For anyone who ever wondered why the otherwise estimable GMC Envoy SUV could not be configured to seat seven, your answer is at hand in the form of the Envoy XL.
Starting in the spring of 2002, the Envoy XL will be available for those folks who really need to carry seven people, joining the current five-seat Envoy.
In designing this mid-size SUV, GM has followed the idea that there are two distinct markets in this segment and that trying to build something of a certain size that seats seven serves neither end well. It is indeed impossible to build a vehicle that holds seven full-size people and some luggage and isn't too long for many people's tastes.
So with the Envoy XL, GMC has gone for a seven-seater that's a no-compromise seven-seater by delivering a lot more interior space.. More interior room than the Ford Explorer, GMC points out, as well as the regular Envoy.
With its second row folded, the regular Envoy has 2268 litres of cargo space. With their second and third rows folded, the Explorer and Envoy have 2302 and 2837 litres, respectively.
There's no trick to this, of course — you just make the vehicle bigger. So the regular Envoy is 4866 mm long on a 2869-mm wheelbase, and the Envoy XL is 5271 mm long on a 3275-mm wheelbase. The XL is the same width (1897 mm), but a little taller — 1902 instead of 1826.
Extra room is the good of a bigger vehicle. Extra weight is the bad. The Envoy XL weighs 2193 kg in 2WD and 2276 kg in 4WD, which is 189 kg more than what the respective Envoy models weigh.