#2014 buick encore interior driver

This week, Buick dropped off a car I didn’t like last summer and denounced at Christmastime. Last week, Mazda dropped off a car that I’d endorsed twice before. The Encore’s Gamma II platform impresses when its offspring cost less than $20,000, but the positioning is precarious when the same platform is underneath a vehicle that can cost more than $39,000 beyond $36,000 in this case. But Buick hasn’t priced the Encore in keeping with its dimensions, and a car with dimensions like these and a price like this needs more of a luxury persona. In a vehicle of the Encore’s size, we expect to make sacrifices.

#2014 buick encore interior driver

A difficult task, to be sure, unless you drive like this, which no Encore driver likely has. On Nova Scotia’s brutal roads, this means you’ll often want to keep the rear end away from the impacts with which the MacPherson struts of the front end easily coped. Ride quality is pretty good, but the rear suspension isn’t independent. ( Reports say 0-60 mph takes ten seconds.) The steering isn’t quick enough, and the amount of body roll encountered on twisty off-ramps will make you think the centre of gravity is more akin to what you’d find in a traditional SUV.Īll Photo Credits: Timothy Cain ©Click Any Of These iPhone Images For A Larger View Especially in this heavy all-wheel-drive guise, it’s severely underpowered. The Encore’s subcompact size certainly pays dividends in terms of manoeuvrability and visibility, but it’s not a fun car to hustle. The leather seats and soft dash impressed the switchgear not so much. The interior of our test car was dark, and material quality was a mixed bag. With all seats down, including the front passenger seat, the Encore is surprisingly vast. Granted, cargo space is not in keeping with the small crossovers you know: the CX-5 has 81% more luggage capacity behind the second row. The Encore is nearly a foot shorter than the Mazda CX-5 from bumper-to-bumper, but there’s no shortage of space for four. But this tiniest of Buicks does make a strong visual statement, and overall it seems to be a successful effort given the size of the canvas.īack inside, the Encore’s dimensions belie its constrained exterior measurements. Styling is as subjective as it’s ever been, and I feel as though the the pasting on of Buick cues (especially the ghastly hood-mounted ventiports) on a car that’s lacking stature causes the Encore to look quite cutesy. Size aside, the Buick Encore does look expensive on the outside, far more costly than the Trax thanks to those big wheels, chrome grille, and eye-catching lighting. The passenger side window has an auto-down function, but no auto-up. There’s no optional powered tailgate, nor is the tilting and telescoping steering wheel power operated.

Thigh support is altogether lacking length.īuick doesn’t make cooled seats available.

At least for me, the seating position itself is also dreadful, very on rather than in, yet the Encore still requires a climb out, not a step out. Although there is power lumbar support, the recline function for the seats isn’t powered, and the lever is awkwardly accessed.

There’s no proximity access, and thus no pushbutton start. There’s also a rear view camera, 18-inch alloy wheels, a 7-inch control screen, cruise control, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and enough sound deadening material to isolate the noise of your teenager’s drum set in the basement. Most obviously, that includes a $1600 6-speed automatic transmission. But the all-wheel-drive Encore that GM Canada delivered to GCBC for a week-long stay at the end of May though its roots can be traced back to a $16,000 subcompact and though its poverty-spec twin costs less than $21,000, was a lot more expensive than those cars.Īdmittedly, a base $29,535 Encore comes standard with a lot of equipment that’s optional on the Trax. While the details of its design are quite different, it’s abundantly clear that the Buick Encore is the Chevrolet Trax’s twin.

Historical Monthly & Yearly Buick Encore Sales Figures.

The Trax isn’t yet available in the United States, but GM Canada sold 9343 copies of the Trax in the model’s first 17 months on the market. Oh, and they offered optional all-wheel-drive, made huge alterations to the styling, made that turbocharged engine standard fit, and crafted a base price of just $20,295. GM then took the Sonic’s Gamma II platform, added an inch to the wheelbase, tacked 9.5 inches onto the Sonic hatchback’s length, increased its height by half a foot, and slapped on SUV-like body cladding to create the Trax.