HENRY PAYNE

Payne: Buick re-Envisioned

Henry Payne
The Detroit News

Timing is everything.

If walking-dead Buick hadn’t been popular in emerging-market China in 2009, the brand might have been fed to the bankruptcy wolves like Pontiac. If Buick hadn’t caught the SUV wave in 2012 with its segment-busting, cute-ute Encore and redesigned, three-row Enclave, it would still be marooned on sedan island.

But Buick got both trends right and now stands before you a reborn brand. Former Buick spokesman Tiger Woods can only hope his comeback goes this well.

This week’s Envision tester is a rolling symbol of the new Buick: Compact crossover. Made in China. Aimed at the sweet spot of America’s crossover-crazy consumer. Hip, international and relevant. Envision, you heartthrob, you.

Well, that’s going too far. We’re still talking sport utes here. The 21st-century station wagon. Two-box design, jacked-up utilities that get ’er done. But how refreshing that Buick is in the conversation around the family dinner table again.

Envision hits its marks like a pro.

Sure to be Buick’s best-selling model, Envision wedges neatly between its upper-class sibling Cadillac XT5 and the well-endowed Honda CR-V that I’ve been driving recently. Envision is built on the same bones as Honda’s direct competitor, Chevy Equinox. But Envision brings style to the two-box design. The Chevy and Honda are wallflowers at the prom. Envision has the family looks of the cutie Encore and handsome Enclave.

That waterfall mug (oooh) and “boat-tail” window (swoon) are the signatures (though, please, could we get rid of the old-signature fake hood ports?). I’m especially impressed by Envision’s carefully sculpted flanks: Cut rocker panels. Carefully drawn wheel wells. It flows nicely ... right into the interior of my top-of-the-line, Premium II-trimmed model. The “floating” dash is nicely flavored with wood and chrome.

But the Envision isn’t content with just style points. As utes have gone mainstream with carlike unibodies, engineers are innovating to make them handle more like cars, too.

Buick gets the same insane, GKN-sourced, dual-clutch, torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system as the Ford Focus RS track animal that I flogged at Waterford Hills Raceway this summer.

The sophisticated AWD is part of Buick’s play to be an AWD brand like Audi (every Buick now has an AWD option just like Germany’s Quattro master). The LaCrosse sedan also gets the GKN system. Seems GM is really serious about this Buick renaissance.

The system transforms the LaCrosse from big couch to curve-carving sports sedan. The SUV application is different: The Envision has icy surfaces in mind when it uses those clutch packs to effortlessly distribute torque to all four tires so you’ll never look like the moose in “Frozen.” Lacking ice, I assaulted Oakland County’s back dirt roads with ease. (I’m flogging Buicks over dirt roads? This is the new Buick!) Envision rotated beautifully on throttle without nanny traction control interfering to slow the two-ton sled to a standstill. You’ll feel the AWD system working in daily situations like, say, a slick November downpour.

“This brand is all about smoothness,” says Buick spokesman Stuart Fowle. And quiet. This thing is hushed inside. Not even the four-banger intrudes. They should call it the Buick Library.

Buick Marketing Director Molly Peck knows her brand’s sport-ute gamble has paid off.

“We needed a home run,” she says. “Our research tell us that when people find out we make SUVs, you are a modern, contemporary brand. We recognized the market was changing and we went for it.”

It’s a measure of Buick’s confidence that — even as Envision’s natural competitors are the Acura RDX and Lincoln MKC (Buick outsells both brands already) — the Envision goes head-to-head against one of small luxury’s most formidable names, Audi. The $44,000, 252-horse, AWD turbo-4 Envision that I tested (Envision also comes in a FWD, $34,000 base car with a 2.5-liter four) starts right on top of a 248-horse, AWD Audi Q5. Can Buick compete at that level? We’ll see.

In this stuffed segment Buick makes a good case on style, technology and roominess.

Against big brother Caddy, it can’t compete on interior volume. But its console is a roll-top desk of cubbies and shares much of the XT5’s tech (for a cheaper price). And if Cadillac’s edgy art and science architecture is too stiletto for you (I’m a fan), then Envisions are comfy heels.

That smooth character also gives it a leg up over style-challenged Japanese makers. I’d measure it against a Lincoln MKC and its clever, open console with acres of space for purses, phones and fridges (OK, I exaggerate that last bit). And Lincoln’s sculpted bod appeals.

But there’s also fierce competition from purse-friendly mainstream brands. Like the Mazda CX-5 and Ford Escape (MKC Jr.), which have taken mainstream style to luxury levels. I couldn’t stop staring at the C-seXy-5 at the Los Angeles Show last month.

The digital utility age has shrunk the gap between mainstream and luxe machines. The Escape, for example, innovated the hands-free kick-open rear hatch. And self-parking. And fold-flat rear seats. Buick has smartly adopted all these technologies. Yet here comes Honda’s CR-V with a new, innovative stepped trunk.

Timing is everything. Buick spent the last two decades becoming one of the most dependable brands on the market (a Top 10 JD Power pick for 15 years running). Now its utes help make it the planet’s fastest growing brand. Buick left the 20th century as a tired, senior-sedan also-ran. It’s opened the 21st centry as an AWD, international crossover contender.

That’s quite a comeback story. OK, Tiger, let’s see what you’ve got.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

2017 Buick Envision

specifications

Vehicle type

Front-engine, front- and all-wheel drive, five-passenger SUV

Power plant

2.5-liter inline-4 cylinder; turbocharged, 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder

Transmission

6-speed automatic

Weight

3,563 pounds

Price

$37,495 ($43,710 Premiere as tested)

Power

197 horsepower, 192 pound-feet torque (turbo-4); 252 horsepower, 260 pound-feet torque (turbo-4)

Performance

Zero-60: 8.0 seconds (Car and Driver est., turbo-4); top speed: 120 mph

Fuel economy

EPA 21 city/28 highway/24 combined MPG (2.5-liter 4); 20 city/26 highway/22 combined MPG

report card

Highs

Smooth and silent; love that AWD athleticism

Lows

Turbo-4 priced same as class-valedictorian Audi Q5; those fake hood ports

Overall:★★★★

Grading scale: Excellent ★★★★Good ★★★Fair ★★Poor ★