2004 Buick Rainier Review (continued)
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Walkaround

Buick Rainier takes its name from the snow-covered mountain southwest of Seattle and from the royal family of Monaco. One of the vehicle's chief designers says Mount Rainier reflects majesty with ruggedness and independence" while the late Grace Kelly and her husband's family symbolize "quality, sophistication and elegance."

Rainier is based on the GM360 platform, a mid-size, truck-based SUV also marketed as the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, the outgoing Oldsmobile Bravada, and the Isuzu Ascender, a badge-engineered GM model. It's a solid platform featuring a frame that uses hydroformed steel for incredible strength and rigidity. This gives the Rainier a tow rating of up to 6,300 pounds.

Rainier features unique styling cues, including a distinct grille, hood, front quarter panels and rear hatch door. Its large, oval-shaped grille helps soften the boxy SUV architecture. The upper section of the chrome grilles provides a bold background for the Buick name, with a large Buick tri-shield badge set in the midst of the grille's vertical bars. The Rainier's face also includes wide, three-element headlamps with separate fog lights and side marker lights in the lower front fascia.

The creased hood lends an elegant strength to the Rainier's appearance. Its stance is enhanced by Buick-exclusive, eight-spoke, cast-aluminum wheels that wear special Michelin tires designed to provide a quiet ride. Just as the front grille alerts you to the fact that this SUV is a Buick, the rear view includes a prominent chrome eyebrow bearing the Buick name as part of the license plate holder.

The rear liftgate features a separate glass hatch to offer quick access to the cargo area. Lifting the rear hatch requires some initial effort."

Interior Features

Rainier gets some unique interior features, but we wish Buick had taken it a step farther. The instrument panel features platinum-colored gauges with turquoise-colored pointer needles that almost appear to light up against the metallic background. Not only are they very attractive, but we found them easy to read, even through polarized sunglasses, which is certainly not the case with the electroluminescent gauge clusters on many other so-called luxury vehicles.

Neither the interior design nor the materials look or feel luxurious, however. Faux wood trim attempts to add a luxurious ambiance to the interior, but wood-grain plastic lacks elegance. Chrome interior door handles add some flash. A Buick marketing official promises there will be real wood trim and other interior upgrades by the time the 2005 Rainier rolls into dealerships.

The leather seats feature perforated leather in the center back and lower cushion areas, but it almost looks more like vinyl than leather. Also, the seats could use more side support. However, we do like the feature that incorporates the shoulder belt into the seat back rather than having it mounted way up on the vehicle's B pillar.

We also liked the large dot matrix on the windshield that helps block the glare of direct sunlight above the rear view mirror and between the sun visors. We were disappointed, however, that the Rainier had only single sun visors on either side instead of dual visors so you can block the sun both ahead and along the top of the front door windows.

While the GMC Envoy has very attractive and metallic colored heating and cooling ducts, those in the up market Rainier are plainer in their appearance. Nor were the cupholders the jumbo-sized ones found in competitive vehicles. On the other hand, there are two power outlets up front, so both driver and passenger can recharge cell phones.

The rear seats, the second row, offer decent legroom but not quite to luxurious proportions.

There's plenty of cargo room behind the back seats. An optional cargo organizer is available and appears an excellent way to keep your stuff from sliding around.

The optional navigation system features an amazingly clear screen that seems almost immune to sunlight glare, which often renders them invisible. The screen seems smaller than in competitive vehicles, however, and the system's control buttons were very small, with symbols we had to decipher instead of easy-to-understand word labels. The main control button, the one you use while inputting a destination, seemed overly sensitive, to the point that we often depressed it while simply trying to add a letter to a location, forcing us to go back and start the sequence all over again. Also, with the nav system, you have a choice of using the system or playing an audio CD (a situation Buick says will be remedied on the 2005 model).

Whether you share our opinion of the Rainier's interior features, there's no debate about how quiet it is in there. This very likely is the quietest body-on-frame SUV we've ever driven. In fact, it may be among the quietest vehicles of any construction that we've ever driven.

Buick says the Rainier comes with perks, or PRQS, which stands for power, ride, quiet and style. In the Rainier, the emphasis on quiet includes double-pane and laminated glass for the windshield and front doors as well as the liberal use of an acoustical foam sound-deadening material in all the usual internal body cavities, such as those in doors and pillars. The Michelin tires were designed to provide an especially quiet ride.

Buick used the Lexus LX 470 as the benchmark for the Rainier, but we think the Rainier will be the new industry benchmark when it comes to a quiet cabin.