The side view of the Rendezvous is no less striking, delivering the impression that Buick designers used a large
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| Adventurous design elements create a fairly controversial, love-it or hate-it appearance. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press) |
blade to slice off its rear body structure at a 45-degree angle just behind the rear windows; following which a cargo area was piggybacked onto the remaining body work. Such adventurous design elements created a fairly controversial, love-it or hate-it appearance. Fortunately for Buick, the Rendezvous has been more popular than the even more controversial Pontiac Aztek that shares the SUVs general architecture. Regardless on which side of the design fence you're on, Buick - traditionally a gray-wave car company - deserves a little credit for fashioning a midsize SUV that exhibits attitude.
Buick's stylists didn't call it quits after the exterior of the Rendezvous was penned - rather they carried-on to the
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| The Rendezvous Ultra has a well laid-out, classy and very functional interior. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, American Auto Press) |
inside. While I mentioned the Rendezvous is pricey when dressed in its Ultra togs, the big coin brings with it big content in a classy interior. Except for the audio/navigation system in my tester, which could not play a music CD if the navigation disc was in the CD slot, the Rendezvous has a well laid-out, very functional interior. Unfortunately, there is little hope of being guided through the countryside while simultaneously playing a favorite music disc. Personally I think I'd rather be lost and listening to great tunes, than be found in silence. According to the operations manual, however, an audio disc can be played in the rear seat DVD system while the in-dash CD spins the navigation disc. This is an impractical solution. Given the sting in the price tag, the in-dash single slot is completely unacceptable. A multi-disc changer should be standard.
