MSRP Range: $25,120 - $ 31,700
Invoice Range: $23,254 - $26,059
Price Quote
MSRP As Tested: $31,700
Vehicle Category: Mid-size, 5-door, SUV
Model optionsy: CX Front-Wheel Drive, CX All-Wheel Drive, CXL Front-Wheel Drive, CXL All-Wheel Drive
Enigne Location: Front Engine
Drive Wheels: Front-Wheel Drive, optional All-Wheel Drive
Engine As Tested: 3.4-liter, V6, 185-hp at 5,200 rpm, 210 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm
Transmission As Tested: 4-Speed Automatic
Fuel Economy (city/hwy): Front-Wheel Drive - 19/26 mpg, All-Wheel Drive - 18/24 mpg
Standard Safety Features: Driver and Front Passenger, front and side airbags, power 4-wheel disc brakes, Antilock Braking System, Traction Control
Competition: 2003, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, 2003 Dodge Durango, 2003 Ford Explorer, 2003 GMC Envoy, 2003 Honda Pilot, 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 2003 Toyota 4Runner, 2003 Toyota Highlander
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This feels good: A sport-utility wagon that's not too big so it's easy to drive on congested city streets or carve a path through a shopping center's crowded parking lot.
It also brings a spacious passenger compartment with room for all in the family and delivers a ride quality that seems as refined as what you'd expect from a big sedan.
Call it Rendezvous, a wagon for the mid-size SUV category with five-door configuration and a cabin fitted with up to three rows of seats for as many as seven riders.
Rendezvous is the first SUV from Buick, long a bastion of cushy sedans, and it was designed to replace truck-like traits of a typical SUV in favor of car-like characteristics for operation on paved highways and urban streets.
It's easy to enter, effortless to operate, smooth in suspension and entirely pleasant for passengers.
Further, the cabin contains flexible seats that flip and fold or pop out quickly to vary the balance between seats and cargo space.
Although Rendezvous debuted in 2001 at the onset of Buick's 2002 line, models for 2003 provide more equipment options to create more sure-footed and comfy variations.
The 2003 editions offer all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction, third-row bench seats and optional captain's chairs on the second row instead of a bench seat.
New features for convenience and security on 2003 Rendezvous models range from a head-up display of the vehicle's speed projected on the windshield to a new electronic release mechanism for the rear liftgate, a Rear Park Assist (RPA) guidance system, optional OnStar telecommunications link and a DVD-based video entertainment system for viewing by riders in rear seats as well as the subscription-based XM satellite radio service with superior sound quality and coast-to-coast reception through a hundred digital radio channels.
The RPA system sets four ultrasonic sensors in the wagon's rear fascia to locate an object behind the vehicle and determine its proximity to the bumper. Chimes sound and light-emitting diodes (LED) flash as warnings when an object is detected, and these signals increase in frequency as Rendezvous approaches it in reverse.
The optional video entertainment system installs a flip-down video screen in the ceiling centered above front seatbacks for viewing of DVD movies by rear-seat passengers using wireless headsets and a wireless remote control unit.
A conventional Rendezvous drivetrain operates constantly in front-wheel-drive (FWD) format, but the optional new on-demand AWD system called Versatrak is available now to help the wagon maintain traction on wet or slippery pavement.
Automatic Versatrak detects tire rotational differences between front and rear wheels during low-traction conditions, then sends the engine's power to drive either or both rear wheels momentarily before actual tire slippage occurs at the front wheels. This keeps the wagon moving forward steadily and safely during low-traction incidents.
Both traction editions of Rendezvous derive power from the same engine, a 3.4-liter V6 from General Motors that produces 185-hp at 5,200 rpm plus 210 lb-ft of torque muscle at 4,000 rpm.
A smooth four-speed automatic transaxle with electronic controls -- GM's Hydra-Matic 4T65E -- links to the engine in all issues.
Chassis for Buick's SUV and most of the mechanical elements including engine and transaxle were requisitioned from GM minivans like Venture by Chevrolet and Montana from Pontiac. As a result, Rendezvous possesses the agility of a minivan, but its hiked stance and boxy packaging enable it to function like a sport-ute.
And despite a foundation lifted from minivans, Rendezvous reveals not a hint of minivan styling.
Actually, it looks sleek like a sedan because a wagon's boxy rear bay is disguised due to blacked-out center roof pillars and a forward tilt of back pillars plus wrap-around black glass at rear corners.
The wide stance with wheels pushed to corners of the platform and curt overhangs front and back create a solid form that appears rooted to the pavement.
Up front, the forceful design of the prow merges a broad oval grille cut from thin vertical bars with corner headlamp clusters that curve up into the hood. Below, a thick fascia of contrasting color thrusts forward and contains round foglamps before wrapping around to side wheelwells and extending in a band underscoring the doors.
In back, a wide red lamp strip divides the flip-up liftgate with a window above and painted panel below. The door, constructed from composite material, weighs only 36 pounds and gets a boost from hydraulic struts so it's a snap to swing up high, and a new design for an integrated handle makes it easy to grip.
For effortless access, the optional electronic liftgate release mechanism adds a button switch for unlocking and automatically lifting the gate using only one finger.
Floor height in the cabin is low so passengers can slip inside rather than hike up high.
Likewise, the rear cargo bay has a low floor that can be expanded by folding down the seatback on an optional third row or removing second-tier seats.
The compartment is broad enough to accommodate 4x8 sheets of building board. With all rear seats removed or folded flat, the cargo volume expands to 108.9 cubic feet, or to about half that area with second-row seats still aboard. Even with three rows of seats in place, there's still 18 cubic feet of space remaining, which is more room than you'll find in the trunk of a mid-size sedan.
Standard seat plan for Rendezvous puts a pair of contoured buckets up front between a broad padded console and followed by a second-row bench for three that splits into two equal sections. Two armrests with built-in cupholders fold out from the seatbacks to define positions for two.
New seat options include substituting two captain's chairs for the second-row bench and adding the third-row bench, which has a seatback that folds into the floor.
Two different trim grades are available.
Rendezvous CX brings air conditioning, power-operated windows and mirrors, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and stereo kit with CD player. Rendezvous CXL adds leather seats, dual-zone climate controls, an upgraded audio package, aluminum wheels and exterior ornaments.
The 2003 price chart for Rendezvous begins at $25,120 for CX and the AWD version is $28,170.
