Buick is the oldest active vehicle manufacturer in the United States and abandoned its first vehicle in 1899. At the end of the early 1900s, Buick, the biggest star in the burgeoning automotive scene, thanks in part to General Motors founder William C. Durant, who bought the automaker in 1904, then built GM with Buick as its premium logo and the last step before consumers jumped into the world of Cadillac luxury.
Since then, Buick has delivered several mythical machines to the world stage, adding the world’s first concept car, the 1938 Y-Job, high-performance vehicles such as the Gran Sport/GSX, T-Type and Grand National/GNX, and the last non-public luxury cruise ship, the Riviera.
This is not the case in the United States, however. Far from a few years ago, Buick’s existing lineup consists of 3 styles, all crossovers: the Encore GX, the Envision and the Enclave. For 2024, another “E” arrives to fill the space left by the non-GX encore, which was discontinued at the end of the 2022 style year. This “E” is for Envista, and Buick hopes to attract new consumers and return with its high-finish entry-level crossover when the first copies arrive. showrooms in late July 2023. So, I flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to see what the Envista has to offer.
If the 2024 Buick Envista sounds a little familiar, it is. Not long ago, I traveled to North Carolina to drive its cousin, the 2024 Chevrolet Trax, which landed in showrooms in late June 2023, supported through a major ad campaign to promote the new compact crossover. pioneer.
Like the Trax, the Envista made its global debut a year earlier in Buick’s largest market, China, followed by its North American debut in April this year. The Trax and Envista, along with the Encore GX and Trailblazer, serve two missions for their respective brands: to serve as a hotspot for consumers to own a GM product and to entice those to upgrade their aging and out-of-production subcompact sedans and crossovers.
The project is more divided by giving power to the front wheels of the Trax and Envista, while the Encore GX and Trailblazer force the way around all corners. In turn, this allows the first pair to attract new customers through lower advertising project value, in part due to less mechanical complexity, while the last pair serves as a progression through Buick’s four-model lineup to retain its existing customer base under the Trishield.
Two engines and transmissions will be offered for the 2024 Buick Envista, depending on the market. Chinese models get a 1. 5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with CVT, while American consumers get a six-speed automatic transmission hooked up to a 1. 2-liter three-cylinder turbo engine; Either configuration is also available on the Chevrolet Trax. The American combo is rarely as rugged as the Encore’s 1. 4-liter inline-four-cylinder Ecotec with 153 horsepower, sending 136 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque to the front pair of 17-, 18- or 19-inch wheels. Again, strength is not the main draw of the U. S. Envista market. of the Trax to turn the premium compact crossover into a Buick.
For starters, the Envista has a longer wheelbase of 106. 3 inches compared to the Trax’s 106. 0 inches. It’s not as impressive as the marketing suggests, but that little extra probably helps a little more with handling on the road. vy), and is narrower at 71. 5 inches instead of 71. 8 inches.
The biggest difference, however, is the overall length: 182. 6 inches for the Envista versus 178. 6 inches for the Trax. Add MacPherson struts combined with an optional rear Watts arm, and the Envista is in a position to deliver a smoother ride on the road.
Of course, there’s something else that sets the 2024 Buick Envista apart from its Bowtie’d cousin: style. While the Trax follows the same path as the Trailblazer, the Equinox, and the long-lasting Blazer EV, the Envista, as well as the 2024 Encore GX, get their look from the 2022 Wildcat EV concept coupe. Or electric vehicle charging stations: they’re the first things to catch the eye, followed by the angled rear meant to evoke sedan-style elements, a sedan isn’t.
Buick knows its American consumers prefer a higher ride height on those days, so those who only rent the brand’s newest sedans and trucks will find anything familiar in a package that best suits their current lifestyle, from the blackened wheels and grille of the Sport Touring to the Black Ice chrome grille with aluminum wheels and Pearl Nickel accents on the Future.
Taste differences continue in the interior, starting with the indicator cluster and touchscreen housing. Compared to the Trax’s driver-centric design, the Envista’s setup follows the rounded, angular themes of the exterior. The flat-bottomed guide wheel gives the premium compact crossover a bit of sportiness reserved for high-performance machines like the Corvette Z06, while the fabric and leatherette in all 3 trim grades (Preferred, Sport Touring and Avenir) will keep you comfortable, no matter how long the adventure lasts. The interior trim includes Santorini Blue stitching on the Sport Touring and Ebony seats with Terra-Cotta accents on the Future.
Known as the ultra-wide infotainment display, the 2024 Envista generation starts with a pair of displays: an 8-inch power-drive data center on the left and an 11-inch touchscreen on the right, all housed in a single boat-shaped bezel. The only physical button is the volume button/power button on the touch screen. break when it comes to your iPhone or Pixel.
Once the surprise has passed, however, they’ll be pleased to know that there are more buttons and dials to control important things, like heating and cooling, although the Avenir trim opts for a more minimal system for its HVAC controls than the Sport Touring or Preferred.
When it comes to comfort on long trips, more Envista means more room for more stuff. Without the optional moonroof, no panoramic glass for this entry-level crossover, front and rear headroom is 39. 4 and 37. 3 inches, respectively. It’s 20. 7 cubic feet of shipping area with the 60/40 rear seat in place, more than enough for some luggage bags as stated above. With the bench down, the area more than doubles to 42 cubic feet for one or two large IKEA runs.
There are some similarities in the way the Envista and Trax deal with the open road, which is how I experienced part of the way through my stretch of a two-hour loop around the Michigan countryside beyond Ann Arbor. The turbo-three is capable of maintaining speed with traffic on the road, and adaptive cruise control is a plus for most; Sometimes you have to pass that big truck in front of you. What caught my attention, particularly my ears, was what I once heard when driving on two-lane roads: silence.
While some of the credits can be attributed to the fact that it’s a morning with little traffic on such roads, the rest is due to Buick’s QuietTuning technology, a combination of noise-reducing techniques aimed at diminishing sounds at the source, preventing most such sounds from entering the cabin, and absorbing the rest. Sometimes I felt like I was driving an electric vehicle.
When it comes to maneuvering in the two winding lanes, the 2024 Buick Envista felt smart planted on the sidewalk, thanks to Watts’ rear link that helps keep the rear axle moving only up and down a few potholes around each corner. And there was, within moderate limits, no surface the Envista couldn’t handle, adding a slow stretch of gravel from ongoing road construction, the ultimate off-road an Envista owner will feast on while driving the premium compact crossover. that there didn’t seem to be peeling paint from all the pieces of gravel flying under the Continental tires. Overall, it drives like a Buick: smooth but powerful.
Buick hopes to not only attract returning tenants with the new entry-level entry-level Envista 2024, but also attract more young consumers, especially women and multicultural consumers, to the Buick fold. The most productive way to do this, of course, is to deliver the products at the right price. being sneezed.
The base MSRP of the Envista Preferred is $23,495 ($100 more than the Trax LT), the Sport Touring starts at $25,195 (a few hundred more than the Trax 2RS and Activ models), and the Future premium comes in at $30,000 to $29,695.
What Envista owners will get when they return is a smart, fuel-efficient crossover from the diminutive turbo-three (28 mpg city, 32 mpg highway), plenty of room for friends, a circle of family and some suitcases for the big getaway, and a foot in the door for the rest of the Buick lineup. In fact, it is a small global under the new Trishield in the US. The brand, like any GM, is going all-electric. What better way to meet this new challenge than for your new consumers and those who prefer a basic vehicle like the Envista.