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The Aztek is a breath of fresh air. Not only is its exterior a daring departure, its interior is chock-full of clever ideas which show that “utility” doesn’t mean just a big cavern for hauling stuff. The Aztek made its first appearance as a show car and, as often happens, created such a stir that it was given a green light for production in something close to its controversial original form.

Who but Pontiac would have had the temerity to produce such an in-your-face styling exercise? With its wide stance, aggressive front and side treatments and bizarre rear end, it’s no shrinking violet and wouldn’t be the platform of choice as a getaway vehicle. It is deliberately polarizing, although in my small-scale public opinion surveys I found more who hated it than loved it. Not surprising; banal sells, and, indeed one has to wonder how well the look will wear.

Pontiac boasts that Aztek is so novel, it creates a new category – the sport recreation vehicle. That’s just marketing fiddle-faddle, but it certainly does show what can be done within the confines of the crossover concept, melding the hauling abilities of a minivan or station wagon with the eye appeal and presumptive go-anywhere ability of the sport-ute.

“Aztek” is pretty appealing as made-up names go, and in fact, the vehicle is assembled in Mexican Indian territory, although somewhat north of where the homophonous empire builders held sway, in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila state, Mexico (just south of Del Rio, Texas).

It is loosely based on the Montana minivan platform, and, for the present at least, shared with no other GM division.

With a 108-inch wheelbase and 182-inch overall length, Aztek is about the same size as a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a little shorter than a Ford Explorer, to name the big players in the midsize sport-ute category. It’s a little less tall than they, standing 5 feet 7 inches.

It can be configured as a four-passenger machine, this entailing two captain’s seats in the rear, or as a five-place hauler, with a 50-50 split rear bench. I found the captain’s chair second-class arrangement suitable for normative-sized adults. Aft of the seats is 45 cubic feet of cargo room, about three car trunks’ worth. This is more than doubled – to 93.5 cubic feet – when the rear seats are removed. (More space, Pontiac notes, than Dodge Durango.) This is an exercise one would not want to undertake too often, even with the aid of a friend with a sound back, but the seats also fold down, quite easily, to accommodate longer objects. When the load floor is exposed and tailgate down, you can cram in four standard sheets of plywood, if that’s your sport.

The tailgate has two seats molded in as well as a pair of cupholders, for pre-game parties and such. There’s a convenience net, a dozen tiedown points and storage areas in both the side panels and tailgate. There are two optional cargo-hauling option bundles. First is a slide-out cargo tr ay capable of supporting up to 400 pounds. It can be extended beyond the lowered tailgate to facilitate loading. It has built-in storage bins and can also be completely removed when the need for volume eclipses the need for facility.

The other is a flock of cargo nets, both side and transverse, which can carry up to 100 pounds each. Pontiac’s mathematicians say these nets can be hooked up in 22 different configurations.

Aztek comes in two series, base and GT. Presently it’s available only in front-wheel-drive form, although an all-wheel-drive version is expected to debut early next year. Whatever permutation one chooses, a four-speed automatic transmission is all that’s available, coupled to the familiar 3.4-liter overhead-valve V-6.

I tested the front-drive GT version. This costs about three grand more than the base model. For the difference, you get dual-zone instead of single-zone air conditioning, a pollen and odor filter, deep-tinted glass, removabl n console – cooler, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, overhead console, lumbar adjustments for driver and passenger, upgraded upholstery, power door locks and remote keyless entry, courtesy lights and charcoal metallic exterior cladding. The GT treatment also trades in 15-inch steel for 16-inch cast aluminum wheels.

The interior styling is as distinctive as the exterior, although in a much more purposeful, industrial-chic way. It has the ambience of the flight deck on an aircraft, with exposed screwheads and flat black surfacing. The instruments are large and legible, although they could be more so – the stylists used platinum numerals against a black-and-white herringbone background. Here’s a case where boring old white on black might be preferable.

Both radio and air conditioning controls are outsized, a great improvement over the teeny-tiny ones GM usually uses.

The shifter for the automatic transmission is floor-mounted. To inhibit overdrive, one must drag the lever back to 3, and there’s no telltale amid the instruments to indicate what gear has been chosen. This is a particularly relevant omission because of the high overall gearing. I found that I had to use second to achieve significant engine braking on hills.

The payoff for the long-legged gearing (which yielded better than 30 mph per 1,000 revs in overdrive) is in fuel economy. I measured 20.5 mpg in arduous driving on mainly country roads. The EPA estimates are 19 mpg city, 26 highway, and 87-octane gas suffices.

The Aztek felt fairly spritely, although it wasn’t able to break the 10-second barrier in 0-60 tests. Not surprising, since even in 2WD form it’s a hefty 3,778 pounds.

The 3.4-liter V-6 makes 185 hp and 210 foot-pounds of torque. Wonder if they could be persuaded to drop a 3800 in there, at least for the coming AWD setup . . . and then, for the Aztek Dominator, the supercharged form . . .

On rough pavement, the Aztek’s suspension filtered out harshness well, though it was stiff, and the vehicle hip-hopped a bit over broken terrain. It’s not so carlike as some of its competitors, but in my judgment wouldn’t be annoying in ordinary wagon-like service.

The steering is fairly light and relatively quick. Its turning circle of 36.4 feet puts it more in car than SUV territory for easy maneuvering in cramped spots. Construction was tight and despite perceptible chassis flex, the Aztek was rattle-free. Overall noise level was moderate, even at 70 mph.

The six-speaker stereo, with equalizer, had unusually good tonality and a good sense of depth. There are two rear-mounted speakers for blasting guests at tailgate parties.

The braking was quite good, producing surprisingly short, well-controlled stops from freeway speeds. Front-drive models have discs up front, drums in the rear; the AWD version will have impressively large discs fore and aft.

Aztek is so new ne ither the government nor the insurance industry has had the pleasure of crashing one yet, and of course there are no reliability data.

The only reservation I have about this novel machine is the price – not unreasonable, but a bit hefty for the youthful target audience. Base price on the FWD Aztek GT is $24,445. The tester had an upgraded stereo featuring dual playback AM – FM as well as cassette and CD players, with equalizer, for $425, along with a cigar lighter and ashtray for $15. Total, with freight, was $25,435. Payments on it would be $511, assuming 20 percent down, 10 percent interest and 48 installments. GM has not yet announced pricing on the all-wheel-drive version, but I’d expect it to be about $1,500-$2,000 more. I’ll be testing one when they roll out.

“The Gannett News Service”