2016 Buick Encore Road Test & Review

2016 Buick Encores

When your brand is best thought of as venerable, when people associate it with the bad old days of the American auto industry, when your marque is looked upon as staid and old fashioned, you have to do something dramatic to shift the paradigm if you’re going to survive.

This is the task handed to the Buick Encore—and indeed all of its siblings currently sporting the tri-shield logo.

One of the first of an entirely new class of automobile, the 2016 Buick Encore compact crossover luxury SUV debuted in 2013 as something of revelation. Small, luxurious, and fuel efficient, the Encore also represents a considerable bargain at its starting price of $24,065.

Going into its fourth model year, the 2016 Buick Encore comes to market with a few changes. After fitting Encore with OnStar’s 4G LTE connectivity and WiFi hotspot capability as standard equipment for the 2015 model year, the marque is offering the diminutive crossover with a new Sport Touring trim package and three new exterior colors (River Rock Metallic, Graphite Gray Metallic, and Summit White) for 2016. Also, the 2016 Buick Encore is offered with a new set of seven-spoke, 18-inch wheels with an Ultra-Bright (read: very shiny) finish.

Trim Packages & Pricing

With the addition of the new Sport Touring package, the 2016 Buick Encore is offered in five different states of trim. These include the $24,065 Base Encore, the $26,355 Encore Convenience, the $28,300 Encore Leather, and $29,785 Encore Premium. Encore Sport Touring starts at $27,350.

Standard features include 18-inch wheels, a seven-inch touchscreen with smartphone app integration, heated exterior rearview mirrors, Bluetooth, cruise control, a tilt/telescoping steering wheel, cloth and synthetic leather upholstery, roof rack side rails, and a rear-view camera.

Encore Convenience adds foglights, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, remote start, dual-zone automatic climate control, an auto-dimming inside rearview mirror, and a 120-volt AC outlet.

Encore Leather adds leather upholstery (big surprise there, right?), heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and memory settings for the driver’s seat.

Encore Premium builds upon this with the addition of front and rear proximity sensor arrays, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, automatic windshield wipers, and a seven-speaker Bose audio system,

Encore Sport Touring gains a rear spoiler, a specific 18-inch wheel, and a more powerful version of the 1.4-liter turbocharged engine.

Exterior Design

Like its showroom-mates, the 2016 Buick Encore benefits nicely from the contemporary styling language of the Buick brand. Signature elements include a waterfall grille, chrome accents and surrounds, portholes on the hood, and painted lower panels. Standard body-color door handles with chrome strips and a styled, stainless steel exhaust tip add a premium look.

Further distinguishing the little Buick as a luxury model, blue-accented halogen composite projector-beam headlamps and detailed taillamps adorn the Encore’s exterior treatment. Solidly affixing the Encore to the ground, a set of 18-inch, five-spoke painted aluminum wheels are standard. As we mentioned previously, a nice set of seven-spoke Ultra-Bright aluminum wheels are newly available for 2016.

Interior Features

The interior styling of the 2016 Buick Encore is anchored by a flowing instrument panel, which wraps naturally into the door panels. The central instrument panel houses the seven-inch monitor. Nicely simulated wood and soft touch surfaces give the Encore’s handsome cabin a warm and upscale appearance.

An all-Ebony or a contemporary mix of dark and light tones distinguishes the cabin’s color schemes, which is refreshingly accented with ice-blue ambient lighting—along with judicious applications of chrome and woodgrain embellishments.

Trimmed either in a cloth/leatherette combination, or the optional premium leather, the artfully sculpted seats serve as a nice focal point, tying the look of the Encore’s interior treatment together quite nicely.

Comfort & Cargo Capacity

Resolutely delivering upon the high seating position aficionados of the crossover suv covet so determinedly, the Encore also gifts its occupants with all-day comfort. While Encore’s size might lead one to consider it primarily a city car, the fact is Encore is more than capable of holding its own over long distances as well.

Be apprised though, we’re talking a compact crossover suv here, so be realistic before you try to coerce full-size adults into its back seat—however, if you do, and you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of legroom up front, they’ll be OK to ride to lunch or a ballgame back there.

A big part of what makes Encore so comfortable is Buick’s QuietTuning. Specific measures are taken to absorb unwanted sounds and mitigate vibrations. The headliner is acoustically treated, sound absorbing material is fitted under the engine cover and in the wheelwells, a quiet running alternator is specified, the exterior rearview mirrors are aerodynamically optimized for quiet airflow around them, and the windshield is acoustic laminated. Additionally, the windshield and side windows are extra thick.

All of these efforts are buttressed by Buick’s first application of Bose Active Noise Cancellation. Ceiling mounted microphones “listen” for engine noise to determine its frequency range. Counteracting sound waves are then generated from Encore’s audio system to mute unpleasant sounds from the engine compartment.

Maximum cargo capacity is 48.4 cubic feet with the rear seats folded. With the seats deployed, Encore affords 18.8 cubic feet—this is quite impressive when you consider the size of the 2016 Buick Encore.

Safety

Garnering top safety scores from both NHTSA and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, the 2016 Buick Encore is rated a five star car by NHTSA and a Top Safety Pick by the IIHS. Available safety features include proximity sensor arrays, rear cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning, and lane departure warning.

OnStar endows Encore with stolen vehicle tracking and intervention, roadside assistance, remote door unlocking, and automatic crash notification. Standard safety features include antilock disc brakes, traction and stability control, front seat knee airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, side curtain airbags, and a rearview camera.

Engines

The all-new 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder Sport Touring engine generates 153 horsepower and 177 ft-lbs of torque. This is up considerably from the 138 horsepower and 148 ft-lbs of torque from the base 2016 Buick Encore’s engine of the same displacement. Both engines are mated to six-speed automatic transmissions and the buyer’s choice of front- or all-wheel drive.

Stop/start technology is incorporated to maximize fuel efficiency. While fuel economy numbers have yet to be released for the Sport Touring engine. The base powerplant is estimated to return 25 mpg in the city, 33 on the highway and 28 combined in the front-drive powertrain. With all-wheel drive, it’s rated at 23 city, 30 highway, and 26 combined.

Performance

It might be small in size, but when it comes to living up to Buick’s reputation for quiet and smoothness, the Encore comes across just as big as its siblings. Don’t let the Encore’s tidy dimensions fool you, though; this is a Buick product through and through.

If we’re to be absolutely candid, yes, the ultra-short wheelbase does impose certain limitations in terms of choppiness over surface irregularities; after all, you can’t completely refute the laws of physics. However, at steady state, on all but the most egregiously neglected pavement, the Encore’s quiet and sophisticated ride qualities are surprisingly notable.

Keep in mind, though, the standard 2016 Buick Encore models are configured to favor ride over handling. Now, with that said, Encore acquits itself admirably around town thanks to its diminutive dimensions and responsive steering rack. But it isn’t really designed to show you a good time on fast twisty back roads.

While we’re being frank, we’d also be remiss if we neglected to mention the little 1.4-liter engine—while perfectly adequate around town—does require you to plan ahead for passing and getting up to speed when entering fast highways with a short ramp.

While we have yet to experience the increased power output of Encore Sport Touring’s engine, we’re looking very forward to its performance gains, as we’ve always known the Encore had the potential to be more fun to drive.

Final Thoughts

Punching a huge hole in the “go big or go home” theory of SUV design, Buick’s Encore handily demonstrates luxurious attributes can indeed be enjoyed in a compact package. As one of the first of the new breed of ultra small luxury models from American manufacturers, Encore is a solid offering. With the new Sport Touring package on offer, the littlest Buick should now hold more appeal for driving enthusiasts, as well.

All in all, we’re impressed with the design, fit, finish, and execution of the 2016 Buick Encore. You’ll also find a wealth of the latest tech. If you really don’t need to carry a lot of people and stuff around, but you like the high seating position and other attributes of a crossover sport utility, Encore might just float your boat.

Pros & Cons

The 2016 Buick Encore has an upscale look and feel, plus it’s perfectly sized for taming city streets, and suitably comfortable and quiet—even on the highway. It also delivers a long list of available tech features, and commendable fuel economy. With that said, the base engine could be more powerful (see the new Sport Touring package for relief).