TILLAMOOK, Oregon— As Monty Python reminds us, cheddar is the most popular cheese in the world. Tillamook makes some of the world’s best, and its flagship creamery is on Oregon’s Pacific coast. It’s a great destination for a family adventure in, say, the 2025 Buick Enclave.

Buick’s flagship SUV offers a lot of goodies for your cheddar.

Starting at $46K, the tasty, roomy, three-row ute comes standard with blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control, rear-cross traffic alert, 30-inch-curved-Porsche Taycan-like screen display, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, phone charger, heated steering wheel, heated vinyl power seats, second-row captain’s chairs and a lifetime’s supply of Tillamook cheese (kidding about that last part).

Add all-wheel drive for northern winters and a convenience package that includes must-haves like a panoramic sunroof so the kiddies can get a tan in the third row, and my favorite, black-trimmed ST model clocks in at $54,043 — just five grand above its cousin Chevy Traverse Z71 model that I flipped for early this year, and $12K south of a comparable Audi A7 45.

The American west is an epic place with Pacific Ocean views, southwest canyons and Rocky Mountain highs, and General Motors Co. offers the C1 platform-based, three-row Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse and GMC Acadia SUVs to take you there.

Enclave makes its case in a crowded premium segment with a buffet of competitive options. The Buick makes an aggressive value pitch by undercutting luxury Germans as well as premium peers like the $60K-plus Lincoln Aviator, Volvo XC90 and Acura MDX A-Spec. Only the classy inline-6-cylinder Mazda CX-90 Turbo Premium Plus undercuts the Buick’s value at $51,450.

Enclave cements its value with a simple, standout interior.

I know, you want to do that Pacific road trip in a Cadillac Escalade — but then you choke on the $80K sticker like a mouse ingesting a half-pound Tillamook cheese wheel. Never fear, Buick is here.

In addition to that stunning Porsche Taycan curved screen is a floating console island right out of a Cadillac Lyriq. Oooooh, check out the enormous purse-storage cavity underneath The side-by-side cup holders, the yuuuuuge wireless phone charger. The space was opened up moving the shifter to the steering column.

Its creamy feel is mated to, um, a coarse-sounding 2.5-liter turbo-4 engine that powers the GM SUV trio. It droned away even in my sporty looking ST model. By contrast, Ford’s (similarly-priced), growly ST-line turbo-4 sounds like a cornered badger. Now, that’s what a premium turbo-4 should sound like.

I know, you want to do that Pacific road trip in a Cadillac Escalade — but then you choke on the $80K sticker like a mouse ingesting a half-pound Tillamook cheese wheel. Never fear, Buick is here.

In addition to that stunning Porsche Taycan curved screen is a floating console island right out of a Cadillac Lyriq. Oooooh, check out the enormous purse-storage cavity underneath The side-by-side cup holders, the yuuuuuge wireless phone charger. The space was opened up moving the shifter to the steering column.

Its creamy feel is mated to, um, a coarse-sounding 2.5-liter turbo-4 engine that powers the GM SUV trio. It droned away even in my sporty looking ST model. By contrast, Ford’s (similarly-priced), growly ST-line turbo-4 sounds like a cornered badger. Now, that’s what a premium turbo-4 should sound like.

In the town of Oceanside, I sidled up to a parallel parking space, and the Buick instantly identified the open space on my right. Then I sat back and watched as the Enclave automatically backed into the space without my touching the wheel or pedals. Nervous about where the four corners are on your three-row SUV? Let Park Assist help.

For true road warriors, I recommend the $3,225 Super Cruise hands-free driving option. The industry-leading system (better than Tesla’s pioneering Full-Self-Driving system on my Model 3) allows you to relax on divided freeways, eat a meal, or enjoy an extra layer of security when you travel two-lane byways.

I’m not sure many customers will drop that kind of coin on a system that, understandably, will freak them out at first. Better if GM outfitted every Enclave with Super Cruise hardware (as Tesla does) then let customers pay a monthly subscription. Once you’ve tried Super Cruise, you won’t go back.

Speaking of going back, the big Enclave — like its GM sisters — offers one of the roomiest back seats in the three-row aisle. Enclave marketer Pam Walz says her two young kids prefer the third row over the second. It’s cozy, has cup and French fry holders, and offers a USB-C port for each passenger.

I’m with the kids: I like the third row as well. In my case, I like flattening the second-row captain’s chair in front of me and using it as an ottoman for my 6’5” frame. Whether working on a laptop off the Buick’s built-in Wi-Fi — or just relaxing — there is no better seat in the house.

GM is my benchmark for good interior ergonomics, but the Enclave makes a coupla curious feature choices. Like its Chevy cousin, it offers volume and station control buttons on the back of the steering wheel. Unlike the Traverse, the cruise control tools on the front of the wheel are not as intuitive — and are oddly mixed in with a voice recognition button. Drivers may wonder why the headlight controls are in the center screen rather than on the left side of the dash. Or on the left stalk.

Overall, though, Enclave is a first-class study in design and value engineering. With up to 523 miles of range, it will get you across the West’s vast spaces without the range anxiety of electric vehicles creeping into GM’s portfolio. And, unlike those 6,000-pound EVs, the Buick’s relatively light, 4,800-pound girth was easy to maneuver, even on Oregon’s twisted mountains roads.

With a long journey back to Portland ahead of me, I didn’t linger at the Tillamook creamery. But had my wife and two kids been on board, we would have made an afternoon of it. And when we emerged with an arm-full of cheesy comestibles for when we felt a bit peckish?

There’s plenty of storage under the cargo floor in back.

2025 Buick Enclave

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel-drive, six-passenger SUVPrice: $46,395 base, including $1,395 destination fee ($54,043 ST as tested)

Powerplant: 2.5-liter, turbocharged inline-4 cylinder

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 328 horsepower, 326 pound-feet torque

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.5 seconds (Car and Driver est.); towing capacity: 5,000 pounds

Weight: 4,800 pounds (est. AWD)

Fuel economy: EPA est. 20 city/27 highway/23 combined (FWD); 19 city/24 highway/21 combined (AWD)

Report card

Highs: Stunning interior, value pricing

Lows: Course turbo-4; some awkward feature controls

Overall: 4 stars

____

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.