ENVISION A QUIET, COMFORTABLE RIDE
This Buick AWD is easy to manoeuvre and shields occupants from road’s irregularities
For those who value ride comfort and cabin hush over Nurburgring bragging rights, fear not.
The 2017 Buick Envision compact crossover that slides in between the subcompact Encore and full-size Enclave has oldschool Buick written all over it.
At no point does this relaxed hauler goad you into clipping an apex or even bolting ahead of the herd at a light.
Granted, the 2.5-litre naturally aspirated engine with 197 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque in this base Envision, (starts at $40,195 for the Preferred AWD trim) pretty much precludes that activity. But even if I were driving the hotter 2.0-L turbo-four version (starting at $46,455) with 252 hp and 260 lbft of torque, I doubt I’d be leaning on it.
There’s something about the Envision’s plush, slightly saggy seats, rolly-polly handling, numb-ish helm and isolation-chamber interior that make you want to chill out. The Envision was designed, engineered and developed in Michigan but built in China, which happens to be its biggest market.
Billed as a premium crossover that will go up against the Acura RDX, Lincoln MKC and, to an extent, the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Envision’s cabin looks a bit low-rent, being a hodgepodge of GM switchgear and awkward design details.
The capacitive temperature controls are a bit hit-or-miss, too.
On the plus side, Buick’s IntelliLink infotainment with standard SiriusXM, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, is comprehensive and logical for a touch-screen system. But the base, six-speaker audio system only gets a B-minus, at best.
This entry-spec Preferred trim gets cloth seats with leatherette bolsters, here in a pleasing beige that lends an airy ambience to the cabin. Additional standard kit includes active noise cancellation, a rear-view camera, rear park assist, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, a proximity key with push-button start, eightway heated front seats, a 4.2-inch colour info screen in the gauge cluster, and 18-inch alloy wheels. Move up to the higher trim levels and you get sunroof, heated rear seats, ventilated front seats, GPS navigation, real leather, a handful of active safety gadgets, and more.
With the exception of the distinctive Buick waterfall grill — and the aesthetically questionable Buick “portholes” on the hood — the Envision blends into the automotive landscape unnoticed.
I drove this tester in Nova Scotia, making a few extended highway jaunts and using it to move furniture and other household items while helping my dad move from his home to an assistedliving facility in Wolfville.
It certainly serves up a decent helping of utility, what with its standard power liftgate and pair of levers on the side of the cargo area that have the 60/40-split rear seats folding flat in a jiffy.
As a day-to-day crossover, the Buick Envision is about as lowstress as you could ask for. The six-speed automatic unobtrusively slurs the gears, and while highway passing requires a lower cog and a healthy helping of revolutions
from the 2.5-L four-pot, occupants are shielded from the under-hood histrionics by Buick’s signature Quiet Tuning.
Being slightly narrower than the class average, the Envision is nicely manoeuvrable in town and easy to park. Adding to the Envision’s calm disposition are the unfashionably tall aspect-ratio tires that help soak up most road irregularities. Tellingly, within the first few metres of riding in the Envision, my 89-year-old dad immediately commented on its smooth and quiet nature. If that isn’t a confirmation of this intermediate crossover’s inherent Buick-ness, well, I’ll eat my prunes.