This Buick Rendezvous demonstrates perfectly that a car does not necessarily have to be old or beautiful to get a spot in ‘In het Wild’. The more successful brother of a car that achieved cult status for its looks: the Pontiac Aztek.
We thank Techzle reader Koen Smit, who has almost become the purveyor to the court by now, for sending us the photos of this Rendezvous. It was of course immediately noticeable because of its unmistakably American appearance, but also simply because you never see it. That is understandable: we dove into the RDW license plate database and it seems that this is the only Rendezvous registered as such in the Netherlands. That makes it an extra nice spot, of course, although there will probably be a Rendezvous driving around here and there that has been introduced under a different trade name. It is rare anyway!
The Buick Rendezvous was one of many General Motors SUVs on the same base. The nearly five meter long Rendezvous shares its genes with the Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Montana and Saturn Relay, although its Pontiac nephew Aztek will say the Dutch the most. Buick was a little less insane at the drawing board than Pontiac at the Aztek. In the US, it gave Buick quite a sales success. It also appealed enough to someone to bring it brand new to the Netherlands in 2002. That could of course also have been imports due to immigration, although someone else was apparently convinced last September that he was going to its current owner.
In any case, the driver will drive comfortably and luxuriously, although hopefully with a blind spot for material use and fuel consumption. In the nose of the barely 2-ton Rendezvous lies a 186 hp 3.4-liter V6, coupled to a four-speed automatic transmission. A very lazy block for its displacement, with an equally low-tech transmission. Just nice and quiet swaying with the whole family also has something.