In reply to John Welsh :
So my wife likes the Mazda5 better than anything else we’ve looked at so far and yours is pretty attractive at that mileage. I may be sending you a pm later.
Doesn’t hurt that it’s blue.
In reply to John Welsh :
So my wife likes the Mazda5 better than anything else we’ve looked at so far and yours is pretty attractive at that mileage. I may be sending you a pm later.
Doesn’t hurt that it’s blue.
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Direct:... jwelsh02... yahoo...
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Buy John's then buy my mods so I can turn mine back to stock! 
In reply to John Welsh :
Email sent.
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Replied via email and sent over my phone number
When I bought my pickup, I had been looking at Astros. I ended up giving them a hard pass because they held their value way too well. I got more truck for half the money of an Astro. I was looking at beat-up, rusty, wasted Astros for $7000, or pristine, rust-free pickups for $3500.
Don't get me wrong, Astros are great, but you don't get what you pay for.
Any minivan with a release year before 2011 is not safe enough to be the primary family vehicle. Small kids aren't impact-tough yet.
Spend $10-15k, take your pick between Honda, Toyota, and FCA. Car loans are under 3% interest; $12k5 is a $300 payment for 3 1/2 years.
chaparral said:Any minivan with a release year before 2011 is not safe enough to be the primary family vehicle. Small kids aren't impact-tough yet.
Certifiably false.
Here is what I find as the humor of the 2011 claim...
2020 Dodge Caravan (entered market as a 2008 model, fails to meet the 2011 standard)
2019 Ford Flex (entered the market in 2010 but is really a rebody to the 2005 Ford Freestyle, fail)
2020 Toyota Sienna (entered the market as a 2010 model, fail)
2020 Chevy Traverse twins (introduced as 2007 Saturn Outlook, fail)
Mazda 5 Gen 1 was 2006-2010, Gen 2 redesign was 2011-2015, so, maybe passes but not really.
2020 Kia Sedona (entered as a 2015 model, so that passes)
2020 Pacifica (entered as 2017 model, passes)
2020 Odyssey (entered as 2018 model, passes)
The claim of 2011 really results in the 2015 Sedona being the oldest vehicle to meet the claim.
The Astro van came about in the early days of minivans where manufacturers hadn't figured out what the formula was for this market segment. GM took the approach of taking a full sized van and making a smaller vehicle in the same mold. The result is something that's a lot more like a minitruck wearing a van body than a typical minivan. They have a cult following for people who want a minivan that can do truck things, but weren't as successful at being lightweight people movers with good mpg.
All this also applies to the Aerostar, which is getting a lot harder to find but is basically a Ranger wearing a van body.
The first generation Kia Sedona vans were supposed to be massively overbuilt too, although using a more conventional minivan platform. Both in a heavy for their size and a not easily broken sense. It was their first effort at making a van, and they weren't sure how sturdy it needed to be and erred on the side of caution.
Ha. My wife didn’t know what an Aerostar was. I showed her a picture and she immediately reacted, “Eww!”
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one up here that wasn’t beat almost to death and full of giant rust holes.
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Here in Delaware, I see Astros around on a daily basis, still performing their duties, no matter how beat and / or rusty they may be at this point.
It's been literal years - probably 5 - since I've even seen a Windstar or Aerostar.
My dad has an aerostar and there's a lot around here. I almost bought a 3.0 shorty last week
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