There was also the Mazda MPV which actually people complained it did not have sliding doors like the Caravan did.

I thought the Toyota Van was based upon the TownAce?

Since we are on the subject of Mini-vans. Behold the 1993 Pontiac Trans Port, Or is it the mutant ospring of a dustbuster and an aardvark.

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AKA the Lumina APV! (All Plastic Vehicle?)


I'd say dustbuster...

Posted by Xanadu Small blocks bolt right up to the Astro vans.

we should give credit where credit is due. Yeah Chrysler invented the minivan... but for what it was designed to do, an Astro/Safari did a damn good job for 20 years... largely unchanged

The APV and it's clones weren't bad... they were good at what they did, but their styling was a little TOO much.
Inside was very liveable, however. My friend Rob had a 93 Trans Sport with 366,000 miles on it before it was just too far gone to fix. It was green and was known universally as the "Mystery Machine". (not making this shit up)

The Astro/Safari was a grand idea because it was an intermediate size between the bigger Express vans and the smaller APV/Venture series... I had one when I was a cable guy and i beat the everlovin shit out of it. Never had a problem with it.

Posted by Samurai The APV and it's clones weren't bad... they were good at what they did, but their styling was a little TOO much. Inside was very liveable, however. My friend Rob had a 93 Trans Sport with 366,000 miles on it before it was just too far gone to fix. It was green and was known universally as the "Mystery Machine". (not making this shit up) The Astro/Safari was a grand idea because it was an intermediate size between the bigger Express vans and the smaller APV/Venture series... I had one when I was a cable guy and i beat the everlovin shit out of it. Never had a problem with it.

My company used to use the Astro religiously for crew use until 2006 when we switched to the Uplander and with the Express for the dedicated teams.

The only thing I did not like about the Astro was the fact you had to climb up into the car unlike my beloved Caravan. And if your in a front end collision, oh boy....

Posted by Agent Skelly My company used to use the Astro religiously for crew use until 2006 when we switched to the Uplander and with the Express for the dedicated teams. The only thing I did not like about the Astro was the fact you had to climb up into the car unlike my beloved Caravan. And if your in a front end collision, oh boy....

On the bright side, if you did get in a front ender.... you could just unbolt the front end, and bolt up a new one LOL

You know you're a car freak when y'all can just go on about minivans, I'll join. I have driven them all, the Astro turns like shit, is awkward to get into the driver seat, has gobbs of low end power , will out tow and out brake any of the others due to its truck underpinnings.

I just happen to like the Astro better than the rest, I ride in a Caravan everyday in a van pool, it drives great, has enough power, is very comfortable, just not as trucklike (heavyduty as I prefer.)

Have driven the Aerostar as a service van, it seems toylike. But it sure is easy to manuever in a tight situation.

My cartalk buddies have all turned into soccer pops.

Somebody please talk about gassin' a cobra sideways till the tires turn to dust!!!!!

Still a Mini Van but it will turn the tires to dust like you requested.

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Posted by buckybear Still a Mini Van but it will turn the tires to dust like you requested. click to view

I meant turn 'em to dust thru stepping on the go peddle. In that thing I would turn everything unsprung to dust using the stop peddle. I'll bet that thing could suck the ear wax from your head!!

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I wish I could vanpool in this!!!!!

The toyota previa and its four cylinder engine was terrible, but it had nice moon roofs and was comfortable to ride in.

I have a 1996 Lumina APV/pedo van, it gets me from work site to work site but that about it lol.

I've always thought the Previa was kinda neat looking, never rode in one though, and I notice they all have a strange backpressure whistle at the tail pipe. Anybody else notice or hear it?

Okay, was going to leave the Previa discussion alone, but cr400's positive note inspires a rant. I agree, they are a cool design, now outdated, at least they had the guts to do something original.

Sorry Nismo, those buzzy 2.4 sideways tipped four cylinder engines are legendary for reliability. 500kms is common with no repairs. It's an industrial spec engine, you could use them to run a mill or something.

The interior is huge, and on the deluxe model, the middle seats swivel fully to face the rear. The rear seats fold up to the side, so you can put a table on one side, and a bed on the other. My 92 AWD was great for camping. Low on power, but insane traction on wet roads. Peg it in the rain, not a trace of wheelspin. A tenth the hp of the hotshots spinning beside me, and a block later maybe they catch up.

They came out in '91, a big improvement in handling over the previous model, which had the driver sitting over the seats. The previous model was also famous for reliability. On handling and power, the Dodge was better. More cramped in the back, but the masses went for it, and for good reason. Until you start racking up the miles.

The Previa is now a cult vehicle, and is also the only AWD Minivan with any reliability. The Mazda V6 was one of the worst engines ever made. (Yes I had one)

In their second year; 1992, the Previa added a drivers airbag, and matched passenger car standards for safety; the only minivan to do this at the time. Full headrests for all passengers. I think Chrysler offered rear headrests as an option in late '99. But I won't pick on them given tonight's news.

They were not as terrible in a frontal crash as some people think, but most minivans of the time of course were not so great in that area. No free lunch.
Now they have improved. 1991 was a long time ago.

I sold my 92 after about a year because it needed front struts, (expensive), (1000.00) and because I got tired of looking at the 10,000 parking lot dings the previous owner had racked up. Also, trusted my gut, they dropped in value quite a lot over the next couple of years.

The big question for all car owners: Would you buy the same car again, or a newer model, similar etc.? For me, as good as they are, doubtful; 5 years have gone by, they are a 'one of' design with some quirks, (like the driveshaft that runs the alternator and power steering, AC etc.) so getting use parts will dry up in time. Still: Highly recommended for people who like to camp in their rig, carry stuff, need space and like something well built and a little different.

Not to end on a bad note, but they are not awesome on gas, despite the 4 cylinder engine. Still, look what you can carry, this offsets the mediocre mileage. The tranny linkage is the most precise and smooth I've ever experienced, sigh. I don't smoke, but a cigarette would not be out of alignment right now. Cheers, and yeah, minivans FTW.

that's an interesting question... would I buy the same car(s) again, if given the opportunity? I would have to go back to 1996. It was early september and I was desperately in the mood to replace my not-so-gracefully aging 1981 Buick Regal coupe. It was sincerely falling apart, going through batteries and alternators every other week it seemed. I stopped at a Chevrolet-Pontiac-Buick-Geo dealer in Ticonderoga NY and looked at a 1991 Cavalier RS coupe. Very nice car, very practical, spiffy looking, not too shabby a performer. Perfect for my 52 mile commute. I did the paperwork on it and went home. Ran into a friend of mine, a devout Ford follower and he insisted that we travel to the Ford dealer in Elizabethtown NY and look at what they had to offer. So we get out there and I try out a baby blue 1993 Ford Tempo sedan. I hated it. I hated the color. I hated the interior. I hated that it was an automatic transmission. I just DID NOT like the car. So I tried out a 1994 Mustang V6... again, i liked the color, it was a standard, but it was still only 2 years old and the price tag was way more than I could afford.

One last stop to the Dodge-Plymouth-Eagle dealer (it was 1996 remember) and I tried out a standard shift 1996 Plymouth Breeze. It was brand new, the price on it was pretty good, ($13,500 if I remember right) and it seemed peppy... I talked to the salesman about payments and really didn't want a $250 a month payment at the time... I was only making $200 a week as it was.

So I went back to the Chevrolet dealer with my mom as a co-signer and bought my 91 Cavalier RS. In retrospect, it really was the right car. It really did very well by me. Honestly, it sincerely was one of the most, if not THE most, dependable car that I have ever owned.

As a final answer to the question, yes, in retrospect, I would've bought the same car that started me down the GM loyalty road. I mean, after that car, I had an 88 RS coupe, an 84 Type 10 coupe, a 96 coupe, a 98 RS clone, a 98 sedan, the Celebrity's, the Lumina's and into the Cobalts and my trusty Monte Carlo.

As I am sitting here writing this, i brought up the last picture I took of my Cavalier before I left Tennessee... I really wish I had gone back for it. I'd probably still have it with 400,000 miles on the odometer! It wasn't meant to be, though.

Do you ever wonder where your past cars have ended up, or if they are still going?

Posted by Samurai Do you ever wonder where your past cars have ended up, or if they are still going?

Yeah, about 1 year after I donated my 1995 Dodge Caravan to Teddy Bear Cars (hey, my former boss suggested them as he's with Colonie FD), I found out it was repaired and then sold to a single mother in Plattsburgh.

Posted by Agent Skelly Yeah, about 1 year after I donated my 1995 Dodge Caravan to Teddy Bear Cars (hey, my former boss suggested them as he's with Colonie FD), I found out it was repaired and then sold to a single mother in Plattsburgh.

i have probably seen your van and not known it... lol

I saw my '68 Road Runner about ten years after I sold it, it had been thru two owners, one was a Bozo that blew it up the night he bought it from me, the second guy must have been a motor head, cause it was runnin' awesome, clean and straight bodied, good tires on my old Torque thrusts, I pointed out to him that I had replaced a fender some years into my ownership of the car. I couldn't find a '68 fender, so I was forced to use a '69 fender, He was amazed that he hadn't noticed that the car had three small round corner lights, and one large rectangular corner light.


Nobody here has heard the Previa exhaust whistle??
Maybe it's a CAL emission thing??

Posted by cr400 I saw my '68 Road Runner about ten years after I sold it, it had been thru two owners, one was a Bozo that blew it up the night he bought it from me, the second guy must have been a motor head, cause it was runnin' awesome, clean and straight bodied, good tires on my old Torque thrusts, I pointed out to him that I had replaced a fender some years into my ownership of the car. I couldn't find a '68 fender, so I was forced to use a '69 fender, He was amazed that he hadn't noticed that the car had three small round corner lights, and one large rectangular corner light. Nobody here has heard the Previa exhaust whistle?? Maybe it's a CAL emission thing??

what's funny is that some of my cars, i never saw again.
72 Catalina... saw it one more time after my mom's boyfriend got rid of it. It was sitting in a salvage yard in Peru NY.
78 Bobcat... that puppy is now a Hyundai
71 Bronco... still sitting in a field
78 F150... wrecked and gone
81 Citation X11... crushed. gone.
80 Pinto... it went from me, to a family, to a junkman, to a kid that killed it, back to me and then because it had been beaten so badly, we demolition derbied it.
84 Capri RS 5.0L... wrecked, stripped, crushed.
80 Zephyr... crushed.
79 Horizon... crushed.
81 Regal... crushed.
91 Cavalier RS... abandoned in Tennessee... most likely crushed.
86 Merkur XR4Ti... crushed.
88 Cavalier RS... repoed... who knows where that whore ended up.
84 Cavalier Type 10... blown engine. crushed.
86 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z... crushed.
80 Dodge D50... still being driven around Dayton TN
85 Celebrity... crushed.
86 Dodge 600... crushed.
96 Cavalier... sitting on a back lawn in Whitehall NY (blown tranny)
98 Cavalier RS clone... totalled @ 317,000 miles... Poultney VT
85 Cavalier Type 10 hatchback... crushed
89 Shadow ES Turbo... crushed.
05 Cobalt RS... still in Dresden NY
93 Lumina... crushed.
07 Cobalt SS... babied and in my backyard
98 Cavalier sedan... still being driven.
98 Lumina... sold and still driven
99 Monte Carlo... still mine.

i see very few of my cars running around... lol

I would definitely get another 1995-2001 Stratus. Despite problems after 150k miles, it's been a dream for me. I'm even considering dumping about $1000 into mine for retiming and fuel line to get rid of a rumble and a check engine light, and all of this with 170k miles. Seems silly but I love the way the 95-01 2.4 I4 drives.

Edit: Oh yeah, and my mom had a 94 Grand Caravan. I loved that van so fucking much. It was always a smooth, comfortable ride.