[elliotgb]

Anyone see information on the Buick Terraza yet?

It's on the Buick.com website and is touted as a crossover sport van.
Never owned a Buick, so I don't know much about safety, reliability, etc.

Looks kinda big and boxy but comforatbly appointed and supposedly has a very powerful V6.

I chose Murano because I wanted to get away from the boxy SUV type of vehicle, having driven a Jeep Grand Cherokee for 11 years.

 

[Eric L.]

Um, the Terraza is just a reskinned Chevy Venture. The carmags are calling the vehicle a joke since GM calls it a crossover sportvan. They can do so because they made the hood longer and did something to the C-pillars to give it an SUV like appearance. Its basically a minivan without the clever features that Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda have.

The engine is the same 200hp 3.5L V6 from the Chevy Malibu. The interior is similar to the new Pontiac Gran Prix, if thats your style.

 

[Dave N]

Um, the Terraza is just a reskinned Chevy Venture. The carmags are calling the vehicle a joke since GM calls it a crossover sportvan. They can do so because they made the hood longer and did something to the C-pillars to give it an SUV like appearance. Its basically a minivan without the clever features that Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda have.

The engine is the same 200hp 3.5L V6 from the Chevy Malibu. The interior is similar to the new Pontiac Gran Prix, if thats your style.

Ditto....I can't believe they can live with themselves while trying to pass off an ugly and poor excuse for a minivan (I won't even enterain calling it a crossover sportvan). GM still doesn't get it and as long as they don't get it, they won't get my money. After a recent visit, my father is considering selling his two Corvettes ( a '66 and an '85) and buying a 350Z (this may have been influenced from a ride in my '90 300ZX Twin Turbo ).

He feels alientated by GM's spin-off of the Cadillac roadster (a Cadivette??) and doesn't want to be a part of that anymore.....where was I going with this??? Oh yeah, people are getting wise to GM's lack of design creativity. Sure, they've got Bob Lutz now, but why is it that the upper management will listen to him and not the press and public who've been telling GM for years that their designs lack any creativity?

Sorry, I'll step of the soap box now
:soapbox:

 

[EZEroc]

Kinda looks like a Chevy Uplander

http://www.chevrolet.com/uplander/

 

[Eric L.]

It is in fact IDENTICAL to the Chevrolet Uplander, Saturn Relay, and Pontiac Montana SV6. I do not know how GM gets away with so much rebadging for essentially the same vehicle. Its sort of like how their current midsize SUV platform (GMT900) is used for the Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Saab 9-7, Buick Ranier, and Isuzu Ascender!

 

[tukmol]

After a recent visit, my father is considering selling his two Corvettes ( a '66 and an '85) and buying a 350Z (this may have been influenced from a ride in my '90 300ZX Twin Turbo ).

Cool a fellow MO and 300Z owner...

 

[Dave N]

Cool a fellow MO and 300Z owner...

:2:

If I ever decide to replace my Expedition with a Titan or an Armada, I'll be back to an all-Nissan household (including my '71 240Z).

What kind of Z do you have? I hang out more at twinturbo.net (same screen name) than here.

Dave

 

[tukmol]

:2:

If I ever decide to replace my Expedition with a Titan or an Armada, I'll be back to an all-Nissan household (including my '71 240Z).

What kind of Z do you have? I hang out more at twinturbo.net (same screen name) than here.

Dave

I have a 91 300zxtt. I usually check out TT.net and 300zxclub.org.

 

[Dave N]

My '90 Z is stage III and I just added the GD down pipes while I changed out my clutch. It's a tough decision (sometimes) when I go out to the garage in the morning.....do I take the Z, or the Murano.....

See you around (either here or on tt.net).

Dave

 

[SE_Murano]

Anyone see information on the Buick Terraza yet?

It's on the Buick.com website and is touted as a crossover sport van.
Never owned a Buick, so I don't know much about safety, reliability, etc.

Looks kinda big and boxy but comforatbly appointed and supposedly has a very powerful V6.

I chose Murano because I wanted to get away from the boxy SUV type of vehicle, having driven a Jeep Grand Cherokee for 11 years.

It's a shame that GM thinks that their potential customers will be duped by these "clever" marketing names. Worse yet, many buyers will fall for it.

This is not to say that the Murano isn't a glorified mini-van, but at least Nissan didn't coin their own term to make it appear as something it's not - come on, "crossover sport van"?!?!

And they pay people good money to come up with this stuff.....

 

[9495]

Re: Re: Terraza

It's a shame that GM thinks that their potential customers will be duped by these "clever" marketing names. Worse yet, many buyers will fall for it.

This is not to say that the Murano isn't a glorified mini-van, but at least Nissan didn't coin their own term to make it appear as something it's not - come on, "crossover sport van"?!?!

And they pay people good money to come up with this stuff.....

Well, that's the point. They DO make good money off of this crap. And it's cheap for them to make it (not a lot of time and energy goes into modifying something that exists rather than creating something new). The real problem is that consumers are stupid and fall for crap like this. If people did just a half-hour of online research before going to a dealership to look at cars, they would be much more prepared and the car manufacturers would have to actually work for their living.

However, I don't necessarily agree with your comment about the Murano. Nissan DID label it something that it is not: "Crossover SUV." It is not a crossover. Neither is the Toyota Highlander or BMW X3. It's a marketing gimick, nothing more.

~ Corin

 

[Eric L.]

Wait a minute, isn't the Murano a crossover SUV? The RX300 defined a crossover vehicle, and the Murano is virtually identical.

 

[senza]

To me , the Murano is a the most well balanced vehicle I've owned... rides like a car...sporty handling....reasonably good power...good mileage...killer looks....its a "leading edge" vehicle whayever you call it...

 

[9495]

Wait a minute, isn't the Murano a crossover SUV? The RX300 defined a crossover vehicle, and the Murano is virtually identical.

Same thing. They CALL it a crossover, but it's still an SUV. I think that the whole term of "Crossover SUV" is the same as "Sport Van". It means absolutely nothing. Just marketing terms that they make up to try to curb a market.

~ Corin

P.S. I agree that the MO is a great vehicle, no matter what it's called. And as a long-time SUV-hater that is saying quite a bit. The MO is the first SUV that I have ever considered buying, and as far as SUVs go it is definitely in the "least-evil" category.

 

[Eric L.]

So what do you consider a crossover then? When Lexus introduced the RX300 in 1998 or 1999, it was called a crossover, because it is a combination of a car platform, with SUV styling. It does not have a true low range or the truck platform that defined SUV's of the day.

Actually I would consider the Murano, with its soft underpinnings and low ground clearance, more of a modern station wagon than an SUV. But I guess we can call it what we like, as long as its not called a truck!

 

[hfelknor]

I think "crossover" is a good description and I firmly believe that the Murano is not an SUV.
It just doesn't match Eric's description, which I agree with.
An SUV is a truck.
The Murano is not a truck.
If it is, it is an Altima truck which is an oxymoron.

Now if people like "crossover SUV".......well that's ok. But "Crossover sedan" is just as viable then.
Let's face it, it is half way between a car and a real SUV.

Crossover is a marketing term?

Sure. So is Hardtop.

Marketing terms become rooted in the language.
That's how some definitions are formed.
In point of fact, SUV was a "marketing term".

Homer

 

[9495]

Yes, marketing shapes our language. It has also morphed the idea of what an SUV really is. Even when the Toyota Rav 4 came out it was considered an SUV because SUVs were, typically, small. The original Chevy Suburban wasn't really called an SUV when it came out, it was considered a truck. But now that we have larger and larger of that type, they didn't want to still call them "trucks" so they started calling those "SUVs" instead. So now the "little SUVs" (which is really just an SUV of the past) needs a new name because owners of these vehicles don't want to be associated with that of the huge monsters like the Excursion.

So, as I mentioned before, I would consider vehicles like the Subaru Forrester and Toyota Rav 4 to be crossover vehicles, ones like the highlander, 4-runner, MO, etc to be SUVs, and things like the H2, Suburban, Excursion, etc to be trucks.

But, that's just my opinion. And like everyone else's opinion, mine is the only one that matters to me!

~ Corin