Hi,
We just bought a new van this summer, ended up buying an '06 Buick Terraza. It was a rental unit, had 11k on it. Wife is VERY happy with it. Our first van was a 98 Windstar. It was OK-it had a gremlin that I couldn't find, my main mechanic couldn't find and a Ford mechanic couldn't find. It would just die when it felt like it, always restarted, but I got tired of it, and spending $$$ on it and traded it away. I hate to do it that way but its gone.
We drove a lot of vans, enough that my kids hated going with to look at new cars. Started with Freestars-had to rent a van for a week trip out east. It was OK from my viewpoint, cheap to buy, had some good features over the 98 Windstar. Fold down rear seat was a plus. Build quality was average, nothing great-interior parts kind of fit in place. Nothing major, just didn't rate anything beyond average for fit and finish. Milage about 18 running around the Jersey coast. Kids hated it-the middle row of seats are lower.
We drove several Chryslers, liked the Town and country the best. They are nice vans. They get pretty good money for the top end as well. Grand Caravans are almost as good for less $$$. Kids didn't like the seats in the Chrysler's either, low and thin.
I don't have any experience with the Toyota, Toyota and Honda don't do everything right but they do very little, in my opinion, wrong. I do have a family friend with a Honda. Its a good van but it has been in the shop more than once. With both engine and trans issues. When I was looking the Honda was 7-10k over what I was looking at in the Buick-and my Buick is pretty well trimmed out.
The Terraza is the top end of the GM line. The family is the Saturn Relay, Chevy Uplander, Pontiac SV6, and the Terraza. The Saturn and Chevy are just about identical twins, They all share the same bodies and drivelines. Two engine options, most have the 3.5. A 3.9 is available-I have yet to see one w/ it. AWD is also available in all lines. I have the 2WD w/ traction control. It works pretty good-we live in Illinois and get some snow. Windstar had it also.
Our Terraza is a CXL trim-its what we had to get to get rear air. We looked at several CX's-no rear air. We have one power door-I really didn't want a power slider but its worked fine. We've put 9 K on it with no problems at all. '06's have a 50K bumper to bumper warranty. Milage overall is about 18, got a high of 24 on a trip, low of less than 16 bucking heavy winds with a luggage bag tied to the top. Aerodynamic as a brick.
The reason we bought the Buick was the ride. There are at least three suspensions available on the GM's. We have the independent rear suspension with air ride. It does ride nice-and the air ride self adjusts for load-and I've loaded this one for camping trips. I travel with my wife, mother in law and two daughters (11 and 14) and my dog. There is no such thing as traveling light for us.
Our van is well optioned w/ dvd, rear air, sound system-its not missing too many options. Doesn't have Onstar, second power slider or XM capability. Fit and finish on the Buick is pretty good, I think some of the imports still do a better job on trim fit-but not much.
As far as price goes, I gave 23K for it-I gave enough but they gave me 3K for my Ford. Van listed for over 32K new. The main thing is that my wife is happy with it, I only drive it on family trips. It drives pretty decent-Id rather drive my ST any day. Any questions, drop me a
[email protected]. Drive a few-there's lots of good stuff out there.
Lar
