A/W: 2015 Buick Encore AWD Premium

[kevm14]

http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews ... dailydrive

Least relevant vehicle ever, at least for me. Only putting it here because it appears to be a good product doing good sales, and it is not a body on frame SUV or something with a V8 in it.

[kevm14]

On a more serious note, this does sort of look like a shrunken Buick Enclave, and I love it. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Enclave’s styling, I think that it looks great on this Encore. In fact, there isn’t a whole lot that that I don’t like about the Encore. I would go as far as to say that the Encore solves all of the little gripes I have about the much-beloved Honda Fit. The Encore is extremely spacious on the inside, the engine doesn’t sound like it wants to grenade at highway speed, and the Encore feels substantial in the steering wheel.

The feel of quality is abundant in the Encore, which is fair considering the price. The materials chosen for the interior felt of quality, and everything was ergonomically placed.

Pretty high praise.

[Bob]

This thread is proof that your water supply must be full of the GM Kool-Aid.

[kevm14]

Hey I didn't say I was going to buy one. Or that anyone else should buy one. It's a ridiculous vehicle segment. But the fact that it IS good (in its segment) is...surprising. Right? Hence the post.

Also, there are two vehicles parked close to my water supply: the Ranger and my Caprice. My Caprice leaks more fluids so...there you go.

[Bob]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... est-review

Looks like the Encore just got sportier! 17.0 @ 81 baby!

[bill25]

This thread is proof that your water supply must be full of the GM Kool-Aid.

Yeah. This is my favorite type of useless post. A car I will never care about, and Kevin defending it and being proud of it's pathetic success in a sad, insignificant market (like the Cobalt SS) full well knowing that he will never own one.

And I know it will come up so the definition of the insignificant markets are :
For the Buick - Geriatric RAV4 market - very exciting.
Cobalt SS - Poor idiot wishes it was an Acura Integra Type-R, but could only afford the ugly American POS version that depreciates faster than used bubblegum, and a Type-R badge because his friends are stupid enough to believe Japan made a Cobalt Type-R market. Yeah that one.

[kevm14]

Yeah. This is my favorite type of useless post.

First of all, fail. That quote was 7 months old. And on the topic of kool aid, I don't know if you guys can read but that quote in my post was not my writing. So it's bullshit to call me out on that. And second of all, all I wrote was that there was some high praise for what is an irrelevant class of vehicle (said right in the first post - reading is fundamental).

Kool-aid would be finding this vehicle, reading lousy reviews and then spewing some kind of GM marketing that states how good the vehicle is. All I said was this is not what I would consider core to GM's key abilities and it sounds decent (in an irrelevant class, as I stated up front - I am trying this again since no one can read).

Cobalt SS - Poor idiot wishes it was an Acura Integra Type-R, but could only afford the ugly American POS version that depreciates faster than used bubblegum, and a Type-R badge because his friends are stupid enough to believe Japan made a Cobalt Type-R market. Yeah that one.

I like that you keep bringing this car up. It must bother you that it was really good, and outside of a tight autocross track, will dispatch with a Type R in any other circumstance. And speaking of talking out of your ass, the Cobalt SS appears to have similar resale to the Mazdaspeed3. And forget it if you want a sedan - ultra rare and the values are even higher.

Did you have anything else or are we done here?

[bill25]

Yeah. This is my favorite type of useless post.

there was some high praise for what is an irrelevant class of vehicle

[kevm14]

And? Did I break some law? Feel free to not reply if it does not interest you.

[kevm14]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... est-review

Looks like the Encore just got sportier! 17.0 @ 81 baby!

Haha. So it's slow but drives well, is quiet and seats 4 comfortably. It even passes your auto-manual test of excellence (well, one of them):

When in manual mode, the Sport Touring won’t upshift until the driver requests a gearchange—even when the engine hits its fuel cutoff.

Still not entirely sure who the market is for these cars. Competitors include:

the Fiat 500X, the Jeep Renegade, and the Mazda CX-3.

Which I don't know or care about. FWIW, the Encore is the most Buick-like of the bunch....

I mean, yeah:

My grandma has a '14 Malibu and says her next vehicle will be an Encore simply due to the ease of getting in and out (you know).

The crusade that Buick is on to attract a younger audience, has a long way to go. A new GNX or that ravishing Avista would be a great step in the right direction. If Buick doesn't do something quickly, they'll rapidly fall out of relevance when autonomous cars are ferrying the geriatrics of the not-so-distant future, when they don't have that demographic to lean on.

That doesn't make the Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade or Mazda CX-3 automatically better though. What I'd like to see is GM be competitive or class leading in every segment in which they compete. Though this is a pretty uninteresting segment.