What is the best year for the Buick Encore?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Buick Encore
which year?
Compare every Buick Encore model year the EPA recorded, 2013 to 2022. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Buick Encore year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Buick Encore years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2015
124 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2015 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect201789 indexed complaint reports; engine is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2017 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect201984 indexed complaint reports; engine is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2019 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Buick Encore model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2021 Buick Encore
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 9
- Combined EPA economy
- 26–31 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 7
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,000–2,350
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsengine 3power train 3service brakes 2
Open the 2021 evidence dossier →2022 Buick Encore
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 8
- Combined EPA economy
- 26–30 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 5
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,050–2,350
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsunknown or other 4power train 2air bags 1
Open the 2022 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2022 has 1 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2021.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Buick Encore by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 8 | unknown or other 4power train 2air bags 1 | 26–30 | 5 | $2,050–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 9 | engine 3power train 3service brakes 2 | 26–31 | 7 | $2,000–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 19 | engine 7electrical system 4fuel/propulsion system 4 | 26–31 | 5 | $2,000–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 84 | engine 32fuel/propulsion system 12unknown or other 12 | 26–28 | 4 | $2,200–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 74 | engine 29service brakes 11air bags 10 | 27–30 | 4 | $2,050–2,300 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 89 | engine 35air bags 13unknown or other 13 | 27–30 | 4 | $2,050–2,300 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 79 | engine 40fuel/propulsion system 13power train 11 | 26–30 | 4 | $2,050–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 124 | electrical system 30engine 29steering 27 | 26–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,350 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 60 | engine 25electrical system 13power train 9 | 25–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,450 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 52 | engine 21electrical system 8power train 7 | 25–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,450 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.