Yahoo Autos Tested: 2020 Buick Encore GX Might Bore Us, but It Does the Job
There are two generally accepted schools of thought when it comes to using pies as economic metaphors. In the first, the pie is growing, so there'll be enough for everyone, and you can achieve your business and financial goals just by going along for the ride. In the second, the pie is the same size as it always has been and always will be, and the only way to succeed is to take more of it for yourself. However, automotive executives in charge of crossover development have long been operating on a third paradigm: the idea that there are new pies being baked all the time and that grabbing a slice of a new pie is paramount.
The 2020 Encore GX is Buick's slice of a new pie. It shares its name with the tiny Encore, but it's a different vehicle altogether and plays in a new segment slotted above the old Encore, which continues on, and below best-sellers such as the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. The GX offers a pair of three-cylinder powertrains, a comfortable interior, and plenty of cargo space. Buick reckons that the GX's new segment—er, pie—will have 1.5 million customers worldwide.
A basic front-drive GX with a 138-hp 1.2-liter three-cylinder starts at $25,195, but add all-wheel drive, the 1.3-liter engine, the top Essence trim level, and a few more options, and you can get to our test car's $35,720 price. Skip a few niceties, though, and it's easy to come in at less than $30,000 for a well-equipped GX.
The GX isn't very thrilling on paper. For starters, it's a small crossover shaped like a potato. And even with the most powerful engine—a 1.3-cylinder with a nine-speed automatic and all-wheel drive—you only get 155 horsepower. It just doesn't feel like that's enough, and a 9.3-second run to 60 mph and a 17.0-second quarter-mile time aren't even close to something we'd call quick. Merging onto a freeway from 50 to 70 takes a long 7.0 seconds, which is significantly slower than the far cheaper Hyundai Venue. At least the three-cylinder is quiet. At full throttle, it only raises its voice to 73 decibels, and a 70-mph cruise is a luxury-car-like 67 decibels, 2 quieter than the Chevrolet Trailblazer, which shares the Encore GX's underpinnings and powertrains.
We found ourselves working the tiny engine pretty hard to keep up with traffic. In our hands, it returned a lackluster 22 mpg, short of its EPA estimates of 26 city and 29 highway. It did better on our 200-mile loop at a steady 75 mph, where it hit 30 mpg.
