From its unmistakable Buick grille to its low-profile LED-enhanced taillamps, the 2020 Buick Envision is thoughtfully designed and exceptionally refined to appeal to your unique sense of style. Buick’s luxury compact SUV rivals the 2020 Honda Passport SUV, but Buicks luxury class at an affordable price tag makes it a great choice. Let’s look at both, and Reliable Buick GMC can answer all your questions.
Design and Style
The 2020 Buick Envision is a compact crossover SUV with seating for five. It offers comfort and a wealth of standard amenities and conveniences that will add to your driving experience. It’s quiet, comfortable ride comes with heated, eight-way power-adjustable seats and a good amount of head and legroom in both rows. A leather-wrapped steering wheel comes standard too. Leather seats, ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, and a heated steering wheel are available. There is 26.9 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats and a total of 57.3 cubic feet when the seats are folded down.
The 2020 Honda Passport is essentially a Honda Pilot minus the third row. It is a midsize SUV that offers spacious seating for five, with ample cargo room. The seats are comfortable and supportive, but a bit firm. There is 41.2 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats and 77.9 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down. It is available with heated front and rear seats, ventilated front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a heated steering wheel, and perforated leather upholstery, while cloth upholstery is standard.
Safety and Tech Features
For added confidence, Envision comes standard with a load of standard safety and tech conveniences that will help you feel safe and connected on the road. Rear parking sensors and a rearview camera come standard as well as GM’s Teen Driver system. Envision offers a suite of available advanced safety and driver assistance technologies that will alert you of potential hazards such as, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, a pre-collision warning system, forward automatic braking, a surround-view parking camera, adaptive cruise control, and parallel park assist. Buick’s intuitive IntelliLink infotainment system will help you stay connected with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, and an 8-inch touchscreen; as well as, a satellite radio, a six-speaker sound system, Bluetooth, a Wi-Fi hot spot, and four USB ports. The infotainment system is easy to use and straightforward, with some well-placed physical controls. A premium seven-speaker Bose stereo, navigation and wireless device charging are available.
Active safety features standard on the Passport include a rearview camera, automatic high-beam headlights, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and road departure mitigation. Optional safety features include front and rear parking sensors, and blind spot monitoring. It offers a 5-inch display on Passport’s infotainment system, Bluetooth, a USB port, and a seven-speaker audio system. Android Auto, and Apple CarPlay are available as well as an 8-inch touch screen, navigation, and satellite radio. Its infotainment system is mostly straightforward, but it's available touch-screen controls are overly sensitive.
Power, Fuel and Price
Envision’s standard engine comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers 197 hp and 192 pound-feet of torque. An available powerful turbocharged 2.0-liter engine that makes 252 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, with an optional all-wheel drive and active twin clutch, offers a responsive driving performance. This turbocharged option comes with a nine-speed automatic transmission that draws praise for its smooth shifts. For a luxury compact SUV, it gets an estimated 22/29 mpg on the city and highway. All-wheel drive lowers it slightly with an estimated 21/27 mpg city and highway. Pricing for the Envision starts at about $32,000.
The Honda Passport is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 engine that makes 280 horsepower and is standard with a nine-speed automatic transmission. However, the transmission can sometimes be slow to downshift. It generally is composed when cornering and offers a smooth ride. All models come standard with front-wheel drive, while all-wheel drive is available. It has an estimated 20/25 mpg in the city and on the highway. Pricing for the Passport starts at a similar price of $31,990.
Overall
The 2020 Buick Envision and 2020 Honda Passport are great midsize SUVs, but buyers seeking a good value on a luxury compact SUV that features a long list of standard features and a comfortable cabin, will make the 2020 Buick Envision their choice. If you are in the Sacramento area, come see for yourself at Reliable Buick GMC in Roseville.