When Bob Lutz took the reins of product development at General Motors, one of the things he pulled back on was the amount of body side cladding that was being employed on vehicles.  Which undoubtedly left a whole lot of people in the molding business exceedingly unhappy.  Suddenly, all of that business they had on Pontiac products went away.  Which, given the design of the new Grand Prix isn't entirely a bad thing.  And let's face it, the Aztek was an issue from the start, and clad or not, there are still some issues with the design.

Another product that was based pretty much on a look predicated on cladding was the original Chevy Avalanche, which was released as an '01 vehicle.  Based on the same platform that's used for the Suburban, the Avalanche had a look unlike anything else on the road.  Here was a sizable, impressive vehicle that looked like a giant Transformer.  Perhaps that didn't resonate with someone of Lutz's generation, but there were undoubtedly lots of anime fans who simply knew that if they were going to roll around in something that is fundamentally a huge pickup truck (wheelbase: 130 in.; total cargo box volume with Midgate up: 41 ft3), then it might as well be something that had a look that wasn't being offered by any of the other builders.  Sure, the Dodge Ram may look like a Big Rig, but the Avalanche with the body cladding looks like Megatron.

Perhaps it can be said to be a testament to the flexibility of the General Motors Manufacturing System: the 2003 Avalanche can be obtained without body side cladding.  It's called the "WBH" package, and it reduces the price of the vehicle by $600.  Which is the version that we drove.  And when we consider that the 600 bucks is less than two percent of the base price of the 1500 four-wheel-drive version ($34,705), we know that we'd have the people down in Silao, Mexico, slap those composite panels on in a heartbeat: Otherwise, the vehicle appears to be nothing more than an Silverado 1500HD with a Crew Cab.

"Ah," you might remark.  "But you fail to realize that Transformerness is more than meets the eye.  There is still the clever Convert-a-Cab system and Midgate.  Fold the rear passenger seat down and fold the Midgate and suddenly that 5-ft 3-in. cargo bed is capable of handling things 8-ft 1-in. long."  Yes, there is that.  As well as the three-piece cargo-cover that slides and locks in place and the lockable storage compartments on the side.  Cool.  And functional.  And there's still the composite-covered C-ring between the cab and the box.  But the panels (which are darker this year than in previous models, which undoubtedly helps reduce visible scuffing) are still what provides distinctive visible character, and in a market where there is a proliferation of pickup products, character is key.

One aspect that impressed us the most is the interior, which was upgraded as a part of the Z71 off-road package.  For example there are what are described as "aggressive floor mats with yellow Chevy bowtie."  These are seriously ribbed black rubber floor mats that simply belong in a truck.  The rubberized surfaces on the center console as well as various nooks in the IP are functional.  The optional front high-backed buckets with leather inserts feature a cloth that is well matched.

As for driving the Avalanche, theVortec 5300 5.3-liter V8 is certainly required to move a vehicle that has a GVWR on the order of 7,000 lb.  We were somewhat disappointed in the disc brakes (yes, there's four-wheel ABS as standard, not optioned out), as there seemed to be too much in the way of inertial forces overcoming the forward motion.

Yes, the Avalanche is undoubtedly like a rock.  But we prefer the one that looks like an asteroid.