The Car Connection Expert Review
Likes
- Great in-cabin tech
- Good ride quality
- Interesting styling
- Nice touches inside
Dislikes
- Sluggish base engine
- Avenir simply costs too much
- Tight front seats
- Average warranty
Buying tip
features & specs
The 2025 Buick Encore GX has a great tech story to tell.
What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Buick Encore GX? What does it compare to?
The 2025 Buick Encore is a subcompact SUV with available all-wheel drive. Compare it to the Buick Envista, Chevrolet Trailblazer, and Mazda CX-50.
Is the 2025 Buick Encore GX a good SUV?
The 2025 Encore GX is a solid overall choice thanks to its appealing interior and its terrific tech. If only it was a bit quicker or fuel-efficient—or both. It’s a 5.6 on the TCC scale. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What's new for the 2025 Buick Encore GX?
After a revamp last year, the 2025 Buick Encore GX sees no major changes this year.
The Encore GX is Buick’s smallest but not cheapest model. It’s differentiated from the Envista by its more conventional side profile, plus it offers all-wheel drive.
With its EV-esque styling up front, the Encore GX has a modern look, with busy details and curvy flanks. It’s more cohesive inside thanks to a cockpit-like arrangement with a big 11.0-inch touchscreen and a comparatively small 8.0-inch instrument cluster. Buick scatters in more buttons here than some competitors, which we can appreciate.
There’s not much power, though. The base 1.2-liter turbo-3 puts out just 127 hp. Opt for the 1.3-liter turbo-4 and you’ll get 155 ponies, which pair best with the available 9-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive setup. The Encore GX won’t win a drag race, but its suspension isolates bumps well and its sound deadening keeps outside noises from intruding on the cabin.
Fuel economy is just so-so. Figure about 30 mpg no matter how you drive a front-wheel-drive model. The heavier all-wheel-drive Encore GX configuration is notably thirstier, though.
The Encore GX has decent cargo space and a big back seat, though its front seats are just average. You can dress one up with leather trim, but that starts to erode its value equation. Given just how much tech Buick includes at the bottom of the lineup, we wouldn’t plan on adding too many features.
Among the Encore GX’s best attributes is its Google built-in tech, which is arguably better than its wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Buick offers many downloadable apps, plus a terrific Google Maps interface. And it’s all linked to your Google account.
The Encore GX has done well in what crash tests have been performed. We’ll wait for the IIHS to fully evaluate it, but the NHTSA says it is a good choice. The Encore GX comes with basic crash-avoidance features and it offers adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitors for a reasonable price.
How much does the 2025 Buick Encore GX cost?
The Encore GX starts at $27,295 in base Preferred trim, and the available 1.3-liter turbo-3 is just $400 more. Both come with a big 11.0-inch touchscreen with Google built-in, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, and 18-inch alloy wheels.
The range only climbs a bit from there, with the top-end Avenir running around $33,000 with its standard leather upholstery.
Where is the 2025 Buick Encore GX made?
In China.
2025 Buick Encore GX Styling
The 2025 Buick Encore GX wears neat, distinctive styling.
Is the Buick Encore GX a good-looking SUV?
It’s an interesting choice, with a front end that practically buries its grille and a curvy side profile. We like the 2025 Buick Encore GX more inside than out, which is where it earns an extra point for a 6 on the TCC scale.
The Encore GX got new styling last year with a wide, low grill below a hood and front fascia that cascade downward. A simple tri-crest badge that looks more like fangs is flanked by boomerang-like LED lights. From the side, black cladding and fender flares impart a de rigueur rugged element, and most versions have roof rails at the top. The big taillights at the rear somewhat echo the Encore GX’s front lights, too.
Inside, the Encore GX has a low-set dash with just the right amount of flair. The big 11.0-inch touchscreen sits next to an 8.0-inch instrument cluster display in a single panel that rises from the dash. Below the bigger screen, you’ll find air vents and a smattering of climate control buttons that are a bit low for easy reach.
This is a pleasant cabin, with a look that belies its low price tag. But Buick offers just two interior hues, Ebony and Whisper Beige, which seems like a weak effort to us.
2025 Buick Encore GX Performance
The 2025 Buick Encore GX is refined, but not quick.
Buick’s small SUV is light on power, even if you opt for the slightly larger-than-base engine. It gets a 5 here with the point removed for slow acceleration returned thanks to a decent ride.
Is the Buick Encore GX 4WD?
It can be. Buick offers all-wheel drive on every version of the Encore GX. Otherwise, it’s front-wheel drive.
How fast is the Buick Encore GX?
The cheapest front-drive version with its 137-hp 1.2-liter turbo-3 is downright sluggish, even if the CVT it’s bolted to does a reasonable job keeping it in its limited power band. The 155-hp 1.3-liter turbo-3 is a far better bet, though it's still far from quick. Buick pairs it with the CVT in front-drive form, or a smooth-shifting 9-speed automatic in models with all-wheel drive. It’s tough to say which Encore GX setup is best, though, as not everyone needs all-wheel drive and models with all-wheel drive are less fuel-efficient. Still we prefer the way the 9-speed shifts.
The Encore GX is pleasant enough to drive regardless of which wheels get the power. Its steering has little in the way of feel, but it has moderate heft and it does a good job of holding the line in highway driving. The Encore GX’s ample sound deadening makes it a quiet cruiser, and it has a soft suspension with good impact absorption from either the standard 18-inch or optional 19-inch wheels.
The short wheelbase helps give the Encore GX a reasonably nimble feel in town, too, though it also makes the ride jiggly on broken pavement due to a solid rear axle.
2025 Buick Encore GX Comfort & Quality
The 2025 Buick Encore GX is refined, if a little cramped inside.
The 2025 Buick Encore GX has a decent cargo area that bests similarly sized sedans, but its seats are just so-so. It’s a 5 here.
The Encore GX has somewhat narrow front seats, though power adjustments on all but the cheapest version alleviate the situation somewhat. The rear bench is tight for three, but it has good legroom for a back seat and the door openings are unusually large. With a 23.5 cubic-foot cargo area that grows to 50.2 cubic feet with the rear seatbacks folded, the Encore GX is decent for road trips or spontaneous furniture-buying expeditions.
The Encore GX justifies its higher-than-typical subcompact SUV pricing with a nice interior. It’s not particularly fancy inside, but it is a cut above its rivals. You’ll find more soft-touch plastics and a choice of cloth, synthetic leather, and real leather, all of which are a bit nicer than mainstream competitors.
2025 Buick Encore GX Safety
The 2025 Buick Encore GX has a good, if incomplete, crash-test record.
How safe is the Buick Encore GX?
It should be a safe choice, though the IIHS has yet to fully weigh in. The 2025 Encore GX earns a point for its five-star NHTSA rating and another for a decent amount of standard crash-avoidance tech including active lane control, automatic emergency braking, and automatic high-beams. Available features include adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitors.
The IIHS has only completed a few tests so far, though the Encore GX has received “Good” ratings in those tests.
2025 Buick Encore GX Features
The 2025 Buick Encore GX comes with great tech for the money.
The 2025 Buick Encore GX is priced nicely at $27,295, though the extra $395 for the more powerful turbo-3 option is worth every penny. The base Preferred trim has an 11.0-inch touchscreen with Google built-in tech and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, plus crash-avoidance tech, 18-inch alloy wheels, and cloth upholstery. Its big screen and good overall value net it a 7 out of 10. An Encore GX with all-wheel drive runs $29,295 to start.
Buick’s 3-year/36,000-mile warranty is the bare minimum for a new model. No free maintenance is included.
Which Buick Encore GX should I buy?
The base Preferred trim is just fine. With all-wheel drive, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, and a heated steering wheel, it comes in at just over $30,000. Highway drivers might want to splurge for adaptive cruise control at $1,095, which comes with a wireless device charging pad, a surround-view camera system, and rear parking sensors. For $31,385, a so-equipped Encore GX is a good value.
It’s also more appealing than the Encore ST appearance package, which is hard to justify on looks alone since the standard model is so stylish.
How much is a fully loaded Buick Encore GX?
A top-end Encore Avenir with front-wheel drive runs $32,795 with its standard leather upholstery and 19-inch alloy wheels. Opt for such features as a rear camera mirror, adaptive cruise control, a wireless device charging pad, metallic paint, a big sunroof, a trailer hitch, and all-wheel drive, and Buick will want nearly $40,000. We can't justify that.
2025 Buick Encore GX Fuel Economy
The 2025 Buick Encore delivers up to 30 mpg combined.
Is the Buick Encore GX good on gas?
It’s pretty thrifty, though the 2025 Buick Encore isn’t much better on the highway than it is in town. Still, we rate it at 4 out of 10 in front-drive configuration. Models with all-wheel drive would rate a 3.
The slow base engine is estimated at 30 mpg city, 31 highway, 30 combined for the 2025 model year. Opt for the 1.3-liter turbo-3 and those figures are basically the same: 29/31/30 mpg.
The all-wheel-drive version checks in at a less impressive 26/28/27 mpg.
