2025 Buick Enclave First Drive Review: An Elevated Family-Hauler

The 2025 Buick Enclave is all-new this year, marking the third generation of the flagship vehicle for the brand. This three-row SUV sits just above the two-row Envision, with seating for seven in a roomy and luxurious interior with a range of three well-equipped trims. This includes the Avenir, which is a sub-brand in the Buick stable that offers an even more premium experience.

Also new this year is the available Super Cruise hands-free driving, which makes its first appearance in a Buick. There’s also a new 30-inch screen for the instrument cluster and infotainment. Styling on the Enclave is updated inside and out, along with being longer, wider, and taller than the previous generation. Additionally, there’s a new turbocharged engine as a standard feature. DrivingOnRoad had the opportunity to check out the Enclave at a First Drive event in Portland, Oregon. Here’s what we learned.

First Drive events provide our initial impressions of a vehicle in a restricted environment under certain time constraints. Keep an eye on DrivingOnRoad for our comprehensive Test Drive review which will follow soon.

Interior: A Beautiful And Upscale Design

Buick is a premium brand, and it shows off a luxurious, eye-catching interior in all three trims. Even the base trim in the Enclave is anything but basic, with premium touches including a heated front row, ambient lighting, and a 12-speaker Bose audio system. Step up to the top Avenir and the experience includes 16-speaker Bose audio, massaging front seats, and quilted leather embroidered with the Avenir logo.

There’s no shortage of convenience features, from an abundance of cupholders to charging ports that make the Enclave a great vehicle for family road trips. It’s spacious with plenty of room to get comfortable and standard second-row captain’s chairs that everyone will love. They’re more comfortable than a bench seat and help make accessing the third row easier.

It’s an elegant design that’s open and airy with lots of light and plenty of storage space. There’s 22.9 cubic feet behind the first row, 57.1 cubic feet behind the second row, and 97.5 cubic feet behind the first row along with a tow rating of up to 5,000 pounds. It also has lots of room for smaller items, including plenty of space under the floating center console for the things you need at the ready.

Technology: A Single Large Display Screen

The tech setup in a car is a key part of what makes it look modern or dated. Screens that were considered large just a few years ago now look small and lackluster. The Enclave avoids that issue with a single 30-inch display to house both the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. This ultra-wide display makes the Enclave feel tech-savvy, and it truly is with wireless charging, wireless Apple CarPlay, and wireless Android Auto. Well-organized menus make it easy to find what you need, so you won’t be hunting through endless menus to find what you need.

The Enclave also has seven standard camera views with up to nine available for drivers to know where the car is in relation to the world around you. That might sound like overkill, but this is a large vehicle. Having a view of where that curb is in relation to your tire or being able to see that your rear bumper is perilously close to a low brick wall is priceless in a large SUV.

Driver Assistance: Super Cruise Hands-Free Driving Continues To Impress

Automakers have a variety of hands-free driver assistance systems that all do the job, but they are not created equal. The Super Cruise system used in GM vehicles continues to be one of the best offerings. It works well, and it clearly communicates when it’s available via a lighted section of the steering wheel. This feature is available for the first time on a Buick with the Enclave, and it’s available on all three trims, so you don’t have to go all the way up to the Avenir for this option.

What makes it so good is that it not only steers the vehicle and manages the throttle, but that it does so in a way that feels like a human is doing the work. Taking your hands off the wheel is a bit scary at first, since it’s not how we were all taught to drive, but the system quickly proves itself trustworthy. The driver can relax and oversee the process rather than being anxious and worrying if it’s doing the job right.

Exterior: Three Unique Trim Levels

The exterior of the Enclave shows off a completely new design inspired by the Wildcat EV concept that includes the new tri-shield Buick badge on the hood and the liftgate. There’s also what Buick calls checkmark-style LED headlights up front and LED taillamps that extend across the width of the liftgate in the back. They increased the size of this year’s Enclave, too, making it longer, wider, and taller. It looks more impressive and its three new grille designs, ranging from chrome to black, add to its presence.

There are also striking wheel options. These include 20-inch alloy wheels in Medium Android, 20-inch machine-faced wheels with High Gloss Black inserts, and 22-inch Pearl Nickle wheels for the luxurious Avenir. These changes combined are significant and give the Enclave a more appealing, more modern look that catches the eye without being brash or screaming for attention.

Power: A New Turbocharged Engine

The full Enclave lineup now has a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with 328 horsepower and 326 lb-ft of torque. This is paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission with a choice of front-wheel or all-wheel drive on all three trims. It’s quite a jump in both horsepower and torque from the outgoing engine – and that’s noticeable, especially under hard acceleration.

EPA-estimated fuel economy is 20/27/23 MPG city/high/combined for front-wheel drive trims. Those numbers drop slightly to 19/24/21 with all-wheel drive, which are still respectable figures for a vehicle of this size. Core rivals like the Infiniti QX60 make slightly less power (even though the 2024 QX60 has a V6) which earns similar EPA ratings; the same goes for the Acura MDX.

Driving Impressions: A Smooth Family Cruiser

The Enclave has a responsive engine that makes merging into high-speed traffic easy. The additional power offered by this new engine helps create a more engaging driving experience. Handling is crisp, though this is still a large SUV and on occasion there is a bit of body roll.

The top Avenir trim includes continuous damping control (CDC), which smooths out the ride. It adjusts the damping at each wheel, so as the road surface changes, fewer of those changes are something passengers will notice. Overall, the ride, no matter the trim, is quiet and well-mannered with a minimum of road and wind noise. Buick isn’t a luxury brand, but it is premium, and the Enclave’s driving manners reflect that premium mindset.

Pricing and Verdict: Three Trims, All With Plenty of Features

There are three distinct trims of the Buick Enclave with an increasing number of features as you move up to the top Avenir. Even in its base trim, however, it’s an attractive and nicely equipped SUV. Beautiful interior materials combined with an elegant design ensure it’s a warm and welcoming experience no matter the trim level.

The lineup starts with the Preferred FWD at $45,000, not including $1,395 destination, with a small increase to the Sport Touring. The Avenir taking a big jump to $58,000; AWD costs more on all trims. There is a difference in both the handling and the interior with the Avenir, but it comes at quite a price increase that makes the Sport Touring a stronger value proposition.

The 2025 Buick Enclave completes a refresh of the full lineup with every model updated within the last 17 months. It’s a great way to cap things off with updates that give Buick’s flagship the features, design, and handling of a premium brand with beautiful interiors and a relaxing, responsive ride.