2002 Buick Rendezvous CXL review from North America

Rear wheel bearing at 115,000km; front wheel bearing at 150,000km. Alternator at 155,000km.

The good: The creature comforts are top notch. The stereo is good, the seats are comfortable, and options such as the Homelink garage door opener, rear backup sensor, and heads-up display, become necessities. Passing power is fine on the highway. The all-wheel-drive allows me to traverse steep snow-covered hills easily. Design of the console and front storage areas is excellent. Flipping the 3rd row seat up and down is a breeze. Headlights are great.

The bad: The roof rack is flimsy. Removal and reinstallation of the 2nd row captains seats is a nightmare; they are heavy, awkward, and difficult to fit through the rear doors. There is no handle on the rear hatch – you have to use the button on the dash or key fob. It suffers from the corroding aluminum hood common with this line from GM. The engine is getting noisy. I have replaced one front and one rear wheel bearing and an alternator. Front tire wear is excessive. I expect I’ll soon run into one or both of the infamous 3.4l manifold gasket leak or body control module failure. Gas mileage is poor. All the paint has since chipped off the stereo controls. Seat trim, and adjustment knobs and buttons have fallen off.