Performance
Comfort
Fuel Economy
Fun To Drive
Interior Design
Exterior Design
Build Quality
Reliability
Review
So I think this all needs to be prefaced with remembering what the Encore is meant to do. It's not a sports car, it's not a rugged truck, nor is it a full blown luxury crossover. Plus, consideration needs to be made for end of year lease deals (and purchase deals for that matter), as price has to be a major factor in how impressive it is. The car is NOT by any means fast. It's basically slow and down on power. However, it is enough for the city and adequate for road trips. Just step on it harder over the hills. I was worried before I took it on my first long trip, but it had no problems cruising along at ... the speed limit... and maybe sometimes a bit higher. The ace though, is how quiet and comfortable this thing is. After combined 5 hours of driving, I had no aches or pains, was not fatigued at all, and felt the time and miles passed very quickly. Even better, I averaged 34mpg for the day, which included some stop and go and city driving too. My regular commutes still get 28-30 mpg, so rather satisfied. Surprisingly, the chassis and handling feels nice and tight, not at all what I remembered of buick of before. Brakes are ok - progressive pedal. At the Preferred level (I feel it's basically the base model), the interior still feels nice enough to be close to premium levels. The car has great use of interior space at minimum exterior size - great for city stuff. All in all, I am so pleasantly surprised by the refinement of this tiny thing. With deals putting it on par with some of the cheap economy cars, why not?! Fabulous