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2004 Buick Rainier Mid-Size Sport Utility Vehicle
Buick makes new Rainier the midsize sport utility vehcle as quiet as a luxury car
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New Car Profile of the Buick Rainier Wagon
Description: Mid-size 4-door SUV wagon
Base MSRP Range: 4.2-L 2WD: $ 35,295, 5.3-L 4WD: $ 38,745
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Wheelbase: 113.0 inches
Overall length: 191.6 inches
Engine size: DOHC 4.2-L I6, OHV 5.3-L V8
Transmissions/speeds: Auto/4 4L60-E
Rear/front drive: AWD 2WD Rear
Steering: Power rack and pinion
Braking: Power 4-disc, ABS/ETC
Air bags: 2 (front), opt. 2 (side)
EPA mileage est. city/hwy: 4.2-L 2WD: 16/21 mpg, 4.2-L 4WD: 15/20 mpg, 5.3-L 2WD: 16/20 mpg, 5.3-L 4WD: 15/18 mpg
Maximum GVWR: 2WD: 5550 pounds, 4WD: 5750 pounds
Maximum trailer towing: 2WD: 6300 pounds, 4WD: 6200 pounds
Ride with us as we steer a Rainier, the new sport-utility vehicle from Buick, up a winding mountain road to Rainier, the ice-capped cone in the state of Washington.
Although it's late in springtime, there's snow in fat and wet flakes falling so fast that any views of the peak, rising for 14,411 feet high in the Cascade Range, are hopelessly lost in the white stew of sky and snow.
The icy flakes melt on contact with a blacktop road, leaving a slick film of water that sometimes tricks tires into slipping and skidding -- but that's not the way this Rainier plays it.
It handles all kinks and curves of the two-lane route to Longmire with confidence-inspiring agility as a sophisticated and smart all-wheel-drive (AWD) system keeps the four tread patches planted firmly on pavement.
The suspension, tuned for smoothness with an electronically-controlled air suspension working on the rear wheels, isolates any pothole rough stuff and delivers a comfortable ride.
And within the five-place cabin, Rainier the sport-utility vehicle reveals an impressive quality of quietness in terms of reducing noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).
All external NVH is locked outside, the result of wrapping the compartment liberally with sound-deadening material, including thick layers of laminate applied to the windshield and front side windows
. The effort to control NVH inside Rainier is labeled by Buick marketeers as QuietTuning. It represents a sense of refinement more akin to a premium luxury car than a sport-utility vehicle riding on the chassis of a pickup truck. Rainier is the second SUV for Buick following in the path of Rendezvous. It emerges as a 2004 model based on the mid-size GM SUV architecture that also underpins mid-size wagons like Chevrolet's Trailblazer and GMC Envoy.
The new wagon skews toward the luxury side of motoring with plush seats in a cabin and deluxe appointments including rich perforated leather upholstery.
It comes with a choice of V6 or V8 powertrain in either rear-wheel-drive (RWD) or available AWD traction for forays on slick pavement or graveled trails.
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