When I first heard the name of this vehicle, my mind conjured up visions of being soaked to the skin. After all, coming from mainland England, I've seen enough torrents of rain to last me a lifetime. Over there, you never know what to expect. In fact, they have a saying, "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute and it'll change"!

I wondered why on earth GM would name a vehicle after, what is in effect, a rather damp and all round pretty lousy experience. I decided to look up the word, as I was sure that there had to be some deeper meaning to it.

I discovered that the word could be used in a number of ways.

A: A turbulent, swift flowing stream. (Naming a vehicle after a small river doesn't make much sense to me either).

B: A heavy downpour. (Well, we've already been there).

C: A heavy, uncontrolled outpouring, such as: A torrent of insults.

So, will I be hurling a torrent of abuse towards the 2007 Pontiac Torrent Sport in my review, or could it be more along the lines of a "torrent of praise"? Let's have a closer look!

Well, they certainly seem to be popular, because you see a fair number of them on the roads nowadays. That's possibly because they're of good all-round size, and tend to meet most buyers needs, whilst still maintaining reasonable running costs.

From the outside, the lines of the vehicle are quite eye-catching, and the alloy wheels which the Sports model carries, are suitably sized, and certainly add to the overall look.

Upon opening the door, the Torrent appears, in many ways, more minivan-like than some of its competitors. From the seating to the high-mounted gear lever, it all has a familiar feel to it. This could be a plus point for the Torrent as many minivan owners are now switching to crossover vehicles, and this similar feel could well be a deciding factor.

The dashboard is well laid out and the controls have been well positioned and fall readily to hand. However, I did feel that the materials used were perhaps a little lower on the quality scale than some of its competitors. The silver accents highlight the dash quite nicely, and these are cleverly continued onto the door panels. I also rather liked the stylish red backlit gauges with the chrome rings which well suited the Pontiac nameplate. The three-spoke leather steering wheel which carried the radio and cruise controls was, again, a nice touch, as was the XM satellite radio.



The optional leather seating which my tester carried appeared to be of reasonable quality, and I found the driver's seat to be quite comfortable, even on longer trips. Of course, the Torrent comes only as a five passenger vehicle, which could be an issue if you require seating for seven. The truth is though, some competitors in this category might well offer a seven passenger option, but that usually comes at a cost in terms of passenger comfort in vehicles of this size. My own personal feeling is, if you truly need a seven-passenger vehicle, then go bigger and don't try to cram everyone into what is essentially a mid-size vehicle. I think that GM was wise to go the way they did, as the Torrent provides comfortable seating for five adults, whilst still providing ample luggage carrying capacity.