The Artistic Buick? 2008 Buick Enclave debuts at Pasadena's Art Center -- with Tiger Woods at the wheel

This is also the first time we're aware of that Buick has launched a vehicle at an art school, and Pasadena's Art Center College of Design isn't your typical left-of-center, bohemian, postmodernist art school -- it's the premier school for would-be vehicle designers and indeed the shapely Enclave is more designed than any Buick of the last decade. On the outside, the production version is scarcely different from the concept seen last January in Detroit (though the production car doesn't have a glass roof)... It's even wearing ostentatious 19-inch chrome wheels with meaty 255/60R19 Michelins, which we're told were selected for their quietness. Also a good sign: a 275-hp, 3.6-liter DOHC V6 matched to a six-speed automatic transmission will indeed be the standard powertrain.

The concept car's slick interior design survived as well. After a brief sit in the front seat, some of the plastics and vinyls still seem questionable to us, but the overall ensemble is much more elegant than anything in the current Buick lineup. Functionally, there's a decent amount of cargo room behind the third row seat, and its 60/40 sections are easy to fold into the floor.

Key competitors are the Acura MDX and Lexus RX 350, according to Steve Shannon, Buick General Manager. Key strengths for the Enclave will be its powertrain and overall execution, he said. In contrast to the more athletic Acura, Shannon told us, "the Enclave will be the refined, quiet, beautiful one that just happens to seat 8."

We'll reserve judgment until we actually drive one. The '08 Enclave goes on sale in the late spring to early summer of 2007.

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• Posted by: Erin Riches November 28, 2006, 11:57 PM
• Categories: Buick, LA Auto Show, SUVs