New engine with more power

Source

As a redone Euro-market Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, it was Buick's biggest-seller in the American market for years, despite its diminutive size, Wimpy engine, and frumpy looks/stance. I test drove both the pre-2017 version and the post-2017 version with the interior/front-end restyling, and generally didn't care for either one....it was too small for my tastes. Recently, though, it has been outsold by the slightly larger Encore GX, despite the GX having only three cylinders (yet more power).

GM has been mum (too mum, IMO) on both the future of both the First-Generation Encore (it will likely be dropped next year, but that is not certain), and whether we will get the new GEM-platform Second-Generation Encore in the U.S......which is currently being sold in China alongside the GX. For those who are turned off by the GX's three cylinders (which doesn't include me), the new GEM-platform and its 4-banger may be just what Buick needs here....although, from the few images I've seen, its interior was built to a budget, and is not up to that of the GX.

Can’t believe 3 cylinders are back I remember when Geo had them. Never thought I’d see the day (again)

Funny this has a 4 cyl while the bigger, better GX is stuck with the 3 cyl.

The GX shares the 1.2L and 1.3L three-pot turbos with the Chevy Trailblazer. The 1.3L (I can't speak for the 1.2L) is a surprisingly good 3-banger, though...better than I expected, except for a little gruffness off the line at low/mid-RPMs, particularly when cold, although the traditionally good Buick sound-insulation helps. With the turbo, It has more power than some larger GM 4-bangers..though gas-mileage is not the best for a three. I'll talk more about that in my 1-year Encore GX review coming up next month.

The Subaru Justy had one.....remember that? Ford also uses some EcoBoost turbo-threes.

Not a bad price I guess......the electric heater will be interesting to see the types of failures they will have. I haven't had a good time with vehicles from this class of car on the repair side of things and the small turbo GM engines have a reputation of blowing up.

Might make a decent used car in a few years provided it doesn't rapidly decline like GM products outside their core sellers tend to.

Thanks......I didn't catch that in the article. If anything, it should make the heating-system potentially more reliable. It won't be dependent on the engine's cooling-system thermostat (which can wear and fail), or have a traditional heater-core which can clog up and/or leak coolant.

They shouldn't fail at a unreasonably low mileage if one drives them sensibly and keeps the oil changed.

Well, the Encore has had a LOT of core-sellers over the years since it was introduced. Several of my own colleagues have owned them. It has been Buick's big money-maker here in the U.S.



Unfortunately, Buick has not yet updated its web-site yet for the 2022 Specs/Build-Your-Own for the Encore, like it has for some other of its models. Buick is not one of the better automakers in that regard....they don't pay a lot of attention to the web site.....it has caused me ordereing-problems in the past.

Yes and no on the heater, a fluid based system is insanely simple when it comes down to it and doesn't have a control sensor, resistors, battery, or a regulation BCM that is infamous for failing on GMs as well as the fact the part is cheap. They also do not rely on the engine thermostat at all, heater cores are run on bypass loops through the hottest part of the head usually to come up to temp very quickly. It's why if you have a stuck thermostat you can max out the interior heat and pull the engine temp down a good bit and save it against a true overheat. Mechanical T-stats also tend to fail safe/open and I still have originals in most of my 200k mile cars and the 300k one and replacement cost is very low vs a electronic one on my Audi.

My concern is GM will still mount it in such a way that requires a dash pull and the part will be $400-1000 instead of $17-50, that screws over people who may need to pay for the repair later.

I have yet to have a customer change oil at a reasonable interval, most just use the warning system which lets it go for way too long and then get surprised when the engine fails. Plus the turbo GMs just don't have a good PCV system and it usually leads to early ring wear.

I am hoping it goes well though, they could be nice used cars after the "drop off" in price this class normally sees.

Yeah....that climate-actuator was one of the (few) parts that failed on my Lacrosse. With the left/right temp-controls in sync, it wound up giving me a warm defrost on the driver's side of the windshield and cold on the other LOL. And replacing it under warranty did involve a dash-pull.

The most recent GM oil-change computers seem to be set to not let the oil go as long as in earlier vehicles. On my Encore GX, it was down to 25% or so oil-life after the first 3000 miles....although I admittedly do a lot of stop-and-go driving at widely-varying temperatures, which is one of the triggers. The air-filter-life sensor seems to be set on the safe side, too.

​​​​​​​Another thing potentially helping GM turbos is that GM strictly requires synthetic oil now.......no dino stuff.

Back at least somewhat on topic, Buick now has 0% APR financing for 72 months on 2021 and 2022 models. Assuming the actual selling price is reasonable, that's quite a deal for those who cannot pay cash......a free loan, with no interest, for six years.

https://www.buick.com

Also, partly my bad. I posted recently that Buick did not have the web-site specs/Build-your-Own updated for the 2022 Encore. As of this morning, they DO have it....so I don't know if I just missed it last time or if they added it once then.

”a pretty good 3 banger” doesn’t do much for me lol

It's not intended to. You have your needs.....and others have theirs.

Oh I know they require good oil, people just don't care. The average person will just put in the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on and ignore the oil minder for MONTHS. It's astounding to me.

Yeah those blend door motors are placed in stupid places sometimes, the ironic thing to me is that in cars they NEVER break in they always seem to be placed somewhere extremely easy to get to. In cars they are known to break in they require a dash pull, I find the same to be true of heater cores. On the LS430 you can just slide it out into the drivers footwell, and it never breaks....in my Jeep pull the dash, and I'm on my 3rd one.

The old vaccum based blend doors never break though, just tend to leak and make a hissing noise after 20 odd years lol! Plus they are loud, can't adjust finely etc.....