Anyone ever owned a chevy astro/gmc safari or had one as a work vehicle- How reliable are they ? What kind of gas mileage ? What are the down points? I am wanting to purchase one for my painting business and one day turn it into a v8 machine. I know it isn't a ford - but it fits what I want for a project -- any info appreciated..

 

Why not just get a short wheel bas econoline? They have more cargo capacity and better looking IMO. They are pretty reliable, make sure you get a Vortec 4.3v6 they are more reliable than the earlier non vortev ones. The tranny may be a little suspect. My dad was a service manager for a local ag company some years ago, and they had 2 chevy trucks with the 4l60e trans (the same as in the astro), they both bit it at ~95k on the odometer.... I see alot of them on the road, and the people I know that have them are happy with them. I

 

Like most GMs, Astro clones are hit and miss. The inventory company I used to work for had a few along with a 1-ton Express van. While I thought the company would make an educate purchase and that's why they still stuck with Astros (AWD at that), I think all 3 the company had went through at least one tranny each--most other bad stuff was from lack of care by the "owners" of said vans. The Astro where I work at now has been fine, but some guys rode the truck in 2nd gear all the way from Cameron, LA to Freport, TX and now that bad boy slips a good bit. Not comfy for me, either, when I went to bounce a coworker from the county lockup outside of Austin Saturday night. But 8 hour round-tripper had something to do with that, so the seats take adjusting to get comfy, trust me....

In short, decent vans, I'd take one over an uglystar, er, Aerostar in terms of looks and forums.vmag.com has a v8 Astro forum.

 

I don't know...seems like about every-other one of those I see is either clapped-out or is in need of an exhaust system. I'd look for a used Econoline.

MR

 

I got a 93 Safari Extended with over 140k on it. I get about 19.5 mpg on a trip and about the same in the city.
I used it to pull a pop up camper for several years and it did real good at it.
Knock on wood I havn't had any major problems out of it yet.
It is a pain to change the plugs and wires.
I did not buy this van new, however I did buy a new Aerostar in 93 and both head gaskets blew at 80k miles and ruined the engine. soon as I fixed the engine the transmisson went out. I had to pay to have that fixed.
I liked the Ford better but the Safari has held up better for me.

 

i've been driving astros for over 13 years. it is the vehicle of choice in my industry (Phone maint). the one i drive now is a '98 with 177500 miles. all driven by me. the 4.3L V-6 is a great motor IMHO. i've always followed the Fleet company's scheduled maint of Oil and Lube evey 5k miles. It is still on it's original spark plugs, never had a major tune up. (fleet company's motto: if it aint broke, we don't fix it). this thing still runs strong. Granted, we're talking about 70% highway miles. no backfiring, missing. If i was forced to buy a mini/mid size van, i'd buy an astro/safari. sure, it doesn't have the room as a full size, but more room than an aerostar (which i have also driven in my business). sorry i can't report MPG. you see, my company bought the fuel, i never paid attention. there was a 6 month period when i was driving 280 miles a day round trip all on a highway. that was one tankful per day with about 1/8 of a tank to spare. hope this helps.

 

Well I had one for 2 years, I was getting around 18mgg mixed driving. I had an 4.3 and it was fun to drive except the dog house was too close fo thr pettles and legs where crampping a bit after 5+ hours driving other then that it was fine would buy another one if price was right. btw I had an 1988

 

The older ones had some poor crash test ratings... If I remember right it was one that ranked around a 2 in front crash tests.

 

i bought a '87 used after i got married in '94 it had 88,000 miles on it, it had the tow pakage and 3.73 gears. would squeak the tires every time on the 1-2 shift, even when you drove it gently. would get about 15-18 mpg. this was one of the early ones with short wheelbase. had 7 ft from the back of the front seats to the rear doors. really liked it alot, though it is a pain to work on, but i guess most vans are a pain that way. mine had the rear bench seats that were removable, wife does craft shows so we used it alot for that. great tow vehicle, some problems i had were water pump, valve seals (smoked at start-up) had a very high idle that couldnt be turned down, computer went out once, power windows died, and the door latches broke one by one starting with the rear doors. we had it for 4 or 5 years, the last winter we had it, it would slip going between 2nd and 3rd shift when cold, so i think the tranny was about to let go. got rid of it for a garaged 93 taurus with only 23,000 miles for only $2,500. only saw it a few times after i sold it. it had 160,000 when i got rid of it. last spring i tried a pontiac montana, i only kept it 5 months before trading it for my current ranger, the pontiac was junk. i would recommend a astro, and i'd like to have another one day, oh, one more problem i had, the "early" 4.3 had a stamped steel accesory bracket that all your engine drivin accesiries mount to. there is no room for a brace to the back of the power steering pump. over time, the vibration caused a crack to develop between the p/s pump and where the plate mounts to the front of the engine block. eventially the pump started to pull forward from the belt tension resulting in pully missalignment and would throw off the drive belt. i fixed it by usind a port-a-power foot between the p/s and crank pulley to sraighten out the alignment of the pullys and then welded down the crack. only had the van a few months after that repair, im shure it would crack again. dont know when they went from a steel plate to a cast alum, but thats one thing you may want to check out if you find a used one.

 

In a nutshell (and I think the other posts bear this out): basic powertrain on these is usually strong, but the extras can be a real headache (rear air, electrics, electronics). The fleets that drive these like 'em, but they don't buy them with all the goodies, and that's where the trouble starts.

 

very well said. my co-worker just bought a safari with all the bells and whistles. i keep track of his luck with it.

 

Chevy and relia; relia; relia,I can't even type those two words in the same sentence,much less say them.

 

Yeah, Bascially I am a ford only man. I had a aerostar I loved - and got 250k trouble free miles-- but, they are hard to find with anything other than the flip up back door-- and that wont fly with my business needs-as I need the swinging double doors- otherwise I wouln't even get a chevy....I appreciate experience added.

 

You could check out a chevy website and look through their astro forum,I'm sure you would be able to see what common problems people are having with them.