Exploring the 2025 Buick Invista, the Chevrolet Traverse and New Car Shows

2025 Buick Envision Review Summary

Speaker 1 0:04

time now for this hour's car review . Had a chance to drive the 2025 buick and vista . Final assembly location is drum roll , please . What do you think ? China , nope , korea , oh really , yeah , it's built , made in korea . Available trim levels the , the Preferred , the Sport Touring and the Avenir . I had the Sport Touring , which is the middle of the line , what they consider a small station wagon , we would consider it a small SUV , but whatever , it's only in a name Five-passenger vehicle , including the driver . It's all new for 2024 . This is the 25 model that we're reviewing . Really no changes between the 24 and 25 .

Speaker 1 0:46

Fastback roof design it looks really cool , but the one thing that you may have to put in your mind is , especially if you're six feet tall , is that you might have to bump your head on the roof to get in the back seat . There is that , but it looks cool . If you've got a bunch of kids and stuff , that's perfect . I like the way it looks . I love that fastback design myself . Long hood , short deck popular with sports cars , as you well know . Concentric wheel arches look really good in that because you know so many manufacturers like to shrink down the rear arch of the wheel . No , that makes it look ugly , like to shrink down the rear arch of the wheel . No , that makes it look ugly . High-mounted slitty headlights and sharp grille look racy . Cargo hatch is glass that's almost horizontal . What I liked about it ? The overall look gets high marks in my estimation . What could use improvement ? Nothing . I think it looks great .

Speaker 1 1:45

Interior highlights we love the one large screen across the dash . It is really it's both the infotainment and the instrument cluster combined into one . It really works well . Cloth or leather seating material is awesome . We love the well-laid-out controls . Leather seating material is awesome . We love the well-laid-out controls . No factory navigation , but it does have Android and Apple CarPlay . That is standard in all of them and I think that that's the way to go , because you can customize your own stuff on your phone . You plug it in and boom , there it all is . Cargo room is small , but the vehicle is small .

Speaker 1 2:24

What I liked ? The rear seat air vents , which you don't find on a small SUV , but this one had it . What could use improvement ? Headroom in the rear seat may be small . As I said , it could be an issue with taller backseat passengers . So if you take large , if you take Grandpa who's six feet tall , he'll bump his head a little bit . If you take Grandpa , who's six feet tall , he'll bump his head a little bit , but that's okay , he probably needs it . Yep , he's got a plate in it 1.2 liter four-cylinder turbo , 137 horsepower . 1.2 liter , 162 pound-feet of torque . And I said it was a four-cylinder . No , it's a three-cylinder , six-speed automatic transmission . Tow rating no , there is no , because you ain't going to take anything to tow back behind it there Miles per gallon , 28 city , 32 highway , for a combined of 30 .

Speaker 1 3:19

I got 28 over 399.2 miles . What I liked ? You know the power . Even though it's only 137 horsepower , it matches nicely with the , the actual vehicle , the transmission and the miles per gallon . So I think that it's a good compromise . What could use improvement ? Offer an optional motor with a little bit more horsepower . That would be my only suggestion to them . But when you do that then it's going to raise the cost of it , because now you've got to manufacture parts and pieces that are going to be able to accept both the three-cylinder and probably a four-cylinder .

Speaker 1 3:53

Whatever Ride and handling Sportier ride than most other Buicks . Some people may consider it a little stiff . I don't . It's a small vehicle . What could use improvement ? Nada . Here's the fun part of this vehicle . The base trim price is $24,700 . The price is tested is $27,780 . The base model price $22,900 . That's sweet , dude . They're going to sell a bajillion of these things , I think . Competitors . The Chevy Trax is related to the Invista . It is . It sells for $20,400 . So if you want a cheaper model , check the Chevy Trax . Then it goes above and beyond when you talk to the Mazda CX-30 for $24,995 . Or the VW Taos starts at $26,420 . So I think that this is a real bargain . I think that it's a sleeper , as we used to call it back in the day , because it offers a lot for a little bit of money . I think that you really should check it out if you're in the market for that kind of vehicle .

Speaker 2 5:00

One thing you mentioned about the nav . You can get nav . It's a pay-to-play with the nav .

Speaker 1 5:05

Not , according to what I read , and not this vehicle . Okay , I have it in mind , I can pay for it , but you ?

Speaker 2 5:09

have a vehicle that's larger , larger than this . Right , I've got the Step Up , I've got the Envision and it's the Preferred as well . That's correct . This one doesn't offer from the factory , so you pick and choose the Buick that you want , and you can get a shirt like mine as well . This is Buick , right there .

Speaker 1 5:24

Did you buy that ? Oh , that's the new Buick logo . Yeah , the new Buick logo . You selling those over there ?

Speaker 2 5:28

No , I went through a lot to get this , did you ? Yeah , I'll tell you the story . It's like a three-hour show . Just to tell you the story . Okay , all right .

Speaker 1 5:41

Time now for Jeff's Car Culture . This week it's going to be on the Detroit Auto Show .

Speaker 2 5:45

Yeah , and it's not too pleasant for him because the Detroit Auto Show attendance plummeted as glory days fade for the Detroit Auto Show in Detroit . Far more news was revealed at the Brussels Automotive Show , in the Tokyo Auto Salon and even CES this past year . Most automakers have abandoned the event , leaving dealers to fill the gaps . Now we were just at ours Autobotive Show with Rochelle Salinas outstanding organization , fantastic show . But the Detroit Auto Show only attracted 27 275 000 visitors last month . That's a lot .

Speaker 2 6:18

It's down a half a million since previous years they were . They were topping out at some big numbers . So the detroit auto show used to be a can't miss event and its return was barely worth mentioning . The ford mustang rtr and the mustang gt GTD Spirit of America were introduced ahead of the event , leaving the North American Car Utility and Truck of the Year Awards as the only worthwhile news on the media day . Amazing To say . It wasn't worth attending and we're openly questioning whether or not the Detroit Auto Show was dead . We're getting a resounding answer and it's time to break out the defibrillator and catheter because the event is on life support Catheter .

Speaker 2 6:58

I wrote that While organizers tried to put in a positive spin on things , the numbers are truly terrible . Over the course of 11 days , 275,000 people attended , as the Detroit Free Press noted . The pale is . In comparison to the 780,000 people who attended in previous years , that's a staggering decline . As a result , it's hard to judge and make up the lackluster lineup and the return to January has impacted everything . Despite the awful attendance , organizers proclaimed it was one of the largest auto shows in the US . However , the numbers aren't much to brag about . In the former Motor City , jewel barely beat the 2024 Chicago Auto Show . The Chicago one was shorter by a day and it attracted 260,000 guests , so it was a little bit more and less days . The lackluster showing isn't much of a surprise for most automakers . It declined to Detroit and it was a worthy effort to do it . But as a result , dealers , four indoor tracks and randomness included the Army , the Marines and a Polish investment and trade agency helped fill the leftover space on the board .

Speaker 1 8:07

Did they have any pierogies in there ? I ?

Speaker 2 8:08

hope they did , because those are awesome . This didn't stop officials from proclaiming .

Speaker 1 8:12

What is the whole thing with the dinosaurs there ?

Speaker 2 8:15

I don't know , it's just some event that this , whatever Ford or Well , I was just going to say because , like a dinosaur , Is that like a Bronco back ? There . I don't know , it could be a Bronco . They didn't stop officials from proclaiming that the show had a true energy and a robust lineup of vehicles . Well , that's enough to make your eyes roll . The event had estimated economic impact of $370 million .

Speaker 3 8:39

It cost them that much huh .

Speaker 2 8:40

That is actually down . Organizers also said there were 34 brands on display as well as nearly 500 vehicles . They're turning it into a different kind of show . Evidently . The latter figure appears to include 150 modified personal vehicles that were shown in partnership with Modded Detroit . That's a club , evidently , there . While it's easy to write off the show as a major disappointment , the charity preview raised $1.7 million for the children's charities around the area . That's good news , although the show's future looks far from bright if things do not improve . With all this being said , is the Detroit Auto Show dead or is it just transitioning into a post-auto show era ? Not much new , and it's hard to justify a trip to the Motor City . That's a shame .

Speaker 1 9:27

Yeah , it really is . It really is All right time now for this hour's car review . Mr Mars has the Chevy Traverse he wants to talk to you about . All right , Michael .

Speaker 3 9:38

Yeah , buddy . So I was really interested in this vehicle because we had kind of a run with the Chevrolets and this is the 2025 Chevrolet Traverse High Country . Now , this is a new trim level . This year it's been available in several other vehicles . They dropped their baseline and kept it at four trim levels by including the High Country . It's an LT , a Z , a z71 , the new high country and then there's the rs uh , the one we had . The high country is front wheel drive . There is an all-wheel drive available . Now .

Speaker 3 10:07

This is classified as a standard suv three row . Now I would look at it as a mid-size but , being that's what the government calls it , that's what the government calls it , it is a seven passenger seating in this vehicle . Up front you're going to find the LED lighting all around . You've got the walk-up and the exit lighting that comes on whenever you're approaching or getting out of it , which makes it kind of nice if you're out in the dark world . It's got the trailer and package and I mentioned that here because it has the hitch view and hitch guidance option that comes with that . And when you look at this vehicle , it's got a lot of nice lines to it and you look at the size of it it's . Technically it is actually on the same wheelbase as the Tahoe , but it's not as long . The body's not as long but it is the same wheelbase . It came with roof rails . It's got the hands-free liftgate , which works extremely well , as in , you get out of the driver's pass and you run around the back of it to run into the store . If you walk too close you might look behind you and see your lift gates open , or you might come out of the store and the lift gates open because you didn't realize it opened up . But it works really well .

Speaker 3 11:09

We were rolling on some 22-inch wheels that were really nice , absorbed a lot of the road imperfections . Getting inside of it . We had the leather seating . Now the front is heated and ventilated . The second row was the bucket seats and both of them are heated , and the third row is a one-touch fold flat .

Speaker 3 11:24

That's pretty easy to get into . We had the 11-inch driver display . Now this is a big screen for the driver to configure however you want your information , your speedometer and everything . But in the middle was this big 17.7 inch LCD display where you're going to find your nav system , your convenience controls , all those kind of things that you're going to be looking for , easy to find here Now . It does have the wireless cell phone charging , with Apple , android and Google's making some inroads into the GM . It has a digital rear view mirror , which works really well , and a Bose 10 speaker audio system system .

Speaker 3 12:00

Now , up under the hood , the only thing you're going to find in a traverse , regardless of the trim level , is a 2.5 liter turbo that does have 328 horsepower , 326 pound feet of torque , which is pretty good for an inline four . Eight speed automatic transmission in this vehicle , with the trailering package will tow 5 000 pounds . This epa says in the city you should be looking for 20 , the highway 27 , and then combined 23 . Now I drove this vehicle . I enjoyed driving this vehicle . I drove it 490.7 miles , dang Nice .

Speaker 3 12:31

Where'd you go . I had to park it . Well , I came here , went to the beach . I mean I had fun . I liked driving this vehicle . I got 21.8 miles per gallon across that and I thought that was pretty good .

Comparing Midsize SUV Options

Speaker 3 12:44

You know , hauling kids around grandkids and everything .

Speaker 2 12:46

Again , it's comparable .

Speaker 3 12:47

I've got grandkids . Do you have kids ? No , yes , I do . They're grown , he's not sure . I kind of skip them and go straight to the grandkids nowadays . So again , it's comparable in size to me , to the Tahoe kids nowadays . So again , it's comparable in size to me , to the tahoe . The tahoe is actually physically bigger but it's gets the same wheelbase and it's got a much more cuv type ride because it is more of a cuv than the tahoe is or the suburban or those kind of vehicles . But body wise , the the tahoe is like seven inches longer .

Speaker 3 13:15

Just to give you an idea , the base model price on this vehicle is $40,600 . Now the trim price for the High Country starts at $53,600 , but because everything that was on it is part of that trim package , there's really no options . So the MSRP is at $54,995 . If you're looking for something to compare it to , the Kia Tay ride starts at $36,390 . The Palisade from Hyundai starts at $37,000 . And the Toyota Grand Highlander is at $40,000 . So they're all pretty comparable in price riding through there . But I did enjoy this vehicle and I think if I was looking for a three-row midsize or standard size vehicle , I would definitely encourage you to look at that one . I liked it .

Speaker 1 13:59

It looks really good too .