2024 Buick Envista

In case you missed it, Buick is now an all SUV brand. That’s right, no more new LeSabres or Regals prowling American streets. But with the new utility-minded mission also comes a new focus on style, and they’re about to shake things up in the small crossover segment with this all-new Envista.

If you’re like us, the first thing you notice about this all-new 2024 Buick Envista is that it’s gorgeous. While everyone else in the SUV world seems to be trying to out rugged one another, Buick creates their sleekest and best-looking SUV ever, then drops it right into the hot premium small crossover segment.

It’s low slung, has a long wheelbase, and a tall rear; but whatever you do, don’t call it a hatchback, even though there is no rear wiper. Minimal headlights are the most emphatic presentation yet of Buick’s “wing lighting”

Starting with base Preferred trim, you can than either go sporty with an ST, or premium with this Avenir, which gets a Black Ice chrome grille and Pearl Nickel 19-inch alloy wheels.

For now, this Envista is front-wheel-drive only, working with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

And producing the power, is a tiny 1.2-liter inline 3-cylinder turbo engine rated at just 137-horsepower and 162 lb-ft. of torque.

Despite the low numbers, it feels peppy off the line, and seems to be more than adequate when scooting around the urban environments that Buick claims the Envista was designed for.

The extra-long wheelbase allows for a good amount of space inside including for the rear seat occupants of the this 5-passenger utility, and lots of side glass helps to lend a spacious feel. We found front seats very comfortable.

The dashtop features an ultrawide display enclosure that is made up of separate screens, 11-inch for infotainment, and a very simple 8-inch driver display. The central touchscreen works well, and both screens are easy to read quickly.

Avenir luxury touches include unique stitching on the leather heated front seats, wireless phone charging, and a heated steering wheel, but a sporty-flair is present as well, with flat-bottom steering wheel and big traditional shifter.

Cargo capacity in back is 20.7 cubic-ft., expanding to 42.0 with the rear seatbacks folded. A power liftgate is standard with Avenir, but can be added relatively inexpensively to other trims.

Buick has applied their “Quiet Tuning” to the Chevrolet Trax chassis used here. It’s perhaps not quite as effective as in their larger utilities, but there was surprisingly little road and engine noise in the cabin.

Avenir also has an upgraded Watts link added to the simple torsion beam rear suspension; not necessarily to improve handling but for better road isolation enabling a smoother experience.

Though it seemed to hold up just fine in our handling course; but aggressive stability control did step in well-before we could really get a true sense of its limitations.

At a moderate pace with smooth inputs, there was very little understeer and a tolerable amount of body roll.

That peppiness we experienced on the street was present at the track too; but primarily just for getting you going. Once you got rolling and kept the throttle pinned, power delivery plateaued quickly and it was a lengthy 9.0-second trip to 60.

The thing that seemed to be in the biggest hurry here was the transmission trying to get into high gear as soon as possible; something you’ll appreciate more on your commute than at the dragstrip where it manifested itself with a 16.8-second ¼-mile at 81 miles-per-hour.

There was a bit of a disconnected feel in panic braking, as the Envista seemed a little slow to respond. Still, stable 120-foot stops from 60 miles-per-hour rates good.

Government Fuel Economy Ratings are 28-City, 32-Highway, and 30-Combined; but we averaged a great 32.9 miles-per-gallon of Regular in our driving loop.

That’s a better than average Energy Impact Score, using 9.9-barrels of oil yearly with CO2 emissions of 4.9-tons.

Pricing starts at $23,495, and reaches $29,695 for Avenir. Obviously sticking with base to mid-level will get you the best value, but the top Avenir makes the premium case just about as well as any rival, and makes for legitimate cross shopping with an awful lot of non-luxury brands. Though no all-wheel-drive will surely be a deal breaker in northern climes.

You may have noticed there’s no longer a circle around Buick’s tri-shield logo, and much like they’ve visually set the shields free, Buick has unleashed their designers to make a statement in the small crossover segment. All in all, we’d say the 2024 Buick Envista is a great effort, continuing the Buick tradition of making premium vehicles attainable. If this is what they can do with their entry-level model, we can’t wait to see what comes next. And it sure is good looking.