Video: 2010 Buick Enclave

The problem with crossovers is that they don't offer quite the all out utility of a minivan. But, General Motors comes pretty close with its large trio: the Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, and what you see here, a 2010 Buick Enclave. We'll talk utility, take you through some of the driving characteristics and see if the Enclave really has all the room needed for your kids or a few out of town guests over the weekend. The Enclave is big. It's about a foot longer than a Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander. And it's turning circle more than 40 feet reflects that. That pays off on the inside where I have plenty of room and a nice high seating position. The seat also powers back quite a ways too. So drivers who are even 6'4" or 6'5" could probably get comfortable here. The second row has either a three seat bench or two captain's chairs, as you see here. The adjustments for the seats are down here along the side for the fore/aft adjustment. That's not the most intuitive location. I had to explain it to a lot of my passengers again and again, it gets old pretty quick. That's it. I do have plenty of head room and good leg room, but the seat sits a little bit low to the ground, especially compared to the higher seats in a lot of minivans. The third row seats three, not the two that a lot of crossover third rows seat. Headroom is pretty good, but the seat sits pretty low to the ground. So adults are going to find their knees kind of in the air again. And if they want a lot of leg room, you're going to need your second row passengers to move forward a few inches. Pretty typical for this class. Not typical is the cargo situation. There's a lot of space back here. GM says there's almost 25 cubic feet of volume behind the third row. And that sort of splits the difference between the 10 to 20 cubic feet in a lot of crossovers. and the 30 to 40 cubic feet in a lot of minivans. Fold all the seats down and you're looking at a maximum about 115 cubic feet of total volume. Again, about 20-30 cubic feet short of most minivans, but definitely at the top of the crossover heap. The Enclave's direct injection V6 offers decent passing power and typical of the Buick ride quality and noise levels are both very good. So does this offer the utility of a minivan without all the image of the minivan? Well, not quite. Minivans still have more utility and some get slightly better gas mileage. But, for this being a three row crossover, I'd say GM has done a pretty good job of closing that gap. <v Narrator>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog kickingtires.net.