Well, it's time to say goodbye. This weekend, after 9 years of ownership, our Aerostar has a new owner. The car was rusting badly on both rocker panels and a lot of major "worn part replacements" were lining up. Here in Switzerland, work is extremely expensive, parts have to be imported in a complex way and my place is no good for working on cars (dark underground garage, slope). Since the "to-do" list exceeded the Aerostar's value by far, we decided to get a new family car. So we bought a Hyundai van (best deal on the market), also a 7 seater with all the toys but for economic reasons with a 2.0 4-cyl with 5-speed manual transmission. I gave the Aerostar as a gift to my brother in law who has 4 kids and not enough money to buy a van. He lives in the Czech Republic where labor is affordable and parts are improvised (see Pablo). So the Aerostar remains in the family. I'll be seeing and driving it occasionally when I see them once a year and he'll get back to me for repair information. That's why I'll remain registrered in this forum to be able to search or ask questions if necessary.
Thanks to all you guys for all the help. I've been 6 years on this board and I enjoyed it immensely.

Best regards,
Tom

 

Farewell Tom,
glad to have your help with my Aero over the past several years.
good luck with the Hyundai

 

Farewell Tom, advice your brother in low visit our forum! I belive, he speaks english!

 

See you around, Tom. I just know that you won't be able to stay away from all the entertainment value here

 

tom, your advice to the aerostar owners on this forum is still invaluable. since most of us have been there done that we may still be able to save someone a few busted knuckles. if not, at least we can share the ride, and offer our 2 cents worth. visit often and stick around! rick
p.s. good luck with the hyundai

 

Driving hyundai you will miss aero.... And the next thought will be, how to get new american van..... My father wants to purchaise Ranger ore F150, becouse he use to drive my aero... He had many european and japaneese cars (Toyota, VW passat, Nissan Skyline, Opel Omega, and other....) and he loves american cars!

 

Hah! I love this! It's an homage to Pablo and all the fanglers out there who are making do with what they have.

Necessity is the mother of invention, but sometimes, it can be just a mother.

Tom, just because you no longer have an Aerostar doesn't mean you can't hang around and help contribute to others (maybe even Pablo) who need to work on theirs.

 

xlt4wd90! We love aeros for different reasons, but for me one of the main is a good combination of comfort, reliability, space inside, cross-country ability with limited slip diff, and many cheap parts of Russian and German trucks fit aero... Aero is really cheap to maintain.
BTW American part are cheapper, then German... Unfortunatly shipping expences kill this plus

 

I already do miss the Aerostar, especially the captain's chairs. The Hyundai is a more european product. They have a design and engineering center in Germany and the car indeed rides like a German car. The last time I drove an Asian car was more than 10 years ago (Toyota) so I am quite impressed and I think they did a good job.
The only van from the Big 3 that is offered here is the Chrysler Voyager. Actually, it was the crappiest of all the vans I have seen.
My brother in law does not speak English but I'll lurk occasionally and if I can help, I'll gladly will.

 

It would be funny, if he speaks Russian... BTW, when I was in Czech, I understood language.... It is like a mix of Ukrainian and Serbian languages...

 

The most popular van here is Gaselle.... But it is too big for me, like E350... It is made in Soviet traditions, so suspention, and engine are like american, crudely made, but reliable and tought, but Gaselle have 5 st tranny only and interrior materials are cheap... Gaselle is a typical commertional van. Unfortunatly Russian industry makes no minivans, but European industry offers microvans for adequate price.... Minivans, like MB Vito, VW Caravella are too expencive and they are not so comfortable like american vans.... Chrysler Voyager is too expencive here, but belive me, Aero and WIndstar are better. Chevrolet Lumina APV dissapeared from our market, so next my van/truck will be american.... It is really cheapper, with shipping too!

 

The Aerostar is definitely a great minivan but unfortunately they don't make it anymore. And I wanted a new car with warranty and nothing to worry about for the next few years.
The Americans pulled their minivans out of Europe. The Windstar is gone just like the Astro. The Pontiac Transport/Chevy Lumina was relabeled to Opel Sintra and it died soon after because of immense quality problems.
I also looked at Peugeot 807, the new Kia Carnival (Sedona) and the Seat Alhambra which is a twin to the VW Sharan. The only American van on the market (although it's built in Austria) is the Chrysler.

 

yep, Aeros are like a Timex watch...low cost and take a licking and keep on ticking
nothing in the American van market here excites me except the Dodge Sprinter van with the MB 5 cyl turbo diesel but it's not AWD

 

Early models of MB vans had AWD versions made for army.... Sprinter is a successor of 208-615 MB vans, that had AWD versions with the same engines and trannyes, that now are used in Sprinter, so it is possible to find T-case that fits sprinter here on junkyards and front drive axel, but for sprinters on leafsprangs only (long cargo version)...

 

http://www.autoreview.ru/news/news7/n17.htm

Just look!