Likewise, there's nothing confusing about the operation, adjustment, and stowage of the seats. The second-row captain's chairs are as tall, comfortable and supportive as the front seats. The hidden rear area cargo organizer on our CXL was well thought out for small, medium, and long cargoes, though not very deep.

Terraza CX seats have cloth inserts with leather bolsters in the first two rows, while the CXL has leather seating surfaces in the first two rows.

Terraza's second- and third-row seats are both foldable and removable for cargo hauling, while the third-row seat has a 50/50 split. While the seats fold over to create a relatively flat load area, they do not disappear into the floor like the Ford, Honda and Chrysler minivan seats. With the seats up, you get 27 cubic feet, with the third row down you get 74 cubic feet, and with second and third row taken out, you get 136 cubic feet.

All Terrazas have a front overhead console and a standard overhead rail system, with optional snap-in accessory and storage modules. The rail system is designed to hold the rear climate and audio controls, or the rear-seat DVD entertainment system in a single unit. The storage modules store CDs, DVDs, sunglasses or cell phones.

Optional seat-mounted side air bags provide head and torso protection for both the front passenger and driver during side-impact crashes, but unfortunately, that's the end of the major safety equipment story. Curtain airbags to cover the passengers in the second and third seats are not available.

GM's terrific OnStar communications system is, in some ways, a safety feature: If the airbags are set off, an OnStar operator will try to contact you and will then direct paramedics to your exact location if you don't respond. More commonly, the OnStar operators can give you directions, locate the nearest five-star Italian restaurant or help you find the nearest gas station. They can unlock the doors if you lock yourself out and direct police to your vehicle if it's stolen.

An optional three-way entertainment system allows listening to as many as three separate entertainment sources simultaneously, DVD, CD and radio, through the speakers and two-channel wireless headphones.

The brand-new PhatNoise entertainment option is a 40-gigabyte hard drive that installs in the Terraza's standard overhead rail system. It can store and play back up to 10,000 songs in MP3, WMA or WAV, store and play up to 40 movies, or store and play a combination of songs and movies. It can play video games, and has a voice-browsing interface to call up movies or music by name. It can transfer digital camera pictures through a USB port in the cartridge and play them back on the DVD screen. The cartridge is portable, so it can be used to download files for playback in the Terraza. This option clearly breaks new ground in-car entertainment systems.

Our Terraza CXL was loaded: front seat side air bags, rear air conditioning, the cargo organizer, 6-CD changer, XM Satellite Radio, remote starting, heated front seats, and chrome wheels, about $34,520 at the bottom line.