By Tim Plouff

By Tim Plouff

General Motors has never established a strong niche in the domestic minivan market started by Chrysler in 1983. The first GM minivans were the rear-drive Chevy Astro and its GMC counterpart; vans that had a 20-plus year production run that just ended this year. 

The first front-drive offerings were the Chevy Lumina van and similar versions sold by Pontiac and Oldsmobile dealers. These vans had comfortable, innovative interiors but buyers did not embrace the steep slant nose and long raked windshield exterior. Buyers just could not get by the elongated nose leaving sales of GM’s “dustbuster” vans lagging while the rest of the market surged forward.

Subsequent offerings did little better as GM continued to offer both front- and rear-drive vans. Overall sales, counting all of the various brands, were quite respectable, and quite profitable for GM. There has just never been one slam-dunk, overall minivan winner from the GM portfolio.

But GM has never given up either. Its full-size vans are now the standard in the class with features such as left side doors, AWD, Stabilitrak stability system, and numerous options that make them quite attractive to the customized van industry as well as contractors and active families.

On the front-wheel-drive minivan side, General Motors has four new minivans for 2005. Essentially re-bodied versions of the previous renditions, GM has also added more standard features, created much more attractive interiors, designed a more energetic V-6 engine, and added distinctive if a bit unusual quasi-SUV exterior styling to separate these offerings from the rest of the pack. Add all-wheel drive and Stabilitrak and the GM vans can carve out a successful niche with the proper marketing.

These new vans are now shared with Chevrolet and Pontiac and for the first time Saturn and Buick. Saturn desperately needed more models to grow sales while the Buick version joins an expanding offering of trucks from this luxury brand. Buick now sells more trucks than cars.

This week’s Terraza is destined to be the most luxurious van and carries the most standard equipment.

If you spend a lot of time traveling for work, or with multiple passengers and their cargoes, you probably have a minivan in your garage, or you should. Minivans offer more passenger space than a car, better visibility for everyone, plus the ability to swallow loads and parcels that a conventional sedan or wagon just can’t handle. Minivans offer a relaxed yet stable ride, they excel at winter driving, and most vans handle as well as many of today’s family cars. The convenience of all of that extra space is a virtue that cannot be denied in a world where everything is closing in on us.

The Buick does all of these things. You have the traditional Buick styling cues and comfort levels in an upscale van that exhibits some of GM’s best work to date in these areas. The Terraza handles and rides like mature Buick drivers appreciate (a little softer than some rivals) but still composed when necessary. The new 3.5-liter V-6 is a nice surprise, too. It sounds better than the motor it replaces; it is definitely smoother, and it packs more brawn when under the whip. The peak horsepower rating is up 15 to 200, much lower than the new vans from Toyota and Honda, yet the Buick feels like a strong performer even if its overall acceleration times might be slower. And that’s the point isn’t it?

With full-time all-wheel-drive hardware nestled under the cabin, the Terraza demonstrated terrific foul-weather prowess and returned a consistent 21-mpg during a week of frosty driving (March). My recent Honda Odyssey didn’t return much better fuel economy than that, and the Honda didn’t labor with the added weight of the Terraza’s AWD. Plus the Honda had an extra cog in its smooth gearbox.

If you are a minivan fan, you look for all of the nooks, crannies, cubbyholes and storage attributes that your new van can provide. The Buick’s got ’em. There are more beverage slots than passenger seats, folding pockets on the seatbacks like jetliners offer, and clever flip-up center console trays for the second- and first-row bucket seats.

Overhead, Buick has a center rail system that lets you slide or relocate various compartments. The rail also holds the DVD entertainment system, with wireless headphones, as well as some lights and controls. Unfortunately, I repeatedly struck my head on the console while entering. Climbing into the Buick’s driver’s seat was easy, but I’m sure that I differ little from other drivers who hike themselves up in the seat to find the optimum seating position once behind the wheel. Doing so, I frequently hit my head on the edge of the overhead console. It wasn’t a numbing blow, but I felt numb each time for forgetting to cock my head the other way.

Some owners may also find annoyance with the rear seating arrangements. The Buick offers no hide-away compartments, none hidden in the floor seating, just seats that fold flat for an increased load floor. You can remove the seats for maximum storage, but that seems less convenient with some of the more recent innovations in the segment. It is also awkward entering the third-row seats, requiring that you manipulate the second-row seats forward or wade between the middle-row seats. Some buyers will wish for a pull strap on the back of the third-row seats, too, because you really must enter the side door to push the seatback upright (two hands, too). The Terraza does offer a removable, covered bin system behind the third-row seats, but I would probably use the space without this addition.

Hits and misses contrast each other. The exterior is so different I don’t know what to say while the interior is very attractive. There is nice two-tone leather, real wood trim, and the seats are quite comfortable. I like how the windshield wipers have fluid nozzles in the arm instead of on the hood and I like how they sweep opposite each other clearing all of the front picture window. But the well at the base of the hood houses a lot of snow and ice so the wipers freeze up too easily.

The auto leveling rear suspension keeps the van at the right attitude all of the time no matter what the load, yet the soft damping rate allows a little too much rebound action on larger bumps.

In the beginning of our week together, I was under whelmed by the Buick. But as the miles rolled by, together more than 1,200, the Terraza’s steady performance won me over. The Buick did everything that I asked of it and it proved to be a comfortable traveling companion. There are things that could be better or different, so the Terraza might not be my first pick for a new minivan. But it certainly is closer to the top than it is to the bottom in this hotly contested class.

Next week: Chevrolet Cobalt LS Sedan.