Buick Takes Andrew To "Best Of The Bay 2025"
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By Andrew Frankl
Senior Editor and
European Bureau Chief
The Auto Channel
Regular readers will recall that the highly respected Western Automotive Journalists (WAJ) group held its third Best of the Bay Near Petaluma in California a few weeks ago.
I was pleased to have been asked to participate, but all well and good I had to get there somehow. Luckily the good people at GM came to my rescue with their elegant SUV-the Buick Enclave.
It has been redesigned and as you can see from the photo all the better for it.
The engine is a turbocharged 4 cylinder just like in the Chevy Traverse and the GMC Arcadia.
I am not a huge fan of that power and bewaring in mind that I was driving alone without luggage or passengers the 23 miles per gallon gas engine was nothing to write home about.
On the other hand the Buick Avenir version which I had was pretty luxurious although not quite up to European standards.
BMW, Mercedes and Audi come to mind. Consequently it is more in line with Cadillac’s XT6. Colleagues put it beyond Volvo’s XC90, Lexus GX and Lexus’s TX.
People I’ve talked to suggest the entry-level at 48 thousand level is probably the best value, and I cannot disagree. Most people with a large family tend to be conscious of costs and are more interested in comfort and safety than fancy trimmings which young children would make a mess of in five minutes.
The Buick that took me to the 14 car-14 journalist test came with all-wheel drive on 22 inch wheels. In typical Buick fashion it had a soft, compliant ride which would be perfect for a large family driving long distances on highways Such as San Francisco to San Diego. I would definitely not recommend for mountain passes after a large lunch.
I am always asked would I buy what I have been testing. In this instance the answer has to be no. I don’t have a a large family and I don’t drive long distances. GM have some brilliant engineers and make some amazing cars and trucks. This is not one of them although millions and millions of people would love to have one, I am just not one of them.
And before you ask what would I love from GM’s stable it has to be Chevrolet’s ZR1. Yes, I know these two are chalk and cheese but having driven sport cars for 50 years or so my inclination is to put pedal to the metal just like I did in Cannonball.
As for breaking the record round the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes-that is amazing. Also let us not forget that another arm of GM-Cadillac are about to enter Grand Prix racing so the engineering talent is very much there.
On a totally different subject I would like to share is the latest trick in the restaurant business. I can only speak for Northern California but this adding-on gizmo is getting out of control.
Not only do waiters hover over you with their machine with 18, 20 or 22 written on them they often charge extra for things that would have been part of the meal,. Main course let us say 30 dollars=pretty high itself but then mushrooms extra, Brussels sprouts extra and so on. So by the time you add it up your 30 dollar dinner is more like 45 and then the 20 percent which many people pay like lambs. In Europe tips tend to go from 10 to 12 to 15 percent maximum with a zero option as well.
The alternative of court is to cook at home which many times is far more preferable.