Chiseled Looks, More Tech

Four months after teasing the new 2025 Buick Enclave with design sketches, General Motors’ burgeoning near-prestige brand scrapped the plan yesterday. Buick’s largest and most traditional offering, the Enclave has long been a large off-roader known for its impressive handling, solid reliability record and seven-seat interior. This latest look of the new design is different from its predecessors, there is a new engine and many new technology features. It looks poised to help Buick’s continued comeback.

The introduction of the 2025 Enclave comes after a year of strong sales from the division, which looked a little lost earlier this decade after shedding its sedan platforms (Regal and LaCrosse) in the U.S. In 2023, Buick was the fastest-growing mainstream brand. in the country. America, where sales are up 61% from 2022 with buyers buying its new Envista and updated Envision and Encore GX. Sales increased again by 16.4% year-on-year in Q1 2024.

This news comes after a decline in sales in China (down 20%), where Buick thoroughly dominated the 2010 sales charts, but it’s good news on the home front.

It also marks a time when Buick’s old fashioned image is fading and the brand has become less self-conscious about it. The 125-year-old company unveiled a new logo in 2022 along with the iconic Wildcat concept, and launched a new tagline and ad campaign in February, “Unique by design.” These efforts are marketing, of course, but they speak directly to the product rather than trying to paper over, rethink or reclaim Buick’s heritage.

Instead, the 2025 Enclave and its updated marketing machine indirectly do what Buick has always done best: offer premium feel and features at a truly extraordinary price. However, more often than not, Buick is compared to mainstream brands, themselves now often entering luxury territory with driver aids and high-touch devices. This Enclave seems to offer more property than its predecessors without giving up what previous buyers loved.

Big Buick, Redone

While previous Enclaves have evolved slowly in style, the 2025 version is almost a clean break from the past. Where the previous two generations of the Enclave were gentle, rounded and smooth, the new one is angular. Its sharp face was directly inspired by the 2022 Wildcat, and its fluted grille was seen on the 2024 Encore GX and Envision. It would be easy to call it “muscle,” but it’s a more aggressive look. The standard 20-inch rims (22-inch on the top Avenir trim) don’t hurt either.

Under the skin, the redesigned Enclave wears an updated version of its predecessor’s platform and retains its 120.9-inch wheelbase, though the new shape appears to be slightly longer, wider, and taller overall than before (full details are still to come). It shares this “C1” platform with other members of GM’s jumbo-size crossover brigade, the Chevrolet Traverse and the recently redesigned GMC Acadia.

They’re the most compact SUVs on the market, giving them the roominess of a minivan and the dynamics of an SUV. It’s been a winning formula so far, and buyers can expect a familiar third row. Hopefully, the luggage room will also be improved, since there are small SUVs that use their footprint more efficiently.

Such big machines (the 2024 Enclave is 204.8 inches long, just a few inches short of the full-size Chevy Tahoe) need big engines, and they get average gas mileage. Buick hopes to change that with a new 2.5-liter turbo four-cylinder engine. The new four will make 328 horsepower and 326 pound-feet of torque, all from the old 3.6-liter V6’s 310 hp and 266 lb-ft. If it is not too heavy, it should be smoother and less thirsty, but there is still no hybrid version.

As on its platforms, front-wheel drive will still be standard and all-wheel drive optional. The Enclave’s towing rating will remain at 5,000 pounds.

Inside, things have taken a big step forward, starting with the dashboard. A large 30-inch digital instrument panel and infotainment center sits atop the dash very similar to those of the Cadillac Escalade and Lyriq. BMW, Kia, and Mercedes-Benz have led the charge with these large flat panels, but GM’s rounded units look particularly good. This large screen is not a pair of screens under one panel like from the Germans and Koreans, and is common to all models.

Whether the Enclave feels as luxurious as Buick’s pictures make it seem is an open question. In the past, GM interiors have often mixed and matched luxury and affordable materials in unusual ways, but the Enclave looks classy in pictures of the new Sport Touring and the top-of-the-line Avenir that the company released. There’s also new standard lighting and an auto-sensing tailgate, so you don’t have to slide your foot under the rear bumper to get the hands-free hatch to open.

2025 Buick Enclave: All The Tech

Perhaps the biggest news of all is the Enclave’s new lineup of standard and available technology and driver assistance features. Buick’s already easy-to-use infotainment system will get an updated operating system with built-in Google functionality as found in many recent Chevrolet and GMC models. There will also be wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a standard wireless charging pad.

Drivers will certainly appreciate those features, but the list of driver assistance technologies is even more impressive. Every Enclave will offer blind spot navigation assist, lane departure warning with lane keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and automatic intersection emergency braking. It also includes surround view monitoring and up to five camera views, and up to nine with certain option packages.

For the first time, Buick owners will have access to GM’s Super Cruise semi-automatic hands-free driver assistance system. Super Cruise will be optional on all Enclave trims, and while it will probably cost a little more (it previously cost $2,200 on the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV), it’s among the best systems on the market. Specifically, cruise control (without the additional Super Cruise functionality) was a $2,000 addition to the old Enclave. If the price doesn’t go up too much, this would be a nice addition.

2025 Buick Enclave: When and How Much?

Buick won’t finalize pricing until closer to the Enclave’s 2025 on-sale date, but it’s not a stretch to assume pricing will start below $50,000. That’s a $4,000 price tag from the 2024 version, but all these sensors and screens cost money, to say nothing of the inevitable price hikes most cars see after a disaster.

There will be three trims, the base Preferred, the sportier-looking (and named) Sport Touring, and the top-dog Avenir. The Sport Touring should retail for between $50,000, while the Avenir will fetch $60,000. That’s more than the Kia Telluride and actually in Genesis territory. That said, you won’t comfortably fit seven people in the Genesis GV80, and similarly sized rivals from other premium brands, like the BMW X7, are more expensive.

It will be up to buyers to determine if the bill is worth it, but the 2025 Enclave seems to offer many of the toys that premium buyers want for something less than the premium price. GM’s famous “brand ladder” may not look like it did 90 years ago, and its vehicles (now all SUVs) may not look like they did even 30 years ago, but this was always the brand’s greatest strength.

Buick says orders will open by the end of this summer, and 2025 Enclaves could arrive at dealers in the fall.