2008 Buick Enclave CXL AWD

 {A Car You Would Send For Cinderella}

by Durhl Caussey

If you were a prince {or not a prince} and there was a beautiful maiden {or a woman with six kids} and you wanted to make sure that she didn’t have to depend on white mice and a pumpkin for transportation, you would send the Buick Enclave to fetch her. Why an Enclave? Let me tell you.

Enclave is not your father’s car.  This royal coach is Buick’s first luxury crossover. It has style and princely class and is made for gowns, music, dancing, court jesters, and trumpets without a thought for the sands of an hourglass. If you want to carry your minnow bucket, catfish bait, tackle box, and pull your bass boat, then let me encourage you to buy a buggy with a surrey, or hay wagon.

Enclave is polished, and designed more for space travel rather than traversing America’s highways. With seven passenger seating standard, a 60/40 split, second-row bench is available for eight-passengers, allowing for an entourage of musicians, groomsmen, servants, ladies-in-waiting, jugglers, and royal in-laws to all fit comfortably in your Enclave.

Enclave has more amenities that your Aunt Tillie’s overnight bag. They include beautiful wheel spokes, standard xenon headlamps that turn in the direction of the front wheels, power operated gigantic sunroof that covers more space than Montana, rear-mounted parking camera, programmable side-view mirrors, remote controlled standard power liftgate, and a 275 horsepower, 251 lb-ft of torque engine with six-speed automatic transmission that would leave a legion of Roman chariots in the Tuscany dust.

Enclave has America’s best coverage, which include a five year, 100,000 mile powertrain and a four year, 50,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranties.

Road and Track Magazine sums up the Enclave pretty well when compared to other kingly models. “The Enclave is quieter than the Lexus RX350, Aura MDX, and Mercedes-Benz R-Class, (and) better frontal crash test rating than the Volvo XC90. Roomier than the Mercedes R-Class.”

The Enclave gets 16/24 MPG and is runs quieter than a Russian Kiev

Class Carrier and is more rugged than a Conestoga wagon.

Silk is infused into the seats, the steering wheel is leather wrapped trimmed with mahogany, with integrated cruise and audio control. Supple leather seats, a chrome bezel clock, and a lapis blue light emanates from the instrument panel to wrap you in a sense of luxury not seen since the golden age of shipping, a time when the world’s rich cruised the Atlantic. You throw in AM/Fm Stereo, CD/Mp3 Player and XM Satellite Radio for the first three months, and you realize that the cost of $44,000 is something that even a plebian could afford. 

Durhl Caussey is an award winning syndicated columnist based in Dallas, Texas, and a member of the Texas Auto Writers Association. Please address any questions or comments to dcaussey@sbcglobal.net