2013 Buick Encore First Drive

Edmunds.com

2013 Buick Encore First Drive

The 2013 Buick Encore aims to bring luxury to the compact SUV segment. We go for a drive to see if it succeeded.

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affg

I've been waiting for MONTHS for Ford to build the C-max I ordered, and recently drove the Encore, and the quietness and ride quality are excellent to the point that I'm going to drive the C-max again and decide if it's ride is sufficiently good to choose it in order to get the superior parks-itself and voice controlled tech...

mpg is not such a factor, since 33 vs. 38mpg (as stated by a new C-max owner as the realistic number, even if Ford is claiming 47) is just not a big enough difference to choose a stiff ride over saving a few hundred or even a thousand dollars a year in gas cost.

charlienek

Since I read so many comments online from "experts" who have spent 5 seconds with the Encore to confirm their preconceptions, I thought it might be of interest to hear from an actual owner.

We bought our Encore (Leather group, with sunroof) about a month ago, and have put 1K miles on it so far. So far we love it.

For reference, my last car was an Acura TL (on which I put 155k miles in 7 years), before that Audis.

For this car our priorities were: AWD, comfort, quiet, and good mileage. We live in northern Vt., 700 ft up a mountainside. Our main comparisons as we shopped were: RAV4, CRV, and Forester. All about the same price.

We got all of our main wants and more. (Note we paid list, $29,760.)

The Encore is the quietest car I've owned (amazingly so for its size) which makes it a pleasure to ride in. Reviewers who use terms like "tomblike" (see above) just reveal the bias they came in with; why pay attention to anything else they say when they're just out to be snide. It isn't "tomblike" - it's quiet. You can hear the good sound system.

The interior is very pleasant and comfortable. There are some places where they could have made it more luxurious, I guess, but overall the feel is really nice. It's just a pleasure to ride in. I've seen criticisms of the interior; maybe that's a difference when you get the Leather Group model.

The ride and handling are also very good. I've seen reviews criticizing the ride on rough roads. We compared the CRV and RAV4 as we shopped. CRV was similar; RAV4 was noticeably harsher.

The mileage is BETTER than promised. So far we are AVERAGING >30mpg! And we live up a steep hill. Try that in your RAV4.

The power level is definitely modest; if you want good mileage that's the price you pay. The car picks up when you punch it (at a huge cost in mileage). But you hear it working. If you want a car to fling around this isn't it. Personally, I find I've actually modified my driving style, because the Encore is so pleasant to drive calmly.

Looks. Again I've seen reviewers' smirk about how this. All I can say is, I thought it looked funny at first glance, now I like it. The only other car whose looks I actually liked was the RAV4; the CRV is distinctly odd looking, and to me the Forester is just boring and ugly.

My only complaint about the Encore is the "infotainment" system which seems designed to check as many feature boxes as possible without any regard to its useability. It irritates the daylights out of me and I really fault Buick for inflicting this on their entire customer base (it's common to the line). But from the reviews I see, most makes of car suffer from this problem. At least the sound on the Encore (the base system) is great.

So, I hope at least this one datapoint of actual experience will be helpful to you!

williered

I read numerous reviews on all small SUV's with a focus on a quiet comfortable ride. While the Encore may not be the fastest or most fun to drive, it is very quiet and comfortable, with a luxury interior. If Lexus built a small SUV it would have the Encore interior. I chose the "leather' option, complete with sunroof, navigation, blind spot monitor, rear view camera and chrome wheels. After only 500 miles I am convinced the Encore meets all of my requirements.