It always seemed a little odd that General Motors would take their European Opel and Vauxhall models, which are very much aimed at everyday affordable motoring, and present them to American buyers with a Buick badge on them, and a price tag which reflected their premium ambition. But that’s exactly what they’ve been doing ever since closing down the Saturn brand in 2009. For sure it gave Buick a wider range of models beyond the large LaCrosse saloon and the Enclave SUV, but the idea of an Insignia, wearing Buick Regal badges, as a competitor to an Acura TLX let alone a 3 Series or Audi A4 seemed somewhat ambitious, and the market generally agreed with relatively low sales. Undeterred, in 2012 Buick took the unlovable Mokka and turned it into the Encore. I guess the thinking was that there were no direct rivals with a sort of premium badge. Things got harder when for the 2015 model year, brand stablemate, Chevrolet, decided to offer to USA buyers their own version, the Trax, with a much lower price tag. Following the sale of GM’s European business to what we now know as Stellantis, both models have remained on US sale, as GM owned the rights to the designs. Both the Trax and the Encore received a mild update for 2017, but these cars have changed little over many years now. I sampled a Trax a while back, in 2018, but until now, the Encore has eluded me although there have generally always been a few in the Hertz fleet. 2022 marked the last year of production of the Encore, with the car being replaced by the very different Encore GX which have launched in 2020, so I guessed that if I were to try one (about which I had some mis-givings, but generally, I am keen to try anything once), it was going to need to be on this December 2022 trip, as they were largely now gone from the Hertz fleet.  Returning to Los Angeles after a week in Arizona, I spotted an Encore parked up, painted in a rather attractive red, called Winterberry Red Metallic. Never a fan of the European Mokka – one of the most unpleasant cars on offer in recent times – I wondered whether the American-ised version would prove less hateful. In theory I had a day to find out, but a couple of hours after collecting it, whilst up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere and a place devoid of mobile phone signal, the tpms lit up to tell me that there was a massive drop in pressure on one front tyre. Visually it looked OK, so I set off back down to the valley and a source of garages. The pressure did not go any lower, thankfully. I did stop at the first garage I came to and added air, but it seemed to make no difference to the reading. The only prudent thing to do was to return the car, so I headed back to Hertz and off-loaded it. There were no more Encore models on offer, so I took something else for the rest of the day. Was that a merciful release from a not very good car, or was I missing out on something decent? Read on!

US market Encore models use the familiar GM 1.4 litre Turbo engine, in two different states of tune. My test car was the less powerful one, with 138 bhp on offer. Frankly, this did not feel like enough. The Encore always felt slow, with particularly sluggish acceleration. Some of the problems may come from the six speed automatic transmission, which seemed particularly dim-witted, slow to change up and equally reluctant to change down. At least the Encore was decently quiet once underway. Despite the issues with the tyre – which happened when I was quite a way from the Hertz facility – I covered 120 miles and put in 4.3 gallons to fill it up. That works out at a rather unimpressive 27.9 mpg US or 33.34 mpg Imperial.

It is not just the lack of oomph that makes the Encore disappointing, as the driving demeanour is also pretty unimpressive. The steering is exceedingly light and completely devoid of any feel whatever. Whilst this does make the car easy to manoeuvre, once underway it definitely feels out of its depth as soon as you get to a curve. For sure there is good grip, but there is body roll even at quite a low speed and there is understeer if you do try to tackle the bends in the road with any gusto. It is not as if this because the car has been for ride comfort, as that was found sadly wanting, too. The Encore came on 215/55 R18 wheels. It was quite bumpy on the freeway, and although better up in the mountains, was never what you would call plush. There were no issues with the brakes which did what was required. There is a traditional pull-up handbrake fitted between the seats. All round visibility is as good as you get these days and the car’s stubby proportions meant that judging the front and back were easy. A Blind Spot Monitor is included.

Anyone familiar with the Mokka will recognise the interior of the Encore, though in the spirit of its upmarket ambitions, there are leather facings on the dash and the plastics are pleasingly soft to the touch. There is also a leather-wrapped steering wheel. The instrument layout is identical to the Mokka. That means you get a simple cluster with two large dials for the speedometer and rev counter and smaller units for fuel level and water temperature set up in the upper central part of the cluster. There is a trip computer display area between the two main dials, and you can cycle between the various menus with function on the left hand stalk. The steering wheel hub houses audio repeater and cruise control buttons. There are stock GM issue column stalks that you will find in almost all their current models. Lights, including an auto function, or from a dial on the dash to the left of the wheel. The 8” IntelliLink infotainment screen will be familiar to anyone who has driven a recent GM product, too. Functions here include GM OnStar, a 4G LTE wifi hotspot, Apple Car Play and Android Auto as well as XM Satellite radio, which was actually working despite the age of the test car. There are six audio speakers and sound quality was decent. The touchscreen proved reasonably easy to use and was quite responsive to commands. Beneath this are buttons and knobs for the dual zone automated climate control.

Seat upholstery is part leather, though it really does not feel to be of particularly high quality. Adjustment for the driver’s seat is electric whilst it remains manual for the passenger. Although I was able to get a good driving position from the various adjustments, I never managed to feel comfortable, with issues coming both from the seat cushion and the backrest. There is plenty of headroom thanks to the tall styling.

This is a small car by any standards, let alone American ones, and that will be very obvious when you look at the rear seats. There is not that much room here. If the front seats are set well back, then legroom is pretty tight, and the width of the car is such that this is definitely a place for two and not three. There is a drop-down central armrest which has cup holders in the upper surface and there are map pockets on the back of the front seats as well as some rather pokey door pockets.

The boot is equally modest in size, though at least it is a nice regular shape. There is a standard load cover. Unusually these days, the seat cushion tips up before the seat backrest drops down, and this results in a flat load platform and room for a lot more luggage. Inside the passenger compartment, there is a reasonable sized glovebox and there are modest door bins. There is no armrest cubby as the armrest is attached to the side of the seats but there is a recess in the centre console as well as the cupholders and there is a small lidded cubby over the driver’s left knee and a lidded area in front of the gearlever.

The 2018 Buick Encore is offered in no fewer than six trim levels: 1SV, Preferred, Sport Touring, Preferred II, Essence and Premium. Less expensive Encores come standard with a turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine (138 hp, 148 lb-ft), a six-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. From the Sport Touring trim level on up, there’s a more powerful 1.4-litre engine (153 hp, 177 lb-ft) available. Every trim aside from the base 1SV is also available with all-wheel drive as an option. For the most part, the base 1SV and Preferred trim levels are equipped similarly. On both, you get 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights, LED running lights, keyless ignition and entry, heated mirrors, roof rails, rear privacy glass, air-conditioning, cruise control, a power driver seat, a fold-flat front passenger seat and 60/40-split folding rear seats. Technology features include OnStar communications (with 4G LTE and an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot), a rearview camera, Bluetooth connectivity, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a six-speaker sound system with satellite radio and two USB ports. Also included is Buick’s IntelliLink electronics interface, which features an 8-inch touchscreen and smartphone app integration. On the Preferred, you also get floor mats and a cargo cover. Stepping up to the Sport Touring model means the addition of foglights, a rear spoiler and remote start to the base model’s features. Options include a seven-speaker Bose sound system and a blind-spot monitoring system. The Preferred II adds dual-zone automatic climate control, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a 120-volt household-style power outlet, and the blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert systems. Moving up to Essence adds LED headlights, leather upholstery, a six-way power passenger seat (with manual recline and power lumbar), heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and driver-seat memory settings. Finally, the top-of-the-line Premium trim adds front and rear parking sensors, a forward collision warning system, a lane departure warning system, automatic wipers and the seven-speaker Bose sound system. The Preferred II, Essence and Premium are available with the Experience Buick package, which adds 18-inch chromed alloy wheels, a sunroof and a navigation system. The latter two items are available separately on all but the base model.

Although my test of the Encore was curtailed by that tyre pressure warning, I don’t think that my conclusion would have been any different had I driven it for the whole day. And it is this: if you really do want a small GM car, then the Chevrolet Trax would seem to make more sense, as it is basically the same car, and several thousands of dollars cheaper. But really, just as with the Mokka in Europe, you really would be much better off with something else. Whilst there are no other options with a quasi-premium badge, there are plenty of alternatives which are nicely finished and well equipped, and which are rather nicer to drive. Probably the best is the Mazda CX-30 or even the now discontinued CX-3, but there are also nice offerings from Hyundai with the Venue, Kia with the Seltos and Honda with the HR-V which are worthy of consideration. It will be interesting to see if the next generation of small GM crossovers can get closer to par than this one did.