Goodbye Astro, hello Promaster

Say hello to my little friend. Moby III

2017, 136" wheelbase. 12000 miles. Already put a hundred miles in it today bringing it home from NH to VT. I hope the dogs like it. 

They call you Ishmael? 

Cool! What are you doing with the Astro? Didn't you just recently get it working right?

The more I look at those the more they just seem to work. Of course looking at them makes my brain hurt a little. Keep us updated on this. They're supposed to be very easy to upfit for a bunch of tasks. 

I was considering one of these ,or a Ford Transit to replace my Astro. I just wish the towing capacity was about 50% higher.

I really like these.  I still think the small Mercedes version might be in my future.  Metris I think

In reply to Vigo :

You're thinking of the V8 Safari. That I still have. However it no longer has third gear. The Ram is replacing the 05 AWD Astro "dog mobile." we have four dogs and need better room, reliability, and better mileage. 

Just ordered hitch and wiring. After that will be backup camera. 

I am seriously considering full size van for my next duty machine. Probably Transit. I'll second the request for updates!

Very practical and useful. Not exactly pretty, though......

For the ignorant amongst us (me) what is it? Sorry missed promaster in the title

You're thinking of the V8 Safari. That I still have. However it no longer has third gear. The Ram is replacing the 05 AWD Astro "dog mobile." we have four dogs and need better room, reliability, and better mileage. 

All the better, now you will have the best of both worlds! A very large reliable functional van you don't have to worry about, and a goofy van with a v8 swap that you dont really 'need' so it doesn't put much pressure on you and you get to be rowdy with it. Sounds ideal to me! 

so this was the vehicle that was "too big" for progressive to insure?

mad_machine said:

so this was the vehicle that was "too big" for progressive to insure?

Yeah. And it's not the high roof 159" wheelbase model! 

In reply to vwcorvette :

Does it have the same drivetrain as the Grand Caravan?

So, uh, it's a Dodge.  Will the transmissions in those last longer than 60-80K miles?

it's mostly fiat.. so I am not sure what drivetrain is under it. Fiat Chrysler needs to bring over one of their little fiat city vans like the Ford Transit. Ford really seems to have that market locked up tight as I see many of them daily

If you combined the two, would you have an...AssMaster?

mad_machine said:

it's mostly fiat.. so I am not sure what drivetrain is under it. Fiat Chrysler needs to bring over one of their little fiat city vans like the Ford Transit. Ford really seems to have that market locked up tight as I see many of them daily

You mean the Promaster City?  

Every time I see the title to this thread, for a brief moment my brain reads it as "Goodbye Astro, Hello Pornstar".  There must be something wrong with me.

Part of me wonders if the same designers who did this were hired by GM for the new Silverados.

This is FWD correct?  Does that lower the load floor at all?  

logdog said:

mad_machine said:

it's mostly fiat.. so I am not sure what drivetrain is under it. Fiat Chrysler needs to bring over one of their little fiat city vans like the Ford Transit. Ford really seems to have that market locked up tight as I see many of them daily

You mean the Promaster City?  

 

I have never seen one in the wild

The ProMaster has the Caravan 3.6/6spd under it.  Not sure of the reliability under hard commercial use, but in hobbyist hands a near-empty (dogs, camping stuff?) ProMaster is basically just a Caravan with a few fat relatives in it. 

mad_machine said:

logdog said:

mad_machine said:

it's mostly fiat.. so I am not sure what drivetrain is under it. Fiat Chrysler needs to bring over one of their little fiat city vans like the Ford Transit. Ford really seems to have that market locked up tight as I see many of them daily

You mean the Promaster City?  

 

I have never seen one in the wild

Hang out in our parking lot.