The crossover segment is the most competitive market in the consumer automotive business. That modern crossbreeding of hatchback and SUV is less expensive and less thirsty than a proper SUV, better looking than the classic station wagon and more accommodating than a smaller hatchback.
Add all of that up and a crossover often ends up as a given automaker’s top seller. That’s the case at Buick with the 2015 Encore. As a brand, Buick runs a little under the radar and is always looking to get younger drivers into their vehicles. If they keep making rides like the Encore and keeping the prices in check, the minds behind Buick just might manage that.
During a weeklong test drive in Los Angeles recently, I had a chance to test the 2015 Buick Encore through the city’s busy streets and up the Pacific Coast Highway. That’s what the Encore is for by design and capability. There will be no off-roading in an Encore, if you’re a reasonable American driver. It’s pure urban transport with considerable comfort and technology for a price tag starting around a very reasonable $24,065.
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To maximize fuel quality, the current Encore comes standard with a 1.4 liter, turbo in-line four cylinder engine, married to a six-speed automatic transmission. While that powertrain doesn’t produce endless piles of limitless power, it’s perfectly adequate for the people and urban cargo the Encore is designed to carry. By using the smaller engine and stripping weight from the frame and interior here and there, the Encore manages to pull down MPG of 25 city, 33 highway.
The encore comes standard with front wheel drive, but I recommend a trim level adding the automaker’s very capable All-Wheel Drive option. After testing an Encore under snowy and icy condition on the ice testing tracks of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, I can report the AWD brushed off the white stuff with glee.
The strongest appeal of the Buick Encore is the amount of features and technology the automakers packs into the vehicle — even at the entry level trim. An Encore buyer receives a crossover already equipped with 4G LTE wifi capability, 10 airbags, power everything (including a six way adjustable driver’s seat), Buick Intellilink infotainment system, AM/FM/CD/SIRIUS, ONSTAR service, Rear Vision Camera, Stability Control System and ABS.
You’re sure to find some mix of those in any number of vehicles, but Buick is reaching out to more tech-savvy and younger, economy minded buyers by piling as many of them as they can into a vehicle under $30,000.
Is the driving experience pulse-thumping and passionate? No. It’s difficult to find that in a crossover not made by Germans. From behind the wheel, the Encore is sensible and restrained — staying in line with most ofd these urban-bred crossover types.
But, the Encore does provide the exterior styling, comfort considerations and technological features you might expect to find in a much more expensive vehicle. If Buick can get the word out on machines like the Encore, the automaker should be able to lure more young professionals over to such value.
