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2013 Buick Encore nets strong IIHS, NHTSA safety scores

After being crushed from every which way and rolled over like a labrador, the 2013 Buick Encore has been named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. To earn the accolade, a vehicle must achieve the highest rating of "Good" in each of the institute's four main crash tests: Front Moderate Overlap, Side, Rollover and Rear. The Encore aced those four tests with "Good" ratings, but missed out on the coveted Top Safety Pick+ designation by receiving a Poor rating in the institute's new Front Small Overlap test. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the Encore would need to score at least an "Acceptable" rating in the new test, as well as "Good" in all four original crash tests.
Despite the miss, the Encore joins the Enclave, LaCrosse, Verano and Regal as Top Safety Picks all. If you count only the Encore with all-wheel drive, then all five Buicks have also earned five-star overall ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, making Buick one of the few manufacturers to offer a full lineup with high scores from both safety rating organizations.
The front-wheel-drive Encore, despite performing equally as well as the all-wheel-drive version in NHTSA's crash tests, only earned four stars overall. As far as we can tell, the discrepancy between the two is because some safety equipment, like Forward Collision Warning and Lane Departure Assist, are optional features on the FWD Encore and standard on the AWD model.

Early 2024 Buick Envision pricing is out, and there's some good news

Early price guide data is out for the refreshed 2024 Buick Envision, although we're still waiting for the Envision to emerge for behind-the-scenes drama. The automaker announced its handsome midsizer with a single photo last June, promising the debut of Super Cruise and more information before the end of the year. There have been no official updates since then. The last unofficial update came from GM Authority, the rumored intel being GM pushed the Envision's market launch to the end of this year, and Super Cruise had been nixed from the menu.  Autodata reported not long after the online reveal that Buick was culling front-wheel-drive Envision trims, and that's borne out by pricing. This move usually raises prices by four figures before inflation, the profit motive, and Wall Street obligations exert their pressure; such is the case here, too. The 2023 Envision Preferred FWD still shown on the Buick retail site starts at $34,745, but the early MSRPs show buyers will need another $2,500 for a chance to open the door on a 2024 Envision. However, there's good news for everyone who wanted an AWD Envision. Assuming destination holds steady at $1,395, the AWD base prices and their differences from 2023 AWD trims are: Preferred: $37,295 ($1,150 less) Sport Touring: $39,795 ($900 less) Avenir: $48,395 ($460) Hard to complain about two of three trims costing less, and the flagship trim only costing $460 more. Oh, and the middle trim was called the Essence in 2023, we'll eventually learn if the name change to Sport Touring involves a new feature set.   As to changes, Buick designers gave the SUV's front end a complete overhaul up front. A bigger grille is positioned lower on the front fascia, there's reworked bright trim, and the new Buick emblem on the hood. Headlights are now integrated into the bumper, Jeep Cherokee-style, and LED daytime running lights replace the outgoing Envision's headlights. The revamped look brings the Envision in line with other recent additions to the Buick range, like the Encore. Because Buick released one picture for the summer reveal, we still have no idea what the Envision's back end and interior look like. In our previous post on the delay, we mused that GM might get good news and move the production date up from year-end. GMA says that's what's happened, production now slated for Q1 of this year at one of Buick's plants in China.

Audi tops Consumer Reports' brand rankings while Tesla leads domestics at eighth

Tesla supplanted General Motors' Buick division as the top-ranked US automaker in Consumer Reports annual brand rankings, though the electric-vehicle maker finished eighth among global automakers. Buick had finished atop CR's domestic car-brand list for three years before Tesla leapfrogged it. Scores were calculated from a combination of performance, owner satisfaction, and reliability. CR noted that Buick scored big on reliability but not so high on performance, while Tesla appeared to present the opposite case. Volkswagen's Audi division repeated as the best overall brand for the second straight year, beating out VW's Porsche unit, BMW, Toyota's Lexus division, and Subaru. Kia and Mazda followed those brands, while Honda finished ninth, between Tesla and Buick. Consumer Reports took results from 31 brands. Reliability issues related to the Toyota Tacoma helped drop that Japanese automaker out of the top 10. Take a look at CR's results for its Annual Brand Report Card here. That Tesla, Audi, and Porsche placed so high is topical, given some of the issues plaguing those automakers. Audi, Porsche, and their parent VW have been coping with the effects of the diesel-emissions scandal that broke back in 2015. The scandal has cost Europe's largest automaker billions of dollars, and forced VW to put a stop-sale on diesel-powered cars in the US in late 2015. And while the Tesla Model S improved from the "worse-than-average" label CR gave it in its 2015 Annual Auto Reliability Survey, the problematic falcon-wing doors on the Tesla Model X SUV pulled that model's reliability scores lower last year. Additionally, the Model X's climate-control system and door locks have also caused issues. Toyota and Lexus finished atop CR's reliability rankings last year. Related Video: