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2020 Buick Encore, Encore GX set for Shanghai debut

Buick says it will debut the all-new 2020 Encore small crossover and new-for-China Encore GX compact crossover at the Buick Brand Night April 15 in Shanghai on the eve of Auto Shanghai 2019. They'll join the updated 2020 LaCrosse and LaCrosse Avenir sedans, which GM is discontinuing here in the U.S. Buick released a darkened teaser image of both vehicles in rear three-quarters view, though it's a little hard to tell which is which (we're going with the GX being the one on the right). It suggests the Encore gets more streamlined taillights that taper along the rear liftback, with some redesigned creases on the door panels and haunches. The latter don't appear to be present on the Encore GX, which Buick says is a new addition to the model series in China. Both will be offered with GM's new nine-speed Hydra-Matic and continuously variable transmissions, plus what Buick says will be "enhanced connectivity," including new technologies. They'll join the Envision and Enclave for China, which is Buick's largest market. First introduced in 2013, The Encore was last refreshed for 2017. It has been the top-selling Buick model in the U.S. for the past 3 years, with 93,073 sold last year, up 5.7% from 2017.

Buick Envision interior just as nice as its exterior

GM China loosed more photos of the all-new 2021 Buick Envision, this time of the interior. We are happy to report that the cabin design is just as pleasing to the eye as the exterior. When the 2021 model shows up for the reunion with its earlier model-year siblings, no one will recognize it. The modestly dated interior of the current crossover with its too-small infotainment screen and Rorschach-blot button placement is all gone. The gaudy curves and textures on the current instrument panel give way to a simple, split-level, bi-color form. What's more, the IP subtly carves out distinct driver and passenger spaces, a design trait normally reserved for sports cars. When Buick and GMC design boss Helen Emsley said the coming Envision would possess "striking styling designed to combine the expressiveness of a car with the practicality of an SUV,” she wasn't lying. The new steering wheel picks up more substantial spokes decorated with linear buttons instead of the circular pads, and its center cap is wider and no longer reminiscent of an alien face. The dash's dark portion up top houses a 10-inch infotainment screen canted at an 18-degree angle for the driver's ease-of-use. Air vents accentuate the break between the top and bottom of the instrument panel. Beneath the center vents, in the cabin-colored portion of the dash, are a slick set of climate controls. The pushbutton gear selectors along the left side of the center tunnel come from the China-market Enclave. And even the cupholders are handsome. The Envision Avenir gets a few exterior changes like a mesh grille and nicer wheels to set itself apart, the interior wearing Ivory White and Jazz Black hues and diamond-stitched seats. We might prefer the interior with peanut-butter brown and black even more. And suddenly, the Cadillac XT4 could have a problem; the Buick and the Cadillac share the E2 platform, but one of them — in photos, at least — is incontestably more fetching. As for tech, expect Android Auto and Apple CarPlay standard, and driver safety features such as automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, and the automaker's safety alert seat. Regular conveniences will include space for five, nearly two dozen storage cubbies, and an available giant panoramic moonroof. The only engine we've heard tell of so far is a 2.0-liter turbocharged unit, expected to be a carryover mill with 252 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque.

Junkyard Gem: 1988 Buick LeSabre Custom Sedan

The General's Buick Division began selling LeSabres for the 1959 model year, when it greeted the world with a cat-eyed face and razor-sharp tailfins, and the LeSabre rolled on the full-sized, rear-wheel-drive B Platform (best-known for underpinning the Chevrolet Impala and Caprice) all the way through 1985. For 1986, the LeSabre went to the front-wheel-drive H Platform, shedding a few hundred pounds and a half-foot of wheelbase, yet gaining interior room in the process. After that, every LeSabre ever made had a V6 engine driving the front wheels, all the way to the end in 2005. Here's one of those early H-Body LeSabres, found in a Denver-area self-service yard in incredibly clean condition. Some Buicks and Oldsmobiles of the mid-to-late 1980s (the ones on brand-new platforms) had six-digit odometers, which is the reason I was able to see that a discarded '86 Olds Calais with crazy customizing touches had better than 360,000 miles on the clock. This car just barely squeezed past 100,000 miles … and that's a higher number than I expected to see after glancing at the body and interior. Just look at that upholstery! There are no rips, and the only stains appear to have occurred after arrival in the junkyard ecosystem. I think we're looking at a one-owner car that was given meticulous care and was driven only to (a nearby) church on Sundays. Though the HRC sticker and Autobot badge seem out of place on an original-owner Buick that rolled out of the showroom 34 years ago. Perhaps the car was handed down from Owner #1 to a grandchild. This is the most high-zoot radio Buick would sell you in a 1988 LeSabre, complete with Dolby, auto-reverse cassette player, and scan/seek modes on the radio. The price tag on this? 282 bucks, or about 720 inflation-shrunk frogskins today; not cheap, but necessary to do justice to the hit songs of the day. If you wanted a factory CD player in a new LeSabre, you had to wait another year or two. Pollard Brothers Motors is still around, on the other side of the Continental Divide from the Denver region. Power came from an EFI-equipped Buick 3.8-liter V6, rated at 150 horsepower. The only transmission available was a four-speed automatic. Except for some dents that almost certainly happened at the junkyard, the paint and body look gorgeous. Problem is, H-Body LeSabres don't have an enthusiast following, and car shoppers looking for daily drivers tend to shy away from sedans this old.