ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Need an reasonably priced small crossover that appears and feels good, would possibly even impress your passengers, and gained’t make your eyes go cross whereas configuring one on-line? Buick’s received a brand new one for you, and it’s fairly slick. The 2024 Buick Envista begins beneath $25,000, and in a world of rampant inflation, it truly lives as much as what you thought that a lot cash may get you just a few years in the past. Try to be pleasantly stunned with what you get — simply don’t ask for all-wheel drive or an engine improve.
To those eyes, the Envista seems good from all angles. Whereas the refresh of the Buick Encore GX for the 2024 mannequin 12 months was the primary manufacturing automobile to make use of design components impressed by the Buick Wildcat EV idea, the Envista marks the “first full expression” of that new design language, as Buick design boss Bob Boniface put it. No, it’s not a two-door coupe just like the Wildcat, and it nonetheless doesn’t have the Wildcat’s electrical powertrain, however these seems translate even higher to a brand new automobile designed from the bottom up. It has the sharp nostril, the excessive, wing-like headlights and the brand new tri-shield Buick emblem that additionally made its approach onto the Encore. However the Envista has a swept-back profile, with the roofline giving solution to a toned-down instance of rear shoulders flaring out over the wheels. The properly tucked rear finish is house to lighting that higher matches the models up entrance. It’s decrease and sleeker than the Encore, placing itself extra visually on the automobile finish of the crossover spectrum, whereas the GX leans extra towards SUV.
And also you’ll get a extra carlike drive from the Envista, too. There’s just one powertrain: a turbocharged 1.2-liter three-cylinder powering the entrance wheels. There’s no AWD possibility right here, and no four-cylinder. Not even a 1.3-liter improve like within the Encore GX. There’s a conventional automated transmission with solely six ahead gears, and no dreaded CVT in sight. There’s little or no you possibly can do on the order sheet to vary the best way the Envista drives — choose a model with the upgraded rear suspension that Buick claims gives a extra superior experience (a Watts hyperlink for many who care) or change up the wheel measurement, perhaps — however actually not when it comes to what drives the wheels. You get 137 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque within the Envista, figures which might be awfully low as of late, however that we additionally discovered completely suited to this mission. Any extra, and also you’d sacrifice the gasoline financial system, which is rated at 28 miles per gallon metropolis, 32 mpg freeway and 30 mpg mixed. Any much less, and also you wouldn’t have the ability to joyfully spin the entrance wheels pulling away from a cease. As within the Chevy Bolt or turbocharged Hyundai Kona, it’s addictive and elicits giggles each time.
That additionally means the value level stays fairly dang low irrespective of the way you spec it. The bottom Most popular trim begins at $23,495, together with an inexpensive $1,095 vacation spot cost. Shifting as much as the ST (brief for Sport Touring) provides you a $25,195 beginning value, whereas the line-topping Avenir begins at $29,695. We’re informed the costliest Envista you may possibility is however a mere $31,430. The share of the brand new automobile market beneath $30,000 has plummeted since pre-pandemic pricing, however, as Envista advertising supervisor Jazzy Teen identified, the oldsters being priced out of {the marketplace} nonetheless exist. “As we transfer in direction of greater, extra succesful, EV automobiles, that leaves a spot within the market for returning consumers.” So as a substitute of transferring right into a costlier automobile or, alternatively, shopping for out your lease or in any other case shopping for used, now you can flip to Buick to your new reasonably priced automobile.
What’s spectacular in regards to the Envista’s value isn’t just that it bucks the market’s inflationary traits, however that it additionally manages to be extra refined than the subcompact SUVs it competes with on value — verging on premium. Buick desires to promote you an reasonably priced automobile, not a “low cost” one. And, not less than with the Sport Touring and Avenir fashions we scoped out, you get a automobile that feels worthy of the little shine the Buick badge provides over, say, Chevy. Inside our ST tester, we didn’t discover the buoyant suppleness of Buick’s range-topping Enclave Avenir, nevertheless it nonetheless felt like a automobile designed with forethought and a talented eye. We just like the flat-bottom steering wheel, which is customary in all Envistas. It helps that there’s not lots of actual property to cowl on this smaller crossover, so locations the place more durable plastics and grainy textures stay are simple to cover, break up or in any other case manipulate bodily or visually. The ST trim we examined, decked in leatherette upholstery, has a pleasing shade of blue within the entrance seat piping and stitching, in addition to the stitching throughout the gentle however attention-grabbing rubberized sprint materials.
The primary course of this feast is the smooth, curved monolith that homes each the 11-inch infotainment display screen and the 8-inch digital driver’s show — customary throughout all trims. It provides the cabin a contemporary really feel with out being overwhelming with deep, fussy menus and digital “buttons.” There’s a bodily energy/quantity knob affixed to the glass simply to the left of the infotainment show, and additional down on the middle stack are bodily buttons and dials for local weather controls (the Avenir swaps this gear for even tidier piano-black buttons and replaces the dials with toggles). It strikes a superb steadiness of providing you with entry to the stuff you want with out an excessive amount of muddle or screen-tapping. Our cursory dive by the menus discovered them to be simple, however we most popular to reap the benefits of the wi-fi display screen projection through Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s additionally an obtainable wi-fi telephone charger beneath the middle stack, in a cubby that homes a USB-A and USB-C port.
Like its price ticket, the Envista’s cargo space places it in step with subcompact SUVs – and on the small facet, at that. The Envista provides 20.7 cubic toes of cargo room behind the usual 60/40 folding rear seats, and folding each of them down opens that as much as 42.0 cubes. That’s a smaller cargo space than the brand new Chevy Trax (from which the Envista borrows its platform) at 25.6 cubic toes, the 23.5 cubic toes of the Encore GX, Toyota Corolla Cross’s 26.5 and Honda HR-V’s 24.4 — we suppose having one of many smaller cargo capacities within the subcompact phase is a tradeoff for that crossover-coupe roofline. Both approach, it gives extra versatility than one thing with a conventional trunk. We’ll have to attend to seek out out precisely how helpful the house is after we get a chance to carry out one among our baggage assessments.
Passenger house is a wholly completely different matter, nonetheless, owing to some reasonably unusual dimensions. The Envista is just not solely 11 inches longer than the Encore GX, with 4 extra inches of wheelbase, it’s truly a bit longer than a compact Toyota RAV4 and has an additional inch of legroom. That interprets right into a a lot roomier passenger cabin than you’d discover in subcompact SUVs in addition to some compact ones. A 6-foot-tall passenger can comfortably experience behind a 6-foot-tall driver, and regardless of a roofline that’s 3 inches decrease than the GX, there’s nonetheless ample headroom within the Envista. We didn’t even discover that sloping crossover-coupe roofline to impede on rear headroom, although a very tall editor like our personal James Riswick may need a distinct expertise.
The place the Envista shines, although (other than worth), is in its calmness and luxury taking place the street. It’s a quiet automobile. The three-cylinder engine doesn’t sound tough or grumpy in operation. In reality, you don’t hear a lot of it in any respect. The six-speed auto retains revs in examine, and thank goodness there’s no CVT like in lots of rivals. Buick additionally consists of lively noise cancellation that helps maintain the skin sounds exterior, leaving the within for straightforward dialog.
There’s not lots of chatter coming by the suspension, both. The undulating growth joints on our battered Michigan highways precipitated no criticism — only a dulled little bop — conserving noise and harsh motions at bay. Even with out the upgraded rear suspension included within the Avenir and non-compulsory within the ST, and which we didn’t check, the chassis stays composed. Being low to the bottom, it has a carlike character by corners, staying flatter than a taller automobile with a better middle of gravity would. There’s nothing in regards to the dealing with that notably invitations spirited driving, nevertheless it doesn’t get in the best way of it, both.
It is a easy and simple drive. Identical to there’s no solution to change the drive expertise through the order sheet, there’s no solution to dial it in from contained in the automobile. There’s no button to pick out between completely different drive modes, nor a sport setting for the transmission. There are not any paddles on the again of the steering wheel with which to pick out your individual gears, however there’s a +/- toggle on the shift lever. There’s one thing to be mentioned for the simplicity and purity of adjusting the drive expertise particularly by driver inputs. All of it is determined by the way you speed up, brake and steer.
However this isn’t a sports activities automobile; it’s an reasonably priced, snug, cool-looking commuter that’s a step up from the mainstream subcompact set. It’s not uninteresting — its seems alone forestall that — nevertheless it’ll assist elevate driving a wise buy past mundanity into a spot of peace. It’s simple to drive, has house to your buddies, and would possibly even impress them with its elegant design, snug experience and slick-looking tech interface. And, should you ever want a fast chuckle, the Envista will adjust to a easy proper foot to the ground to get the entrance tires a-singin’.
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