Driving Buick’s Entry-Level 2024 Envista

Buick’s new Envista compact crossover SUV pioneers new territory for a once-prestigious brand in the General Motors portfolio. This isn’t to say that it is a bad car, only that, with a 137-horsepower 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine that is the smallest ever installed in a Buick, the Envista isn’t a plush, powerful luxury barge that the brand’s name might evoke.

While some of Buick’s entry-level models in the 1980s surely had lower power ratings and more sluggish acceleration than the Envista, this new model has the grumbly engine character on startup and during acceleration that does little to uphold Buick’s luxury reputation.

This is the same engine that powers the Chevrolet Trax, which is another GM model engineered and built in Korea using the same platform as the Envista. The original Trax was a fleet-only discount model, so the quantum leap from that to the current Trax is an upgrade to Chevrolet’s reputation.

But the slightly upmarket version branded as the Envista doesn’t deliver the same benefit to Buick because there was no deficient model being replaced in the brand’s lineup and because expectations for Buick are higher than those for Chevrolet.
In either case, Buick or Chevrolet, customers get a diminutive three-cylinder with direct fuel injection that is built with die-cast aluminum block and heads. It drives the car through GM’s Hydra-Matic 6T40 6-speed planetary automatic transmission, which provides good shift quality, unlike too many CVT and automated dual-clutch transmissions.

Steering is assisted by a column-mounted electric power steering module, with decent feel and feedback for a non-hydraulic system in a budget model. The front suspension is by conventional MacPherson struts, but the torsion beam rear axle boasts the addition of a Watts link to provide more stable lateral control of suspension movement for better handling than the Trax, which lacks this technology.

The test car was the Avenir trim level, which includes 19-inch wheels in place of the standard 18-inchers. They are gorgeous, with a brushed metal finish, and the resulting ride isn’t bad. But the smaller wheels and their taller tire sidewalls will surely ride better and deliver better resistance to damage from potholes. The larger wheels might also ding fuel efficiency slightly. The EPA rating for combined driving is 30 mpg and I got 28 mpg in mixed suburban driving. That’s hardly terrible, but for such as small engine it is a disappointment.

Outside, the designers have done great work, delivering a slick, modern style that bucks any perceptions of Buick as a stodgy brand. The Avenir trim label badging, however, is a bit confusing, especially with a new model name like Envista. With three Avenir badges and a lone Envista badge, consumers will surely think this crossover is called the Buick Avenir.

But in any case, the Envista will surely leave them with a favorable impression of Buick’s direction for future models that are powered by more appropriately smooth powertrains.