2020 Buick Enclave

The Buick Enclave this year has tried to up the ante in the fiercely contested mid-size SUV segment. It comes with a promise of a luxurious ride and a powerful engine under the hood. The overall experience is to make you feel that you are into a much premium SUV at a bargain price, honestly, things don't seem to go as planned here. More on that in the latter part of the review.

Starting at just $40,000 the 2020 Buick Enclave promises seating for seven with plenty of space in all three rows and sufficient boot space to carry a couple of suitcases with all the seats up. With that being said, the 2020 Enclave strongly stands against its competition which features SUVs like Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, and Kia Telluride.

The 2020 Buick Enclave is available in 4 variants, i:e. Preferred, Essence, Premium, and Avenir. Prices for the 2020 Enclave stretches from $40,000 for the base Preferred to over $56,100 for the top Avenir. Power is sourced from a 310 hp, 3.6-liter V6 and is delivered to the wheels through a 9-speed automatic transmission. The base trim now gets a new nomenclature and is now known as "Preferred". It is also the only trim that comes with front-wheel drive. All the higher trims can opt with either a front-wheel-drive or an all-wheel-drive. The Trimline specifications follow the familiar course here with opening up more safety and luxury features as you move up the trim order.

Apart from the standard fitment Buick also gives you a couple of optional packages and standalone features. The base trim only gets cosmetics add-ons while the Essence trim just above it can be had with a surround-view parking camera, a moonroof, etc. While optional package here is a Sound and Sites package that gets you a 10-speaker Bose stereo, navigation, and a 120-volt power outlet. Moving on to the Premium trim, it shares similar packages seen on the Essence trim while the Avenir trim offers an optional Avenir Technology package. This package adds adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and adjustable suspensions.

We Recommend

To get the most out of your money, we recommend the Essence trim as the base trim though well equipped lacks nifty driver aids which are otherwise standard on the Essence trim and above.

“The V6 provides a nice bit of thrust off the line when you put your foot down, but it tapers off at higher rpm” – Edmunds

The 2020 Buick Enclave is powered by a sole 3.6-liter V6 engine producing 310 hp and 266 lb-ft of torque. Transmission duties are taken care of by a 9-speed automatic gearbox that sends power to either the front wheels or all four wheels. The FWD setup is standard on all trim while the AWD is available on all except the base trim. The V6 engine is lively and produces thrust on demand, but shivers down at higher rpm. The 9-speed automatic transmission works like a charm due to its precision and smoothness. While rolling, the Enclave feels powerful and agile and not so bulky.

The 3.6-liter V6 helps the 2020 Enclave go from 0 to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds and covers the quarter-mile in 15.1 seconds. All thanks to the Buick for a precise steering wheel and firm brakes, the driver feels confident due to the well-controlled body movements. The front-wheel variant, when compared to the all-wheel-drive variants, feels light and quick but the AWD variants feel more real and roll neatly around quick corners. Top trims also offer an adaptive suspension system that improves the driving experience and makes the ride even more smooth no matter the terrain.

In this comparison, only the GMC Acadia comes with an inline-4 engine while the rest of the SUVs offer a V6 as standard. As expected the Enclave has the highest premium for an SUV with a V6 here but at the same time it also puts out the best power and torque figures among all. That automatically helps the Enclave be the fastest to hit 60 mph followed by its cousin the Traverse. While the Telluride was two-tenth of a second behind the Enclave and the Acadia being the least powerful was the last in both the 0-60 mph and quarter-mile runs.

The 2020 Buick Enclave with the V6 and FWD configuration has an EPA estimated gas mileage of 18 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. While going for the AWD version sees only a 1 mpg drop in both city and highway gas mileage which is acceptable for better traction and drive control. While Buick is well aware of the fact that the Enclave being a bulky SUV won't return good gas mileage so to compensate it has given the Enclave a big 19.4-gallon fuel tank which is sufficient to offer 500 plus miles range from a full tank of gas on the highway.

Compared to the rivals it is no doubt the inline-4 powered Acadia will top the charts for being the most fuel-efficient among all, especially when driven in the city. What's surprising though is the fact that the Telluride even with the V6 betters the city gas mileage by 2 mpg compared to the Enclave while on the highway both return a similar figure. That being said, the lower curb weight and power figures help the Telluride pull this feat. 

“Interior materials in the 2020 Enclave are fitting (for the most part) for a premium-grade vehicle, similar to what you'll find in a top-level Chevrolet Traverse or an SUV from luxury brands like Acura and Lincoln.” – cars.usnews.com

The 2020 Buick Enclave offers a comfortable set of three rows that can fit seven passengers without any issues. Also, Buick has provided a pair of captain’s chairs in the middle and a bench seat in the third row in all of its trims to improve the comfort of the passengers. With comfortable seating and a quiet cabin courtesy of good quality sound insulation, the ride becomes less raucous and peaceful. The dashboard design is simple yet sticks to the flowing design theme seen in many Buick cars. It has a lot of soft-touch material with an ergonomic layout but has started to look dated now and doesn't do justice to a premium SUV like the Enclave. Also, the fit and finish level on the Enclave isn't up to the mark for an SUV that starts at forty grand.

The standard variant of the Enclave comes with an 8” high-resolution touch-screen with Buick’s intelliLink infotainment system along with smartphone integration via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The audio system provided by the Buick is a standard 6-speaker system with active noise cancellation. Other standard features include a Wi-Fi hotspot, Siri Eyes free and natural voice control along with 6 USB ports distributed evenly across the car. The 2020 Enclave has a generous amount of boot space and with all the seats up you get 23.6 cubic feet that can be increased to 58 cubic feet with third-row seats folded and an enormous boot space of 97.6 cubic feet with the second and third-row folded.

Buick Enclave and its less expensive cousin the Chevrolet Traverse are based on a similar platform thus the cabin dimensions are more or less the same on both the SUVs. The real competition the Enclave faces is from the Acadia and the Telluride. Among the three the Telluride is the most spacious hands down. While the Enclave can't match the Telluride's space in the first two rows, the third-row seats on the Enclave are where it beats the Telluride in both the shoulder room and legroom on offer. Also, the Enclave offers a couple of more cubic feet of space in its cargo area compared to the Telluride thus uplifting its practicality quotient.

Interior Features:

• Tri-zone automatic climate control
• Power-adjustable and heated front seats
• Fabric-trimmed seats
• Available leather-trimmed seats
• Available ventilated front seats w/ massage function
• Available heated second-row seats
• Available power-folding third-row seats

“Gone is the traditional Buick waterfall-Bull grille design, a styling cue that had not aged well. In its place is a more contemporary opening with wings extending from either side of the rather largish Buick tri-shield logo.” – Kelly blue book

After producing the first generation of the Enclave, the Buick has stepped up the design game by introducing the 2020 variant. Its sculpted yet sleek design comes from the 2018 Enclave. It rolls on a 120.9-inch wheelbase and measures 204.3-inches end-to-end. The elegant design by the Buick makes the Enclave look more like a big sporty SUV rather than a boxy-looking one. Also, the Enclave comes with a healthy dose of chrome treatment on the exterior bits to ensure you don't forget this is a premium SUV.

The Enclave has almost the same curb weight as that of the Chevrolet Traverse and is identical when other factors are considered except the height where the Traverse takes the lead. That being said, the 2020 Enclave comes with a waterfall grille for the first three variants while the Avenir variant gets its own uniquely styled grille. At the rear, the tailgate has a chrome accent that merges into the taillights while the rest of the area is kept neutral and chrome-free to keep the rear design elegant.

In comparison to the rival SUVs, there is no doubt the Enclave and Traverse are the ones with bigger dimensions. But if you remember the cabin space comparison there the Telluride offered overall better cabin space compared to the Enclave. Thus this makes it clear that the space management inside the Telluride is better than any other SUV here even though it isn't the one with the longest wheelbase or length. 

Exterior Features:

• LED headlights and Daytime Running Lamps
• 18” alloy wheels
• Automatic on/off headlamps
• Wheel locks
• Handsfree liftgate
• Available power moonroof with rear fixed skylight

Based on a robust underpinning the 2020 Buick Enclave scored well in both the crash-test of the federal agencies. The NHTSA gave it 5 out of 5 stars in overall safety ratings while the IIHS gave it the top rating of 'Good' in all its six parameters. 

Safety Features:

• Rearview camera
• Available blind-spot monitor w/ rear cross-traffic alert
• Available lane keep assist w/ lane departure warning
• Available forward-collision warning w/ emergency braking
• Available surround-view parking camera
• Available adaptive cruise control

2020 Buick Enclave vs 2020 Chevrolet Traverse

Chevrolet Traverse is an identical twin of the Buick Enclave as both of these are under GM. Many similarities can be drawn between these two, from engine and transmission to the overall cargo space and seating capacity. Though the Traverse has an edge when it comes to the price tag as the Enclave costs $10,000 more than it.

Though Traverse lacks many features that come as standard in the Enclave, if you are looking for a daily driver on a tight budget and are happy without some additional features, then the Traverse is the perfect choice for you.

2020 Buick Enclave vs 2020 GMC Acadia

GMC Acadia – another GM SUV which is similar to the Enclave yet they both are different SUVs with a common parent company. The Acadia Denali has the same engine as that of the Enclave, producing the same amount of power.

The main reason why the Enclave wins here is that the base model of the Enclave offers more features and has a similar engine as that of the Acadia Denali, and at the same time comes with a lesser price tag than the Acadia Denali.

If you are looking for something which is both luxurious and affordable without much compromise on the amount of power, then the 2020 Buick Enclave is for you. Affordability doesn’t always mean a cheaper price tag, sometimes you have to bend the rules and Buick has done the same thing with the Enclave. They are offering a great array of features along with a great engine and transmission combination which makes this SUV a complete bang for its buck. There might be other rivals out there surpassing the Enclave, but with what it is offering, the Enclave does stand out.

More from Buick:

• The 2022 Buick Enclave is expected to offer a turbo-four engine and sleeker looks, for more details follow the link

FAQs on the 2020 Buick Enclave:

How reliable is the 2020 Buick Enclave?

The 2020 Buick Enclave got a reliability score of 83 out of 100 by J.D.Powers that puts it in the fourth spot in the top ten consumer-rated SUVs. 

How much can the 2020 Buick Enclave tow?

The 2020 Buick Enclave when had with the towing package is rated to tow up to 5,000 pounds.

Does the 2020 Buick Enclave offer adaptive cruise control?

Yes, the 2020 Buick Enclave when had with the Avenir Technology package gets adaptive cruise control.

Where is the 2020 Buick Enclave built?

The 2020 Buick Enclave is built in Michigan.