Chevrolet Uplander and owner (dis)satisfaction

Driving to the Consumer Reports offices in our Chevrolet Uplander minivan recently, I found myself filled with a new respect and admiration for our subscribers. They are a wise and insightful bunch.

Our Annual Car-owner Satisfaction survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center drew responses on a record 400,000 vehicles this year. Subscribers who reported on their own Uplanders voted it the least satisfying model; only 36 percent of them said they would definitely get it again.

I'd have to chime in that it's the least satisfying test vehicle I've driven since joining the magazine over a year ago.

It's not that getting behind the wheel of the Uplander is necessarily a life-endangering move or one sure to leave you by the side of the road; it just isn't a very happy place to be. Inside, it looks and feels cheesy, with uncomfortable seats, cheap-looking materials, and more rattles than a day-care center.

As I floated and wallowed along on my way to work, I was taken by how the Uplander maintains a casual relationship at best with the road. It doesn't want to get too involved. With every expansion crack, the Uplander slowly rises up, and then settles back down, never staying level. Yet when it hits a pothole, the body shudders with the harshness of an old British sports car. The engineers have done a remarkable job of combining the handling characteristics of a wooden Chris Craft runabout with the ride comfort of a 40-year-old MG roadster--either one of which I would rather take to work.

I think it's time to put this ancient design out to pasture. With the introduction of the Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia people haulers, there is less reason than ever for General Motors to keep building the Uplander. Consumer Reports has recently purchased an Outlook for testing, and we're impressed so far. (A first look will be posted at ConsumerReports.org soon.)
   
GM is phasing out its minivans, but not fast enough. Today would be good; the General needs to keep all the customers it can. 

--Jim Travers

Comments

[Wendy Pettit]

We leased a 2005 Uplander, and I have to tell you, I can't wait for the lease to be up! We have had nothing but trouble with this van. The engine light comes on all the time. The van stalls out very often, sometimes not allowing it to start. The back up lights fail and the van hit another car. Just today (6/13/07) I dropped it off to be repaired yet again. I was driving it, and the steering and brakes went out. I was almost in a crash. The engine lights were on again and everything locked up! It has terrible road noise. The auto sliding doors don't work half the time, and it even closed me in between the body and door. The safty of this vehicle is none existant. Time for Chevy to put this van to rest. I haven't enjoyed the van at all.

[Mike]

Hi. Thanks for sharing some thoughts. I on the other hand, have found nothing but good things about this van (06 Uplander). The standard 3.5L V6 (albeit with a KN airfilter) kicks many a minivan and other vehicle backside. The inside is much better than recent American competitor vans, and without the bizarre quirks of the Nissan center console (Who the Hell drives from the middle?).
We find the seating comfortable and adequate.
Hey, it's a truck, right? And this is way beyond many trucks for it's price.
Friends have a 3-year old Honda van which is solid too, but is more expensive and has no really nice features.
Auto headlamps, ABS, onstar, etc...
You are correct though, that there is a good deal of road feedback, and it was way worse on my Pontiac Sunfire (sports-sedan?!). No better on my lighter Toyota Corolla, either. But if I didn't want to feel any of the bumps, I would drive my Citroen, which most North American journalists are unfamiliar with.
If you want an improvement in handling, try Michelins instead of those Goodyears (or worse, BF Goodrich).
In the end, I have driven 1.9L-powered GM/Opels on the autobahn at 208km/h, I have driven Japanese-built cars in India through horrible road conditions. And this ride is as much fun, albeit in a different way.
Maybe it's all about the driver?

[debbie fitzsimons]

I have had nothing but problems since I pulled it off the lot. Problems with the sliding door. The transmission kicks into gear instead of smoothly gliding into gear. They told me there is a problem with the codes for the shift between 2nd and 3rd gear but don't have a solution for it as of yet. How can you not fix a transmission problem on a brand new van. Lemon laws are not covered if they know there's a problem and are working on a solution. In the meantime I have to worry if the car will shift into gear while I'm pulling out into traffic. It is dangerous and I can not do anything about it. If anyone else is having this problem with the 2007 model please help me do something about it.

[Al Post]

Why is GM designing themselves out of the mini van? I loved the older versions but not the features in the newer ones. I ordered our 07 van with the information center to be like the one in our 02 van and received an information center without the compass, temperature or instantaneous MPH information. You only get the full version information center in the top of the line model.

The front console located between the front two seats has been replaced with a folding tray that locks into the up position to hold 2 cups. There is no place to store items under it as the tray is made to fold down. Items placed under the tray slide out when stopping. There are 6 places to place cups in the front for the 2 passengers.

The big storage console located between the two seats in the second row is very large but of no help to the occupants in the front seats as they cannot reach it.

During a very heavy rain storm I sat down and waited for the rain to stop before going to the 07 van. I had hit the sliding door button on the key tab in my paints pocket by mistake while sitting and it unlocked the far door and it opened. Why is the sliding door button designed to unlock all the doors and open when the button is pressed? It took more then a week to dry out the floor and seats.

Now I wanted to purchase the trailer package on the van as I had it on the 02. But in order to get it on the 07 I had to purchase the top of the line model with the bolted in captain seats. We like to camp and travel and like the additional room provided with the removable seats.

I ordered the 07 with the E85 engine. The van was built, shipped and I purchased it with the $1000 rebate offered. When we returned home we discovered the van did not have the E85 engine and we returned to the dealer and received our money back and reordered with the E85 engine. The GM plant was not building the van with the E85 so they just used the regular engine without telling anyone. The second van was built with the E85 engine but I lost $500 due to the $1000 rebate being replaced with a $500 rebate. A GM mistake cost me the customer $500!

I have had this 07 van for 1 year and have had no problems with it.

If GM stops manufacturing the van I will have to switch brands.

[Tracey Tarrant]

I actually love my 2005 Uplander. Aside from having to replace the brakes, I have had no problems with it whatsoever. And replacing the brakes comes from driving 100 miles a day in Atlanta traffic.

As the saying goes...you can't please everyone!

[Jerry]

I love my '07 Uplander.Purchased a former rental with only 12000 mi. on it for a little over $17000.,for that price who cares about all the minor amenities it doesn't have. It looks cooler than any of the other vans because of the fact it is so close to an SUV. It is generally 2 or 3" taller and my extended version is 2 or 3" longer while being about 4 or 5" narrower than most vans on the market. I find the ride to be exceptional considering it's a 204.4" vehicle. I owned a Cadilac that wasn't any better a ride.Sounds like most people are hung up on accessories and possibly that they are not very adept at driving and handling a large vehicle.Of course, a vehicle that dies and doesn't start is a whole different story and one individual problem which is not uncommon with all the electrical junk on today's vehicles.Don't get me wrong there are many improvements that could be made which will increase price.My wish is for removable second and third row seats or stow and go seats.My model is the LS EXT which has very few extras but I still love it,the room ,the ride,the looks and the 3.9 v-6. But, believe it or not, it has no center consoles,no locking glove box,manual sliding side doors,no key lock on rear hatch, only 2 cup holders, no ash tray(which is good for me),no extra storage for things like sunglasses except in doors. Can anyone think of anything else?This one does have alum.alloy wheels and rear wipers which I think are not standard on this model. So far a sweet buy.

[Sam]

Just recieved the Uplander 2008 LT1 after owning 5vans in the past 12 years. Overall very disapointed and shame on GM for designing this van and continuing to market it! the insidde is ill equiped such as 1) Back seat head rest are so large and can't be pulled down to prevent the very large blind spots 2) cup holders in the front are very small to hold "today's coffee mugs" and easy to tip over 3) middle seats has no arm rest ..I guess passengers in the middle do not deserve arm rests! 4)the middle bucket seats are very small to accomodate a slightly larger than an average size person 5) no cup holder for middle seats also.. is this too much to ask ?

[Lisa Green]

I have a 07 uplander and I have a big problem....while driving my abs will come on for no reason!! The stability traction control comes on the info centre but the dealer is having a problem fixing it. There was a code C0196 that came up but they can't find the source of the problem. They changed the EBCM twice and change the YAW sensor twice but its still happening. I have had this happen 5 times now, and the dealer says that its working to manuf. specs!! I am terrified to drive it, with 3 kids and myself, its an accident waiting to happen

[Michael Lopriore]

Too bad that GM discontinued the Astro Van. I have talked to many small business owners who would like to replace their aging Astro vans vith a new Astro. Leave it to GM to push their customers and potential customers away by discontinuing a popular vehicle or manufacturing vehicles that are junky like the Uplander. The full size vans are way too big, fuel guzzlers, and too expensive to operate for many small companies, and, GM has a lot of those.

[John Hanselman]

I bought a used 2007 uplander in Jan. The gas gage is all over the place.You never know how much gas you have. Took to dealer,replaced fuel sencer. Took it back in 2 days same problem.They keep it 2 days and tell me to come get it because G.M. says they are working on problem and will call me. Waited a month did not hear from them so called G.M. in Mich. Tell me they are working on it.Waited a month and called G.M. again.I looked on internet and found out uplander has had this problem since the 2005 van.G.M.tells me they are waiting on software to fix problem.I asked them how long it takes to get software since they have had this problem since the 2005 van.Tells me she will have a dist.specialist contact me. We'll see.

[Christine Davis]

I have an 05 Uplander that I bought used in Dec 06. In June '07 I had to get the tires replaced because the insides of the back tires were bald with wires showing, and the front onew weren't much better. I paid for an alignment, which wasnt' done but I wasn't told. In Nov '07 the tapping noise from the tires was back (like it was in June), so I took it back for another alignment. The mechanic looked at the back tires and told me that they were "cupped" and could not be rotated. The tires only had 12000 miles on them. then he told me that the van could not be aligned in the back because the toes weren't adjustable. I had to drive the van with the cupped tires because I didn't have money to replace them. In April I took the van in because I needed front tires again. I went back 2 more times to replace each bald inside/fine outside back tire as I had money to do so. The wires were sticking through and I actually had them each go flat. The tires only had 35000 miles on them, not 50,000 as per warrenty. The new tire and alignment mechanic said that he could not align the back because it could not be adjusted. The Chevy dealership I called said it could be adjusted. I had to find a mechanic with special shims and equipment to adjust the alignment. He said that all Uplanders have this problem. Has anyone else had to deal with this? I am at my wit's end. Total cost in just one year of repairs: $1350, for tires and alignment. 2 sets of tires in less than a year!!! I am furious.

[jack]

I hate my chevy 2007 chevy uplander. It is the worst vehicle I have ever bought. The main problem I am having is the factory radio fuse keeps blowing. I have been to the chevy dealer at least 6-7 times and they have no idea what the problem is. They claim they checked all the wiring and even changed the radio. So now I have a van with no radio. I am getting rid of this piece of you know what asap. Before more things go wrong. I recommend go foreign when buying a car. Now I see why GM is in trouble. Everything about the company and is sub par with Japan and Germany. DON'T BUY GM

[Ron]

I've had a 2007 Chevy Uplander for 7 months and we are dissatisfied with the vehicle. We have taken the vehicle back 3 times so far. We've had issues with the side doors. We opened it one day and it did not want to shut. I had to shut it manually. We tooks it back and they replaced the motor 3 times before they gave it back to us. We have a issue with the air conditioning. The temperature is not right. They insist it is. They already had to replace the rotors at 5000 miles. Also, when I start the vehicle sometimes, there is a bad noise. (Of course, it never happens when they start the vehicle. We are looking into getting rid of the vehicle.

[chris]

My 2007 Uplander has the same problem with rear tires cupping and needing to have shims putin on rear tires to do a proper alignment.

[Dawn]

I have an upander 2005. OMG the damn side door sensor. I have it on manual and I made the mistake of opening it today and now I can't get the thing to stop dinging. I refuse to pay the dealership for them to tell me there is nothing wrong with it. Any suggestions. If I can get the thing to stop the noise I will block the door. Any suggestsion.

[Rae]

I have the same door sensor problem. It is driving me crazy. Does anyone know how to stop it? We have pulled out ever fuse in the car; it won't stop. The dinging is coming in through the front speakers. The door kept opening so we had to cut the cable to keep it from opening on the road. I don't have to have self opening doors; I just want the dinging to stop! Can anyone help?

[Katleen Dalton]

I have a 2007 Uplander and I am so fustrated with it . It has been in the shop 7 times already. There is a noise intermitently when you start up. A grind that last 2-3 sec. like something is oof ballance. They changed the starter 2 times. After the 4 time of it being in the shop I took my husband and he told them if you can not seem to fix the problem them why do you not open it up and look at the fly wheel. OMG !! Lo and behold the fly wheel had teeth missing in 2 spots. at this time they also changed the starter. A week later the noise is back along with a noise coming from the front drivers side tire. I was told it was road noise. Mad ... you bet I was !!! they took it in and replace or they said they replaced a part. And with the noise on start up they put shims in the starter after my husband asked them to look at doing that. I tokk it again and drove 2 blocks ... drove right back and told them its not fixed. They lied when they said they took it for a test run the milage was still the same . They have now had my van for 6 weeks. I have tried to work with GM on this and they get the sameresponses as I do .... no return calls no answers. I have had 2 cutomer reps and 1 superviser. I asked for the district managers name and NO and was told they where not at liberty to give out that information. I am making payment on this pce of crap. and no one cares ... Does any one know what to do about this ..... where I can go in Canada what else I can do ... I can not even trade it off .... theyhave it.

NO more hair to pull out !

[One PO'ed Customer]

Talk about problems... i have all the same as all of you and last night I was almost killed when my transmission went. I have a 05 Uplander and it only has 45,000 miles on it. Here is the funny part Chevy won't cover it! There certified tech told us that it is completely shredded from the inside out and that there was no way of me knowing it would happen or was happening! GM said oh well! Nice company. Never again!

[paige fader-heiden]

This is for Christine Davis- don't give up! I had the same problems and eventually went to my own mechanic who was able to finally fix my alignment problems. Chevy tried at last 3 times. I contacted someone high up at GM (keep asking for a manager even if they try to get to the problem themselves, tell them you just want to talk to a manager) I was FULLY reimbursed including 4 new tires. If you have Continental tires, they know full well they've been nothing but trouble. Good luck.

[Tony]

I'm glad I bought my used 2005 Uplander LT from CarMax in June 2007 before I read these comments. We love it. It doesn't have the ride that our old 1996 Ford Winstar had, but it's so much easier to drive/park since it's smaller. Came with leather seats, built-in DVD, excellent sound system and pretty much every other bell or whistle you can think of.

We got it with about 35,000 miles on it. It has 58,000 on it now. Am having to put new rear pads and rotors on it now, think they had already ground the rotors before we got it, since they are now having to be replaced. We did have a problem finding the appropriate rotors. Sears called everyone in town and no one had them. But, they came in about 2 days later.

We get excellent mileage for a vehicle like this - 25-27 or more on the highway and from 19-21 in town. We put nitrogen in the tires and actually got 28 on a few long trips. Helps to keep your foot off the gas and use cruise control.

I don't like the powered sliding doors, but that's a personal thing. Actually, I'm getting used to them. Nice to have them when you are putting groceries into the car. I do wish the storage compartment was larger. That's when I REALLY miss the Windstar. Also wish you could easily take the middle/back seats out with a flat surface. Again, I miss my Winstar - which, btw, was the first Ford I've ever owned.

So, we're happy with ours so far. Haven't had to spend anything on it except for the brakes and the new tires we'll get in January. Someone mentioned Continental tires. Didn't know anything about them, STILL don't want to know. Will replace them with Michelins in January.

Happy New Year,
Satisfied Uplander Owner

[Nathan]

The wife and I have an 06 Uplander. We are really impressed with it's dependability, power, response while driving ect.... There are a few areas that could be worked on like the lack of a lock on the glove box and lack of storage space. I do have the easy to flip down and pull out seats. So thats nice, I don't have the power sliding door, (thankfully) I didnt want one to begin with. We have the stamped steel wheels with wheel covers wrapped in goodyears have had no trouble. As far as one really nice feature goes... I really like the flip down dvd player, it keeps the kids happy on road trips. I can live without a little extra storage space if it meens a quiet peacefull trip. And the lack of ashtray....its supposed to be a "family" vehicle, not a bar.
And to the people worried about not being able to fit thier industrial sized coffee cups well... get a thermous and use a "normal" sized cup. I find the cupholders in the front of mine are pretty good. and the removable rubber insert makes it easy to clean. I'm kind of dissappointed that they arent going to make this vehicle anymore. I heard they were repalcing it with the traverse.

[New owner]

I am just now looking at a 2009 Uplander. Not looking for lots of extras - no DVD, manual doors and rear door, no Onstar and just a standard radion. Has anyone had and problems with the 2009. Are the transmission and other problems still there with this model year?

[Harry]

I have a 2009 Uplander with around 5000 kilometres on it. Seems to vibrate at speeds anywhere from 60 kilometres to 110. Does not do it all the time. Is anyone else having this problem?

[Ticu]

Anyone knows on the 2009 Uplander how the AVG Economy gauge makes its calculations???

[Hans]

Concerning the comment of Harry:
Posted by: Harry | Mar 30, 2009 9:29:29 AM

I have a 2009 Uplander with around 5000 kilometres on it. Seems to vibrate at speeds anywhere from 60 kilometres to 110. Does not do it all the time. Is anyone else having this problem?

The vibration possibly comes from one of the wheels being misaligned, my Corolla had the same problem. It seems I had hit a deep enough pot-hole which misaligned and damage the rear wheel shaft and needed the whole thing to be replaced.