The new Terraza minivan adds a third truck to the Buick product line in four years, joining the Rendezvous and the Rainier. The Terraza is one of four long-nose minivans GM designed to emulate the look and feel of sport utility vehicles and to get a step or two away from the so-called minivan/soccer-mom/suburbia stigma.

These four minivans represent a new family built on the old minivan platform, a family that includes the Buick Terraza, Saturn Relay, Chevrolet Uplander, and Pontiac Montana SV6. All built on common chassis, with common powertrains, the same general dimensions, and similar standard and optional equipment offerings, depending on the price class. It's the same, exact strategy as GM used before on the J cars and X cars and W cars.

Buick is at the top of the new Gang of Four in terms of price and equipment, and is designed to compete with the Chrysler Town & Country, Mercury Monterey, Toyota Sienna, and Chrysler Pacifica. The Terraza is quiet, benefiting from more sound-deadening measures than the other GM minivans.