Rendezvous Outclasses Poor Relation Aztek
If the slow sales of Pontiac’s heartbreakingly ugly Aztek sport-activity vehicle are a cosmic penalty for General Motors Corp.’s besmirching of the Aztec name, then perhaps Buick’s Rendezvous will make things right.
It is what the Aztek coulda been.
And proof that GM had a good idea, then ruined it by forgetting a key precept of automotive marketing: Styling still sells.
The Rendezvous is a slightly longer Aztek, with a much smoother Buick front fascia to replace the multi-scooped and pointy Pontiac prow but sans the hideous plastic cladding and the humpbacked-glass rear hatch.
Under the hood, the Rendezvous and the previously reviewed Aztek (Highway 1, Dec. 20) are identical twins. They use the same 3.4-liter V-6 engine rated at 185 horsepower and 210 foot-pounds of torque. Fuel economy (19 miles per gallon in city driving, 26 mpg highway), tow capacity and other key numbers are the same for both.
The Rendezvous, though, gets a different suspension treatment, tweaked to make it ride more like a LeSabre, while Aztek retains a more truck-like ride. Both come in front-wheel and all-wheel-drive versions, but Pontiac keeps a live-axle rear end on its downscale front-drive model while Buick sticks a smoother independent rear suspension setup in both versions of the Rendezvous.
*
Visually, they are cousins but certainly not twins.
The Rendezvous, stretched 4.2 inches longer than the Aztek, shares no sheet metal--or key interior parts--with the Pontiac.
Jack Bowen, Rendezvous brand manager and a true-blue GM guy who would never, ever, say anything disparaging about another of the company’s products, compared the two vehicles this way:
“Our dealers tell us they get very favorable comment on the [Rendezvous’] appearance. It’s amazing what differentiation you can get on the same platform.”
Indeed, it is.
Beyond its smoother, classier exterior, the Rendezvous brings all the right Buick touches to the table, including a refined interior with cloth seating in the base CX model and soft, two-tone leather upholstery in the upscale CLX.
Standard seating is for five--front buckets and a middle bench--but a third-row bench for two can be added to bring the capacity to seven. An intermediate package creates seating for six by replacing the second-row bench with a pair of captain’s chairs.
The second-row seats are removable or flip and fold up against the back of the front seats; the third-row seats flip and fold flat into the floor. The third row occupies the cargo space that the Aztek uses for optional camping, hiking and storage systems--an acknowledgment that Buick buyers are far more likely to drive up to the front door of the Hilton than hike into the hinterlands come vacation time.
Analog gauges are big, round and platinum-colored and easy to read. The center stack is laid out sensibly--although Buick puts the stereo atop the climate-control panel, which places the round temperature control knob just exactly where you’d think the more frequently used round radio volume knob ought to be. As a result, I kept turning up the temp when I really wanted to crank up the volume.
Options include a self-leveling rear suspension (with the tow package), an ultrasonic backup warning system, a six-disc in-dash CD changer and a programmable memory system for one-button adjustment of the driver’s seat and side mirrors. The optional “head-up” windshield display projects current speed, radio station information, turn-signal indicators and a few other bits of info onto the lower portion of the windshield so the driver doesn’t have to shift eyes from the road.
Some of these might have been included as standard equipment if Buick really were serious about competing with other luxury sport-utility and sport-activity vehicles (think Lexus RX 300). But with a base price that is thousands of dollars less, buyers should find paying for them as options to be fairly painless.
*
So far, shoppers seem to like the Rendezvous. Buick was the only GM brand to post a sales increase in August, and Buick execs say that was due entirely to Rendezvous sales.
Since the model’s introduction in late June, Buick dealers have sold almost 10,400, an average of nearly 4,000 a month. To be sure, the more established Lexus RX 300 is moving faster, on average 6,400 a month. But the Rendezvous is succeeding where its predecessor has not, as the Aztek continues to sell at an anemic monthly clip of 2,500 despite a substantially lower price than its Buick stablemate.
Brand manager Bowen said the newest Buick is doing exactly what the company hoped: attract younger buyers to dealerships and win back former Buick owners.
Of course, youth is relative. Buick isn’t courting 20-year-olds, despite its use of twentysomething golfing superstar Tiger Woods as the brand’s spokesman. The Rendezvous is aimed at bringing in 40- and 50-year-olds to help shave a decade from the average age of Buick buyers, now in the low 60s.
*
Final words: With an entry price of $24,924 (front-wheel-drive CX, seating for five), all-wheel drive starting at $27,452 and the top-end luxury package-equipped CLX stickered at $33,367, Buick’s age targets and sales hopes for the Rendezvous--50,000 a year--seem entirely reasonable.
Especially when you consider that you don’t have to put a paper bag over your head to drive off in this latest GM version of a sport-activity vehicle.
*
Times staff writer John O’Dell covers autos for Highway 1 and the Business section. He can be reached at john.odell@latimes.com.
