Superb luxury crossover SUV.

Introduction:

The 2008 Buick Enclave is an all-new luxury sport utility that seats seven or eight, offers big cargo space, and gets good fuel economy and performance from a modern V6 engine. It's a crossover, offering the space of truck-based SUV yet built using car-like unibody construction.

For 2008, Buick has retired the Rendezvous utility vehicle, and the Rainier sport utility, and the Terraza minivan from the showroom lineup, and in their place, there's a single vehicle that will try to be all things to all traveling families, the new, 2008 Buick Enclave.

Buick Enclave shares its basic platform with the Saturn Outlook and the GMC Acadia, but it's as different from each of them as chalk is from cheese. Enclave is aimed at the upper end of the crossover segment, with competitors like the Acura MDX, Lexus RX 350 and Mercedes-Benz R 350. Enclave's styling is completely different from that of the Acadia and Outlook.

But what really sets the Enclave apart is its modern cabin, with stylish illumination, crisp graphics, genuine wood trim and nice leather. The seats are comfortable, and it can be ordered with a second-row bench seat or luxurious captain's chairs, depending on whether seven- or eight-passenger capacity is needed. There's lots of convenient cubby storage and the Enclave offers 115 cubic feet of cargo space with all the seats folded down.

Equipped with GM's new high-feature 3.6-liter V6, the Enclave offers good acceleration performance while earning an EPA-estimated 16/22 City/Highway mpg under the more stringent new test procedures. Enclave is rated to tow up to 4500 pounds.

Walkaround:

The exterior design of the new Buick Enclave is of a completely different flavor than the GMC Acadia, which is deliberately truck-like, and the Saturn Outlook, which carries the new Saturn front-end and grille design and is well downmarket from the Enclave.

The Enclave looks like it belongs in the same showroom with Buick's latest-generation of sedans, the LaCrosse and the Lucerne. The Enclave's protruding vertical bar grille and vestigial portholes on the hood make sure you know it's a Buick.

The long body shell is anything but boxy, with curvy, swoopy, and sexy shapes from every angle. All of the front lighting elements use clear lenses, with lots of different elements to please the eye and light the road. Everything under the bumper is kept simple and clean to draw the eye to that massive grille. The standard tires are big, fat 18-inchers on seven-spoke alloy wheels, with 19-inchers optional and 20-inchers from your dealer, and they certainly add to the visual punch of the Enclave. The roof and the side windows are done in a gracefully decreasing sweep from front to rear, accented by bright-metal roof bars that follow the roof's curvature perfectly front to back.

Out back, the top-hinged tailgate with standard power opening and closing is a work of art, with the rear glass extending beyond the sheetmetal into the rear opening. The rear glass is quite large, and is convex-shaped, coming to a point just above the Buick tri-shield logo and above the wide-screen taillamps. Under the rear bumper is a diffuser panel and dual exhausts with bright tips, making for one of the tastiest rear-end treatments in the crossover segment.

Interior:

The cabin is what sets the Buick Enclave from other seven- and eight-passenger crossovers. Starting with the double-wave dashboard and instrument panel and going all the way back to the rear cargo floor, it's as modern as tomorrow and as functional as a Swiss Army knife.

The chrome-ringed white-on-black instruments and analog clock are highly styled, with a soft blue-green illumination (which is repeated around the perimeter of the headlamp), and halo lighting at night. The graphics are large and clear, and the wood is real. On the CXL version, the steering wheel is leather and mahogany, with 10 switches and controls mounted on it for easy use. Layout is typically GM, with a large, bright navigation screen low enough to be shaded, high enough to be seen without distraction. The dead pedal on the far left of the floor is the first one we know of to be specially designed for use by women wearing high-heeled shoes.

Because it's rigged for seven or eight passengers, buyers have a couple of options: The standard seven-passenger, 2-2-3 seating scheme uses second-row captain's chairs with a feature called Smart Slide that allows easy entry into the third row by flopping the seats forward and sliding them fore and aft; this can also be ordered with a second floor console for storage and 12-volt power. Or, there's a second-row bench seat that makes for a 2-3-3 seating scheme for a total of eight passengers.

Either way, the driver gets an eight-way power bucket seat and the front passenger gets a four-way power bucket seat. All the seats we sat in were comfortable and supportive.

Storage space and flexibility gets high marks. There's 19 cubic feet of cargo room just inside the power tailgate behind the third row, 66 cubic feet with the third row seats down, and 115 cubic feet with both rows folded. And if you need to, you can flop the passenger seat over as well for extra-long cargoes. There's storage on top of the dash for sunglasses, iPods, and cellphones. There's another 4 cubic feet of storage space under the rear cargo floor. Buick says the Enclave has 24 storage areas, counting door pockets, under-seat areas, and built-in storage. The Buick Enclave has more cargo volume than the Acura MDX, the Lexus RX, Volvo XC90, and Audi Q7.

Summary:

With all due respect and reverence for classic Buicks like the '56 Century, the '63 and '66 Rivieras, the pavement-ripping GS 455 Stage III of the muscle-car era, the giant old Estate Wagons, and the refined current crop of Lucernes and LaCrosses, we'll go out on a short, sturdy limb and call the Enclave by far the best Buick ever built, and the most complete Buick we've ever driven. If you're in the market for a luxurious family hauler, give this one a long, serious look.

NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent Jim McCraw test drove the Enclave in the Ozarks.