Winter beater/work van

[Ed the SOHC]

I scraped my idea about getting a truck and decided (actually my gf decided for me) that I should get a used minivan for around 2G's. Now i need help. anyone have any good/bad experiences with any of these vans?

3L V6 Voyager/Caravan
2.5 4cyl turbo Voyager/Caravan
Ford Aerostar
GMC Safari

My requirements are these vans have to be no older than '88 and cost no more than $3G's.

edit: ooops...thnx Ranger_x31

[T5_X]

The early V6 caravans are supposed to be EXTREMELY unreliable.

What do you mean ford astrovan? Isn't it an aerostar and a chevy astro?
Anyway, the chev astro and gm safari are the same. They're full size trucks i believe so they're beasts.
The Ford aerostar sucks, straight up.

Get a turbo caravan, try to find one in a 5 speed!!!!!!

[redline_13000]

astro or the GMC safari

[lammer]

Originally posted by redline_13000
astro or the GMC safari

yeah dude! haha GMC safaris = ownage.

speically the 97's

[three.eighteen.]

ever seen the guy with a 12 sec turbo van??? come on...itll be fun...

[Ben]

Originally posted by Ed the SOHC
I scraped my idea about getting a truck and decided (actually my gf decided for me) that I should get a used minivan for around 2G's. Now i need help. anyone have any good/bad experiences with any of these vans?

3L V6 Voyager/Caravan
2.5 4cyl turbo Voyager/Caravan
Ford Astrovan
GMC Safari

My requirements are these vans have to be no older than '88 and cost no more than $3G's.

Buy JEFF TYPE R's Beast Mobile, its for sizzale!

[buh_buh]

I don't think he's looking for a "fast" van. Just something reliable, and can carry stuff.

[T5_X]

LOL, this guy's my hero
http://www.concentric.net/~Stwradio/stanvan.htm



Seriously though, I think the turbo caravan is gonna be the most reliable and cheap.

[Ben]

Jeffs van is sweet, it bottoms out before it can roll, and it had good brakes.

Here it is all nice and clean.

And here is a video of it in action.

[infamous]

now i see what you mean by "it has good brakes"....lol

[RiceCake]

hmm... where's the evasive lane changing bottoming out vid?

[Weapon_R]

The earlier turbo caravans were garbage too - stay away from them! Get an older safari, or maybe a transport. MPV's were nice back then too.

[GTS Jeff]

Alright, here we go. I'll tell you what I know about Caravans and whatnot.

First off, don't buy my van. I've driven the poor thing to the ground pretty much. Sean's van on the other hand, is in much better shape than mine, mechanically speaking. His van seems to pull a lot harder and the suspension is way less worn. However, the brakes on his van need fixing, and the exterior is a bit rough (I'm sure you don't care about that though).

Caravans in general are pretty reliable EXCEPT for the tranny. The trannies are known to suck ass, in fact I think the tranny on the Beast is about to go, cuz shifts are getting more and more rough everyday. The V6 engine (made by Mitsu btw) is pretty weak, I think from 125-140hp haha. I've actually lined up the van against Eric's 6000HP and the one time I managed a good launch (yes there is such thing with an AT minivan) I kept up with him til 70. I've also managed to beat 6th gen Civic DXs by pulling past them at around 80 since they get the initial launch. But really, the only way to compensate for the lack of power is to corner fast and brake late. So onto handling. The Caravan of this generation uses a chassis based on the K-car frame. As you can imagine, handling sucks. The suspension is super soft and it is REALLY hard to corner fast and smoothly. Often, I manage to bottom out the suspension around turns and sometimes I can actually make the van roll the tires onto the sidewalls. A lot of people think that these vans roll easily, but I haven't really had that problem. You just have to know the car and know its limits. In my case, I know that most of the time, the suspension doesn't put enough grip on the tires to allow the van to roll. As for braking, this car is sort of dangerous. It is really easy to lock the wheels (the rear wheels usually lock first) in a panic situation, so make sure you're good at threshold braking and at steering out of the situation. More than once, I've had to pull some real hardcore shit cuz the brakes weren't stopping the car.

Where this van rocks is in cargo space. The 2 rear rows of seats can be taken out easily by two people, and one person can take them out too if necessary. Once the seats are out, you have tons of room for whatever. Gas mileage is decent, about 500km on 70L.

I have a lot of fun driving my van when I'm in Calgary, and the van can own a lot of punks, it just has to be driven properly haha. I'll take it out to the cruise if I can, and give you a ride if you want.

[Ed the SOHC]

thanks for the review jeff. overall, would you buy this "beast" again?

[GTS Jeff]

Well the van I drive is worth about 4G, not 2G..I think you could find a decent one for 3 grand.

If I were in the same situation as you, I probably would go for a Caravan. Just be real careful when you buy the van; make sure it hasn't been abused and ask about the tranny!

My van is on it's 3rd tranny I think.