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Cars

Terraza: Buick's first van

By ANN M. JOB, Associated Press
Published July 22, 2005

What are baby strollers doing in Buick showrooms?

For the first time in history, Buick is selling a minivan. The pleasant-looking, seven-seat Terraza with V6 and available all-wheel drive is one of four new minivans from General Motors this year. But Buick's Terraza carries the highest base price in the group that includes the new 2005 Chevrolet Uplander, Saturn Relay and Pontiac Montana SV6.

Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, is $28,825 for a base, front-wheel-drive Terraza. Note that all Terrazas come standard with rear DVD entertainment system and one-year subscription to the OnStar emergency notification service.

Competing minivans include the 2005 Honda Odyssey, which starts at $25,710, and the Dodge Grand Caravan, which starts at $23,550, both of them without DVD systems. For decades, Buick has been known for its premium, five- and six-passenger sedans, sold in recent years to many buyers in their 60s and older.

The brand has never had a van before, but Buick thought it would help bring in younger buyers.

At 17.1 feet long and 6 feet tall, the Terraza is a bit longer and taller than the top minivan sellers. But the Terraza looks far less bland than many minivans, thanks to a sport utility-styled front end and roof rack.

All the 2005 GM minivans ride on the same platform and have the same 200-horsepower, 3.5-liter, overhead valve, 60-degree V6 mated to the same four-speed automatic transmission.

In the test Terraza, an uplevel CXL model with all-wheel drive, the suspension soaked up most road bumps and kept them away from passengers.

The Terraza's high ride height was a bonus. At 5-foot-4, I just opened the door and set myself onto a seat. There was no strenuous climb to get inside.

And in the Terraza's driver's seat, I looked down on cars and through the windows of many SUVs in front of me to see what was ahead on the road.

The power rack-and-pinion steering has a mainstream feel, and the Terraza's 200-horsepower V6 sounds strong and confident during acceleration. But there was an annoying, slight whistle sound that emanated each time the test Terraza accelerated through the first and second gears, and it seemed to come from somewhere in the engine compartment.

The top rating for a Terraza is 18 mpg in city driving and 24 mpg on the highway for a front-wheel-drive model, which is about in the middle of the minivan field for gasoline use.

Drivers don't need to do a thing to activate the all-wheel drive. The system notices when front wheels begin to lose traction and then automatically transfers some power to the rear wheels.

But the all-wheel-drive feature evidently resulted in Buick not getting one of the popular minivan trends of the past few years: Fold-into-the-floor rear seats.

The Odyssey pioneered third-row seats that drop down into a cavity in the floor, so they don't have to be removed and left behind.

This feature, which provides a flat load floor for easing items inside, has been copied by competitors, and Chrysler's vans now offer their own Stow-'n-Go seating that includes second-row seats that also fold flat into the floor.

But the Terraza's second- and third-row seats, while having seatbacks that fold down, must be removed entirely for the maximum cargo space, and I wrenched my back trying to lug them out.

Buick spokesman John Wray said the company decided against fold-into-the-floor seats because it wanted to have enough room under the Terraza's floor to fit the all-wheel-drive components, and the van's class-leading 25-gallon gas tank.

As for my struggle to get the seats out of the Terraza, Wray said, "We believe most people will get the utility they need with the (seatbacks) folded down and remove (the seats) only occasionally."

The Terraza's interior passenger headroom and legroom is pretty much on par with its competitors. The Terraza's shoulder room is less because the vehicle is narrower than the Odyssey and Grand Caravan.

Too bad, though, that the 2005 Terraza doesn't include standard seat-mounted side airbags or curtain airbags. Side airbags are a $350 option unless buyers move to the upper-level Terraza CXL.

Introduced late in calendar 2004, the Terraza has tallied 6,195 sales, the smallest number of the four new GM vans.

In May, Terrazas were part of a safety recall of 14,600 GM minivans issued because they might not meet a federal standard involving the rear parking brake. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the rear brake might come on during acceleration and coasting and make noise in certain circumstances.

NHTSA reported the Terraza received five out of five stars in frontal crash testing. In side crash testing, it earned four out of five stars for front-seat protection and five out of five for rear-seat protection. Next car reviews, in this order: 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca, 2006 Dodge Charger, 2005 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible, 2006 Hyundai Sonata.

BASE PRICE: $28,110 for base CX; $30,990 for CX AWD; $31,170 for CXL; $33,855 for CXL AWD.

AS TESTED: $36,005.

TYPE: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, seven-passenger minivan.

ENGINE: 3.5-liter, overhead valve, 60-degree V6.

MILEAGE: 17 (city), 23 (highway).

TOP SPEED: NA.

LENGTH: 205 inches.

WHEELBASE: 121.1 inches.

CURB WEIGHT: 4,664 pounds.

BUILT AT: Doraville, Ga.

OPTIONS: Chrome, 10-spoke wheels $650; XM Satellite radio $325; AM/FM stereo with 6-CD changer and MP3 player $295; remote starter $165.

DESTINATION CHARGE: $715.

[Last modified July 21, 2005, 08:56:10]