The luxurious but affordable Buick is a quintessential American vehicle. The Buick brand, originally founded in 1899, was the foundation for William Durant’s creation of GM in 1908. Through its long history, Buick has continued to turn out classic mid-level luxury vehicles, and today’s Buicks are no exception. To demonstrate this fact, we’ll look at the 2022 Buick Enclave––a vehicle that, equipped with Buick elegance, ride, and a host of modern tech, is sure to make buyers ask, “where’s a Buick dealer near me?”
Buick has had 123 years to get car design right. Though they built several earlier test and specialty vehicles, their first “mass-market” auto (thirty-seven built!), the Model B, arrived on the market in 1904. The following year––when there were only 8,000 car owners and 144 miles of paved roads in the whole USA––they produced the two-cylinder Model C, which sold for $1,200. Fourteen of these cars survive today, and it’s easy to see the rich color and refined material touches, even in this early Buick. While the ride on the many miles of dirt roads probably caused a few sore behinds, it was still several cuts up from a wagon, and drivers were doubtless impressed by the Model C’s record-breaking speed of over 47 mph.
Stepping Up to 2022
Luckily, now you can expect your Buick to get you to work or across the country in a lot more comfort. Even if the traffic caused by today’s 276 million vehicles means your transit time hasn’t changed much, everything else has. The 2022 Enclave brings a whole new realm of class, comfort, and tech––enough to impress any quality-conscious buyer. Available in three different trims (the base Essence, the Premium, and the Avenir), this seven-passenger SUV with three rows of seating is the definition of affordable elegance.
The Essence of Buick Quality
So let’s take a closer look at those trims. First, the Essence, at an MSRP of $42,800. Equipped with a 3.6L V6 engine that rates a reasonable 21 MPG, the Essence, like all three trims, has standard FWD that can be upgraded to AWD. The 2022 model has a 9-speed automatic transmission with overdrive and a new push-button shifter that leaves more room for storage in the center console. The Buick infotainment system has a standard 8-inch color touchscreen, and it comes with Bluetooth capability, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Siri EyesFree with voice recognition. A standard six-speaker audio system completes the sound package. The Essence also features a number of pleasant little extras such as keyless entry and start, heated and power-adjustable leather-trimmed seats, second-row captain’s chairs, a power liftgate, LED headlights and running lights, and more of the small touches that add to a comfortable commute.
Safety First
This year, Buick has made its basic driver-assist tech package, Buick Driver Confidence Plus, standard on all trims. The Confidence Plus package includes features such as lane-keeping with lane departure warning, lane change and side blind spot alerts, and a following distance indicator that shows you the distance, in seconds, between your car and the car ahead of you which can help keep you from accidental tailgating. Confidence Plus also includes forward collision and rear cross-traffic alerts, auto-adjusting high beams, and more.
The Essence trim has standard Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), a feature that works with its forward collision alert system. This camera-based tech, designed to reduce the likelihood of a front-end collision, can be upgraded to the Enhanced AEB package that adds radar to the camera for greater accuracy. Both will provide hard braking on their own when needed or will add strength to your own braking when you’re trying to prevent a front-end collision. You can also add adaptive cruise control––a must for those with freeway commutes.
In addition, you’ll get ten years of free basic access to Buick Connected Services, which can provide you with driving tips, diagnostic reports, and problem notifications for your car. More extensive services can be added on order, and all trims have OnStar capability.
Onboard Childcare!
Another interesting standard feature on all trims of the 2022 Enclave is called Teen Driver. Using it, you can customize key fob settings to “help encourage better driving behavior,” according to Buick. Along with allowing you to set or restrict some vehicle settings, it will rat out your teen with a report card on their driving habits. While this seems almost certain to lead to lively discussions, it can truly help protect your child from their worst impulses (We know they exist because we all had them. Some of us are lucky to have survived them. If the discussion becomes too acrimonious, you can point out that your teen is lucky to be having them with you and your Buick rather than with the police).
Bring Your (Empty) Pool!
One of the nicest features you’ll find in the Enclave is the amount of room it provides. US News notes that the Enclave, with over 37 inches of headroom and 33.5 inches of legroom in the third row, is “one of the few SUVs that can comfortably seat adults in all three rows.” Anyone over 11 who’s had much experience riding in one of those third-row SUV seats can attest to the fact that this is a rare commodity indeed. And even with that third row occupied, the Enclave’s 23.6 cu.ft. of cargo space doesn’t disappoint.
With fewer passengers, of course, there’s even more room––57.7 cu.ft. behind the second row and a truly massive 97.4 cu.ft. behind the first row. You might even have room for an above-ground pool back there (though adding the 5000 lbs or more of water really isn’t advisable). Adding the available Trailering Package adds driving modes and increases your towing capacity from 1500 lbs to 5000 lbs, so if you’re headed for the desert, you can pull that water along behind!
There are a number of other additions available for the Essence trim, such as the Technology Package, which adds features like adaptive cruise control, a rear vision camera washer, the enhanced AEB system, and rear pedestrian alert. The Experience Buick Package adds 20-inch wheels and a power moonroof, while the Memory Package allows you to retain two different driver settings for mirrors, seat, and steering wheel positions.
Open Up the Next Level of Luxury
The Enclave Premium trim adds several interesting features and unlocks more options. Among the standard features, the Premium’s stereo is upgraded to a 10-speaker Bose system with a subwoofer, you get a heads-up display that projects information onto the windshield, navigation is added to the infotainment system, and the rear vision camera is upgraded to include surround vision. Other standard items include four-way power lumbar adjustment in the front seats, heated second-row seats, and powered folding and auto-dimming side mirrors. In addition, the Memory Package noted above is thrown in, and you can consider a host of other options designed to meet your specific cargo and appearance desires.
The Avenir, the Enclave’s top trim, includes a standard power moonroof and rear skylight, adds rain-sensing wipers as well as the enhanced AEB system, and upgrades to 20″ aluminum wheels in Avenir Pearl Nickel finish. The Avenir Technology Package, featuring highly engineered hydraulic dampers, real-time damping suspension, and Avenir-design LED headlamps, becomes available too, enabling a refining touch to an already extremely comfortable ride.
In short, the 2022 Enclave delivers a complete package––plenty of comfort, lots of room, the power you need, and a great look. The old advertising slogan, “wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” may have passed into history, but in 2022, there are even more reasons to answer that question with a resounding “yes!” In fact, you may find yourself even more interested in the question we started with: “where is a Buick dealer near me?”
