We were ready to buy an Enclave and had the opportunity to rent an '09 Enclave for a week, was very new with somewhere around 2k-3k miles. Comfort and inside design was very nice. Took my family of four on a road trip in and around New Mexico.
We wanted to buy an Enclave but what killed the thought of moving forward was the seriously bad delay in downshifting for safe passing. It was so bad that it remains a very vivid thought, that thought being the attempt and dangerous feeling I got when trying to pass on a one lane road. Seemed when applying a heavy foot on the accelerator, there were delays, in seconds, before the Enclave would downshift to accelerate faster. This became a situation where I could not trust passing with it so had to sit behind very slow vehicles that wouldn't pull out for the many cars lined up behind them.
That transmission in the '09 Enclave had A LOT to be desired. Be careful and thoroughly run any '09 Enclave/Traverse through its paces before purchasing. Good luck, hopefully this was a one off we had but after investigation into that model year trans, I don't believe it was a one off situation. I personally would avoid the '09 and look for '10 as I seem to recall that trans issue I am referring to may have been addressed on '10 and later.
