Skip to main content

2014 Buick Encore review

2014 buick encore review front angle
Image used with permission by copyright holder
2014 Buick Encore
MSRP $24.00
“Most of Buick’s lineup might be stuck in the 1990s, but the Encore – despite its looks – is hugely modern and wondrously tech-savvy for the money.”
Pros
  • Tech features
  • Affordable price
  • Relatively spacious interior
Cons
  • Outdated exterior styling
  • Bland interior

General Motors filed bankruptcy a few years ago and began slashing brands. I thought, surely, Buick would get the axe along with Hummer, Saturn, and Oldsmobile.

Recommended Videos

For some reason, though, GM kept Buick on its books. This left me scratching my head with dismay.

The Encore looks as though it was designed by a man who’s never seen a car that wasn’t built by General Motors.

Unlike the brands GM kept alive, Buick didn’t seem to have an identity. Cadillac is the new BMW-fighting American brand. Chevy remains the economical family brand it’s always been. Buick, though, just seems to have simply adopted the old codgers who were scared away from Cadillac when it was rebranded as sport luxury. Why keep such a moniker?

Over the last few years, Buick answered my questions with a few new and surprising products.

First it unleashed the entry-level Verano, which is based upon the German-designed Opel Astra. While I’d never recommend the Verano over, say, the Mercedes CLA-Class, I would say it’s a fine car.

Building on that, Buick has released another variant of that Opel platform in the shape of a compact CUV called the Encore. And that is what I found myself piloting around Portland this week.

Looks and amenities

I’ve been debating my feelings on the exterior design of the Encore, and I think I’ve come to a conclusion: I like it, but just.

Like the rest of the Buick line, the Encore looks as though it was designed by a man who’s never seen a car that wasn’t built by General Motors. If the Saturn and Oldsmobile brands were your visual standard, you’d be quite proud of the Encore’s confused lines and accents. Hold it up against a comparably priced Audi Q3 or Mercedes GLA, and you’ll wonder what century the Encore is from.

Look at the thing. It has those silly, outdated hood vent things, a stubby, beak-like nose, and – for some reason – blue accenting in the headlights. With features like that, it should come with a complementary N’Sync CD. It’s wildly twee.

All that said, I kind of like it. Yes, it’s a body only its designer could love. But despite its 1990s, micro-luxury looks, it sits proud, as if it’s chiming, “my mom says I’m the handsomest boy in school!”

For that, it finds a place in my heart.

Power and handling

Under the Encore’s not-so-rakish hood is a turbocharged 1.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine making 138 horsepower, which is mated to a six-speed automatic that sends power down to the front wheels. The EPA rates the Encore at 25 mpg city, 33 highway, with a combined score of 28.

Off the line, the power isn’t great – nor is traction. In the wet, anything more than three-quarters throttle will send one wheel spinning. And when it does grip, power won’t wow anyone under the age of 75. It’ll get up and go and you won’t feel like pulling over to whip some motivation into it; you just won’t be wowed either.

Buick Encore engine ecotec
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This isn’t to say the powertrain is bad. I kind of liked it. It’s got a great sound for such a little motor. Compared to other compact CUVs and it’s downright sporting. Korean engines, by comparison, buzz. This Ecotec has a mighty little roar. Again, it’s plucky. It’s scrappy.

Surprise

Yes, I was surprised Buick received a stay of execution in 2008. That aside, it’s the Encore that really surprised me.

Although it’s designed on a German platform and sold by an American automaker, the Encore is built in Korea with parts out of China. That doesn’t have any broader relevance; it’s just interesting. I just wanted you to know that.

That out of the way, let’s talk interior. The interior – just like the exterior – isn’t anything to send Buick a thank-you letter for. It’s grey and looks like most GM products. Underneath that uninspiring sea of grey buttons is shockingly impressive list of features.

For the $30,685, you get: forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, rearview camera, side blind zone alert, rear cross-traffic alert, dual climate controls, 7-inch color IntelliLink display, Bose sound system, Bluetooth, and heated leather seats and steering wheel.

That’s more kit than you get any pretty much any car under $50,000, let alone $30,000.

Finalities

When it comes to evaluating a car, sometimes you have to sit back and look at the bigger picture. Yes it has outdated looks and its interior, though roomy, isn’t a knockout, unlike those of its competitors.

For the money, though, it’s an absolute bargain. For $30,000 you get a car that has all the comfort and features you’d expect from a Mercedes for about half of the cost. Yes, it won’t win any beauty pageants, nor will it win any races. For a comfortable runabout, full of the best tech the automotive industry has to offer, it’s a winner.

I still don’t really ‘get’ Buick. But I get the Encore. And I like it.

Highs

  • Tech features
  • Affordable price
  • Relatively spacious interior

Lows

  • Outdated exterior styling
  • Bland interior
Nick Jaynes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick Jaynes is the Automotive Editor for Digital Trends. He developed a passion for writing about cars working his way…
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E first drive review: Electric muscle
Blue Ford Mustang Mach-E on a rooftop

For its first serious attempt at a mass-market electric car, Ford decided to launch a crossover SUV inspired by one of its most iconic models, the Mustang.

The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E will likely prove controversial with traditional fans, who are used to Mustangs having only two doors, with V8 engines under the hood. While the original Mustang is a stereotypical muscle car with decades of history, the Mach-E takes its place in a growing field of electric crossovers, competing with the Tesla Model Y and the upcoming Volkswagen ID.4 and Nissan Ariya.

Read more
Kia PHEVs’ electric range will double to 60 miles
kia phevs electric range will double to 60 miles cq5dam thumbnail 1024 680

Besides making headlines about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of ending federal rebates on EVs in the U.S., Kia is setting its sights on doubling the range its plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) can run on while in electric mode.

With affordability and finding chargers remaining among the main hurdles to full EV adoption, drivers this year have increasingly turned to PHEVs, which can function in regular hybrid gas/electric mode, or in full electric mode. The issue for the latter, however, is that range has so far remained limited.

Read more
Volvo’s EX90 electric SUV features an Abbey Road sound system
volvo ex90 abbey road sound system 5 59366c

With deliveries of Volvo’s much-anticipated EX90 model finally coming through in the U.S., drivers who are also music fans may be heartened by discovering what the electric SUV’s sound system is made of.

They might even get a cosmic experience if they decide to play The Beatles’ 1965 classic hit Drive My Car on that sound system: The EX90 is the first vehicle ever to feature an Abbey Road Studios’ mode, providing a sound quality engineered straight out of the world’s most famous music recording studios. The Beatles enshrined Abbey Road in history, when they gave the studios' name to their last album in 1969.

Read more