2025 Buick Envision Review

Comfortable and easy on the eyes, the 2025 Envision is an almost-luxury contender.

Benjamin Hunting | 

Nov 5, 2025 | 7 min read

Benjamin Hunting

Visually refreshed for the 2024 model year, the Envision gives the impression that it hails from a pricier European brand, with fashion-forward sheetmetal. From behind the wheel, however, the Buick is tuned not to quicken the pulse but instead keep the outside world at bay and the driver relaxed. That makes it an alternative to, rather than a direct competitor of, similarly sized SUVs from Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.

There's room in the market for a calm, comfortable SUV that promises a near-premium experience at a competitive price, even if that means forgoing some of the tech gimmicks and performance stats that are markers of true luxury machines. The Buick Envision sticks to its lane, which happens to be right in the middle of the road.

Benjamin Hunting

About the 2025 Buick Envision Review Vehicle

There are three versions of the 2025 Buick Envision available: Preferred, Sport Touring, and Avenir. Each of these includes standard all-wheel drive (AWD), and base prices range from just below $40,000 to nearly $50,000. That includes the destination charge, which covers shipping from the Yantai, Shandong, assembly plant in China, where the SUV is built, to a dealership.

I drove an Envision Sport Touring through dense Montreal traffic and on the open mountain roads of eastern Quebec. Options on my test vehicle included a panoramic sunroof, the Comfort and Convenience package (heated front seats and steering wheel, dual automatic climate control), and Ebony Twilight Metallic paint, bringing the manufacturer's suggested retail price to $45,735. Buick provided the vehicle for this Envision review.

Benjamin Hunting

The Envision's Looks Are Eye-Catching

To my eye, the Envision has a little Aston Martin in its front end, with the leading edge of its hood and gaping grille suggesting more brawn than what actually lurks under its short hood. Even in profile, the SUV's muscled haunches keep the eye busy following its lines, all without overcomplicating its styling.

Inside, the Buick is less eye-catching. In my test vehicle, Cool Gray seat-bolster accents and white steering wheel stitching relieved the monotony of the otherwise black cabin. My hands were happy enough with the materials they came into contact with — primarily leather, with plastic on the door panels — but GM's uniformity is evident in the infotainment display, the switches and buttons, and the scratch-collecting piano-black plastic on the center console.

Buick sprinkles a few buttons and dials across the dashboard for quick access to cabin temperature, drive mode, and safety-system management. That's on top of hard-button steering wheel controls and a single, lonely dial on the console for controlling media volume.

Benjamin Hunting

I found the front seats comfortable on longer trips, and cool fall temperatures had me appreciating the automatic heat applied to the cushions and the steering wheel rim on start-up. The rear seat is adult friendly, and my test model's optional front-to-rear panoramic sunroof effectively brightened the interior.

Cargo space in the Envision is laudable, though I found I needed to remove the included cover in the rear compartment to load larger items. I carried a complete set of 17-inch tires inside the vehicle with the rear seats folded flat, and the 52.7 cubic-feet of total storage space behind the two front seats is average compared with compact luxury SUVs.

Benjamin Hunting

The Envision's Big Screen Is Its Most Impressive Tech

The Buick Envision features a 30.0-inch display screen that dominates the dashboard. It's broken into three different sections. On the far left are controls for the head-up display. In the middle, directly in front of the driver, is the digital instrumentation showing gauge readouts, vehicle data, and mapping. On the right is the largest section, providing menu access to the infotainment system and the rest of the vehicle's features.

In general, it's a good design that's easy to use and simple to navigate. I had no problems finding the controls and settings I needed, and my phone paired with Android Auto wirelessly each time I hit the ignition (wireless Apple CarPlay is also standard). As with many of these ultra-wide displays, however, it's possible to block portions of the screen with the steering wheel, depending on how it's adjusted. That is a minor irritant.

A little more annoying was the brightness of the head-up display. At night, it was distracting and impaired my night vision as I looked ahead down the road, even at its lowest luminosity setting.

Benjamin Hunting

All versions of the Envision offer a comprehensive suite of advanced driver-assistance equipment, but one thing is missing: Super Cruise. That's GM's excellent hands-free driving system, which Buick provides on the larger Enclave but not the Envision, which makes do with a traditional adaptive cruise setup.

I had no unusual interactions with any of the Envision's driver-assistance features, and I found its adaptive cruise to work well in traffic. The lane-departure-warning system was also effective.

Regarding safety ratings, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has not evaluated the latest version of this SUV for crashworthiness, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave it five stars out of five for overall safety.

Benjamin Hunting

Buick's 2025 Envision Ensures You'll Arrive Refreshed

Every Envision comes with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine rated at 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. A nine-speed automatic transmission and AWD are also standard.

Even with a healthy amount of torque on tap, the Envision's turbo four struggles to briskly motivate its nearly 4,000 pounds of curb weight. Acceleration is fine in most circumstances, but there's not much pep in its step, and certainly not enough to suggest a sporty experience. Unlike some of its luxury competitors, there's no mightier motor waiting in the wings as an option, either, which means you can't upgrade the SUV's straight-line speed.

That feels intentional on Buick's part, because the rest of the Envision's character hews closer to quiet cruising than athleticism. For example, the suspension does a good job of dialing out unnecessary roughness from washboard roads or broken asphalt, but it's not going to hang at the edge of adhesion if you enter into a corner too hot.

Benjamin Hunting

The Buick Envision's relaxed personality shines when commuting or on a longer road trip, and I enjoyed how composed it felt in daily driving. If you want to take the long way home after work and enjoy an engaging, exciting ride, though, you may choose to look elsewhere.

If you need to put big miles on the Envision, its fuel efficiency might also give you pause. The EPA rates this Buick at 24 mpg in combined city and highway driving, which matches the figure I recorded during my time with the vehicle. That's below what some other compact premium SUVs offer, particularly those that feature an available hybrid drivetrain.

Benjamin Hunting

Is the 2025 Buick Envision a Good SUV?

Despite its pairing of quiet and comfort, the Buick Envision isn't quite plush enough to present itself as a true luxury SUV. Its lack of flat-out speed also holds it back. And yet, it offers enough of a discount compared with European competitors such as the BMW X3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, as well as Japanese rivals such as the Lexus NX, to wedge its way into the daily driver conversation for price-conscious shoppers.

Benjamin Hunting

Nearly two decades into his career as an automotive journalist, Benjamin has had his hands greasy, his hair blown back, and his heart broken by more than one project car. In addition to his work at Capital One, he has contributed features and reviews to Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Hagerty, Driving Line, Inside Hook, Super Street, European Car, Roadkill Magazine, Motor 1, The Drive, the Toronto Star, the National Post, Business Insider, NAPA, Autoblog, Automotive News Canada, and AutoGuide. He is also cohost of the Unnamed Automotive Podcast and cocreator of the Code 45 and Dead Air graphic novels. In his spare time, he's a friend to vinyl and enjoys keeping the shiny side up during track days.