The Envision gives the impression of a nice, luxurious crossover when you get behind the wheel. It feels just a little more solid and buttoned down compared to the mainstream compact crossovers like the Ford Escape or the Toyota Rav4, and it makes a decent alternative to the Acura RDX or the Lexus NX.
The Envision is a nice car to drive. It doesn’t feel like the floaty and pillowy Buicks of the past. While this car doesn’t encourage you to fly through winding backroads, the chassis feels stable and rigid when you do decide to push the Envision a little. The ride is fairly stiff for an SUV (especially for a Buick SUV), however the ride quality doesn’t feel harsh or unpleasant over rough roads. I don’t think it necessarily “glides” over road imperfections, but the ride is still fairly composed and manageable. I think the Envision also feels somewhat heavy, but translates into a nice solid, stable feeling when you get it out on the road.
The steering in the Envision reminds me of other modern GM cars. It feels fairly weighted, it responds decently quick, and around corners it feels precise. The steering points where the front tires are going and you feel like you can easily control where the car is on the road. The steering is pretty numb and you don’t get much road feel, but I think the steering does a good job at helping the Envision feel more car-like. When you’re going around corners, you can still tell that you’re in something a little bigger and heavier than a regular sedan, but the Envision takes corners with good stability. It won’t knock your socks off, but at the same time it doesn’t protest being driven a little faster around curvy roads. It’s a refined, precise feeling SUV that will handle most of what you throw at it on your everyday commute.
The Envision I drove had a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine. The 2.5 engine makes 197 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque. The torque and acceleration are decent and the engine has a fairly linear power curve, however I still think the Envision could use more power in the base engine, especially considering the starting MSRP of $33K and the class of vehicle it competes in. It gets up and goes just fine, but after pushing the engine and really getting a feel for the acceleration, the Envision performed much like a regular mainstream crossover. The engine is fairly quiet and sounds refined, but there’s not much torque off the line, and you have to push it a little harder for quick maneuvers. There is always the turbocharged 2.0 engine, however the starting price for the “Premium” envision with the upgraded engine is around $43K, whereas the Acura RDX and Lexus NX give you similarly powered turbocharged engines as standard for about $7K less.
The 6-speed automatic in this car feels fine for the most part. I noticed that it does have tendency to hold onto certain gears for too long and it feels somewhat lazy in its shifting. Nothing about the transmission feels jerky or unrefined, but the RPM’s pause for just a little too long before the transmission upshifts into the next gear. That being said, its a pretty intuitive automatic. I found that it did a decent job at doing what I wanted it to do. It is quick to drop a gear and give you some extra power to help merge or accelerate. While the initial first few upshifts feel a bit lazy, the downshifts actually feel pretty smooth and snappy. It doesn’t seem to immediately seek its top gear for fuel efficiency like other vehicles in this segment. I also like how the transmission doesn’t slam into gear when accelerating from a stop sign or something of that nature. The gears engage every smoothly, and the transmission doesn’t give you any feeling of hesitation or confusion. The response out of this automatic left me feeling impressed.
Everything feels ergonomically sound. The accelerator has a dead-zone at the beginning of the pedal, however it still feels pretty natural in its response despite that. The brakes bite down well and the pedal feels solid and stiff. Nothing about the Envision feels weird or unusual, everything works and performs as advertised. The visibility is also good, the front hood slopes down nicely and doesn’t have any of those unusual curves and indents that you find in most modern cars. The side mirrors show you everything you need to see and the rear window gives you an unobstructed view of the road behind you.
I don’t think there’s any particular aspect in the driving experience that the Envision excels at, other than the fact that it’s fairly smooth and the chassis feels a little more buttoned down compared to some of the other mainstream options. I think the pricing of the Envision is a little off, though. This car is about the size of a Rav4, it has similar base options and mechanical specs as a Rav4, yet it costs more than a Highlander. Cloth seats do not belong in a car that costs $33K, and I don’t understand why they didn’t just make the 2.0T engine standard. The styling is nice, but after driving this car I didn’t think it is worth the luxury car price tag. I think the Envision makes a good middle-ground for people who want a semi-luxury car, but I wouldn’t pay over $40K for one, and I wouldn’t cross-shop this car with a Lexus. You can get a 2.0 turbocharged engine in a Ford Escape or a Hyundai Tuscon, and still have an adequate amount of luxury options for $10K less than what the Envision gives it to you for. I would much rather have a fully loaded mainstream crossover with an upgraded engine, and I wouldn’t really miss the half-baked luxury driving experience of the Envision if I had the chance to keep an extra $10K in my bank account.
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