J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
10/18/24 9:19 a.m.
Colin Wood
Colin Wood Associate Editor
10/18/24 9:27 a.m.

I don't like how much I actually like the faux wood paneling.

I blame this forum.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/18/24 9:31 a.m.

Back in my early days of GRM, we had a Caravan on staff. It hauled both the kids and our work stuff. It had Revolutions on it. 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/18/24 9:33 a.m.

You’re welcome. 

j_tso
j_tso Dork
10/18/24 9:57 a.m.

my dad replaced a maroon on maroon Caprice Classic wagon with a maroon on maroon Voyager. It had aircon ducts that reached the back seats (only on the left side), height of luxury in the 90s.

Chris Tropea
Chris Tropea Associate Editor
10/18/24 10:19 a.m.

Wow that van is clean. $15K is a lot of money for a minivan but are we at the point where minivans are becoming collector cars? 

wvumtnbkr
wvumtnbkr GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
10/18/24 10:25 a.m.

I was hoping for manual / turbo combo.

VolvoHeretic
VolvoHeretic GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/18/24 11:30 a.m.

I really like the rear air spoiler/window dirt deflector.

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
10/22/24 11:36 a.m.

Okay, this minivan doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling like some here. Instead nightmarish flashbacks.

My parents had its cousin - a 1990 Town and Country. It was terrible. It constantly broke down, including leaving us stranded once in the middle of nowhere in Virginia. (It did lead to an extended family vacation that was epic, though.) When I finally got my license, I drove it. It was awful in that department, too. Rough around the edges sums it up nicely.

However, if this van floats your boat, more power to you. I won't yuck your yum. I do love the faux wood paneling that does class it up a bit laugh.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/22/24 12:03 p.m.

True story: My family never had a minivan nor a station wagon. (Oddly, today my parents are on their second BMW Touring.)

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 MegaDork
10/22/24 12:26 p.m.

That's a very nice low mileage example.  Sad it's not the manual version--I thought those went away after the first generation, but I see they were available through the second gen 1995.  Gotta be crazy rare, though.

I fondly (?) recall driving an '85 (?) model with the manual and the 2.2 from Albuquerque to Richmond.  I forget what kind of gas mileage it got, but acceleration was not present in any real sense.

ZOO (Forum Supporter)
ZOO (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
10/22/24 12:58 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

True story: My family never had a minivan nor a station wagon. (Oddly, today my parents are on their second BMW Touring.)

The 4-door Rabbit (replacing a Mini Cooper S) was our "station wagon". 

I've never had a minivan.  I'm not antivan, though.

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
10/22/24 2:56 p.m.

My parents had both a station wagon and vans.
1984 Chevrolet Celebrity wagon - wasn't a fan, but it was better than my dad's Pontiac 1000.
1990 Chrysler Town and Country - stated my thoughts on that.
1998 Ford Windstar - this was a far better van than the T&C. I actually enjoyed driving that. It never let us down, either.

Before I was born and after I left the house that my mom went with far cooler cars. A 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible before (which we still have) and an Audi A5  cabriolet. I blame the minivans and wagons on myself. laugh

Duke
Duke MegaDork
10/22/24 4:10 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

You’re welcome. 

That looks like a base Grand Caravan.  Schmancy!

My very first new car I ever bought was a 1992 base SWB Caravan, like below except in metallic grey.  Only options were the built-in kid seats and tinted rear windows.  It was absolutely the ideal starter-pack family car.  The only way it could have been better is if we sprung for the LWB version.

It did have the Mistersquishy 3.0 oilburner, which was perfectly adequate if uninspiring.  31TH trans, so no 41TE transmission issues.  It needed bushings in the front end when it was rear-ended to death, but otherwise it was dead-nuts reliable for 11 years and 100,000 miles, with zero rust.

 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/22/24 4:12 p.m.

In reply to ZOO (Forum Supporter) :

The closest we came to a station wagon was a hatchback as we had an Oldsmobile Starfire (remember that?) with the V6 and a stick. Silver over red velour. After I graduated high school, my parents got a 240SX. Once my parents got their first BMW Touring, the 240SX came to live with us.

I came home from the hospital in a ’67 GTO with a four-speed and Posi rear, so my parents might have had slightly different priorities than some others. 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
10/22/24 4:24 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Dad was always a big American station wagon guy:  '52 Plymouth, '65 Pontiac Catalina, '69 Pontiac Bonneville, '78 Olds Vistacruiser.

He replaced the Olds with a loaded '89 Grand Caravan in 2-tone brown and gold, no woodgrain.  Man, he loved that thing, and it was a workhorse.  It probably had 300,000 miles on it when it finally rusted too badly to keep driving.

 

OjaiM5
OjaiM5 HalfDork
10/22/24 5:06 p.m.

You had me at the Visor.......

 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/22/24 5:43 p.m.

We had a number of wagons - '91 Passat (with a stick, thank you Canadian market) and a few Legacys. Mom's currently driving a bright red VW Sportwagen. Never a minivan. 

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