Hauling Kids and Groceries: Van Talk

[JohnBM01]

Let's talk vans, people. No, not those sneakers from Vans, but those big things you haul around when you got kids and groceries. What are some of your favorites? What would you like to discuss about vans?

To begin my rendition of a van topic, let me say that the Nissan Quest and Toyota Sienna of today are both stylish vans. I'm kind of with the Quest, kind of with the Sienna. I think that vans should be safe and elegant, you know, practical. I am very much into practicality when it comes to vans, unless I am into the racing spirit. Then if that is the case, Renault Espace F1, no questions asked.

For literature, I will need some sweet music. (SONG PLAYED: Keiko Matsui - "The Ring") Thank you. Light from Heaven shone from the skies and brought forth a wonderful van. When approaching it, be careful. You might be lured to its sweet song, as if it were Siren. When you get inside this heavenly offering, you can't wait to drive it. It is safe and takes care of whatever you put in it. Plus, it is a durable machine. Each drive of a van is a never-ending love story. You care about children and groceries, so you went out and driven a heavenly offering. Be sure to thank the angels above for offering a wonderful machine to welcome into your life. It will be there to once again be graced with your love and care. Without the van, carrying a lot would be tougher with a regular sedan or truck or SUV (not to say SUVs can't do the same things). Plus, you don't really get the styling a van can offer.

So let's talk vans, people.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya!

Vans are one of the most useful everyday vehicles out their. They have alot of things good enough for a daily drive except that vans got more space and more seats. Vans are typically a "mom's" car in my opinion. Lots of seats, space and easy gas! Vans are very useful indeed John for taking the whole family out to places and for groceries and for some hauling things.

The most favorite van I like that are out right now have to be the Toyota Sienna! Go look at it on Toyota's site and be impressed! Vans these days are really starting to show its usefullness and possibly trying to get closer to the capabilities of how much it can carry compared to pickup trucks, except hauling! To me, I would always think Vans are much more useful in life than Sedans/four dours,twodoors because of carrying space and it can accomplsih far more task.

 

[MazKid]

In my opinion the new Quest is ugly. It's trying too hard. The dash design is horrible.

I can't remember the last time I saw the new Sienna so I won't comment on that.

I can say that MPVs sell pretty good at my dealership. Lots of families come in, check em out, and buy them. Also MPVs drive pretty good(this coming from a small car oriented person) and are comfortable. That said, I dred driving our '92 MPV because it's kinda floaty and there's way too much power steering input. But with RWD it peels out like mad which is great.

 

[Duke]

This is our Silver Surfer, also known as the Whisperliner or the Battle Bus. We don't drive it every day (well, if I leave it out overnight, my wife will snag it and drive it to work) but it does duty for weekends if we'll be out all day or for long trips. It just got back from hauling my wife and I, our 2 daughters, and 2 other Girl Scouts - as well as 3 tents, 6 sleeping bags, food, and 3 days' worth of clothes for all of us - to the 2004 Camp-O-Ree in Hershey, PA. It turned in about 20 mpg over that trip.

It has some shortcomings - it will only tow about 3,000 lbs, for one, and it lacks AWD - but it handled the mud and gravel roads of the campground with no problem.

My most common comparison is between it and a company Ford Explorer V8 I drive frequently. These are probably the most popular American-made examples of their classes. Equipment levels are similar. The Explorer is approximately the same age (2000) and mileage (50,000) as the Caravan, but it falls very much short:

• The Explorer will only comfortably hold 4 adults (not 6).
• Cargo area with the van's rear seat out is the same as the Explorer's, but I've still got another row to take out if necessary.
• The interior seating is uncomfortable for me (and I'm only 5'-10") - seats too low, not enough adjustability.
• The ride and handling quality suck hugely - it bounces like mad and you feel every bump in the steering column (the van's ride is excellent; handling is good - the damping is great, springs a tad soft).
• It's noisy as anything (we don't call the van Whisperliner for nothing).
• Acceleration is no better than the 'van, and fuel economy is worse.

About the only advantages the Exploder offers are increased towing capacity (I assume) and 4WD, which can be good for a vehicle that needs to make it onto construction sites. To live with the thing daily, as a typical suburban parent, would be awful.

 

[Famine]

For EU-dwelling persons' reference: John is talking about minivans/MPVs, not the things with no windows (other than the windscreen and a driver & passenge side window) you use for moving great lumps of crap around in.

 

[pimp racer]

In my opion the Honda Odsessy is the best van becuase it looks great have alot of room powerful reliable and much much more..

 

[1X83Z]

I'm the person to come to when you want to know about minivans and midsize sedans. In my opinion, the minivan market is the single most interesting market around, for a multitude of reasons. As of May 1, my favourite minivans are:

1 Nissan Quest S
2 Honda Odyssey LX
3 Toyota Sienna CE
4 Honda Odyssey EX-L

Quest might be ugly - hell, it is - but it's a great all-around buy, no matter what you're looking for. Odyssey's interesting - Honda seemed to be able to predict the future when it was redesigned (or should I say 'created') in 1999, and sales now are stronger than they've ever been despite a non-threatening (read: outdated - well, it should be, but it's not) design and huge competition. I like Sienna; it's a great van, but prospective minivans buyers must understand one thing about Sienna: if you want the safety of side airbags, you pay through the nose. Cost goes like this:

Sienna CE = $23000
- Side airbags = $2145
Sienna LE = $24500
- Side airbags = $1610
Sienna XLE = $28500
- Side airbags = $2575
Sienna XLE Limited = $34700
- Side airbags = Standard

Really, it's the all-time worst example of gouging I've ever heard of, and Sienna suffers dearly because of it. Nissan has side airbags standard (on the $24200 S model), as does Honda (on the $24500 LX model); over at Dodge, they're $1290 on the Caravan SE ($18300) and $995 on the Caravan SXT, which is $21600 (not cheap, but not as bad as Toyota, and offset by the lower base price of the vehicle); Ford offers them for just $695 on the Freestar SES and SEL ($28200 and $29500) and $1370 on base S ($23900) and SE ($26400) models, and though they're a $955 option on the Mazda MPV LX ($23300), they're standard on the $28200 MPV ES.

The Explorer is approximately the same age (2000) and mileage (50,000) as the Caravan, but it falls very much short:

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Even though you're comparing your 2000 Caravan to a 2000 Explorer, what you need to understand is that the 2000 Explorer was designed in 1995 and fully redesigned in spring 2001 (and yes, I know your minivan was designed in 1996, but the Explorer was designed in 1995 in a segment that tripled in number of vehicles by the time it was redesigned - so it had a lot to make up for). A 2000 Explorer is full of shortcomings, yes, but the new model makes up for quite a bit of it. For one thing, for just $740 it's got a third row of seats, and I don't even have to look through your list of complaints to know that's on there several times. Also, it rides a thousand times better - the 1995-2001 Explorer feels just like the truck that it's built with and based on (Ranger) and hurts when ascending any sort of bump; the current one certainly doesn't glide, but manages the job much better. I've driven eight or nine new Explorers and have no problem with noise with either engine and nowadays the Explorer 4.6 out-accelerates any domestic minivan, and the 4.0 is an adequate engine with any trim level.

 

[JohnBM01]

Okay, thank you M5. Wonderful insight and information yet again. For those of you around the world, why don't you tell us about the cars America may not even get? I'm rather clueless about the Sienna. After what M5 was talking about, if I got married and had some babies on the way, I'd have to carry a lot of money to cover a lot of expenses with the car. Wow, mighty strange.

As far as American vans go, I'm a Dodge fan. So I'm obviously into the Caravan. I think the styling is pretty nice and a lot of the features, if not on par with Japanese vans, are pretty good nonetheless. Neon certainly has his "Silver Surfer" as displayed.

While on the subject of Dodge, would you consider the Chrysler Pacifica as a minivan or an SUV? I mean, love or loathe American cars, Daimler-Chrysler surely know how to think differentely (no cheap plug). I think where Chevy and Ford have tried before, D-C like to think differentely in styling. I like Dodge and company for their thinking. So do you think the Pacifica is more of a van than a "segment buster?"

 

[1X83Z]

While on the subject of Dodge, would you consider the Chrysler Pacifica as a minivan or an SUV? I mean, love or loathe American cars, Daimler-Chrysler surely know how to think differentely (no cheap plug). I think where Chevy and Ford have tried before, D-C like to think differentely in styling. I like Dodge and company for their thinking. So do you think the Pacifica is more of a van than a "segment buster?"

I call it an SUV - SUV styling, SUV design, and most importantly, SUV cargo space - comparative to minivans, it's got very little room, but it's right on board in the midsize/premium SUV segment. It's marketed to SUV buyers, too. The reverse of all this is the Buick Rendezvous, which, despite Buick's vigor in promoting the vehicle as an SUV, is nothing more than a minivan, and a fairly mediocre one at that.

Dodge does make good vans (Chrysler too), but they're underpowered. That said, basic design dates back to 1996, with an update in 2001, though not a full redesign - so it's no surprise they're a bit out of date. I imagine that the vans are fully redesigned next (calendar year or early model year 2006), they'll be back on the top of a class they once dominated hands-down.

 

[Mike Rotch]

OkayFor those of you around the world, why don't you tell us about the cars America may not even get?

We dont have many MPV's at all. The most popular is the Voyager, closely followed by the Renault Megane Scenic and then the Citroen Picasso. There are a few Fiat Ullyses, Kia Carnival's and VW Sharans floating around but they are pretty scarce. We had the Toyota Previa a while ago, but they appear to be discontinued.

Scenic - circa '00

Picasso

 

[JohnBM01]

I'd like to welcome all kinds of vans. I mean, people say this is about minivans and stuff. So why not bring in your van for discussion? I've seen and heard of some nice vans here. Good. Keep this discussion going, folks.

 

[Gil]

My wife's Chevy Venture is an okay beast. We bought it because it was the only one out there that had seating for 8. Ford don't got it, Dodge don't got it.
I am not the world's biggest GM fan. And the Venture has had it's share of niggling little crap.
The rubber seal around the power sliding door has been "eaten" by said door at least twice. The 3.4 is quite loud if tromped on. With the original tires (albeit they spent a year in Hawaii, which is horrible on tires) sucked. It was the only one of the "fleet" that wouldn't climb the driveway in the wet, forget the snow.
On the good side, it get 24-26 mpg on the highway. It has a HUGE gas tank. I can drive 400 miles between fill-ups on road trips. Though I usually stop about every 2-2.5 hours to let the kids stretch their legs, go to the bathroom etc.
Though books on CD can stretch that out to 3+ hours if the book is good.

 

[Bahbo]

1989 - 1990 Dodge caravan/plymouth voyageur turbo 5spd.