Source

 

Still suffering from Disney-car syndrome. Tiny wheels, too small wheel-wells, and too tall overall. Pleasant dash design, however.

 

That actually looks really good. If I lived a in a 'lil ciity I would buy it.

 

I think the side profile looks great. At least it doesn’t have the ever popular black plastic around the wheels, and the taller sidewalls will make for a more comfortable ride.

 

Most Encore customers probably won't put up with a stiff ride. You're buying something with a Buick shield on the hood.

With Opel now gone from the list of GM subsidiaries, I'm not surprised that the Encore GX is coming from a different platform. I'm concerned, though, that it might not have the Encore's generally good reliability.



Other sources list 1.0L and 1.3L gas turbo-threes, but we'll see what the American market gets. Ford uses a 1.0L turbo three on the Ecosport, so it's not surprising if GM follows suit.

 

The red accents in the grill look neat

 

Not a bad SUV. Better looking inside and out than the Lexus NX or RAV4.

 

Notice something, Jill? They finally put the Buick tri-color shield in the middle of the steering wheel, instead of that cheap-looking chrome-outline. You and I both mentioned that lack a couple of years ago, when the color tri-shelds first came back to the grilles and trunk-lids.

 

I do now....

 

Might seem trivial to some people, but IMO it adds a nice touch. I've been suggesting it to the Buick reps at the auto shows for the last several years.

 

Here's John Davis's take on the GX. I've always liked John (I've met him and talked with him several times). Wonderful guy to talk to.....totally different from many of the self-centered attitudes of a number of others in the auto press. He's not quite as sharp or as thorough a reviewer as Alex Dykes, but part of that is that the Motorweek show's producers just won't give him enough time in the videos.....he has to condense everything into about 5 minutes. Alex, on the other hand, typically gets 25-30 minutes.

 

Truly astonishing that a 3 cylinder is deemed acceptable...155HP...where a RAV4 is 204hp from an I4 with better fuel economy as well

Good review nonetheless by the Motorweek

 

Are you trying to sell us or yourself? Nice small CUV. Too bad Buick can't build in the USA. I just find it ironic your buying a CUV after listening to your incessant whining on the loss of sedans. I get it though, so need to reply with a 2 page retort.

 

And here is Motorweek starring John Davis 42 years ago:

 

Whether we deem them "acceptable" or not is of little consequence at this point. Get used to it. Smaller ICEs are coming, whether we want them or not....unless you go wth a full-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. I grew up in an age of large-displacement engines, and learned to drive on a 3.7L straight-six.....which was considered modest back then, but, today, is larger than probably the vast majority of powerplants in today's vehicles, unless they are heavy-duty trucks/SUVs or exotic performance-cars.

You also have to consider that even loaded, AWD Encore GX's are only a little over 3000 lbs., so the engine doesn't have a lot of weight to lug around or for the brakes to stop.

I looked at new RAV-4s.....and even did a full-review on them. Yes, good powertrains...but, although it looks much better than the previous-generation RAV-4, I found the rest of the vehicle to be somewhat cheap in design and materials, and definitely not as pleasant inside as the two-tone Encore GX interior. The Encore GX was also the perfect exterior size for what my daily driving and parking needs are becoming today...not as tiny or Mickey-Mouse-like as the regular Encore/Trax (B-class crossovers), but not as bulky as the RAV-4 or other C-class crossovers.




John could easily do even better if Motorweek's producers would give him more time. They squeeze his videos in with those of Pat Goss (the Motorweek Technician) and industry-news announcers on the TV show. But he probably would not be quite as detailed as, say, Alex Dykes, though...that's just not is style. Alex describes everything on the vehicle down to a gnat's a**.

What I like about John, though, is that he is a down-to-earth guy, and does not act or talk like a lot of other car-people in that business.