American Oldsmobile

The Oldsmobile Silhouette has two friends of the same batch, Pontiac Tran Sport by name, later on it was named as Pontiac Montana, and Chevrolet Lumina APV, which was known as Chevrolet Venture, was actually a range of minivans that were launched on late 1989 as 1990 models. After the official termination of Oldsmobile brand this was newly named as Buick Terraza from onward 2005.

The planning strategy of General Motors was to launch a minivan to occupy the market of Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan, truck –based Chevrolet Astro and GMC safari but the venture was not successful as the new launched product could not grab the monopolized market of Chrysler’s monopoly van market in and around 1980. The introduction of Oldsmobile Silhouette was the second attempt to enter and capture the van market but the newly launched models had some limitations in terms of looks and unconventional styling that proved unappealing for the buyers.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the van by GM 4 tars for its driver protection device, 3 stars for passenger safety in h 35mph frontal impact test. While the side impact test was conducted, the van received 5 stars for front passenger protection and 5 for the protection of the passengers seated on the rear seat.

The safety issues of Montana were compared with new version of MontanaSV6 and the new version earned fabulous marking like good; even the insurance company declared the van as good after conducting frontal offset crash test.

With the introduction of Silhouette the market of van for GM became slightly better but it was no success even in the monopoly of the competitors brand; however, no significant share of the market was captured by this introduction. The entire production of this car was competent enough but not outstanding in any category so it could not be a hit in the market. It was in production till 2004 and till date this van is considered as longest runner version of minivan under the brand name of General Motors.

Performance & Efficiency 
- Auxiliary transmission cooler
- 3,350 cc 3.4 liters V 6 front engine with 92 mm bore, 84 mm stroke, 9.5 compression ratio, overhead valve and two valves per cylinder LA1
- Unleaded fuel 87
- Fuel economy EPA highway (mpg): 24 and EPA city (mpg): 18
- Multi-point injection fuel system
- 25.1 gallon main unleaded fuel tank
- Heavy duty alternator
- Heavy duty engine cooling system
- Power: 138 kW , 185 HP SAE @ 5,200 rpm; 210 ft lb , 285 Nm @ 4,000 rpm
 Handling, Ride & Braking 
- Four-wheel ABS
- 3.69:1 axle ratio
- Four disc brakes including two ventilated discs
- Immobilizer
- Spacesaver steel rim under body spare wheel
- Strut front suspension independent with stabilizer bar and coil springs , wishbone rear suspension independent with stabilizer bar and coil springs
- Automatic rear suspension levelling
 Exterior & Aerodynamics 
- Body side molding
- Body color front and rear bumpers
- Day time running lights
- Driver and passenger power heated black door mirrors
- External dimensions: overall length (inches): 201.4, overall width (inches): 72.2, overall height (inches): 68.1, ground clearance (inches): 6, wheelbase (inches): 120, front track (inches): 61.5, rear track (inches): 63.3 and curb to curb turning circle (feet): 39.7
- Front fog lights
- Complex surface lens halogen bulb headlights
- Heat reflective glass
- Luxury trim wood/woodgrain on dashboard
- Remote control operation opening rear ¼ windows
- Metallic paint
- Fixed rear window with defogger and intermittent
- Roof rails
- Tinted glass on cabin , privacy tinted glass on rear , privacy tinted glass on side
- Trailer towing preparation
- Weights: gross vehicle weight rating (lbs) 5,357, curb weight (lbs) 3,948 and gross trailer weight braked (lbs) 2,000
- Windshield wipers with variable intermittent wipe
 Interior 
- 12v power outlet: front and rear and 1
- Air conditioning with rear outlet
- Fixed mast antenna
- Peripheral anti-theft protection
- Audio anti-theft protection: code
- RDS audio system with AM/FM, CD player and cassette
- Automatic drive indicator on dashboard
- Cargo area dimensions: length (inches): 100, front width (inches): 62.4, width between arches (inches): 48.3, height (inches): 45.1 and loading floor height (inches): 25
- Cargo area light
- Cargo capacity: all seats in place (cu ft): 24.2, all seats removed (cu ft): 141.9 and third row seats removed (cu ft): 84.6
- Clock
- Coming home device
- Compass
- Computer with average speed, average fuel consumption, instantaneous fuel consumption and range for remaining fuel
- Full dashboard and overhead console with covered storage box
- Delayed/fade courtesy lights
- Cruise control
- Front seats cup holders pop out , rear seats cup holders fixed , 3rd row seats cup holders fixed
- Display screen single rear middle
- Door ajar warning
- Door pockets/bins for driver seat, passenger seat and rear seats
- DVD/VCD
- E-mail
- External temperature
- Floor covering: carpet in load area
- Floor mats
- Driver and passenger front airbag intelligent
- Bucket heated electrically adjustable driver and passenger seat with height adjustment, four adjustments and tilt adjustment
- Height adjustable 3-point reel front seat belts on driver seat and passenger seat with pre-tensioners
- Front seat center armrest
- Garage door opener
- Glove compartment
- Two height adjustable head restraints on front seats, rear seats and 3rd row seats
- Headlight control with dusk sensor
- Illuminated entry system
- Internal dimensions: front headroom (inches): 39.9, rear headroom (inches): 39.3, front hip room (inches): 53.6, rear hip room (inches): 51.3, front leg room (inches): 39.9, rear leg room (inches): 39, front shoulder room (inches): 59.8, rear shoulder room (inches): 61.9 and interior volume (cu ft): 101
- Internet connection
- Low fuel level warning
- Memorized adjustment with four driver’s seat positions
- Online information system
- Parking distance sensors rear and radar
- Remote power locks includes trunk/hatch
- Power steering
- Front power windows with one one-touch
- Front and rear reading lights
- Rear air conditioner
- Rear heater
- 3-point reel rear seat belts on driver side and passenger side
- Rear seat center armrest
- Two symmetrical captain’s front facing reclining removable seat folds to table rear seats with fore/aft adjustment and zero adjustments
- Rear separate audio control
- Rear view mirror
- Remote audio controls
- Leather seat upholstery with additional vinyl
- Seating: seven seats and 1 or 2
- Front side airbag
- Four speaker(s)
- Leather covered multi-function steering wheel with tilt adjustment
- Tachometer
- Telematics 203.4 and 12
- 3-point reel third row seat belts on driver side , 3-point reel third row seat belts on passenger side , lap static third row seat belts on center side
- Bench front facing removable one-piece seat folds to table third row seats with three seat capacity
- Illuminated driver and passenger vanity mirror
- Ventilation system with recirculation setting and micro filter
- Voice activating system includes phone and includes internet/e-mail