2022 Buick Enclave

2022 is the mid-cycle refresh year of the second-generation (2018–2024) Enclave, but the refresh was styling, safety tech and a push-button shifter — not powertrain. Every trim keeps GM's naturally aspirated 3.6L V6 (LFY) at 310 hp with no output split by trim, a mid-pack figure for a premium three-row.

266 lb-ft is a modest number for a 4,359–4,685 lb three-row, and it arrives at 2,800 rpm from a naturally aspirated V6 — turbocharged rivals match or beat it far lower in the rev range, which is why the Enclave feels unhurried rather than muscular under load.

Buick publishes no 0–60 claim for 2022. Edmunds instrumented a front-drive 2022 Enclave at 7.0 s, which is the volume configuration scored here; the heavier AWD Avenir bracketed it at 6.5 s (Car and Driver) and 7.5 s (Edmunds), so the honest reading is 'about seven seconds' — adequate, not quick.

The naturally aspirated V6 delivers power linearly with no turbo lag and no hybrid handoffs to fumble, and reviewers of the 2022 car describe it as smooth and easy-going. It is held back from the top band by consistent criticism that the engine sounds coarse and intrudes at low revs in a vehicle priced as a premium product.

The 9-speed Hydra-Matic is the strongest part of the driveline: 2022 reviews describe shifts as smooth and the gearbox as always in the right gear, with no hunting — helped by a broad-shouldered V6 that never forces it to chase a narrow torque peak. The refresh's new push-button selector is a packaging change, not a behavioral one.

GM rates the 2022 Enclave at 5,000 lbs, but only with the optional trailering package fitted — an un-equipped car tows a fraction of that, so the headline number is an options-box figure. 5,000 lbs is squarely mid-pack among mid-size three-row crossovers.

AWD is optional rather than standard, but offered on all three trims (Essence, Premium, Avenir), and the hardware is tiered: Essence gets a basic on-demand rear-drive engagement while Premium and Avenir add a twin-clutch rear unit that vectors torque side to side. There is no low range, no locking differential and no terrain-mode selector.

A pavement-oriented luxury crossover: 7.5 in of ground clearance, unibody construction, all-season touring tires on 18- or 20-inch wheels, no skid plates, no off-road trim and no terrain modes. Optional AWD covers snow and gravel and nothing beyond.

One engine, one transmission, no alternatives. The 3.6L V6 and 9-speed automatic are the only powertrain in the 2022 range — no turbo four, no hybrid, no plug-in. The only choice the buyer makes is FWD versus AWD, which is drivetrain rather than powertrain.

A naturally aspirated 3.6L V6 pulling a ~4,400 lb three-row body returns 21 MPG combined in front-drive form. The 2022 refresh brought no powertrain change, so this is the same figure the pre-refresh car posted, and it is thirsty against the turbo-four and hybrid three-rows it is cross-shopped with.

City economy is the weakest number on the car — the big-displacement V6 has only automatic stop/start to lean on with no electric assist, so stop-and-go driving lands it well behind hybrid three-rows and behind most turbo-four rivals.

Highway is the Enclave's best efficiency result: tall upper gears in the 9-speed (0.62:1 ninth) let the V6 loaf at cruise, closing much of the gap to smaller-engined rivals and making the car far better suited to road trips than to commuting.

The front-drive volume configuration carries a 19.4-gallon tank, which at 21 MPG combined works out to roughly 407 miles — respectable but short of the 450–500 miles the more efficient three-rows manage. AWD models actually travel farther despite worse economy, because they carry a substantially larger 21.7-gallon tank.

EPA's standard 15,000 mi/yr estimate puts running costs near $3,000 a year even on regular unleaded — a direct consequence of the 21 MPG combined rating, and one of the less appealing numbers on the car.

The 3.6L V6 asks only for 87-octane regular unleaded across the entire range, Avenir included — no premium requirement or recommendation despite the premium positioning, which offsets some of the mediocre MPG. The engine is not flex-fuel, so E85 is off the table, a minor limitation.

NHTSA rated both 2022 Enclave drivetrains and they split on the overall star: front-drive earns 4 stars, all-wheel drive 5. The sub-scores are identical (5-star frontal, 5-star side, 4-star rollover); the difference is rollover probability — 16.9% FWD versus 15.1% AWD. Scored on the front-drive volume configuration, so 4 stars.

Good in every legacy IIHS crashworthiness test but Acceptable in the updated side impact, where the structure and safety cage itself was rated Marginal and driver torso and pelvis both Acceptable. No IIHS award for 2022 — the nameplate went twelve years without one, from 2013 until the redesigned 2025 car took Top Safety Pick+. The passenger-side small overlap was never run on the Enclave; the mechanically identical Chevrolet Traverse rated Good there but Marginal in the updated moderate overlap, so the shared 2018–24 structure is showing its age against current protocols.

The single biggest change of the 2022 refresh: Buick Driver Confidence Plus, previously Avenir-only, became standard on every trim — nine systems including AEB, front pedestrian braking, forward collision alert, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, lane change alert with side blind zone alert, rear cross traffic alert, rear park assist and IntelliBeam auto high beams. That covers four of the five features the top band asks for, standard from the base Essence up. The one gap is adaptive cruise control, which stays an extra-cost option on Essence and Premium and is standard only on Avenir.

IIHS never ran front crash prevention on the Enclave itself, but it did on the Chevrolet Traverse — same platform, same generation, same GM camera-based hardware, with the rating written to apply across 2018–23 models. That system earns Superior for vehicle-to-vehicle and Superior for daytime pedestrian detection on both the standard and optional configurations, then falls to Basic for pedestrian detection at night. Strong daylight performance with a weak night-pedestrian result is precisely the middle band; scored at its top because the daytime results are the best available and the standard system matches the optional one.

Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are both inside the newly standard Driver Confidence Plus package, so every 2022 Enclave has them — better than the mid band's 'available on most trims'. What keeps it out of the top band is that both are alert-only: there is no rear automatic braking, no safe-exit alert, and no trailer-aware blind spot coverage. Rear Pedestrian Alert is a 2022 addition but sits in the optional Technology package.

Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning is standard across the 2022 range and reviewers describe it as working well without the heavy-handed intervention of earlier GM calibrations. It is a departure-correction nudge system only — there is no lane centering on any 2022 Enclave trim, since Super Cruise did not reach the nameplate until 2025. Functional keeping without centering is squarely the middle band.

GM's full-speed-range adaptive cruise with stop-and-go is capable and well regarded, but on the volume Essence and on Premium it is an extra-cost option bundled inside the Technology package alongside HD Surround Vision, the camera rear-view mirror and enhanced AEB — only Avenir gets it standard. There is no highway assist layered on top, so the buyer of a representative Enclave has to pay for a feature that is standard equipment on several mainstream three-row rivals.

No hands-free driving is offered on any 2022 Enclave trim at any price. Super Cruise did not reach the Buick brand until the redesigned 2025 Enclave, which Buick itself markets as the first Buick to get it.

IIHS never published a headlight rating for the 2022 Enclave, so there is no Good result to point to — and headlights are an award prerequisite, which is part of why the nameplate went award-less through this generation. The one hard datapoint on the shared design is discouraging: the twin Chevrolet Traverse rates Poor. Against that, the 2022 refresh fitted genuinely new LED headlamps and made IntelliBeam auto high beams standard on every trim rather than optional, so the Enclave's units are not the Traverse's. Scored at the band boundary to reflect a real hardware upgrade with no independent measurement behind it.

A tall three-row crossover with the expected thick pillars and long rear overhang, but reviewers do not single the Enclave out as a bad one — rearward vision is described as unremarkable rather than poor, and rear park assist is standard for 2022. The camera compensation is where it loses ground: HD Surround Vision and the camera rear-view mirror are locked inside the optional Technology package, so the volume Essence relies on a plain reversing camera and sensors.

IIHS rates LATCH ease of use Acceptable. The hardware coverage is generous for the class — two complete lower-anchor sets in the second row plus a tether anchor for all three third-row positions — and the cabin and door openings are large enough that installation is not cramped. The demerits are usability rather than capacity: the lower anchors sit too deep in the seat cushions and the third-row tethers are easy to confuse with other hardware back there.

The volume Essence trim comes standard with a 60/40-split second-row bench and a 50/50-split third row, which is the seven-passenger configuration. Ordering the captain's chairs — standard higher up the range — trades a seat for walk-through access and drops capacity to six.

GM publishes both figures separately and the item asks for the no-sunroof number: 42.6 in is at the very top of the SUV band and reflects the Enclave's tall, upright greenhouse. A moonroof-equipped car loses 1.4 in.

41.2 in is unremarkable for a 204.8-inch-long three-row — the Enclave spends its 120.9-inch wheelbase on the second and third rows rather than on the driver, so front legroom sits near the bottom of the SUV band even though headroom is class-leading.

Second-row headroom of 39.9 in is near the top of the SUV band, and the third row still clears 37.6 in — the flat roofline pays off for rear passengers rather than styling.

38.3 in in the second row is generous but not benchmark; the more telling figure is the 33.5 in behind it, which is roughly half a foot more third-row legroom than a Toyota Highlander offers and is the basis of the Enclave's reputation as one of the roomiest three-rows in the class.

One of the better third rows in the mid-size class rather than a token bench: 33.5 in of legroom and 37.6 in of headroom mean six-footers genuinely fit, and 23.6 cu ft of cargo remains behind it so a full load of people does not mean no luggage. It falls short of the top band because access is easiest only with the optional captain's chairs — the volume Essence's bench requires a tumble-fold — the third row folds manually on that trim, and reviewers still frame adult occupancy as short-trip duty.

57.7 cu ft behind the second row is mid-pack for a large three-row crossover — the Enclave's cargo strength is at the extremes rather than in the middle, with an unusually deep 23.6 cu ft still available with all seven seats up.

97.4 cu ft is near the top of the SUV band and is close to minivan territory — the payoff for a 204.8-inch body and a squared-off cargo hold, and the single strongest number in this category.

Competent everyday storage without a headline idea: GM publishes a genuine 3.1 cu ft underfloor bin behind the third row, and the console carries a standard wireless charging pad, deep bin and cupholders. There is no giga-console, no fold-flat front passenger seat and no onboard AC power, so it lands in the middle band rather than the top.

Long-haul comfort is the Enclave's core proposition and reviewers back it consistently — wide, softly cushioned seats that still support over distance, with perforated leather, heating and a heated wheel standard from the base Essence and heated second-row outboard seats plus front ventilation and massage from Premium up. Held just out of the top band by criticism that the leather itself feels stiff and that the massage function is rudimentary.

Segment-leading compliance, and notably it does not depend on the options box — reviewers rate the ride excellent with or without the continuously variable real-time damping available on Avenir. Five-link independent rear suspension, tall-sidewall 18-inch tires on the volume trim and hydraulic ride bushings keep broken pavement away from occupants without the float that used to define the brand.

Among the quietest vehicles in the class, with sound deadening reviewers single out as doing most of the work of making the cabin feel premium. The one intrusion is the naturally aspirated V6, which gets audible and coarse when worked hard — a powertrain-noise demerit rather than a wind or road one.

Rich and, unusually, front-loaded onto the base trim: tri-zone automatic climate control, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are all standard on the volume Essence, with ventilated and massaging front seats plus heated second-row outboard seats from Premium up. Short of the very top band only because remote pre-conditioning from the phone requires a paid OnStar Remote Access plan after the trial rather than being a free app function.

2022 is the mid-cycle refresh year of the second generation (2018–2024) — the year GM had originally intended as a 2021 launch — and the lineup contracted to three trims when the entry Preferred grade was dropped, so Essence became the price leader at $42,800 before the $1,245 destination charge. That still lands the Enclave at the affordable end of the premium three-row field.

Essence is the volume trim and the 2022 refresh is what made it one: the Buick Driver Confidence suite became standard across the whole lineup that year, so stepping up to Premium or Avenir buys leather, larger wheels and trim rather than safety content. AWD is a $2,000 option with a high take rate in this segment, giving a typical transaction configuration of $44,800 + $1,245 destination.

CarEdge's $2,979 five-year figure is maintenance-weighted and looks low for this vehicle: RepairPal measures the Enclave nameplate at $720/yr against a $573 mid-size-SUV average and rates both repair frequency and severity above normal, ranking it 24th of 26 mid-size SUVs. The 3.6L LFY V6 and nine-speed automatic are mature but not trouble-free, and years four and five fall outside the 3 yr/36,000 mi bumper-to-bumper term. The one open 2022-specific NHTSA recall (side roof-rail airbags failing to deploy) is a free remedy and does not enter this figure.

The 2022 car is tracking a little better than the nameplate average because it sold into, and is being resold out of, the inflated post-shortage used market: KBB puts the four-year-old Essence at a $24,400 fair purchase price against $44,045 original MSRP — about 55% retained — and a typical further year of decline lands near 46%. That is still among the weakest retention in the segment, consistent with iSeeCars' 58.5% five-year depreciation for the nameplate and with the premium large-crossover class generally.

Buick cut bumper-to-bumper coverage from 4 years/50,000 miles to 3 years/36,000 miles for the 2020 model year and 2022 is unchanged — the floor of the normalization band, matched by Toyota and Honda but far short of the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride (both 5 yr/60,000 mi) the Enclave competes against on price.

Powertrain coverage is 5 years/60,000 miles, reduced from 6 years/70,000 miles for the 2020 model year and unchanged for 2022 — the bottom of the band and half the 10-year/100,000-mile coverage Hyundai and Kia extend to original owners. Rust-through runs 6 yr/100,000 mi and roadside assistance runs with the powertrain term.

Buick includes exactly one complimentary scheduled service visit — oil and filter change, four-tire rotation and multi-point inspection — redeemable within the first year, well short of ToyotaCare's 2 yr/25,000 mi or Hyundai's 3 yr/36,000 mi. Roadside assistance and Courtesy Transportation run with the 5 yr/60,000 mi powertrain term, and connected services are decent rather than generous: 2022 GM vehicles carry a multi-year OnStar Remote Access Plan (remote start/lock via the myBuick app) plus short trials of OnStar's premium and in-vehicle Wi-Fi data plans, with the 2022 refresh adding wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The 8-year OnStar Basics grant only arrived with the 2025 model year.

$46,045 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (46% retained, or about $21,181) leaves about $24,864 in depreciation. Add the projected $6,500 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $31,364 in total.

2022 is the mid-cycle refresh of the second-generation (2018–2024) Enclave — new front/rear styling, a push-button electronic shifter and a newly standard driver-assist suite — and the predictions at launch were poor: Consumer Reports pulled the 2022 Enclave from its Recommended list in November 2021 on a 2/5 predicted-reliability rating carried over from troubled 2020–2021 cars. The owner data since then vindicated the car rather than the forecast: CR now scores the 2022 Enclave 73/100 for reliability, places it among the most reliable three-year-old midsize SUVs, and recommends it as a used buy, while J.D. Power rates predicted reliability 81/100 ('Great'). Scored just below the 2023 car because the forecast/outcome split leaves genuine mixed signal, and because a first-refresh year carries more variance than the carry-over year that followed.

2022 is the high-water mark for Buick quality standing: the brand ranked highest of all 32 nameplates in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study at 139 PP100 — a 17 PP100 improvement that vaulted it from 12th the year before, against an industry average of 180 — and placed 2nd overall in the 2022 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study at 147 PP100, one point behind Kia and ahead of Toyota, Hyundai and Mazda. Held below the ceiling because Consumer Reports is the dissenting voice and moving the wrong way: Buick sat 4th in CR's Nov 2021 reliability ranking but fell seven places to 11th in the Nov 2022 report, so the multi-year record is top-five in J.D. Power's studies and merely above-average in CR's.

A light recall record for a refresh year — the NHTSA database returns a single campaign for the 2022 Enclave, a roof-rail curtain-airbag harness connector action shared with the Chevrolet Traverse, remedied by a free connector replacement with notification in April 2022 — and owner complaints are few and unfocused, 13 filed across ten different component groups with no cluster larger than two. What keeps it out of the top band is that the one recall is a safety-system defect (an airbag that may not deploy) rather than a trivial action, and the bulletin record inherited from the 2021 car is a recognised service pattern rather than isolated cases: transmission shudder, front brake grind/groan after overnight standing, and coolant/oil leaks all drew GM TSBs.

The engine is the strong half — the 2022 refresh left the naturally aspirated 3.6L LFY V6 (310 hp) untouched across every trim, a mature member of GM's high-feature V6 family with years of high-mileage fleet service behind it and no systemic failure mode. The nine-speed 9T65 automatic is why this sits mid-band: it degrades gradually through torque-converter clutch wear rather than failing outright, GM issued shudder and harsh-shift bulletins on the immediately preceding model years, and CR's problem areas for this car explicitly include the drive system. The 2022 car also adopts a new push-button shifter interface over the same gearbox, which adds an electronic layer without changing the mechanical risk.

The 2022 refresh is exactly where the cabin improved — a redressed dash, added soft-touch surfaces, standard leather in the first two rows and QuietTuning active noise cancellation make this a genuinely pleasant, quiet interior, and the Avenir trim adds real wood and better hides. But this item is price-relative and the Enclave is a Premium-priced vehicle: reviewers consistently place the materials no richer than mainstream three-row rivals costing less, and owners single out a dash that is part leatherette and part hard plastic. Solidly competitive rather than class-leading.

The strongest initial-quality evidence available for any model year of this car lands on 2022: Buick ranked highest of all 32 brands in the J.D. Power 2022 Initial Quality Study at 139 PP100, 41 PP100 better than the industry average and a 17-point year-over-year gain, in a year the industry as a whole got 11% worse. Assembly at Lansing Delta Township is in its fifth year on this body, and CR rates fit and finish on this generation excellent. Short of the highest band because the study is brand-level rather than model-level, the vehicle-specific owner record still logs body-integrity and in-car-electronics complaints, and 2022 is the first year of refreshed exterior panels and a new shifter console.

2022 catches the Buick network at full strength and at the top of the service rankings — roughly 2,000 US franchises, before the EV-transition dealer buyout cut the count nearly in half during 2023 — paired with a 2nd-place finish among all mass-market brands in the J.D. Power 2022 Customer Service Index, one point off MINI's lead. Most stores are dual Buick-GMC points, so a GM service bay is close to hand almost anywhere in the country. Not at the ceiling because the CSI measures dealer service satisfaction rather than the ownership experience as a whole, and Buick's showing in CR's owner-satisfaction survey over the same period is markedly cooler.

Availability is not the problem — the Enclave shares its C1XX platform, 3.6L LFY V6 and 9T65 nine-speed with the high-volume Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia, so component commonality is high, GM's parts distribution is broad and independent shops stock what the car needs. Cost and repair frequency are: RepairPal puts the Enclave's annual repair and maintenance spend well above the midsize-SUV average and rates both how often it needs unscheduled work and how likely that work is to be major above normal, which is what pulls this into the lower half of the middle band.

The 2022 refresh brought new headlights, standard safety tech and a push-button shifter but left the display alone: 8 inches is the only size available, and it was already small for a premium three-row in 2022 — reviewers say so directly.

GM's mature Buick Infotainment System is quick and logically laid out, and it keeps physical climate and volume controls rather than burying them — reviewers describe snappy responses and an intuitive interface. What keeps it mid-band is the hardware around the software: an 8-inch panel makes submenu targets small, and the graphics were a generation behind rivals by 2022.

This is a headline 2022 change and it lands in the top band: wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto are standard on every trim from the base Essence up, paired with a standard console wireless charging pad so the phone is not tethered for power either. Only the small screen it projects onto keeps it from a perfect score.

Embedded navigation is not on the volume trim at all — Essence gets no built-in nav, which arrives only with the Premium and Avenir audio upgrade — and the onboard voice system is GM's command-word recognition rather than a natural-language assistant. Most owners will hand both jobs to the standard wireless CarPlay/Android Auto, which is exactly what the middle band describes.

The split is unfavorable to the trim being scored: the volume Essence ships a plain six-speaker system in a vehicle priced above $44,000, and the Bose 10-speaker setup — competent but not a Burmester or Revel-class showcase — starts only at Premium. A quiet cabin flatters whatever is fitted, which is most of what keeps this out of the bottom band.

Squarely the middle band by the letter of the guidance: the volume Essence and the Premium run an analog cluster with a 4.2-inch color driver information display between the dials, and the full 8-inch configurable digital cluster is an Avenir-level item. Both displays are clear, but a buyer of a representative Enclave is not getting a full-digital gauge pack.

Real but narrow. The 2022 Enclave does accept over-the-air software updates — the owner's manual documents the process through the settings menu and GM has pushed at least one fleet-wide OTA to 2021–2022 Enclaves — but the scope is infotainment and telematics modules, not the whole-vehicle, feature-adding OTA that GM's newer VIP-architecture vehicles support. Infotainment-only OTA is the middle band.

The myBuick app covers the core set — remote start, remote lock/unlock, vehicle locate, diagnostics — and works reliably, but the functions are subscription-gated behind an OnStar Remote Access plan once the included trial lapses, and there is no digital key or phone-as-key on the 2022 Enclave. Core remote functions behind a subscription is the definition of the middle band.

Better than adequate mainly because the wireless charging pad is standard on the base Essence rather than an upper-trim perk, and there are USB charging points for the second and third rows so a full load of passengers is covered. It stays out of the top band because this generation's ports are predominantly the older USB-A type rather than high-wattage USB-C, and no household AC outlet is part of the standard configuration.

Close to the full keyless-convenience set on the trim people actually buy: proximity entry with push-button start, key-fob remote start and — notably — a hands-free power liftgate all standard on the base Essence, plus the push-button transmission selector new for 2022. The one top-band item missing is phone-as-key, which this generation never offered.

Strong coverage for 2022 and better than the mid band: front AND rear park assist are inside the newly standard Buick Driver Confidence Plus package on every trim, an HD Rear Vision Camera is standard on Essence, and HD Surround Vision is standard on Premium and Avenir and available on Essence — a 360-degree view a buyer can get without moving to the top trim. Short of the top band because there is no automated parking system of any kind.

A head-up display is new for 2022 and is standard equipment on Premium and Avenir — but GM's specification sheet stops there, so the volume Essence buyer cannot get one at any price. Available, useful, and confined to the upper trims is exactly the middle band.

Very good family logistics without quite being the benchmark. The door openings are large, the second row has two complete LATCH sets and every third-row position gets a tether anchor, and 23.6 cu ft behind the third row swallows a stroller with all seven seats occupied. The demerits are usability rather than capacity: IIHS marks the lower anchors as set too deeply in the cushions, the third-row tethers are easy to confuse with other hardware, and the volume Essence's second-row bench and manual-folding third row make third-row access more of a production than the optional captain's chairs.

The 2022 refresh fixed the biggest family-safety complaint by making the nine-feature Buick Driver Confidence Plus suite standard on every trim, including AEB, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist, blind zone alert and rear cross traffic alert — genuinely good content on the trim families buy. It is held to the middle band by the crash results rather than the equipment: 4 NHTSA stars on the front-drive volume configuration, only Acceptable in the updated IIHS side test with the safety cage itself Marginal, no IIHS award for this generation, and adaptive cruise control still an extra-cost option on Essence and Premium.

This is what the Enclave is for. All three rows are genuinely habitable — 38.3 in of second-row legroom, 33.5 in in the third — the cabin is among the quietest in the class, tri-zone automatic climate is standard, and the 23.6 cu ft behind row three means luggage does not force a seat to fold. Premium and Avenir add heated second-row seats. Short of the top band because there is no rear-seat entertainment system offered and rear-row USB provision is basic.

Low-effort in exactly the way a commuter wants: linear naturally aspirated V6 with no turbo lag or hybrid handoffs, a nine-speed that reviewers say disappears into the background, deliberately light steering, a plush ride and a quiet cabin. What stops it short of the top band is size — 204.8 in long and 78.8 in wide is a lot of vehicle to thread through daily traffic — and an auto stop/start system in a segment where rivals hide the restart better.

An expensive way to commute. A 4,359 lb three-row with a naturally aspirated 3.6L V6 and no hybrid option returns 21 MPG combined in the front-drive volume trim — 20 with AWD — for roughly $2,950 a year at EPA's 15,000-mile assumption. The one saving grace is that it drinks regular rather than premium, and consumables (18-inch all-season tires, conventional brakes) are cheap.

Manageable with the camera help, which is the middle band exactly. A 39-foot turning circle is respectable for a 120.9-inch wheelbase, and front and rear park assist are standard on every trim with surround view available even on the base Essence. But 204.8 in of length and 78.8 in of width — 89.3 in across the mirrors — are inescapable facts in a parking structure, and the thick rear pillars mean the driver is leaning on those cameras rather than on sightlines.

Not meaningfully a work vehicle. There is no bed, no payload rating published for work planning, and the 5,000 lb tow figure requires a $650 optional trailering package — without it the rating collapses. With 266 lb-ft from a naturally aspirated V6 in a 4,359–4,685 lb unibody crossover, the powertrain is working hard well before the rating. The genuine capability is a flat 97.4 cu ft load bay, which covers light hauling and nothing beyond.

The mechanical package is proven — the 3.6L LFY V6 and nine-speed automatic run across a large slice of GM's crossover fleet, and the platform is shared with the high-volume Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia, so parts and service knowledge are everywhere. What disqualifies it from the middle-to-upper bands is the fitment: perforated leather, carpeted cargo floor, no vinyl or rubber-floor work configuration, and no fleet or commercial variant of the Enclave exists.

Few work-oriented provisions. Standard roof rails and an available hitch through the trailering package are the extent of the upfit ecosystem; there is no onboard AC power in the standard configuration, no bed access hardware, and every surface back there is carpeted rather than washable. Cargo tie-downs and a 3.1 cu ft underfloor bin are useful for gear, not for a jobsite.

A strong mile-eater on the comfort axis — quiet cabin, wide well-cushioned seats praised for long stints, plush ride, and roughly 407 miles of range from the front-drive car's 19.4-gallon tank (about 434 with AWD's larger 21.7-gallon tank). It falls short of the top band on the driver-assist side: adaptive cruise is an extra-cost option on the volume Essence and Premium, and there is no lane centering on any 2022 trim, so the fatigue reduction rivals offer as standard has to be bought here.

Gravel roads and a bike rack, and that is the honest ceiling — the middle band. AWD is available on all three trims (with a torque-vectoring twin-clutch rear unit on Premium and Avenir), roof rails are standard, and 5,000 lb of towing covers a small camper or boat. But 7.5 in of ground clearance, unibody construction, all-season touring tires, no skid plates, no terrain modes and no low range mean nothing beyond a maintained trail.

Very capable at swallowing bulk: 97.4 cu ft with both rear rows folded is close to minivan territory, the 60/40 second row and 50/50 third row give four useful load configurations, a 3.1 cu ft underfloor bin hides valuables, and roof rails are standard with a hitch available. Held out of the top band by the manual-folding third row on the volume trim and a load floor that is not fully flat.

Secure and better-composed than its size suggests — five-link independent rear suspension and, on Avenir, continuously variable real-time damping give it more body control than the old Lambda-era Enclave ever had, and reviewers grant it impressive handling for a large three-row. But it is tuned for isolation, not agility: push it through a series of corners and it turns ponderous, which is the middle band by definition.

Precise enough but numb — the middle band almost verbatim. GM's electric variable-effort rack with Active Return Assist is deliberately weighted very light to suit the brand's comfort brief, and it is accurate and responsive off-center at low speed, but there is no meaningful feedback and the effort build-up in corners is artificial.

Adequate rather than reassuring. Edmunds measured 136 feet from 60 mph, which is a long stop for a three-row crossover even accounting for 4,400-plus pounds and touring all-season tires, and reviewers describe the brakes as merely capable rather than confidence-inspiring. The hardware is sound — four-wheel discs with Duralife rotors and low-drag calipers — and pedal feel draws no complaints, which is why this sits mid-band rather than lower.

The best-calibrated part of the car. A naturally aspirated V6 has no turbo lag and no hybrid handoffs to fumble, the throttle map is judged well matched to the vehicle's character, and the nine-speed Hydra-Matic draws the rare 'faultless' verdict — smooth shifts, always in the right gear, no hunting. Only the auto stop/start restart keeps it from the very top of the band.

Inoffensive at cruise, where extensive sound deadening keeps the V6 out of the conversation entirely, but the engine is the one thing that breaks the Enclave's quiet — reviewers call it coarse and noisier than it should be at low revs, with a distinct snarl when opened up. That is a pleasant-enough sound in a sportier vehicle and out of character in one sold on serenity.

39 feet is a respectable figure for a 120.9-inch wheelbase and 204.8-inch body, but it is measured against the whole SUV band — compact crossovers turn several feet tighter, so a genuinely good large-three-row number still scores below the midpoint.

Comfortable for nearly everyone with a couple of reaches. Class-leading 42.6 in of front headroom and a commanding seat height give excellent forward sightlines, power front seats are standard on Essence, and the 2022 refresh kept physical climate and audio controls rather than moving them into the touchscreen. Deductions: the tilt/telescoping column is manual on the volume trim, the 8-inch screen's submenu targets are small at arm's length, and the thick rear pillars of a big three-row remain.

Appliance-like by design, and the design is not an accident — every dynamic decision (very light steering, soft damping, a 7.0-second 0–60, heavy sound insulation) trades engagement for serenity. No enthusiast outlet recommends the Enclave for the drive; the praise is uniformly about comfort, quiet and space. There is no performance trim, no sport-tuned variant and no drive-mode selector to change its character.

2022 is the year the content story changed: the refresh made the Buick Driver Confidence suite standard across the whole lineup — forward collision alert with automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and rear parking sensors — where it had previously been Avenir-only, and added wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto alongside tri-zone climate, LED lighting, heated front seats and seven-passenger seating on a $44,045 base Essence. Genuinely well-equipped for the money; Palisade and Telluride still bundle a bigger screen and richer cabin trim for similar or less.

At $44,045 to start — about $2,150 less than the same car a year later — and $58,445 for a loaded Avenir, the Enclave asks premium money while sharing its bones with a Chevrolet Traverse that costs meaningfully less, and mainstream three-rows at the same price match or beat it on content and screen size. The 310-hp V6, class-leading interior and cargo space and quiet ride are real value; the 8-inch infotainment the refresh left alone and the 5,000-lb tow ceiling are not. Fair value, marginally better than the later years of this generation purely on price.

The refresh narrowed the lineup: the entry Preferred grade was dropped for 2022, leaving three trims — Essence, Premium, Avenir — each in front- or all-wheel drive for a $2,000 step, with the Sport Touring appearance package sitting between Essence and Premium. Reasonable spacing across roughly $14,400, but a single 3.6L V6 / nine-speed powertrain, seven-seat layouts only, and one fewer entry point than 2021 leave less real configuration choice than the trim count suggests.

2022 was the weakest year of the second generation to that point — 30,532 US deliveries, down about 28 percent from 42,340 in 2021 — but the cause was overwhelmingly supply rather than demand: the semiconductor shortage was in its third year and volume rebounded 29 percent to 39,412 the moment inventory normalized in 2023. Even allowing for that, the Enclave is a mid-pack niche seller against Palisade, Telluride and Grand Highlander, which each move well over 100,000 units.

2022 is the year Buick began its rebrand, unveiling the new flat tri-shield logo and a design direction meant to modernize the marque, and its J.D. Power dependability standing is consistently strong. It remains a near-luxury badge skewing to older buyers without the aspirational pull of Acura, Lexus or Genesis — neutral perception that neither lifts nor drags the Enclave materially, though it shows up plainly in the resale figures.

2022 was the worst buyer's market in a decade — industry incentives averaged $1,228 in Q2, down 59 percent year over year, and roughly 80 percent of buyers paid above sticker — yet the Enclave was one of the vehicles GM still discounted, because it was a slow seller in a segment where inventory constraint bit less. Cash allowances around $3,750 and 0% APR for 36 months appeared during the year, which is a real buyer benefit in that context; thin dealer inventory nonetheless limited negotiability well below the Enclave's normal, and scored against the item's absolute bands this is good-but-not-normal rather than the reliable across-the-board discounting of 2023.

2022 is the freshest point of the second generation short of its 2018 launch: this is the mid-cycle refresh year, bringing new LED headlights and taillights, restyled front and rear ends borrowed from the Chinese-market car, a push-button transmission, an available head-up display, rear pedestrian alert and wireless phone mirroring, with the driver-assist suite made standard. Held back from a higher score because the platform, 3.6L V6 and 8-inch infotainment were already a generation behind the newest rivals and the refresh did not touch them, and because the fifth year of a generation is visibly mid-cycle however recent the facelift.

Reviewers liked the refreshed Enclave without picking it: consistent praise for interior and cargo space, an adult-usable third row, ride quietness and the newly standard safety kit, consistent criticism for dated infotainment, an unremarkable powertrain and its badge-engineered relationship to the Traverse. It lands mid-pack in every ranking and took no major award — no 10Best, no NACTOY, and not an IIHS Top Safety Pick, its side-impact result being only Acceptable against Good scores elsewhere.