Buick continues upward swing with well-equipped crossover
Driving the 2024 Buick Envision
- 2.0-litre turbo-four engine; 228 hp 258 lb-ft; 9-speed automatic
The 2024 Buick Envision is a surprisingly lively drive for its type and brand, with unexpected power and a mostly comfortable ride.
The Envision is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. It’s a surprising bit of go for the compact, particularly after driving its half-powered siblings with their mildly distinct 1.3L plants. Though weighing in the range of 1,800 kg (~4,000 lbs) depending on trim, the Envision’s 258 lb-ft make surprisingly brisk work of at-speed on-ramps and defensively aggressive Detroit-area green-light sprints. It edges on exciting at times.
Acceleration to 100 km/h in under eight seconds is plenty for an everyday driver, aided by all-wheel-drive which can kick on and off depending on driving conditions or mode selection. In between is the familiar GM nine-speed automatic transmission, also controllable on the fly with up-down shift paddles behind the steering wheel. General Motors has also seen fit to put a fixed ‘M’ button on the steering wheel to force manual-override shifting, which — sure, I guess. That’ll presumably be helpful to have at hand for three buyers; lane-keeping would’ve been much handier there.
Where suspension is soft, styling compromises some sharp-impact absorption by fitting large wheels. The Envision ST and Avenir step the base Preferred trim’s 18-inch wheels up to 20s, a styling choice that reduces shock-absorbing tire sidewall thickness and will cost you more in tires as well. Fortunately the ST still soaks up tattered Toronto tarmac and neglected Detroit highway heaves well, but sidewall should always be a consideration if you’re in a bumpy locale. A set of 18s for winter tires are recommended.
Importantly, shoppers should make a point of setting a driving position and sizing up the Envision’s poor visibility. The 360º-view camera should be viewed less as a standard selling point than a necessity, because rear sight lines are particularly limited. The straight-back view is obstructed at its outer edges by rear headrests, and the rearmost pillars entirely obscure anything abreast of these — or out to the rear quarters. Forward visibility is also impacted by deep A-pillars, so be mindful of those pedestrian crosswalks.
Controls and infotainment
- Strong infotainment, frustrating steering controls
The ‘M’ button is just the first of a handful of in-your-face steering-wheel control complaints. The 2024 Envision’s controls are less intuitive than many peers, with most cruise control-related controls grouped on the left side of the wheel — but not the aforementioned lane-keeping toggle, which separately mounts to the dash in a low position obscured by the steering wheel. Speed increments and cruise Resume/Cancel buttons are a long reach in, requiring even large-handed drivers to release their grip to stretch their thumb in to reach.
On the opposite side, chromed up/down arrows look like they should control volume or skip tracks, but are hard-mapped to toggle between favourite radio stations. Not a radio person? Not a button for you, then.
Volume controls are also absent from the wheel face. Instead, volume and track are tucked out of sight behind the wheel below the paddle shifters, Stellantis style. They’re easy enough to get used to, but it still seems odd not to keep those in more visible priority positions. Volume control is mirrored with a bright knob down on the centre console, albeit without hard buttons for a passenger to access track selection without diving into infotainment.
Infotainment runs on GM’s implementation of Android Automotive OS, and mercifully after the Blazer EV debacle, the company seems to have yielded on its wrongheaded insistence on dropping support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Wireless mobile projection is standard on the 2024 Envision, floating in the right half of the large display; alternatively, inbuilt Android-based apps including Waze, Spotify, and the like can be set up for more seamless native integration.
The Envision’s cabin is quiet, aided by dual-pane laminated front glass, the absence of a sunroof, and another implementation of GM’s active noise cancellation (ANC). Wind and tire noise are well isolated for a compact crossover, and despite some noticeable interior and exterior panel misalignment, some 1,500 kilometres of highway driving, neither climate nor road surface had a remarkable impact on headache-nursing comfort.
Where ANC keeps things quiet, the Envision’s standard nine-speaker audio fills in with surprising depth. Particularly noteworthy are the high-placed tweeters, which make impressive work of loud, complex highs from the far reaches of the dash and render a surprisingly spatial sound experience — particularly for this price bracket.
Buick Envision Tech features & comfort
- Strongly equipped from standard
GM is keen to emphasize its tech push in the updated Envision, and with this comes a strong list of standard equipment. There’s the aforementioned 360º-cam necessity, but the safety fixtures continue: lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control, blind-spot indicators, configurable reverse-tilt side mirrors, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, and follow-distance indicator. Also standard is a head-up display (HUD), wireless device charging pad, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, USB A and C ports in the front and rear, and LED lighting front and rear.
GM has notably omitted any option for its Super Cruise hands-free, eyes-up driving assist for pre-mapped stretches of North American highway. Adaptive cruise and sufficiently steady lane-keep assistance make up for this somewhat, but it is an unfortunate omission. Of course, the development cost of engineering provisions for such equipment into a Chinese-market vehicle (where Super Cruise is not offered) likely would have pushed even that base price higher.
Blind-spot indicators flashed frequently in my time with the Envision, with false positives most consistently coming from guard rails and even drive-through walls. Some HUD vibration was also noticeable on highway stretches, and cruise control has a habit of running the car at 1 km/h more than you’ve set; neither is a deal-breaker, but watching it hold a 111 km/h reading directly beside a 110 km/h setting becomes oddly amusing after hours alone on the highway. Will it drop back to the requested 110 after an hour at 111? Nope, but it’s like the DVD logo bouncing into the corner all over again.
Tech mercifully dials back below the infotainment screen, where a row of proper hard-button controls manage the automatic dual-zone climate. Piano blacks are unfortunate here and look cheap when fingerprinted, but must be acknowledged to look handsome alongside an otherwise improving texture and material palette. Satin-effect contrast panels in the vinyl seating are reminiscent of the satin synthetics now used across the Land Rover lineup, and Buick has managed impressive visual interest across the front of the Envision’s cabin
Front seating should prove accommodating for a broad range of body types, and an adult-height hip point should aid ingress and egress for those with limited mobility. The driver gets seat memory, but the passenger seat is manual unless you stretch to the top Avenir. Rear outer passengers get seat heaters, but this will only slightly make up for their cramped confines; at 5’8″, I am not able to comfortably sit behind myself in the Envision.
Fuel economy
Buick Envision pricing and competitors
- 2024 Buick Envision Preferred Canadian pricing: $44,799 MSRP
- 2024 Buick Envision ST Canadian pricing: $46,999 MSRP
- 2024 Buick Envision Avenir Canadian pricing: $52,899 MSRP
- Freight & PDI: $2,000
Feature-loaded from standard, shoppers may look across from the Envision’s base trim to the comparably priced top-trim Encore GX ‘Avenir’. The recently updated GX fits a comparable feature set in a similar (if marginally tighter) footprint, but its heavy-bezelled screens don’t express quite the same presence as the Envision’s seamless 30-incher. More importantly, the little 1.3-litre engine feels rather slow by comparison.
Priced from the mid-40s, however, most of the Envision’s primary competitors are slightly larger midsize crossovers. Much like Hyundai’s recent playbook, then, the Envision’s target seems to be on offering features that peers will make you pay a pile more for.
Pros
- Strong standard feature set
- Better power than other Buicks
- Quiet cabin
Cons
- Still costly for a compact crossover
- Unintuitive steering controls
- Bouncy ride
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