Written, photographed | Little devil
Buick has been in the "10,000 vehicles" club in China's SUV market for many years, and the Oncovi family has contributed to it. Especially after the launch of the Encore Plus in June this year, the two models worked together to further enrich Buick's product layout in the mid-size SUV market.
In order to further expand the product line of the Oncovi car series, on the basis of the 2.0T power system this year, the 2022 Oncovey S has ushered in a 1.5T power version with a lower entry threshold, bringing more diversified choices to young home users. The new 552T model is available in two configuration versions, the two-wheel drive elite version for 209,900 yuan and the two-wheel drive luxury model for 217,900 yuan.
Although the 552T lowers the entry threshold of the Encore S, it also brings doubts to many consumers, after all, this is a medium-sized SUV with a small size, is the small displacement engine enough to be installed on this car, will there be an embarrassment of "small horse-drawn car"? We will answer one or two questions for you through this test drive experience.
The power reserve will not be sufficient
The 1.5T engine mounted on the Oncovi S delivers a maximum power of 155 kW and a peak torque of 270 Nm, with a power of up to 103 kW/L, and the book parameters are very eye-catching. Matching this engine is still the universal 9AT transmission, which is much stronger than some of its Japanese and German counterparts on the market, and even competes with some 2.0T models.
Speeding up is also an extremely silky smooth process and provides a continuous dynamic response. This is thanks to the fact that this engine has a very broad torque platform, which can burst peak torque in the 1750rpm-4500rpm speed range, so almost from the start stage, to the mid-to-rear acceleration of more than 80km/h, the engine can always maintain the most efficient working range, and the acceleration experience provided by the vehicle is not very different from the 2.0T power version.
The shift logic and upshift smoothness of the 9AT gearbox are also very good, and when stepping on the accelerator pedal deeply, the gearbox can quickly understand the driver's ideas, provide a more abundant power response by downshifting, and better complete the acceleration process. Of course, the auxiliary function of the iBSG motor is also quite in place, in addition to providing auxiliary power when accelerating, it can also help the gearbox maintain uninterrupted acceleration during the upshift process and improve the upshift smoothness.
The chassis texture of the car is also very good, the suspension combination of the front McPherson and the rear five links is generally more comfortable, but it also ensures the necessary support and handling of the body in the daily driving of the Oncover S. Slight undulations and bumps, will be well filtered out by the chassis, when encountering large potholes or bumps, the suspension of the suspension stretch and return position is crisp and clean, will not produce excess longitudinal jump, the rear of the car also has excellent trackability, can bring better driving confidence.
In addition, it should be pointed out that the car's 1.5T engine has a rare OTA remote upgrade function of the same level, which can be expanded and upgraded in the whole life cycle, and its built-in engine intelligent control chip (ECM) belongs to the forefront level of the same level, the computing power is nearly 14% higher than that of mainstream products, and the internal memory performance is increased by more than 33%, and the vehicle can achieve continuous optimization of power and fuel consumption through smart chips in the future.
The sense of science and technology experience is excellent at the same level
The 552T two-wheel drive deluxe type is 8,000 yuan more expensive than the two-wheel drive elite type, mainly adding leather steering wheel, leather seats, as well as side blind zone warning, lane keeping, lane departure warning, intelligent far and near light, active braking and other driving assistance functions.
Mechanical instrument + 8 inch LCD screen collocation is a bit outdated
The front seats are well wrapped and supported
Large panoramic sunroofs are standard throughout the series
The 10-inch touch screen on the center console is an important hardware that reflects the atmosphere of technology in the car, and it also brings a good experience. The center control screen has built-in iterative upgrade of Buick eConnect intelligent interconnection technology, the smooth operation and the richness of functions are satisfactory, and support wireless Apple CarPlay and Baidu CarLife smartphone mapping, completely getting rid of the shackles of traditional wiring.
In addition, the car's speech system supports natural semantics, and the recognition rate is also very high, but at present, it is impossible to control the opening and closing of the window and sunroof, and it is hoped that more car control functions can be unlocked through aerial OTA in the future. In addition, the car machine provides 100G of OnStar Onstar car application lifetime free traffic and full-featured iBuick APP mobile phone application every year, which is more generous than most joint venture brand cars.
epilogue
As far as the product is concerned, with the increasingly stringent emission regulations in recent years, and in order to expand the audience, more and more medium-sized SUVs have added 1.5T power options, of course, the new power configuration for the Encore S will undoubtedly further enhance the competitiveness of this car in the field of mid-size SUVs.