Road Trip: 2013 Buick Enclave, Banff, Alberta

2013 Buick Enclave. Click image to enlarge

Review and photos by Tom Sedens

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2013 Buick Enclave
Road Trip: 2013 Buick Enclave, Banff, Alberta

Buick’s big SUV shares its bones with several of its GM stablemates, the Acadia and the Traverse, but Buick really tries to set it apart visually, and in terms of the interior.

I spent a week with this behemoth, and took my family on a road trip to the mountains with it.

The exterior styling has evolved very slightly. The Enclave remains a bulky SUV – it’s a stylish, curvaceous vehicle with a surprisingly short hood, tall sides, large greenhouse (that gets pinched toward the rear) and massive 20-inch wheels. You can definitely count on finding the Buick grille here, too.

I’ve got a wife and three kids, aged nine, five and two. So when we hit the road, we need some space. We need room for the people. We need room for the insane amount of luggage three females are capable of bringing along. And we need room to spread out, so that we don’t start beating on each other.

With these needs in mind, I brought the Enclave home and set about packing for our trip.

There are three rows of seating. The front row, beautifully appointed in perforated leather, was very comfortable for my wife and I. The seats are power adjustable, heated and cooled, and perfect for the highway. There’s plenty of space in every direction.

The second row is made up of two bucket seats as well. They slide fore and aft, recline and can also be moved out of the way – they fold together and forward, making access to the back row very easy. On that note, there is enough room between them, and a flat floor, and a kid would have no problem walking through to the back row, a la minivan. The second row is also comfy, and very spacious.

2013 Buick Enclave. Click image to enlarge

The third row is a bench, made up of three seats. There are three seatbelts, and headrests for the two outside positions. My two older kids sat back there for the whole trip and loved it. They had cupholders and storage cubbies and enough space. I tried sitting back there, and my 5’10” frame was not happy. At all.

In terms of cargo space, the Enclave offers quite a bit. With the third row up, you have a decent 657 L to work with, and although it got stuffed full, it was enough for our little road trip. That third row folds down (splitting 60/40) – when both sides are folded out of the way, the cargo space becomes a 1,912 L cavern.