Great comparo! When we bought the Aero at auction a couple of years ago, there were a couple of Astro's there. I sat in them and checked them out but they felt cheap and were not as comfortable as the Aero. I WANTED the astro before I checked it out since I had a extra set of Corvette wheels and tires to slap on it.

We'll hang on the our Aero for a while when we got it it had 74K on it and since then I've only had to replace the front rotors. It's up to 95K now.

 

I've extensively driven both for work over the years, and the Astro had a better ride and slightly better seating position (a bit more of a truck-like wheel, though), but the Aero had better handling when equipped with good tires. A slightly larger tire (with the same aspect ratio) transforms the Aero. As stated before the Aero blows away the Astro in acceleration every time. That, plus better gas mileage.

Aeros had opening rear doors if they were a custom order - or if it was a panel van. Many van conversion places ordered them as such - I've seen them on E-Bay from time to time.

My van was a custom order I understand...the XLT paint job and some equipment, but it's an XL. It was like Burger King, if you wanted it made to order, "Have it your way". I'm sure the same would apply to the Astro. Mine's 220,000 km and some suspension stuff at the front end went before I bought it (previous owner wasn't specific) but other than that, it's been relatively trouble-free.

 

This afternoon I had a chance to compare the performance of the astro VS my aero.

on my way back from the coast, we were in the mountains, and a rivalry between myself and an astro driver began. he was overtaking some cars behind me in a 2 lane uphill passing area, and the hiway went back to 1 lane before he could pass me. I didnt even pay much mind to it, untill he blew by me on a downhill stretch, flipping me off as he went by.

well, right before the next uphill passing area there is a sharp corner that you HAVE to slow down to about 40 mph for. then right after that corner, the road goes into 2 uphill lanes, straight for 1/4, then gets some tight corners. I blasted out of the 40 mph corner and planned on eating him alive on the uphill section, but he lept over into my lane and blocked my progress. so I had to slow to his dogged uphill pace. untill we got to the sharp corners after the straight section. his astro seemed much more capable of handling the tighter turns than I. i could feel my tires scrubbing the road, and backed off the throttle. im not a maniac!

I undoubtedly believe the aero has more acceleration and climbing power. but he killed my in those corners! is this due to my E4wd? my aero being 2 feet longer? I dunno.

 

I think it's the little 14" tires we run, my aerostar is the same way. But hey! I still love eating sunbirds and the odd V6 camaro light to light or on the hwy anyway. My aerostar is kinda scary handling wise until about 140 KMH (80 MPH) then it seems to just suck down to the road and is stable as a rock. I wonder if it's the air dam and side skirts/running boards on my sport model???. I also have 225 60 14 tires so it sits a little lower. Having this much power and can still haul 2 adults and 5 kids in car seats makes my aerostar worth all the blood, sweat and tears (but little cost) of owning it.!!!
007BRONCO