General Motors announced today that its new 2013 Buick Encore small crossover is rated at an EPA-estimated 25 mpg (9.4lt/100km) city, 33 mpg (7.2lt/100km) highway and a combined 28 mpg (8.4lt/100km) fuel economy with a standard six-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive (FWD).
Fuel economy numbers for the all-wheel drive (AWD) variants will be announced at a later date. Both AWD and FWD versions of the Encore are powered by the same 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four petrol that generates 138 horsepower (140PS) and 148 lb.-ft. of torque (200Nm).
According to the Detroit carmaker, the Encore’s combined fuel economy “is the best for any crossover offered by a U.S.-based automaker”
As an example, GM says that the Ford’s most fuel efficient crossover, the 2013 Ford Escape, returns 23 city, 33 highway and 26 mpg combined, while the Jeep Compass with an automatic transmission is EPA estimated at 23 city, 28 highway and 25 mpg combined.
The automaker continues with the examples by saying that the Mini Countryman S gets 25/32 mpg with an automatic transmission, and the Volkswagen Tiguan, 21/26 mpg.
What GM doesn’t mention in its press blurb is that the similarly sized but much more powerful 2012 Nissan Juke that’s equipped with a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-banger delivering 188hp is EPA-rated (FWD, Auto) at 27mpg city, 32mpg highway and 29mpg combined (+2mpg, -1mpg and +1mpg respectively over the Encore).
(Update) Buick sent us an email saying that whereas the Juke requires premium fuel, the Encore uses regular gas and as a result, it has a lower EPA-estimated annual fuel cost than the Nissan model.
The new Encore, which is a sister model to the European market Opel / Vauxhall Mokka, will go on sale in the States in the first quarter of 2013.
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