2023 Buick Encore GX Reviews, Pricing & Specs

Buick has a history of great designs going back to the 1938 Y-Job, widely regarded as the first concept car. None of that history is apparent in the Encore GX’s styling.

We understand Buick designers’ hesitance to repeat retro styling cues like the brand’s once-famous portholes, but the Encore GX is a break with the past that doesn’t take things in a new direction. The rounded exterior surfaces and tall stance give the Encore GX awkward proportions that don’t convey the high-riding SUV look that has attracted buyers to this market segment in droves. Even the Subaru Crosstrek looks more SUV-like, and it’s literally a hatchback with lifted suspension and some plastic body cladding.

Our test car had the optional Sport Touring Package, which attempts to jazz things up a bit with different front and rear bumpers, a black mesh grille with red inserts, rocker and body-side moldings, and 18-inch wheels with a two-tone silver/gray finish. The effect is very subtle however; you’d need to park this car next to a standard Encore to really notice the difference.

Our Encore GX Essence test car had the expected interior features of a top-trim model, including leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, and eight-way power front passenger seat, but the mostly plastic bits covering the rest of the interior reminded us that even the fanciest Encore GX is still at the bottom of Buick’s model hierarchy. Fit and finish seemed quite good, however, and we appreciated the minimal amount of glare-generating shiny plastic.

Those well-fitted materials weren’t arranged in an interesting way, however. The blob-like dashboard and door panels reminded us of some of the worst aspects of 1990s automotive design. The one memorable feature was the instrument cluster, with has two round binnacles with housings pointing outward, nicely framing a small digital display.

Encore GX buyers can choose between two turbocharged three-cylinder engines shared with the Buick’s Chevy Trailblazer platform-mate. The standard 1.2-liter turbo-three produces 137 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque, while the optional 1.3-liter engine makes 155 hp and 174 lb-ft of torque. Front-wheel drive (FWD) is standard, while all-wheel drive (AWD) is optional with the 1.3-liter engine.

Interestingly, Buick employs different transmissions for the FWD and AWD drivetrains. Both the 1.2-liter and 1.3-liter FWD models use a continuously variable transmission (CVT), while AWD models get a nine-speed automatic transmission with conventional gears.

Our 1.3-liter AWD test car’s acceleration felt stronger than the specs suggest, with a nice engine note to boot, but getting the most out of the engine required a bit of patience. Power isn’t delivered smoothly, which is to be expected of a small-displacement engine relying on a turbocharger to boost output, and coupled to a nine-speed automatic, which can easily be caught out several gears too high. You can shift manually, but the toggle provided on the shift lever isn’t ideal for the task. It’s better to take a slow-and-steady approach to throttle applications so the drivetrain can catch up.

A comfortable ride and a quiet cabin are signature Buick qualities, and the Encore GX delivers on them. While we were always aware of bumps on the slowly disintegrating roads of our test route, the well-damped suspension kept impacts from feeling truly harsh. The Encore GX also gets standard active noise cancellation as part of Buick’s Quiet Tuning package—a feature normally seen on more expensive vehicles that made highway cruises a lot more pleasant than in other small crossovers.

Above-average ride quality and noise reduction are the only notable aspects of the driving experience. The Encore GX imitated larger SUVs in all the wrong ways, feeling ponderous and awkward in most situations. The steering was slow and lifeless, and the same suspension tuning that maximized ride comfort also allowed for significant body roll.

Passenger space is competitive with similar-sized rival crossovers. Headroom in both rows is within an inch of the Hyundai Kona, Mazda CX-30, and Subaru Crosstrek. The Subaru offers a bit more front legroom, however, while back-seat passengers will get a bit room to stretch out in a Kia Seltos.

The Seltos also offers more cargo space than the Encore GX, but the Buick’s 23.5 cubic feet of space with the rear seats in place and 50.2 cubic feet with the rear seats folded is still respectable in this segment, topping the Kona and CX-30.

Numbers aside, we did notice a couple of issues. The front seats are placed far inboard, squeezing the driver and front passenger close together and eroding any feeling of spaciousness. While well-cushioned, the front seats themselves weren’t particularly comfortable either, thanks to a lack of thigh support.

Buick did at least make the most of the available space when it comes to small-item storage. Despite the limited cabin size, engineers found room for large door pockets and a center-console tray that means you won’t have to use the cupholders for things like spare change or a bottle of hand sanitizer. The available wireless phone charger is notably space efficient as well. Phones sit parallel to the centerline of the vehicle, rather than perpendicular, so the tray takes up less space.

Instrumentation was well-executed. We particularly liked the placement of the engine start/stop notification within the tachometer, as well as the pedestrian-detection warning light shaped like the silhouette of a person. Both convey information clearly. We appreciated the array of hard buttons as well, which are generally easier to use than touchscreen menus, but wish Buick had included one for the 360-degree camera view.

All Encore GX models get a standard 8-inch touchscreen and 4.2-inch driver information display instrument-cluster screen, nestled between the analog gauges (the Encore GX isn’t available with a fully digital instrument cluster like the Hyundai Kona). A built-in navigation system is optional, along with a head-up display, wireless phone charging, and an eight-speaker Bose audio system.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, a Wi-Fi hotspot, and SiriusXM satellite radio are standard as well. Two front USB ports (one Type A, one Type C) are included as well, but back-seat passengers don’t get any.

The interface more or less carries over from other recent GM vehicles, with similar looking graphics and menu layouts. That’s not a problem, as we found the infotainment system easy to use, with graphics that looked nicer than many competitor systems’. The 8-inch touchscreen is fairly small by current standards, but that didn’t cause any problems, and it’s hard to see how Buick would have fitted a larger screen into the dashboard in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Standard driver assist features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, forward collision warning, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, automatic high beams, and a Teen Driver system that lets paranoid parents limit the audio volume and set speed warnings to reign in young drivers. To get the full array of safety features, though, you’ll have to dip into the options list.

Features like adaptive cruise control, automatic park assist, blind spot monitoring, and rear cross traffic alert are all part of option packages. Also available are a 360-degree camera system and the rearview camera mirror previously seen on numerous other GM vehicles, which shows a camera feed in the rearview mirror for a clearer view. It not only eliminates blind spots from the roof pillars, but also circumvents a dirty rear window.

The Encore GX was an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) 2022 Top Safety Pick. We don’t know if that award will carry over for 2023, but the top “Good” ratings in all IIHS crash tests do apply to the 2023 model. So does the lower “Average” score for child-seat anchor ease of use, however.

The 2023 Encore GX also received a five-star overall safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with five stars in frontal and side crash tests, and four stars in the rollover category.

The 1.3-liter FWD powertrain actually has a slight advantage in fuel economy over the smaller 1.2-liter version, returning an EPA-rated 30 mpg combined (29 mpg city, 32 mpg highway). The 1.2-liter FWD powertrain has the same combined and city ratings, but is rated at 31 mpg highway. AWD models 1.3-liter models are rated at 27 mpg combined (26 mpg city, 29 mpg highway).

We observed a 24.9 mpg average after a week of driving, which isn’t very fuel-efficient considering all of the measures Buick took to maximize gas mileage, including the tiny engine, nine-speed automatic, and engine start/stop system. Based on our experience, they don’t add up to much in the real world.

The Encore GX gets a three-year, 36,000-mile, bumper-to-bumper warranty and five-year, 60,000-mile, powertrain warranty. Those are fairly standard warranty terms, showing that upgrading to the premium Buick brand doesn’t necessarily buy more customer benefits.

Pricing starts at $27,095 for the base 1.2-liter Preferred FWD model (all prices include a mandatory $1,195 destination charge). Our 1.3-liter Essence AWD test car had a $31,795 base price, but numerous options, including the Advanced Technology Package ($1,790), Convenience Package ($770), Sport Touring Package ($695), Bose premium audio system ($595), hands-free power liftgate ($595), Cinnabar Metallic paint ($495), and Safety Package II ($200) brought the as-tested MSRP to $36,910 with destination.

At that price, the Encore GX exemplifies Buick’s positioning between mainstream and luxury brands. The price of our well-equipped test car was about the same as the base price for a Lexus UX or Volvo XC40, but a similarly equipped Chevy Trailblazer can be had for about $4,000 less. The Trailblazer shares a platform and powertrains with the Encore GX, and can be had with most of the same tech and convenience features, including active noise cancelation, Bose audio, and the digital rearview mirror. With that in mind, the Buick doesn’t seem like a great value. It feels like a mainstream crossover with a premium badge, not a bargain luxury vehicle.

Overall, the Encore GX is a decent small SUV, but it fails to stand out among the numerous similarly sized crossovers on the market. Buick’s EV reset can’t come soon enough.