Buick, a name synonymous with luxury, reliability, and style, has unveiled its latest creation, the 2024 Buick Envista. This highly anticipated offering brings an innovative interpretation of what a premium crossover can be. With its debut, Buick is pushing boundaries, expanding possibilities, and subtly rewriting the playbook of the small SUV market.
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Setting the Pace
Notably, the Envista is not Buick’s first foray into the compact SUV segment. Back in 2012, Buick positioned itself as a trendsetter, helping define the small SUV category.
Duncan Aldred, global vice president, Buick-GMC, underscores this rich legacy. “Buick helped define the small SUV segment in 2012, and we’ve continued to make our offerings even more competitive since. The all-new Envista is going to shake up that segment once again.”
Evoking Sculptural Beauty: A New Design Language
Exterior Aesthetics
Buick Envista is a clear departure from convention, showcasing a distinct new design language for the brand. It doesn’t just bear a passing resemblance to the Wildcat EV concept that Buick unveiled last year; it is its living embodiment. With a low-profile silhouette, forward-leaning nose, and an intricate grille design, the Envista strikes a powerful first impression.
Featuring sleek and bold proportions, the Envista crafts an alluring mix of the sportiness of a sedan and the practicality of an SUV. Its sculpted waistline and powerful fender forms suggest an impression of fluidity and motion even when stationary.
Enhancing the visual appeal are the LED checkmark lamps, thin headlamps and taillamps, and the bright trim detailing around the glass that catch and reflect light, creating an appealing, layered look. The new Buick emblem, mounted proudly on the body, offers a nod to the brand’s heritage.
Interior Comforts: Light, Space and Quietude
The interior of the Envista is a masterstroke of design, reflecting Buick’s commitment to enhancing comfort and driving pleasure. An airy, spacious cabin offers ample legroom, a feature usually associated with much larger vehicles. The designers have skillfully utilized the long wheelbase and efficient layout to ensure this space optimization.
In line with its premium appeal, the Envista comes standard with an Ultrawide Infotainment Display, boasting 19 diagonal inches of combined LCD screens that interact harmoniously. An impressive 11-inch-diagonal infotainment screen — the largest in the segment — completes the high-tech dashboard, offering a user-friendly interface and enhanced voice recognition capabilities.
The Envista doesn’t neglect the aesthetic aspect of the interior design. Intricate, colorful stitching on the seats and unique logos on the head restraints speak to the brand’s meticulous attention to detail. A flat-bottom steering wheel, standard across all trims, enhances the sporty yet luxurious ambiance.
The cabin also features Buick’s signature QuietTuning system that actively works to prevent road noise intrusion, promoting a serene, relaxed driving experience.
The Power Within: Performance and Efficiency
Unveiling what lies beneath the Envista’s stylish exterior reveals a powerful heart. Buick equips the Envista with a high-performance 1.2L Turbo engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, expected to output a solid 136 horsepower and 162 lb-ft of torque. The turbocharger ensures a quick torque response and maintains it over a wide RPM band, promising a fun, engaging drive.
Scott McLane, the lead development engineer for the Buick Envista, points out, “Compared to previous generations of our 1.2L Turbo engine, this version is lighter and uses fewer parts, which reduces the overall vehicle weight, increases efficiency and creates nimble ride and handling.”
To sweeten the deal, the Envista also scores high on fuel efficiency, expected to offer a GM-estimated 30 mpg (combined).
The Perfect Blend: Comfort and Safety
Safety in the Envista is far from an afterthought. The crossover comes standard with the Buick Driver Confidence package, incorporating six active safety and driver assistance technologies. These include Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, IntelliBeam auto high beams, and more.
Additional safety features, such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert, and Rear Cross Traffic Alert, are also available.
Space is abundant in the Envista. A 40/60-split folding second row and generous cargo space ensure that you can transport long items and luggage with ease. An available Power Liftgate adds convenience when accessing the cargo area.
Trimming the Way: Options for Every Driver. Buick has catered to diverse customer preferences by offering the Envista in three distinct trims: Preferred, Sport Touring (ST), and Avenir.
This arrangement allows the brand’s luxurious Avenir sub-brand to spread its wings across Buick’s entire portfolio. Each trim has been designed with a unique personality in mind, ensuring there’s an Envista for every taste and need.
Accessible Luxury: A New Interpretation in Premium Vehicles. Despite its luxurious offerings, the Envista is positioned as one of the most affordable SUVs in its segment.
2024 Buick Envista: Pricing and Availability
Starting at just $23,495, it aims to attract migrating sedan owners, young professionals, and small families to the Buick brand. The blend of affordable luxury, engaging drive, advanced technologies, and stunning design is certainly poised to make waves in the compact SUV market.
Production for the 2024 Envista is started in May 2023 and is available for customers from late summer 2023. The Envista promises to be more than just another SUV. It’s a game-changing offering from Buick, bringing premium luxury within the reach of more consumers and cementing the brand’s pioneering legacy.
In conclusion, Buick’s 2024 Envista pushes the boundaries of what a premium crossover SUV can be. It mixes luxury with affordability, advanced tech with intuitive design, and comfort with performance, creating an unmatched blend in the market. The Envista isn’t just another vehicle; it’s a statement, a challenge, and most importantly, it’s a testament to Buick’s continuing innovation.
