In praise of minivans

Having seen Paula Gibault (Chrissy Beavis' mom) run an Astro Van down Rim Of The World stages faster than many stock class competitors I don't poo poo them.
My wife had a 4cyl powered Caravan and you could pitch it into corners on gravel without it protesting. The handling was decent and a set of sway bars would have made it corner well. We kept it for 189K and she would have bought another if they had not been so pricey. We also joked that a SRT4 motor and tranny in it along with some suspension goodies would be fun project. If you have a small trailer and lightweight race car (I remember a guy who towed his 510 with an Astro Van) you would have no issues.

 Tom

I bought a bicycle for my wife the other day off of CL. I met the seller in a walmart parking lot. He brought the bike in the back of a honda odyssey. Now this was a full size mountain bike with a baby seat on the back, and it was standing upright in the back of this minivan. It blew my mind. I couldn't stand it up in the back of my full size pickup because the topper wasn't high enough and he could stand it up in his minivan. When you look at the fuel economy and purchase price of a used minivan compared to an suv its hard not to like them. As long as you don't need big towing its kind of a no brainer. I've also seen a stock awd astro wheeling at the Badlands offroads park. He was back in the quarry, not flogging it, but going places I never expected it to go. The guy was awesome.

One other thing after reading through this whole thread, people mention how much of a bear these things are to work on, but every chrysler minivan I have worked on had a removable cowl. After you have removed them once or twice it takes maybe ten minutes to remove and makes it incredibly easy to work on anything from the top. I think the windstars were the same way but I'm not positive. No such luck on GMs.

After reading this thread, I think I should start one:

In praise of fat, ugly chicks...

There is someone for everyone.

I just bought my first Minivan or what I affectionately call a Euro Hatchback, which is a Mazda 5 (manual Transmission). So far I haven't done much with it other then drive it and have it fixed. I put my Cross Country ski's in it and have more then enough room to fit 5 people. The test will come this summer if it can fit all of my Karting gear. I once rented a Dodge Caravan and fitted 3 karts, 6 kart engines, and a bunch of kart parts. People will laugh until they need your help.

Anybody know what year Chrysler stopped making AWD minivans?

Duke wrote: Anybody know what year Chrysler stopped making AWD minivans?

Iirc 2007. Going to double check.

Edit: yes, looks like 2007

maj75 wrote: In praise of fat, ugly chicks...

Hey, just like minivans, don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em.

ebonyandivory wrote:

Duke wrote: Anybody know what year Chrysler stopped making AWD minivans?

Iirc 2007. Going to double check. Edit: yes, looks like 2007

Awesome, thanks. Because I've seen several 2010-2013s advertised as AWD.

B. Choate wrote:

maj75 wrote: In praise of fat, ugly chicks...

Hey, just like minivans, don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em.

Dude, looks count for something, but performance is everything.

. We also joked that a SRT4 motor and tranny in it along with some suspension goodies would be fun project.

I own that exact thing and it's great.

every chrysler minivan I have worked on had a removable cowl. After you have removed them once or twice it takes maybe ten minutes to remove and makes it incredibly easy to work on anything from the top.

My arms actually fit and i have nice/expensive tools to rig up 'funny angle tools' with so it was never worth it to me to take it off. It would definitely be worth it for some people. I had a coworker a while back who was a 300+lb guy and he did not have the option of fitting his arms in there.

Anybody know what year Chrysler stopped making AWD minivans?

FYI (and tragically) there was never AWD and stow-n-go at the same time (they take up some of the same space under the floorboard) so if you are looking at a van with stow n go it is NOT awd. Could make sifting through CL ads for an awd minivan a little more efficient.

I think the only AWD minivan still made is the Sienna.