Neither the interior design nor the materials look or feel luxurious, however. Faux wood trim attempts to add a luxurious ambiance to the interior, but wood-grain plastic lacks elegance. Chrome interior door handles add some flash. A Buick marketing official promises there will be real wood trim and other interior upgrades by the time the 2005 Rainier rolls into dealerships.

The leather seats feature perforated leather in the center back and lower cushion areas, but it almost looks more like vinyl than leather. Also, the seats could use more side support. However, we do like the feature that incorporates the shoulder belt into the seat back rather than having it mounted way up on the vehicle's B pillar.

We also liked the large dot matrix on the windshield that helps block the glare of direct sunlight above the rear view mirror and between the sun visors. We were disappointed, however, that the Rainier had only single sun visors on either side instead of dual visors so you can block the sun both ahead and along the top of the front door windows.

While the GMC Envoy has very attractive and metallic colored heating and cooling ducts, those in the up market Rainier are plainer in their appearance. Nor were the cupholders the jumbo-sized ones found in competitive vehicles. On the other hand, there are two power outlets up front, so both driver and passenger can recharge cell phones.

The rear seats, the second row, offer decent legroom but not quite to luxurious proportions.

There's plenty of cargo room behind the back seats. An optional cargo organizer is available and appears an excellent way to keep your stuff from sliding around.

The optional navigation system features an amazingly clear screen that seems almost immune to sunlight glare, which often renders them invisible. The screen seems smaller than in competitive vehicles, however, and the system's control buttons were very small, with symbols we had to decipher instead of easy-to-understand word labels. The main control button, the one you use while inputting a destination, seemed overly sensitive, to the point that we often depressed it while simply trying to add a letter to a location, forcing us to go back and start the sequence all over again. Also, with the nav system, you have a choice of using the system or playing an audio CD (a situation Buick says will be remedied on the 2005 model).

Whether you share our opinion of the Rainier's interior features, there's no debate about how quiet it is in there. This very likely is the quietest body-on-frame SUV we've ever driven. In fact, it may be among the quietest vehicles of any construction that we've ever driven.

Buick says the Rainier comes with perks, or PRQS, which stands for power, ride, quiet and style. In the Rainier, the emphasis on quiet includes double-pane and laminated glass for the windshield and front doors as well as the liberal use of an acoustical foam sound-deadening material in all the usual internal body cavities, such as those in doors and pillars. The Michelin tires were designed to provide an especially quiet ride.

Buick used the Lexus LX 470 as the benchmark for the Rainier, but we think the Rainier will be the new industry benchmark when it comes to a quiet cabin.