The exterior styling is remarkably un-American. The curves are sweeping and sweet, and its got gills and grating that look both sharp and aggressive without crossing into the realm of "I'm not sure if I love it or hate it". With as many cars as have been designed to date, it's a difficult mark to aspire to, but the curbside styling is undeniable, striking and attractive. Unlike the Subaru Tribeca, which is pretty as hell from the front, but a real ass from the back, the design of the 2008 Buick Enclave survives a full 360-degree spin, looking as good from the front as the side as the back.

The interior is more of a matter of taste, and I have to tell you it's just so-so to me, but then again I have IKEA furniture and maybe five-dollars of watercolor paintings I bought in Shanghai, China, so take my taste in décor with an ounce of moderation. The colors are stark, and the mix of brushed metal and inlayed wood tones are styling matters that are up for debate. Luckily, taste has nothing to do with quality, and quick eyeball around the cabin will tell you well enough if you like it or not, and there are several color packages you can choose from to best fit you.

It's big, but not huge like a Suburban or Escalade. You'll get more comfort in the 2nd and 3rd rows than you'd get from smaller cars (like the Volvo or BMW, but especially more so than the Kia Rondo, which I've also enjoyed). You can comfortable seat three rows of passengers, and even have a fair amount of space left behind the third row for cargo.

We put three adults and three children (in car seats) in the car, and still had room for two computer monitors (the glass tube kind, not flat screens) and all our Christmas presents, and even an ironing board… but still, this is not the "big" SUV offered by the many GM brands. If you want those, you may not need to read this review, but it does have enough space that you may wish to think about it just the same.

The seats don't remove easily, or fold into the floor panel like the Dodge Caravan, but they do move easily forward and fold flat for cargo space. If you do want tremendous space for cargo, consider the reasons as to why, and maybe look at a different vehicle, but this rig is pretty smart when it comes to easy folding of back seats for space and cargo, which is easily a tremendous help, even if you don't think you might need it. It's one of those features you might never need, but if the unexpected arises, you won't need to pull out the manual or Google it to figure out how to make room for a futon or half-ton of moving boxes.

The electronic goodies in the cabin are as unrivaled as they are unbridled an un-interpretable to the layman. The gizmos and gadget controls are as beyond belief as the features themselves on a weak day of the week, and the features you can command at your fingertips are the sort of thing you'd only find with the most premium of vehicles in the crossover SUV class. The console takes a good couple days to figure out, and that's even with a good ten minutes of study in advance in attempts to get it down, but the learning curve, however sharp, makes fine sense once you figure it out. You'll have controls for everything you could want, from the tri-zone climate control to the back windows and the rear lift gate, not to mention the rear DVD (optional) which comes with rear seat headphones and controls (not to mention rear seat climate controls) if you like.

One really big thing is that the Enclave starts with a well equipped base price of $36,255, not counting any additional discounts you may qualify for, or the value of your trade in. The model I reviewed was absurdly equipped, like Lexus or Cadillac well equipped, and it still only topped out loaded to the gills at $43,530, which is far below most premium cars, and right inline with the other premium CUVs which it's designed to compete with. That price with the 5-year, 100,000 mile warranty, means this car is not just good, it's poised for competition in any market.

If you want to pretend to be a patriot, and can't figure out which car is "American" (since Accords are made in Georgia and Cadillacs are made in Germany), this car is made of 77% US/Canadian parts. If you're dedicated to NAFTA, this is as American a car as you can hope to find these days.

What you get for the premium entertainment package, which is only about 7-8% of the total purchase price, is the touch screen navigation system, DVD rear seat entertainment, and backup camera. The days when navigation alone cost $2,000 alone are apparently long gone (and well they should be), so for 50% more you get the whole DVD system (with wireless headphones) and the backup camera system are all included. You also get a Bose speaker system and genuine surround sound, but that's all secondary. You could buy all of this stuff individually, aftermarket, if you prefer, but not only would it cost the same amount, you won't enjoy the dealer fulfilled warranty on these products, but you'll end up with free-standing, easy-to-steal items that will cause your car to be broken into in any bad neighborhood. The theft security alone is valuable, the warranty is better, but the real clincher on this package (since it's assumed you actually already want these items) that it costs the same or less than you'd pay in an a termarket climate for the same features. At least by buying it form the dealer you get integrated, secondary car market sales value, and you don't end up getting all these things from different providers with different warranties, not to mention the fact that you get to finance the cost into the purchase price, with a monthly payment of maybe $10 or $20 for the same thing, and you can forget about your credit cards altogether.

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