6 Months Review: Buick Encore

[kimona]

I've had my Buick Encore for 6 months now. Thought I'd write a mini review for the handful of you who may be interested.

First, and very important to me, this car has the most comfortable driver's seat and driving position of any car I've ever driven. Modern Americans may find the seats a bit narrow.

The ride is exceptionally smooth and tomb quiet. Handling is surprisingly good for a tall compact SUV.

The tiny 1.4L turbo is plenty quick around town. The car accelerates nicely entering the highway and performs confidently; very stable and ample power to pass. The 6-speed automatic transmission works flawlessly; upshifts and downshifts nicely and never hunts. If you’re not afraid of the accelerator, the car is anything but slow.

Interior is nicely laid out, and materials and design look/feel upscale. The leather wrapped steering wheel is handsome and feels good in your hands. The instrument panel has analog tach and speedo, as well as a handy multi-function driver information screen. The centre screen for back-up camera and entertainment system is huge, and I’m beginning to get the hang of some of the functions. The Bose sound system is great.

On the outside, everything seems to fit together perfectly; all body panels and trim are properly aligned and gaps are nice and even. Happy to say, the paint quality is excellent.

Around town, I can easily get 24-25 MPG. Today, I drove very gently and got home from in-town driving with 29.4 MPG. On the highway, I can get 38-40 MPG if I keep the car under 70 MPH. I’ll have to try cruise control on the open road sometime and see what MPG I can accomplish.

That’s it. I love this car!

BTW, the more I research Opel platforms, the more I discover how reliable they are.