2015 BUICK Encore

Was in love with my little AWD encore until......

Comfort Rating: 3 Performance Rating: 4 Interior Rating: 4 Reliability Rating: 2 Safety Rating: 3 Technology Rating: 3 Value Rating: 3

I have enjoyed owning and driving this car overall. The visibility is not that great, but it does have a back up camera and blind spot detection so that helps. For a very small car with a 1.4L engine it is pretty zippy from a stop so that is nice. Never felt like it bogged down like some of these cars can. I have put about 30,000 miles on the car since owning it and have had regular maintenance done ( great systems for reminders built in to car). One day last week my engine went out in rush hour traffic. No warning, no lights, no nothing. It was working one minute and then the next just unable to excelerate and TONS of white smoke. Luckily I was able to pull off as I was in the outer lane and could coast. AAA picked me up and took us to the dealer for repair. Still under warranty so no problem there and everyone was nice, helpful and got me in a rental and on my way quickly. About 3 days later they called me with the news that there is a factory defect in the 3rd piston that caused it to break unexpectedly. They are currently replacing all 4 pistons and SAID that they checked all other parts in the engine and everything else looks fine......I am not convinced as that amount of smoke had to cause some type of damage to the rest of the engine. I won't get my car back for several more days, but now I am terrified to drive it and afraid that they will just draw it out until the warranty runs out. I am not basing this on anything but fear as they have been great so far. Mine is a 2014 model - not basic but also not fully loaded. One of the cutest cars on the road in this class, but now I am afraid of it. Ugh.