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D2 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, April 4, 2001 Pontiac Aztek Sometimes weird works By Rob Beintema SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER "You're not gonna make fun of it too, are you?" Brenda asked me goodnaturedly, as she handed me the keys. Brenda is GM Oshawa's press fleet coordinator. She liked this particular test vehicle, a lot. She also decides who gets which test car and when. So, she is, nat urally, the last person I want to get on the wrong side of. But when it comes to the Pontiac Aztek, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to help myself. I didn't tell her that I had already made up my mind about the Aztek after a few earlier test drives during the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada's (AJAC) Car of the Year competition last fall. I wanted a little more time in the vehicle to confirm those earlier judgements. Actually, I like the Aztek, Yep, it's funny looking. Its styling and looks also mask a competent, dayto-day performer that offers an individu alistic owner statement, innovative com ponents and superior levels of ride and handling. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for any oddball vehicle that doesn't look like all the other anonymous jellybean shapes squeezed out of cookie-cutter car facto ries. So, let's get the styling out of the way first. With its pointy Pontiac snout and portly dimensions covered with acres of body-cladding, the Aztek is a definite departure in design philosophy. The front is pure Pontiac, with a styling emphasis usually reserved for attention grabbing, auto show concept cars like Pontiac's Rageous or the Piranha. In back. Aztek's rear aspect is over whelmed by the square rear and large glass and tailgate combination that opens laboriously to swallow full sheets of 4X8 plywood. Visibility through that almost Honda CRX-style rear glass is normally better than in most vehicles, but in bad weather there's no rear wiper due to the odd shape. It's the profile picture of this beauty that draws the most comment. From the side, the Aztek's tall car/van profile pre sents a panel van-sized wall of steel and bodycladding that make even the optional sixteen-inch wheels look almost tiny. Inside, the wonky styling carries over with a kind of urban camouflage pattern on the upholstery. The dash pushes Pontiac styling to the edge with bulges over the baseball sized vents, big knurly switchgear and red-illuminated gauges. Seating is fairly comfortable with excel lent visibility and a good vantagepoint. A hair-trigger gas pedal contrasts strangely with a mushy brake pedal that goes a little too deep into the well. But I got quickly acclimated to those minor eccentricities, thanks to a perky 3.4 L V6 engine that offered excellent get-up-andgo, no matter how much load the vehicle was carrying. The 2001 Pontiac Aztek is, honestly, fun to drive. Rack & pinion steering and independent suspension on a platform with combined Montana and Grand Prix heritage makes for a surprisingly superi or, downright sporty, feel of perfor mance and handling ability. In back, Aztek offers standard seating for five with a 21 kg (45 lb) flip-fold rear bench that can be easily removed. Optional Captain's chairs are available. A long list of standard items in the base Aztek includes air conditioning, AM/FM CD, tilt steering, front and side impact airbags, traction control. A move up to the Aztek GT - like my 2001 Pontiac Aztek tester - adds dual zone A/C with air fil tration, the bigger 16" wheels, a driver info computer, premium cloth, cruise control, keyless entry and more. Further optional goodies include sunroof, heated leather seats, upscale audio systems and a trailer-towing package. The storage compartment looks huge with 1286 liters (45.4 cu ft) of cargo space behind the rear seats, expanding to 2648 liters (93.5 cu ft) with the rear bench removed. The low flat floor opens to a storage compartment that conceals valuables. An available sliding cargo tray elimi nates the strain reaching into the vehicle and holds up to 182 kg (400 lb) of weight. An arrangement of four cargo nets divides the cargo area into as many as 22 different configurations. Each net is double-sided to work like a bag. Seat indentations in the rear tailgate allow for tailgate parties with rain pro tection from the glass hatch. There's even an available set of extra radio con trols for the rear cargo area, above the 12V-power outlet. In the end, customers will have to weigh the innovative qualities of the Pontiac Aztek, its unique styling and its price point. Sometimes, weirdness works. 30th Anniversary Chrysler celebrates 9-millionth minivans The company that invented the minivan 18 years ago recently cele brated the building of its nine mil lionth minivan at its European man ufacturing facility in Graz, Austria. Hundreds of Chrysler Group employees cheered as the nine millionth minivan, a silver Chrysler Voyager, drove off of the line. "We sell nearly 600,000 minivans a year in more than 70 countries throughout the world," said Frank J. Ewasyshyn, executive vicep r e s i d e n t , A d v a n c e Our Spring Inventory Clearance is on now. Sole ends April 00th. ·Select models only. See dealer for details. HAM. KERR Q.E.W. TOR. - S. SERVICE RD. W YEC R O FT RD. B u lc K IN C 410 SOUTH SERVICE RD. W. (JUST WEST OF DORVAL) 905- 845-1681 i SPEERS RD Manufacturing and General Manager of M i n i v a n Operations, who was working at the Windsor assembly plant when the first minivan was built. "The minivan market continues to be vibrant. Just last year, the seg ment climbed to an all-time high of more than 2 mil lion sales world wide. Our mini vans continue to answer the call for utility, conve nience and style." With three minivan assembly plants, Chrysler Group has the capacity to build nearly 2,766 mini vans every day, which translates into more than 115 minivans per hour, or nearly two minivans per minute. Introduced in November of 1983 at the com pany's Windsor Assembly Plant, the segment-bust ing minivan would go on to replace the station wagon, put the family room on wheels, spark the cup holder revolu tion and forever change the land scape of the world's highways and driveways.