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Comments
-Styling-
In my opinion, I think GM scored a hit with the truck-like nose. There are thousands of guys like me who aren't extremely excited about moving into the mini-van era of our lives. The Uplander eases the sting for me.
As for the comment above about 'just buy an SUV', try a difference of $500+ per year in insurance between a minivan and SUV. I'll take my $500 annual insurance savings by purchasing a minivan, thank you very much.
I appreciate that GM tried something different on the exterior. In my opinion, the Honda/Toyota/Dodge make up the vanilla side of the minivan market as far a styling goes.
-Interior Room/Seating-
There was a complaint above about the narrowness of the 2nd row bucket seats. If I was going to be hauling around Grandma and Grandpa Jones all the time, I would be buying a Chrysler T&C, not a middle/low end family hauler. My 5 and 3 year old move around fine and sit comfortably in all locations. Perfect for the young family.
Also, I'm not sure what 'dtownfb' was test driving, but my third row bench does fold down flat and the second row seats do tip forward. If you are hauling around enough stuff enough of the time to make a completely flat floor without any seats a necessity, it might be a good idea to purchase a pick-up truck as your second vehicle.
-Overall-
First impressions thus far are great. No complaints in the first week or so.
The engine has thus far been powerful enough for me although I haven't pulled any hills in it yet.
The DVD is great. We've used it sparingly as I don't want to spoil the kids, but sometimes the silence from my 4 & 2 year olds is GOLDEN.
The wife and I like the big wheels and the 'up-high' feeling when driving. It's amazing what a couple of inches in height can do to your driving experience.
More later.
I agree with you about the DC seats although they are better than the base bucket seats of the GM. I have a friend who has a 2002 GC. I looked at their vehicle very closely on Thursday after seeing the 2005 GC. The seats in the 2002 are much more substanstial, more padding and taller backs. I'm sure they modifed the 2005 seats so they fit into the underfloor compartment. The other complaint I had about he base bucket seats were how low to the ground they sit. I'm 6'4" and have a long way to the ground. I sort of fell out of the seat.
I would not discount the second row seat comfort. In my case, my inlaws (both brother and sister and mother and father) do travel with us from time to time, so the second row comfort is important. More importantly, I think a minivan should be as flexible as possible with seating and interior space. If not, you may as well buy a SUV or station wagon.
As far as styling, to each his/her own. Personally, I'll sacrifice my macho image and drive a minivan and get the extra interior space, gas savings, comfort and safety from a minivan. But if they looks attracted you to the vehicle, then great for you. Personally, I liked the Terraza and Uplander exterior styling. LIke I said, it's vanilla but I like vanilla ice cream. The back third of the Relay looked like an afterthought.
Interior seating: Yes the third row folds flat but it fold flat going forward as opposed going backwards into a well. You don't have that deep well in the back like the rest of the competition. That is critical space lost in the rear. Plus when the seat is folded flat, it is creates a ledge over top of the floor. So your space from floor to roof is reduced, further reducing the available cargo space that the competition all have. Also, the lift in height is increased as you have to lift an extra couple of inches to load something in the back. Hopefully I explained that clearly. If i had both vehicles in front of me, I could explain it better.
Even though I only have two kids (5 and 2), we do a good bit of driving to visit my family in NJ. So we do haul things like Christmas presents, vacations, shopping, yard sales (that inlaw thing again), etc. Again, this is what people expect to be able to do with a minivan. Move people and move stuff. That's why flexibility is important. If I need to haul 4x8, stone, etc., my father-in-law has a beautiful F-150 I can use.
The DVD player is one of the features I love and hope other follow suit by making it standard. I doubt it but who knows. I have one in my van and love it. We go on a number of trips a year and you are right, silence is golden.
Enjoy your van. It fits your needs and that is the important thing. I'm intersted in how this vehicle fares.
No, please! Don't make it standard! I and thousand others around DO NOT need DVD players in our van..
Oh, and please, it is standard? I would rather pay $1000 less and not having it "STANDARD"...
I have seen several of the new GM vans and I have to admit the look is growing on me.
The insurance issue is huge. Our 2004 Montana van is fully insured at the same price as our 5 year old Intrigue. A Trailblazer or Explorer would have been $600 more per year plus increased gas costs. I suspect people will buy these vans just fine in spite of the fact they may not be the very best on the market.
;-)
Has there been any information on crash tests for the vans? The reason I ask is the previous GM vans did not fare as well as the competition in side impact crash. And with side airbags not available (not sure why they do not hqve these), safety now becomes a question for these vans if changes were not made in the structure to improve crash tests. Of course i understand that there are tests and there are real world experiences but that is a big ommission on the safety front.
When I test drove the van, the sales person said the Uplander got a 5 star crash test rating. But I never verified it.
Has anybody else seen any Uplander advertising?
Cool.
Congrats on your purchase. We've had ours for about two weeks now. I too feel pretty cool to be the first one on the block with the Uplander.
Again, Just my opinion.
The non-permenant crossbar thing is all good. We have the GM clamp ons and they work better and we take them off when not in use as it cuts wind noise a lot.
Thanks
My Uplander is loaded to the gills...I think I have every option available, including the trailering package, heheheh. But like I said, there were only 3 to choose from on my dealer's lot and although it probably has more than we need, it was closer to what I wanted than the other 2. And after our rebates, we got it for around $27,400 so the extra options were even sweeter. There were some features on the T&C I really liked but I knew I wouldn't be able to get it at near the price of what I could get my Uplander for. I wasn't too crazy about the exterior look either. And I like the free year of Onstar and 3 months of XM radio in the Uplander.
Oh, and thanks for the posts on the crossbars....good information to know
Al;so Sienna and Odyssey far exceed the GM vans on interior space which for some people is much much more important then a masculine nose esp. in a minivan.
Please don't get me wrong, my main complaint about the GM van is not the quality (except the base seats in the Relay) of materials, engine performance, or even styling (to each his own). It's the fact that most people buy minivans for the interior space, flexible seating (ask Chrysler why they spent so much money on the Stow n Go...lost sales to Honda and Toyota) and safety (lack of side air bags). Minivans are the most efficient use of space on four wheels. And they are more fuel efficient than a comparable SUV. IF you don't like minvans and many peope don't like the styling of minivans, then get a SUV. There are dozens on them on the market in all sizes and shapes. But if you are going to compete against GC, Freestar, Kia, etc. you have to match them in the key areas and interior space is one of them esp. considering there is no price break by going with the Uplander or Relay. I think GM has them beat as far as features but the space issue will keep popping up. I could be wrong. But I also don't see them flying off the lots and they already have rebates on them and I have yet to see a commercial for this van.
Enjoy your van! They do ride nice and have tons of nice features in them. You should enjoy them for long time.
In the past what has separated the manufacturers on quality is not inital assembly quality, but longer term reliability of components.
"Domestically Designed" vehicles have lagged significantly in quality to the Japanese over the years, but have closed the gap somewhat. However, that gap will never close completely until the Big 3 learn to treat their parts suppliers as partners instead of whipping boys.