Buick Terraza CXL

Buick Terraza CXL - Honda has redesigned the 5Best-winning Odyssey twice, and recently, Toyota overhauled the Sienna. Even worse for the segment, buyers began to forsake minivans in favor of SUVs. Consequently, neither the Montana (no longer using the Trans Sport moniker) nor its GM siblings—the Chevy Venture and the Oldsmobile Silhouette—ever achieved major sales of more than 100,000 per year.

With this lagging track record and a sagging minivan market, GM was hesitant to fund a big-bucks investment for an all-new minivan that would replace this aging gang. Instead, the company decided to perform some major upgrades on its vans for 2005 and offer them to more divisions within the company.

The first difference you see in the Terraza is its stronger, more aggressive nose. There were a number of reasons driving this change. One was to “address the reluctant van buyer who can’t get past the look but desires the functionality,” according to the home office. Buick says a squared-off front end yields an SUV appearance. This is accomplished by a 3.9-inch height increase over the old GM vans, making the Terraza 72.0 inches tall, exactly the same as its width, mimicking the proportions of many SUVs. In our view, the Terraza still looks more like a van than an SUV, but its nose definitely sticks out in a crowd.

The new GM vans all use a chassis similar to the old ones, which means a strut-front suspension. But the Buick has an independent control-arm suspension in the rear, adapted from the Rendezvous, whereas the other GM vans get the independent-rear setup only with all-wheel drive. Dimension changes are subtle: Wheelbase is lengthened slightly to 121.1 inches, front track is widened by less than an inch to 62.4, and rear track is down by almost a half-inch to 62.9.

The 3.4-liter pushrod V-6 used previously has been replaced with a newer, 3.5-liter version of the engine, which is used in the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6. Horsepower increases by 15 over the 3.4-liter engine to 200, and torque is up 10 pound-feet to 220.

Although all the Japanese competitors have five-speed automatic transmissions, GM soldiers on with a carry-over four-speed. The competitor’s five-speeds supplement acceleration performance while delivering slightly better fuel economy, even with 18 percent more horsepower on average than the Terraza.

The extra weight doesn’t help cornering, either. At 0.71 g, grip is slightly lower than the old GM van’s 0.72 g and worse than all the imported competitors’. Braking, however, is improved, thanks to 11.7-inch front disc brakes (0.8 inch larger), replacing the rear drums with discs, and 17-inch wheels and wider P225/60 Goodyear Integrity tires. Combined with a predictable, linear pedal feel, these brakes yielded a remarkably short 182-foot stop from 70 to 0 mph, a whopping 37 feet better than the last GM minivan we tested. This is better braking than in any of the latest minivans we measured last summer [“Full-Size Minivans,” C/D, June 2004].

Remember that numbers aren’t everything, and all by itself, the Terraza is a satisfactory minivan. It doesn’t feel fast, but that’s not a deal breaker in a minivan. The steering isn’t overboosted, bumps are soaked up in stride, and the cabin is appropriately quiet. But the numbers can’t always be ignored, especially when a Terraza CXL starts at $31,885—a price comparable to that of the Japanese segment leaders. Okay, in its defense, the CXL model is well equipped with standard DVD entertainment, rear climate control, power rear doors, and ABS and stability control.