There's enough cargo space for six suitcases, but you'll have to use the roof rack if you want to cross the country with the six big folks that the comfortable seats invite.
Premiere and GLS come with smooth leather seating surfaces, but otherwise look the same inside as the Chevrolet Venture or Pontiac Montana. The dashboard is neatly arranged; the gauges are easy to read, and other controls are intuitive, once you get used to the door switches in the overhead console. The Premiere Edition's VHS tape player, once awkwardly mounted on the floor, has been moved to the forward console for 2001.
The video entertainment center's flat-panel color monitor screen has also been improved for 2001: It now measures 6.8 inches rather than last year's smallish 5.6. It still folds down from the ceiling behind the two front-seat occupants. A separate rear console houses separate rear-seat heating and cooling controls, along with remote controls for the video player, and controls that determine what the in-dash stereo plays through the headphones. (The tapes are inserted by the driver, but can be controlled by a remote from the rear seats.) This way the driver can cruise along in relative silence while the rear-seat passengers switch stations, or play cassettes or CDs. There are even input jacks for Nintendo, Sega Genesis, or Sony Play Station video game machines that play on the flip-down monitor.
This all sounds like complex integration, but the end result is simple: No matter where you sit, you can enjoy your own form of entertainment. All of the systems can be overridden by the boss in the driver's seat, which is helpful for parents issuing time-outs to unruly kids. Next Page