2018 Buick Enclave Avenir vs. 2018 Chevy Traverse High Country
The Chevy Traverse is one of the best-selling mid-sized luxury SUVs on the American market, but it’s looking nervously over its shoulder.
It’s GM sibling, the new 2018 Buick Enclave, is landing soon and they’re going to be closely matched.
Here we have two SUVs that can seat seven and both could easily serve as your next family wagon. They’re based on the GM Lambda platform, so there’s a lot of common DNA and it’s really the execution and details that separate these leviathans.
Buick has restyled its big bruiser and it has returned from bootcamp with a slimmed down, athletic look. It has also gone to work on the interior and the range-topping Avenir version comes loaded with luxuries.
It has to contend with the Chevy Traverse High Country spec, which is a worthy adversary.
That High Country name should ring a bell with Chevy aficionados. It has already featured on the Silverado truck line up and Chevy is keen to push its heritage in the big and bruising sector as a premium feature line on its SUVs.
So, is the new Buick Enclave good enough to topple its more popular stablemate?
Let's find out.
Style
The 2018 Buick Enclave is a stylish car, with a tougher, buff front end and carefully sculpted sides that help to break up its considerable size.
It’s actually 2 inches longer and higher than the outgoing model, but that gave the designers more freedom to play with the contours and come up with an aerodynamic shape. It also helped them improve access to the rear seats.
These SUVs both have three rows of seats and they’re big. That presents its own challenge when it comes to the aesthetics and it’s easy to end up with a car that looks more like a bus.
Buick has pulled off the styling of the Enclave perfectly, thanks to a squared off front end, minimal overhangs that give that ‘go-anywhere’ feel and a raked shoulder line.
The Avenir edition gets 20” wheels and a special black chrome accent on the grille. It also gets ‘Evonik Acrylite’ LED lighting that is unique to the Buick and provides the combined power of 100 LEDs.
The Traverse comes with its own set of tricks to hide its size, including pumped wheel arches, a muscular, striated profile and a blacked out rear window that gives the impression of a smaller car. It’s still chunky in comparison, though.
The 2018 Buick Enclave looks like the premium choice these days and Buick is working hard to position this car as a luxury SUV.
It certainly outclasses the Chevy on the catwalk.
Power and Capabilities
Both cars get a version of GM’s 3.6-liter V6 powerplant and 9-speed transmission, so there really isn’t much to choose on the power stakes.
Buick claims 302bhp and 260lb/ft of torque for the Enclave. That sends it from 0-60mph in 7.5s if you opt for the switchable All-Wheel-Drive version, or 7.2s in the Front Wheel Drive. In short, it’s fast enough for such a big car.
The Traverse boasts 310bhp and 266lb/ft of torque, yet is fractionally slower to 60mph. If you want real sporting performance, then Chevy offers an RS version that should just beat the Buick in the traffic light Grand Prix. That car comes with inherent compromises, though, and it would be an apples and oranges comparison.
So, we’ll stick with the High Country, which loses the performance war despite its slight power advantage. Both cars, perhaps unsurprisingly, come with a 5,000lb towing capacity with all-wheel-drive and the larger engine, which matters with big SUVs.
Safety
The Buick Avenir comes with up to 17 radar sensors when you tick the box on the optional extras list, which allows the driver assist functions to really sing.
They include automatic emergency braking when the car senses an impending collision, a lane-keep function that means the car will stay in its lane on the highway and blind spot warnings.
So, what does the Chevy Traverse High Country have to offer?
More or less the same tech, at the same price. These cars both come from the GM stable and are built on the same platform, so the underlying tech is largely the same.
The luxury mid-sized SUV market shows no signs of slowing down and the Buick Enclave is the latest addition to the four-wheeled jet set. It goes into battle with the Chevy Traverse, which has become a bestseller.
The Traverse wins the storage war, just, thanks to that squared off tailgate. It gets a class-leading maximum cargo space of 98.2 cu. ft and an underfloor storage compartment in the rear.
Interior Quality And Function
This the first ever Avenir Buick has released and it’s the company’s bid to turn the Enclave into a luxury car.
It shows. The Enclave comes with a stunning dashboard that is dominated by the central touchscreen, real wood and premium leather. Everything at eye-level is soft-touch and expensive, and Buick has gone for a decluttered approach. There are almost no buttons in there, the instruments have been replaced by a second screen and the Enclave is a better place for it.
In the back, the first two passengers get a lounger, while a well-appointed three -person bench completes the bus-style seven-seater capacity.
The GM Traverse High Country comes with similar premium leather and soft-touch materials, but it can’t keep up with the Buick Enclave when it comes to technology. The Buick is just cleaner up front overall.
Price and Options
The Chevy Traverse High Country weighs in at $52,995, which is serious money. But the Buick Enclave Avenir is even more expensive. It costs an eye-watering $56,690, but the interior spec easily explains away the difference.
Now you can get a base-level Buick Enclave for $39,995, which isn’t cheap for a front-wheel-drive. The basic GM Traverse costs just $30,875 and that could appeal to the cost conscious buyer.
Not everybody will go for the range-topping Avenir and at the lower end of the scale, the Chevy Traverse looks like the smart option.
Which is Right for You?
If you want to save money then the Chevy Traverse base model is an attractive car. But if you’re looking at real value then the Enclave is more technically advanced on the interior and it’s a premium option pretty much every step of the way.
So, if you’re going to go big, you should probably go Buick!