Not Your Grandpa’s Buick

When I was in Chicago a couple of months ago, I heard about Driving the Midwest, a website created by General Motors to highlight road trips throughout the region. Since my family and I were getting ready to go from Ohio to Michigan, I approached their team about how we might work together, and they were kind enough to deliver us a Buick Enclave to test out on our trip.

Ugh, just seeing the picture makes me want to cry. I loved that car SO MUCH.

But anywho, we wanted to make sure to drive it as much as humanly possible test it out appropriately, so we gave this thing a workout. Here was our route.

Germantown, OH to Charlevoix, MI to Mackinaw City, MI, to Traverse City, MI, to Empire, MI, to Traverse City, MI, to Leland, MI, to Traverse City, MI, to Germantown, OH.

We quite literally drove the midwest!

And we did it in style, in a Buick Enclave. Ahhhh, memories.

Here are some of the things we loved about driving the Enclave:

— The first thing that impressed us about this car (other than the fact that it’s lovely) was the capacity for luggage. We were going to be gone for eight days and we had a LOT of stuff. Suitcases, tote bags, coolers – it all fit in with no problem.

So much easier than when Andy plays what he calls “life-size Tetris” – packing the trunk of our cars!

— The built-in DVD player. We have had about 32 portable DVD players since Kate was born, and I have hated all of them. First of all, they break constantly (hence needing to buy 32 of them), and secondly, all the extraneous cords. OMG, the cords. They are EVERYWHERE. And changing a DVD requires a feat of acrobatics. So, having one built in was a dream. It also had wireless headphones (three sets!), which was fantastic.

— Which leads me to another feature we loved – the audio system. Again, it was built in, and touchscreen. We had satellite radio, which was awesome. The best thing, though, was that it worked independently from the DVD system, even though the controls were all located in the same area, so the kids could watch/listen to a movie in the back (with their wireless headphones) and Andy could still listen to the radio in the front.

— Which leads me to another point – the navigation system. The navigation system, dvd player, and radio/cd player were all controlled on the same screen, but all worked at the same time. The navigation system was great and never steered us wrong. I loved that I could enter the name of a place (I didn’t need an actual address) and it would find it.

— Speaking of all that, the touchscreen control panel also turned into a video screen when the car was in reverse, which showed everything behind the car and started beeping when we got too close to something. Needless to say, this was a really important safety feature.

— We were all so comfortable traveling in this car. The kids had plenty of room in their seats but also in between them and in front of them, which meant there was room for their stuffed animals and books and everything else that goes along with a kid-friendly road trip. Sam sat up so high in his car seat, which made it more enjoyable for him but also tons easier for us to get him in and out of it. I also had plenty of space in the passenger seat. The seat itself was wide and comfy, and I had a ton of leg room. The front two seats also had a feature that was new to me – seat coolers. Like seat warmers, but with the air conditioner. A nice surprise!

— I’ve failed to mention the number one thing – it drove like a dream. Since Andy did most of the driving, I’ll let him tell you about it.

Kate felt the need to get in on the vlogging action, so here’s a video of her talking about the Enclave.

Incidentally, the next time we went on a trip, Sam held my iPad up to the rest of us and asked “What do YOU like about this car?” He’s destined to be a blogger.

My very favorite thing, though? I felt very fancy driving around in this car. I honestly didn’t realize how nice it was to have a luxurious car. It made going to the grocery store seem exciting. While (unfortunately) I don’t think I’ll be replacing our beat up sedans any time soon, when we do, I would strongly consider buying an Enclave.

As you can tell, we all absolutely loved the Buick Enclave. In fact, I think Kate might love it more than she loves me.

The first day after our trip, I got home from work, hugged Kate hello, and said “I missed you so much!”

Her reply? “I missed the Enclave.”

Me too, kiddo!

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A huge thanks to GM and Buick for letting us test drive their car. For more info, visit DrivingtheMidwest.com. Make sure to check out the tab that says “Our Town, Our Heroes,” where you can see the hometown heroes honored by GM – and you can nominate your hero too!