On Wheels by Brooks Peterson

Saturday, September 8, 2001

New Bravada is a smooth ride

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

With adequate handling and fuel consumption, more room and more power, the Oldsmobile Bravada is a cut above most of its peers.

Like sport utes or loathe 'em, there's one point on which there can be no disagreement: Sport utes are where the action is these days in autoworld.
   And that action is nonstop. Consider the Oldsmobile Bravada, which has experienced a kind of rebirth of sorts for the 2002 model year. (Note: Much - but not all - of the following applies also to its corporate cousins, the Chevrolet Trailblazer, which replaces the old Blazer, and the GMC Envoy, which replaces the Jimmy.)
   Now, there is a certain poignancy to the case of the Bravada in particular. Thanks to its overhaul for 2002, it is a significantly more appealing proposition than its immediate predecessor. And much the same could be said for the rest of the Oldsmobile lineup: The current Olds inventory is the most attractive and appealing line the division has offered in quite a while. After years of drift and demoralization, of futile pining for bygone days of vinyl roofs and simulated wire-wheel hubcaps, Oldsmobile seems finally to have regained a sense of direction and confidence.
   The upside

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

The Oldsmobile Bravada is bigger and roomier than most of its fellow GM products.

   So how does the General capitalize on this recovery? It takes the division over to a secluded corner of the compound and puts a bullet in its head. Sheer genius. This is the kind of thinking that'll drive those characters from Japan and Yurrup back where they come from.
   So much for this evening's rant. The upside is that we'll have the Olds option available to us for another model year or two.
   And if you're a committed Olds freak in need of some 4-wheel-drive capability, you've definitely got a better reason to consider the Bravada than you did before.
   Not to be unkind, but the previous Bravada (with its Chevy and GMC cousins) was a highly resistible item: underpowered, undersized and unsophisticated. These qualities obviously had a lot to do with the Ford Explorer's success in establishing itself as the dominant presence in SUV-land.
   The best for last

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

The Oldsmobile Bravada is billed as a ‘luxury touring vehicle’ rather than as a rough-and-ready tramper through various terrain.

   Now the GM trio comes to the fray far better-armed. Check out the Bravada: It's bigger and, more to the point, roomier. (I seem to recall reading somewhere that third-row rear seating may be offered at a later date.) It's a lot better-looking. The five-link suspension offers a smoother ride.
   (Interestingly, GM has given the Bravada some special licks: It's significantly longer, wider and taller than the new Trailblazer and Envoy. All this for a division soon to go pfft. Brilliant.)
   And - the best for last - the Bravada gets a goat-gland treatment with an all-new 4.2-liter dual-overhead-cam V-6 generating a yeasty 270 horsepower. In case you're wondering, that's an 80-hp boost over the previous engine. And it means that, for the time being, the GMC trio out-powers all its competition in the mid-size SUV niche. (Sound of gnashing teeth from the FoMoCo compound.)
   Luxury touring vehicle
   Olds concedes that it's aiming squarely for the car-like end of the SUV spectrum. As the press release puts it, "The Bravada is crafted primarily as a luxury touring vehicle rather than an off-road adventurer."

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

The Bravada is offered with two- and four-wheel-drive versions. Pictured are its running boards and low ground clearance.

   You can get the Bravada in two- or four-wheel-drive versions. For those who like SUVs primarily because they make it possible to . . . well, to drive a station wagon that isn't really a station wagon (or a minivan), the 2WD would make impeccable sense.
   Still, I'd go the 4WD route, if only because it offers a useful extra increment of capability. Imagine, for instance, if you were in charge of getting a big wheel of brie to a social occasion and came smack up against, oh, say, a flooded intersection, a snowdrift, or a stinking tropical bog. You'd have a much better shot at making the shindig - and saving your social standing - with the 4WD, now, wouldn't you?
   Either way, you will have a very user-friendly vehicle. The interior treats you with the consideration that one of your standing deserves, with all the usual fillips - not the least of them GM's OnStar, which makes it possible for you to find out where you are and/or order flowers from . . . well . . . from just about anywhere.
   Friend of the Earth

2002 Oldsmobile Bravada Five-passenger 4-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle Base price: $34,167 Price as tested: $35,377 Drivetrain: Dual-overhead-cam fuel-injected six, 270 hp; four-speed automatic-overdrive transmission Brakes: Front and rear discs, power-assisted, with standard antilock (ABS) EPA mileage: 15 city/21highway Web site: www.oldsmobile.com

   The Bravada is also a smooth customer under way. Understand, now, we're not talking sport sedan here. Nor are we talking luxury sedan. Simply by virtue of the fact that this is a rather high-riding vehicle embodying certain unavoidable compromises, handling is not razor-sharp. It can, in fact, be downright ponderous if you get silly.
   And don't get the impression that those 80 newly arrived horses are going to turn your ute into a rocket sled. This is a substantial vehicle, designed for substantial people, and while it can show a turn of speed, don't look for high drama.
   Nor are we talking fuel consumption that will qualify you for Friend of the Earth honors. Better than some, to be sure, but . . .
   Going out stylishly
   Again, the spectacle of this final generation of Oldsmobiles - some of them admirable, all of them worthy - is more than a little melancholy. There is a sense of the bitterly ironic, of the old gladiators' grim but jaunty morituri te salutamus ("We who are about to die salute you," in case you missed that chapter).
   Oldsmobile is marching off to automotive Valhalla, there to be welcomed by Plymouth, DeSoto, Hudson, Studebaker, Packard - but it could be worse. At least Mr. Olds' baby is going out stylishly.
  
  

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