mmarshall

Consumer Reports has ranked the Buick Encore GX among its most reliable three-year-old vehicles. That's remarkable, considering that it was an all-new design that year....and first-year designs, particularly from American nameplates, can often be troublesome. My own 2021 GX has not been perfect (I'll go into its relatively few problems in my upcoming two-year ownership summary)...but they have been of the minor-annoyance-type of problem, not any truly serious issues.


In all fairness, I also accept the fact that, countering the high reliability rating, is the relatively low owner-satisfaction rating (which is certainly not my opinion of it, as I love mine).......perhaps (?) because this is not a particularly exciting vehicle to drive from an enthusiast point of view. It is essentially a vanilla-driving small crossover with Buick-comfort in the ride, interior, fit/finish, and sound-insulation....although the small three-pot turbo engine can get a little raspy under some conditions. Still, I find it the closest thing currently in the American market to the perfect vehicle for my driving conditions/desires......although I'd consider trading for a hybrid version if GM made one. An all-electric version will be coming, but on the next-generation version, not this one that I like so much.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/02...sumer-reports/

2020 Buick Encore GX Among Most Reliable Three-Year-Old Vehicles, Says Consumer Reports

•  
  • BY TREY HAWKINS
  • — FEB 3, 2023

2020 Buick Encore GX ST

Sponsored Links

The 2020 Buick Encore GX represented the first model year of the first-generation Buick B-segment crossover. Now, Consumer Reports has ranked the 2020 model as one of the most reliable three-year-old vehicles on the market.

This high praise comes as the result of a 5/5 score in six major reliability trouble spots, including:

• Engine major
• Engine minor
• Engine Cooling
• Transmission major
• Transmission minor
• Drive system

These scores, among a slew of other reliability rankings, give the 2020 Encore GX an overall reliability score of 4/5. This places the 2020 model at number two of five vehicles in its segment.



This strong reliability ranking is contradicted by a low owner satisfaction rating of 2/5. Owners ranked the driving experience at 63/100, comfort at 72/100, value at 65/100, and styling at 86/100.

As a whole, the 2020 Encore GX performed very well against its competition, with an overall score of 65/100. This score beats out the likes of the Audi Q3 and Lexus UX, which posted scores of 63/100 and 55/100, respectively. Only the Buick Encore ranked higher, earning an 84/100.

It’s worth noting that CR originally gave the 2020 Encore GX a reliability score of 3/5.



As a reminder, the 2020 Buick Encore GX was offered with two engine options, including the turbocharged 1.2L I3 LIH gasoline engine, rated at 137 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque, and the turbocharged 1.3L I3 L3T gasoline engine, rated at 155 horsepower and 174 pound-feet of torque. The LIH engine was mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) in FWD configuration, while the L3T connected to the GM nine-speed automatic transmission in AWD configuration.

Under the current-generation Encore GX’s skin is the GM VSS-F vehicle set, while production for the U.S. takes place at the GM Korea plant in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. Chinese-spec models are produced at the SAIC-GM Dongyue South plant in China.

Margate330

Nice review mmarshall.

Couple of questions for ya.
If you were in the market for a new car, would you buy this car again or maybe upsize it to the Enclave?
Also, as ya'll know, I'm a fan of Buick interiors but just wondering in the GM world what do you think about the Buick vs Cadilac interiors?

I know Caddy can be a little more on the bling side and Buick takes a more conservative approach but tasteful in my opinion, just wondering which one you prefer.
The Encore is probably a lighter car than the Enclave, it's bigger brother, but do you feel it has adequte power and fuel economy?

mmarshall

Thanks, but it's not a review....my reviews are much more involved than that. I'm also planning a 2-year ownership write-up shortly.

Definitely, no question about it, I'd stick with the Encore GX. The Enclave is simply too large for my needs (which includes a lot of maneuvering at close-quarters and small parking spaces). In fact, I traded a big Buick (Lacrosse) for the Encore GX, because the Lacrosse itself was too big. The Enclave also cannot match the Encore's GX's reliability record, and I don't like its L-pattern E-shifter (same shifter that was in the Lacrosse). The Envision is smaller than the Enclave, but still a little large for my needs, does not seem as solidly-constructed as the Encore GX, and I don't like its push-pull shifter tabs/buttons, either. The Encore GX got almost everything right....it's virtually the perfect vehicle for my daily needs, although the next-generation GX, from the images that I've seen, may not be quite as nice inside or out as this one was.


For me?............absolutely. Although it won't satisfy some of the speed-freaks here on Car Chat, for a little three-pot, the 1.3L turbo has a decent amount of torque at low RPMs....plenty for starting out and accelerating at low speeds. Its torque-peak is at just 1600 RPM...barely above idle...although it starts to run out of breath as speed and RPMs climb. Gas mileage is OK but not the best in its class....low-mid-20s in cold stop/go conditions, mid-20s in typical warm suburban driving, and 30-35 on the highway at cruise. I briefly hit 40 on I-95 a few days ago. And, unlike other small crossovers, it has a button to engage/disengage AWD, so you can run it in FWD for better economy most of the time...as I do.


Cadillacs, in general, don't impress me.....They usually cost more than Buicks of comparable size, and, except perhaps for the Escalade, often don't provide as much ride-comfort or plushness in the interiors. Recent Cadillac sedans (several of which have been dropped), IMO, simply, went after the sporting-crowd too much and forgot about ride comfort with their firm suspensions. They tried to emulate BMW instead of their traditional comfort-oriented buyers, who made the company what it was and kept them in buisnesss. As for bling, I think Buick, in most cases, actually does more luxurious interiors. I will give the latest Escalade props, though....Cadillac did do a nice interior on that one.

Cadillacs DO have a better warranty than Buicks (6/70 and 4/50 instead of 5/60 and 3/36).....although Buick had that same Cadillac warranty up until a couple of years ago.....an (apparent) victim of cost-cutting.

The recent Lincoln Continental, IMO, even with its FWD Taurus-based design, was a far nicer sedan than its RWD-based Cadillac CT6 competition (I reviewed both of them), but the Continental simply sat in showrooms and went nowhere.....another victim of the public's mass-conversion to crossovers.

Margate330

Here's some good shots of the 1.3L Turbo.

I can see the oil dipstick but I couldn't find the transmission fluid dipstick, hope they didn't delete it like so many newer cars, I don't like when they do that.

Also can't see if it is a normal transmision or a CVT.

SW17LS

Transmission fluid dipstick? I havent had one of those in decades. I don't have an oil dipstick now lol

mmarshall

That big plastic engine cover obscures a lot.

FWD models get either the 1.2L or 1.3L turbo-three engines and the CVT. AWD models (which I have) get the 1.3L and the GM 9-speed 9T40 automatic. Neither version, as I can tell, has a dipstick for the transmission....and no mention of one in the Owners' Manual.

In some ways, it may (?) be better not to have a dipstick for the transmission. If the dipstick is not replaced in the long tube properly, it can allow pressurized transmission fluid to escape out the tube...which doesn't happen with sealed transmissions, unless the seals or gaskets are bad.