Chevrolet Uplander
Encyclopedia
The Chevrolet Uplander is a minivan
Minivan
Minivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....

 produced by the Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

 division of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

. It replaced the Venture
Chevrolet Venture
The Chevrolet Venture is a minivan produced by General Motors from the 1997 to 2005 model years. It replaced the Chevrolet Lumina APV. Identical minivans were also sold in Europe as the Opel Sintra, and in the UK, they were badged as a Vauxhall. Opel assisted in the development of the minivan as well...

 and Astro
Chevrolet Astro
The Chevrolet Astro was a rear-wheel drive mid-sized van introduced by Chevrolet in 1985 to rival domestic competitors the Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager twins and the Japanese Toyota Van. Also sharing the Astro's platform was its sibling, the GMC Safari...

. Although introduced for the 2005 model year, it overlapped with the final model years of the Venture (on which the Uplander is heavily based) and Astro. It was built on the same platform as the Saturn Relay
Saturn Relay
The Saturn Relay was the first and only minivan from the Saturn brand of American automaker General Motors. It was introduced for the 2005 model year, and was built alongside its sisters, the Buick Terraza, the Chevrolet Uplander, and the Pontiac Montana SV6 in Doraville, Georgia...

, Buick Terraza
Buick Terraza
The Buick Terraza is a minivan from General Motors' Buick brand that was sold from the 2005 through 2007 model years. It filled the position of GM's luxury minivan that was previously occupied by the Oldsmobile Silhouette until the division's demise in 2004...

, and Pontiac Montana SV6. The Doraville, Georgia assembly plant
Doraville Assembly
Doraville Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Doraville, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta. The plant opened in 1947, and closed on 26 September 2008 as part of the company's cost-cutting measures...

 that produced the Uplander closed on September 26, 2008. It was the last minivan to have the gearshift on the steering column whereas its contemporaries had moved the gearshift to the center console.

There were few differences amongst the Uplander and its three siblings. The most significant of these was the offering of an integrated child seat in the Uplander LS and that, in the U.S. market, the Uplander was offered in two wheelbases and a cargo version. Suggested retail price
Suggested retail price
The manufacturer's suggested retail price , list price or recommended retail price of a product is the price which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product. The intention was to help to standardise prices among locations...

 for the Uplander ranged from US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

21,250–33,795, depending on options. The Uplander was exported to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

.

The four minivans all shared a common platform and came equipped with a standard MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

/CD player. Unlike its predecessor, the 8-passenger seating configuration was dropped. The Uplander and its siblings were all similarly styled, trying to appear more SUV-like with their relatively long, level hoods and tall front fascias.

Year to year changes

2005: The Uplander was initially offered with 3.5 L High Value 3500 LX9 V6 generating 200 hp (149 kW) and 220 lb·ft (298 N·m).

2006: A 3.9 L LZ9 V6, with 240 hp (179 kW) and 240 lb·ft (332 Nm) torque, was added as an option. The GM logo was added to the front doors.

2007: The 3.5 L V6 was dropped, leaving the 3.9 L as the base engine. Consequently, the optional AWD
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...

 system was also dropped, since it could not handle the torque of the 3.9 L engine. A flex-fuel version of the 3.9 L V6 also became available for 2007.

2008: The Uplander's last year for the U.S., although production continued for export to Canada and Mexico up to the 2009 model year. The final vehicle (a 2009 Canadian version short-wheelbase Pontiac Montana SV6 in Liquid Silver Metallic) rolled off the Doraville assembly line on September 26, 2008. It was replaced by the Chevrolet Traverse
Chevrolet Traverse
The Chevrolet Traverse is a seven/eight seat full-size crossover SUV built on the GM Lambda platform that underpins the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook. It is a successor to both the Uplander minivan and Trailblazer SUV...

 crossover vehicle.

Safety

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization funded by auto insurers, established in 1959 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes, and the rate of injuries and amount of property damage in the crashes that...

, the Chevrolet Uplander has an improved crash test rating than its predecessor, the Venture
Chevrolet Venture
The Chevrolet Venture is a minivan produced by General Motors from the 1997 to 2005 model years. It replaced the Chevrolet Lumina APV. Identical minivans were also sold in Europe as the Opel Sintra, and in the UK, they were badged as a Vauxhall. Opel assisted in the development of the minivan as well...

. The Uplander, Pontiac Montana SV6, Buick Terraza
Buick Terraza
The Buick Terraza is a minivan from General Motors' Buick brand that was sold from the 2005 through 2007 model years. It filled the position of GM's luxury minivan that was previously occupied by the Oldsmobile Silhouette until the division's demise in 2004...

 and Saturn Relay
Saturn Relay
The Saturn Relay was the first and only minivan from the Saturn brand of American automaker General Motors. It was introduced for the 2005 model year, and was built alongside its sisters, the Buick Terraza, the Chevrolet Uplander, and the Pontiac Montana SV6 in Doraville, Georgia...

earned the highest rating of "Good" in the IIHS offset frontal crash test, but was rated only "Acceptable" and "Poor" in the IIHS side crash test with and without the optional side airbags, respectively.

External links

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