Man, this is weird. My wife and I need to travel now that she's retired, and our '02 E150 would be the perfect vehicle. Decent gas mileage, totally reliable, and old enough to be "comfortable" where I don't worry about a little ding or a little dirt. But the dang engine cover bothers my wife's left knee bigtime, and torques my back when I'm sitting in the front passenger seat. So it's like a perfect pair of boots that does not fit comfortably.

I mentioned on a group bike ride that I might be selling, and a good friend (who is on the Board of my bike club--and I am prez) who does appliance repair said he's looking for a new work van. He had been driving a Dodge van that was over 300k miles and it had died.

So he called me yesterday and said he wanted to come over and drive it this week. I would have no hesitation selling it to a friend (except I won't ask for top dollar but that's OK) but I'm kind of freaking out at the prospect of being vanless for the first time since 1986.

We will probably buy a minivan (looking at Mopars, Honda, and Toyota) as a replacement and it will serve us just fine. I don't have a big problem "wearing" a minivan. As a musician and bicyclist, I have a LOT of friends who drive minis with no shame because they flat out work. But I'll miss the ground clearance and the toughness of a real truck after so many years with one. My van has a solid axle with a sturdy Eaton posi that I had installed right after I bought it in 2003. Can't put something like that in a minivan. And driving up a curb or down a rutted campground road won't work with the new gen minivans. (They took away the ground clearance to fit the folding seats under the floor...)

I have thought about various SUV's like Explorers, Flexes, Traverses, Tahoe/Expedition/Suburban type things but none of them have the room for big stuff...and the load height of a big SUV is about 8 feet like a pickup... Transit Connect is cute but just too darn small inside. Front seat feels tighter than my Subaru Forester and I like elbow room for traveling.

Big Transit seems to have compromises in front passenger room and it's just not "me"... It will be a convenience for parking in structures, etc. to get a minivan. I'll get my wife some heated seats, and shoot for dual climate control (we run at a 20 degree temp difference) so there are things I'm looking forward to. Lots of airbags in the new minis in case something bad happens and that is a good thing these days too.

I'll miss the friends I have on this forum (although I promise to stop by every so often)...

But when my bud calls me to actually look at the van, I'm gonna get that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach after owning this van for 12.5 years. If he doesn't buy it, I might even keep it over another winter...or put it on Craig's list and just get on with it.

Conflicted and thinking out loud...if anyone has an idea about how to cut a foot out of the right side of my engine cover let me know NOW.

George

 

I know how you feel YoGeorge, if I had to travel like that I would move the Pass front seat to the Pass center and use the seat belts for that position with one of those RV full recliners. Wake me up when we get there................

 

I've had minivans pretty much since 2001. I had the initial 'soccer mom stigma' complex about it at first, but geez. They're so useful for the intended purpose that the wife actually insisted on one this year when we picked up the 2015 Caravan. We don't really need one because the family dynamics have changed, i.e. kids have grown out of that need, but we still dig the size and utility. Of course, I still need my big boy Bubba but that's for no actual need, just want. Point is, you'll probably take to minivans just fine.

 

Couldn't you just remount the passenger seat about a foot farther back? Maybe engineer a sliding track system to do it.

Sure.... you might have to figure out new seatbelt mounts...

Or maybe get a swivel seatbase and just let her sit facing rearward...she might not like that tho.

Options...is all I'm sayin...

 

They make seats with built-in seat belts. Check out crew cabs with suicide rear doors.

Are the Aerostar and Astro too old for you?

Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 191K miles

 

Thanks, Brian and Sixto...

My front driver's seat is already moved back with new holes in the seat base and the passenger seat could go back a few inches with new holes in the floor or steel straps on top of the base...but my wife and I like a nice angled floor with our feet symmetrically in front of us and the E van just ain't gonna do it. Nobody is gonna sit backward...my wife drives sometimes too (My '73 E200 Turtle Top conversion had front seats with full swivels a million years ago. Now those were CRAZY bad for front legroom for driver and passenger.)

Sadly, the Savana/Express has most of the room we need but I had a "Savana from hell" in 1996 and just can't go there again... GM moved the engine forward and centered it a bit more than the E vans so they hit the right combo. The new big Transit has some weird stuff happening with the wheel wells.

Moving the passenger seat back (if I got a new seat with a harness) puts it into the path of the side door access and would lose the air bag effectiveness...I would hate to survive an accident and not have my wife survive.

The Astro engine cover is far worse than any big van for non-left-amputees... I think the Aerostar used to be a bit better but too old and crude.

Again, the new minis are really safe (if someone crosses the yellow line, falls asleep, or something else bad happens, we get front, side, and curtain airbags as well as stability control etc.), quiet and comfy, and heated front seats and dual climate control in the front would give us creature comforts. I am 63 and my wife is 64 and the next 10 years may be the high point of our life's travels. We can afford a new minivan and even load it up. Hell, I could afford a new or recent used Expedition/Suburban/Tahoe but a minivan has more room for bicycles and a lower load height. Our friends are buying vacation homes, motorhomes, and yachts.

Thanks for the ideas. If my friend doesn't call me or we can't settle on a price, I can survive another year with the E150 and we can travel in my Subaru (but not with all the *stuff* we like to take). My wife packs 100 lbs of stuff for each day we're away from home

Funny thing is that I'm almost more conflicted about letting go of my van than I was retiring from my job. The other option is just keeping the E150 for real big stuff and day trips, and swapping my Subaru for an Explorer/Flex for travels. But the Subaru has 70 cubic feet for cargo, the Explorer/Flex are a bit over 80 cubic feet, and a minivan is 150... Traverse is 117 or so, bigger than an Expy or Tahoe, but still has a high load height. So the mini is what I want for "stuff". An AWD mini with ground clearance would be cool, but the only AWD mini is the Toyota Sienna, and it is low and omits the spare tire for run-flats. Yuk.

Another pisser is that Ford makes a "Transit Custom" that is a mid sized FWD Transit that is Euro-only and THAT is the one I want. I think the big Transit used to be FWD or RWD and they spun the Custom off of that. (And how stupid to have a Transit, Transit Custom, and Transit Connect--the same name for 3 vehicles...)

29 years with a full size van makes for a habit that is hard to break. And this might be the last V8 vehicle I'll ever own, another tradition down the tubes.

George

 

my drivers seat is moved back too on my 2003.


you should really keep it and try a few trips, after moving the passenger seat of course. see how the boss likes it first then if she isn't happy, you have already been looking and hey you never know she might like it.


hate to throw money at something you aren't sure about.


keep it......................

 

A friend of mine used to have a Honda Fit....you can cram a lot of stuff in that little econobox...Forty mpg on the highway too...And I bet we can find you a 'V-8' sticker to put on it somewhere....

 

fit = shart
halfway between a fart and sh_t

 

Previously before owning our E350 - we were towing our campers with an 03 Expedition. Only real reason we sold it was that we wanted a bigger camper and the Expedition could not handle it.

Also owned an Astro and Safari and we really liked them as well, but again we moved up in camper weight so went to a larger vehicle.

 

Thanks, an Expy is "kind of" on the list but they are really expensive, use more gas than I would like, and have far less room inside than a big minivan. Astro/Safari are ancient platforms and are even worse for the front seat passenger than the E vans.

Take care,
George

 

Buy the minivan of your dreams, and keep the E- van.

Live life carefree and see how it plays out.

Everybody wins. Except your friend who wants to buy the E- van LOL

 

We are 2 people and we have 4 cars already. If I wanted a 5th car it would be a Corvette or performance car of some kind. (I've had a couple Vettes and a bunch of old muscle cars and THOSE would have been the ones to keep.)

One option is to keep the E van for occasional big and heavy stuff and upsize my Subaru for something larger like an Explorer.... The E van is a great appliance but it's not a unique collector's piece. But I like the Subaru because it has a stick and those are becoming extinct.

Friend has not called yet and I have no idea where he is gonna be on price. I would give him a fine deal but that may not be his concept of a fine deal. So I may be very premature with all of this whining and overthinking. I just keep wanting something that nobody makes right now.

George

 

Seriously, have you considered one of the new full-sized Nissan NV's?

Van sized, available V-8, and car-like front seats. Body-on-frame construction. Regular roof or high roof, and made in USA. Comparatively priced too.

The general outline may not be to your liking, but to me they resemble a pickup with a topper.

I have not driven one, nor do I have any vested interest but they are on my personal radar for a possible future vehicle.



http://www.nissancommercialvehicles....ommercial.link

 

Thanks for the idea--just looked at the web page, but the length is 240" on those and I just don't want to go bigger than my current van. My E van is like 212" and I was actually looking forward to a minivan at 200-202" of length to get a bit more garage room. And I like the stow and go seats in the minis as well even if it's just the 3rd row.

If I'm reading the specs right, it looks like empty weight of the Nissan is almost 7000 lbs (yikes). They do look like they put the engine out front like a pickup so I bet the front passenger legroom is good. Aha...I just noted that all the passenger versions are the 3500 where you can get a 1500 cargo van in the NV.

Hell, I haven't even checked out the Nissan Quest minivan and I should go look at that. I refuse to buy Korean brands and would so much prefer a domestic nameplate but that leaves me Chrysler and Dodge which are OK but are on their way out with the current design.

So I should make a visit to the Nissan dealer and just take a look but probably more at the Quest.

Thanks for the idea though,
George