The Buick Rendezvous is essentially the identical vehicle to the Pontiac Aztek. But what a difference. First of all, the Rendezvous looks like a Buick, with the family oval waterfall grille and smooth flanks. Therefore, you aren't ashamed to be seen in it. Rendezvous is powered by a 3.4-liter V-6 that's rated at 185 horsepower. It drives the wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission with overdrive.

It's the overdrive that helped us achieve 17.0 mpg in our test. The Rendezvous is rated at 18 mpg city/24 mpg highway. Our test took the vehicle over an assortment of roads, with our primary focus on Interstates and small roads. The base price of the Rendezvous is $27,452. With the CXL luxury package added the sticker price by $5,015.

In this package you get six-way power front seats with memory for the driver, dual electric control HVAC system so you don't have to fight with the passenger over the temperature, an overhead console, leather seating surfaces with footrests for the second-row passengers (an admitted luxury), OnStar, rear parking aid, head sup display, AM/FM stereo radio with cassette and CD changer, and a luggage rack.

Rendezvous has all the neat features of Aztek, including the ability to make the rear a tent and sleep in the back if you want. If Buick insists on joining the SUV or truck market, it couldn't have picked a better design.