Chevy Uplander is base model in GM's new way of selling minivan to customers
JIM ROBINSON
The Brampton Guardian
12/26/2004



Incentives, once seen as a smart way to sell sluggish product in the mid 1990s, have become the plague of the automotive industry today.

Rebates, zero per cent financing, extra equipment at no charge-- all of these things have the buying ignoring the sticker price expecting a deal of some kind or another as a matter or course.

Nowhere is this truer than in the minivan segment. The darling of the last quarter of the 20th century, today the market is awash with them and that has led to huge incentives to move minivans off the lots, as the demand has started to wane with the North American shift to SUVs.

To this end, General Motors has introduced the Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, Saturn Relay and Buick Terraza. GM doesn't call them minivans, preferring sport vans instead.

Each is targeted at a different demographic. The Uplander is for modern families where dependability and versatility counts. The Montana is for active families who want something rugged for family adventures. The Saturn is for well-informed people who like the Saturn concept, but need a seven-passenger vehicle. The Terraza is for the luxury minded who want utility but that also reflects their status in life.

The four are mechanically identical. All four are powered by a 3.5-litre overhead valve V6 producing 200 hp and 220 lb./ft. of torque through a four-speed automatic transmission and available in front or all-wheel drive.

The nose was extended to increase the crash zone, while the grille area was raised to give it a more SUV look.

ABS is standard as is rear sonar parking control, and the big extra, the OnStar Communications system.

There are no less than 34 storage areas including 12 cupholders, seatback storage compartments for things as big as the wireless earphones for the optional DVD entertainment centre, flip-fold trays between the seats, trays beneath the rear cargo floor, and even overhead compartments that snap into an rail system. The coolest one is the second-row centre console that GM calls the toy box. This thing is really big and swallows bags, video game consoles, laptops-- you name it.

Among the "extras" that come standard are 17-inch wheels, CD/MP3 player, 115-volt outlet and a remote starter.

Coming in the new year is the next step in entertainment systems when the GM sport vans will introduce the PhatNoise system that can store hundreds of hours of music, audio books, movies, TV shows and computer games on a cartridge the size of a deck of cards.

GM interior designers packaged all this in a clean design down to narrowing gaps for instruments and vents to just 1 mm. Ride quality is car-like but not like a car. I made a point of riding in the back seat to see if (a) a big guy like me could get back there and (b) if there was enough leg room to be comfortable. The result? It was so comfy I dozed off.

A lot of work was also done on the ride quality. These vans are more car-like than ever. The size and weight, not to mention the length, means these vans will never go through the pylons like a Corvette. But compared to the original Chev APV and Pontiac Trans Sport minivans, the new ones ride like Cadillacs.

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By the way, I saw a Montana SV6 a while back and it didn't look as bad as I thought it would.