2008 Buick Enclave

Welburn said Enclave was inspired by the gorgeous Buick Velite convertible concept of a couple years back and set the "form vocabulary" for production Buicks to come. "I believe Buick can go after Lexus in a very strong way," he asserted. "When I think of Buick design, I don't think of long parallel lines [but] very fluid, romantic shapes. The tire-to-body relationships are spectacular, with wide tracks and their bodies fairly close. The grilles are a contemporary execution of the Buick waterfall. The chrome accents around the taillamps, and similar accents around everything, show great attention to detail. Even the chrome moldings on the Enclave's side lamps taper like brush strokes. The body shape flows, like there's wind blowing over it."


He spoke of the Enclave concept's interior as "right at the core of the work we've been doing, a renaissance in interior design for GM. We've put many of our absolute best designers on this mission, and there is a real spirit around it...not just the styling [but] the grains, the textures, the gloss levels, the colors that are chosen, placing chrome accents in just the right places and sectioning the chrome so that it gets that sparkle."


And this production Enclave is amazingly true to the concept. The exterior is dominated by a bold waterfall grille that wraps over the hood's leading edge, projector-beam headlamps under clear wrap-around covers and large wheels and tires protruding outboard past the gracefully arched, muscular fenders. The effect is at once distinctive, elegant and aggressive.

Interior

The cabin boasts a rich mix of real mahogany wood (on the steering wheel), authentic-looking faux burl woodgrain on the dash and aluminum accents and chrome rings around the recessed and blue-lighted speedometer, tachometer, fuel, voltage and temperature gauges. There's a round analog clock atop the center stack, the instrument and door panels are trimmed in soft-touch composites in contrasting colors, and the seats are upholstered in supple perforated leather with French-seam stitching.


In a week of driving, we found the seats always comfortable and supportive, and we were pleasantly impressed by premium details, including the standard manual adjustable steering column, which offers both tilt and telescope fine tuning. There's ample adult room in all three rows, plus nearly 19 cu. ft. behind the third row. The second-row seats adjust fore-aft five inches to trade-off legroom, flip forward for easy third-row access or fold flat to extend the floor for a cavernous 115-cu. ft. cargo capacity. And, thanks to Buick's comprehensive "quiet-tuning," it is absolutely one of the quietest vehicles of any kind that we have experienced.