen, which in this era is about the minimum for a vehicle, especially in this category. The Kia Telluride, for comparison, offers a 10.25-inch screen, while the new Toyota Highlander offers a 12.3-inch display for easier viewing of audio, phone info, navigation, and more.

Base Enclaves have cloth seating, but if you step up just one trim, you’ll get perforated leather. At its plushest in Avenir form, the Enclave touts a wood-accented steering wheel, ebony interior color, and special stitching and other accents.

Stretching over 204 inches in length, the Buick Enclave has a sizable presence that is larger than competitors like the Acura MDX.

To our eyes, the Enclave has a handsome look with rounded lines and a soft feel overall. The fresh grille design with the winged Buick logo is a nice touch. Speaking of grilles, the Avenir has an exclusive one with a honeycomb-like pattern and other unique touches. The Enclave rides on 18-inch wheels as standard, with 20-inch rollers available.

INTERIOR SPACE
Even for a midsize crossover SUV, the Buick Enclave is especially spacious. Legroom in the second row is 38.9 inches, while cargo space behind the third seating row is 23.6 cubic feet (more than the Mazda CX-9, Honda Pilot, and Toyota Highlander), expanding to a maximum of 97.6 cubic feet when rows two and three are both folded down.

QUIET TUNING
Buick’s Quiet Tuning is a combination of chassis calibration, body rigidity, laminated glass, active noise cancelation, and copious amounts of sound-deadening material. The result is an impressively hushed cabin.

The Buick Enclave is offered in four trims: Preferred, Essence, Premium, and Avenir. In base Preferred form, it’s something of a mixed bag. You get power-operated and heated front seats, keyless entry, universal garage remote, tri-zone climate control, remote start, a power-operated hands-free liftgate, and an 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But the interior is cloth covered, and there are no active safety features like forward-collision alert, automatic emergency braking, and lane-keeping assist. All of these safety features and more come standard mainstream crossover SUVs, not to mention economy cars like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla that cost about half as much.

Stepping up to the Essence trim brings leather seating, air ionizer, SiriusXM satellite radio, and the ability to add more options. This trim does bring add blind-spot monitoring, but still not the previously mentioned active safety features.

If you’re set on a Buick Enclave, we recommend a Premium trim. It’s at this trim that you finally get important active safety features such as forward-collision alert, lane-keeping assist, and automatic emergency braking. Keep in mind that all these active safety features – and more – come standard on an Acura MDX. The Enclave Premium also gets ventilated and massaging front seats, Bose premium audio, power-folding 3rd-row seats, power-adjust steering wheel, heated 2nd-row seats and heated steering wheel, and memory seating.

The topline Enclave Avenir includes a power moonroof, wireless phone charging, surround-view camera, and its own exclusive touches.

If you want all-wheel drive, you’ll have to step past the base model to at least an Essence trim. This trim also opens the door to options like the Sport Touring package with 20-inch wheels and a unique grille, navigation, Bose audio system, and power moonroof.

Incredibly, adaptive cruise control is only available on one trim – the nearly $54,000 Enclave Avenir – and then it still costs extra. For comparison, adaptive cruise control comes standard on an Acura MDX, Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot, Kia Telluride, and sub-$20,000 Toyota Corolla for that matter.

A 310-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 is the sole engine of the 2021 Enclave lineup, linked to a 9-speed automatic transmission and driving either the front wheels (FWD) in its standard setup, or all four with the optional all-wheel-drive (AWD) system. As we noted in our driving impressions, to help save a little fuel at idle, the engine has a stop/start feature. It is one of the smoother examples out there, but there is no button to disable it as on other new vehicles.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates combined (city and highway) fuel consumption for the front-drive version at 21 mpg; the AWD model is expected to achieve 20 mpg. For comparison, the Acura MDX is rated up to 23 mpg for FWD and 22 mpg for AWD, and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid can manage up to 36 mpg combined.

The Enclave has a basic towing capacity of 1,500 pounds. This goes up to 5,000 pounds with the optional trailer towing package that includes additional cooling and other tweaks.

3.6-liter V6
310 horsepower @ 6,800 rpm
266 lb-ft of torque @ 2,800 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 18/26 mpg (FWD), 17/25 mpg (AWD)