Spotted at WalMart

[Uncle Al]

How'ld you like to drive home in this

Mini-van combo pick-up 2016-04-04.jpg

Uncle Al

[moonshadow]

Party in the minivan!

I'd totally cruise in that!



Shoot... I'd just live in it!

[Fred in Skirts]

Party in the minivan! I'd totally cruise in that!
Shoot... I'd just live in it!

So would I

Fred

[crfriend]

I'd be constantly worried about it breaking in the middle after hitting a chuck-hole. It's probably not all that good in snow, either.

[denimini]

Gross

[partlyscot]

Sorry, I'm not a fan of stretch vehicles anyway, and I would have bet money you couldn't make a "dustbuster" less attractive to me. Seems I was wrong!

[Fred in Skirts]

I'd be constantly worried about it breaking in the middle after hitting a chuck-hole. It's probably not all that good in snow, either.

If it was done right it will not split in the middle and in some cases is actually stronger than the original car it was made from. How ever turning a tight corner will be a problem! due to the extra length you will need to pull way out into the intersection just to turn and not hit anything on the side walk. You have a huge overhang in the middle. Driving this car will be a nightmare if you are not properly trained to do it.

Fred

[crfriend]

Sorry, I'm not a fan of stretch vehicles anyway, and I would have bet money you couldn't make a "dustbuster" less attractive to me. Seems I was wrong!

I don't know. I kind of like the "TGV nose", but the disjoint backside really seems to spoil the thing altogether.

My first minivan was the original Plymouth Voyager in 1984, which I had enormous success with, and my second one was the lengthened version with the V6 from 1990 which I had even better success with. Both handled spectacularly -- better than many so-called "sports cars" -- and could haul amazing amounts of stuff when required. I miss both of those vehicles. Of course what the class has since become -- broad-tailled Bronx Shirleys with few practical benefits to them -- I detest. I especially abhor what Chrysler did to the original Voyager design. It breaks my heart.

I've driven 24-footers before, so I know all those tactics. I still have fond memories of slapping my 1984 Voyager around a 20 MPH curve at 50 the day after a co-worker did the same one at 40 and was squealing the tires in his muscle-car all the way; when I did it we went through smooth as glass but my passenger was completely white with terror (I merely held on and hoped for a good outcome when I was in the right seat).

[moonshadow]

I'll agree that the middle of the van is rather odd..... but that would just serve as a negotiation tactic on my end. Regarding the frame... I always thought they welded in a proper I beam frame when they stretched out a vehicle like this. Seems like a bit much for a unibody.

It does make me miss my 97 villager. I agree that mini vans don't amount to much now... too many bells and whistles. Doors that close their selves and rear backing camera's.... just more stuff to break... more stuff to fail a state inspection over......

[r.m.anderson]

Interesting to say the least - Living near a big city I often see stretch
Limos and even 16 passenger HumVees going to the local Indian Casinos

Did the photographer take a recent trip to the Wal*Mart in Havana Cuba ?
Disregard that the vehicles modified are of rather recent vintage !

On another note maybe this creation is serving as low income residential housing
and where else but a Wal*Mart parking lot !

[partlyscot]

Sorry, I'm not a fan of stretch vehicles anyway, and I would have bet money you couldn't make a "dustbuster" less attractive to me. Seems I was wrong!

I don't know. I kind of like the "TGV nose", but the disjoint backside really seems to spoil the thing altogether.

It's not the styling, well not much anyway, it's the function. That was the period I got introduced to North American vehicles, and the one when GM was deep in it's badge engineering. Changing all the controls around, just so the vehicle could look different from it's sisters. Stupid auto door locks, terrible seat/foot pedal layouts, the screen was so far out, and the seat in such a poor position, that it was like peering through a letter slot. This was what the Pontiac Trans Sport / Chevy Lumina was supposed to be copying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_E ... .931991.29
That was a fine vehicle. Driving down to the French Ski resorts, you would see dozens of them cruising at high speed fully loaded with skis and people. The AWD diesel was the one that was most liked for that.

[crfriend]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_E ... .931991.29

That's a cutie -- very close to my original Voyager:

voyager_i_7.jpg

That one's not mine, mind, but very close right down to the red/black colour-scheme. I do not know if any photographs of my 1984 survive.

This one is my 1990 Grand Voyager in the driveway where I used to live:

1990_Grand_Voyager.jpg

That one went to Iowa with me in the very late 1990s when I picked up two minicomputers. Two six-foot racks, and several hundred pounds of documentation got put into the car and the rear liftgate closed. It was badly overweight from everything inside, but didn't complain too much other than the radiator was mostly clogged and I had an overheating problem on the way home (which was fortunately easy to fix).

Modern ones look more like SUVs, and pretty much all the exemplars of the type have the upswept and fat arse-end that necessitates rear-view cameras because rearward visibility is so god-awful. This is a sad trend in many modern cars and represents a serious safety-failure because of the bad design. Fortunately, I know how to use my mirrors, else backing my 2012 Caliber would be nigh-well impossible.

[moonshadow]

This was our 97 Mercury Villager. I thought it was a hell of a vehicle. The first minivan we had, when we let it go I believe it had 230,000 miles on the odometer. It had gotten a stuck valve, and was quoted several thousand to unseat it, so we sold it, and the next owner put some type of engine goop in it, ran it full throttle up I81, and the valve was unseated.

Wished I had thought of that. Other than that, it was a good running vehicle. We took it all over the place.

I'm happy we have our 2012 Elantra now. It's a small, low riding car. It's been good, but then again, it's still got relatively low miles. Time will tell if this is going to be a 200k vehicle or not. I would however like to find something for myself that sits a little higher, so when we take our trips to the mountains, we don't have to turn away from every road that looks little rutted.

My old Dodge ram is getting on it's final days I'm sure. I'm going to have to break down this year and put some money into it to try to squeeze out a few more years on it, at least until the Elantra is paid off. I'm actually angling with my employer to possibly purchase my service van when it's reaches it's depreciation point at work (which I'm told is 150,000 miles, or 3 years of age). If the van is still in good shape, then I would make a PERFECT weekend vehicle. It can stay loaded with our camping gear, and while not 4WD, still sits high enough to negotiate mildly rutted roads. Best of all, it would make a good towing vehicle should I ever purchase a pull behind camper.

Above all, I don't have to worry about being lied to or swindled, as I have been driving the van since it had 200 miles (yes, actually two hundred), in other words, I've been the vehicles ONLY driver. I have a feeling due to the high number of miles I drive, they will hold it to about 175,000. But still, most of those are highway miles. We'll see. It all depends on what they are willing to part with it for. It would make a good replacement to my pickup, and then I can hand the truck down to Amber as her first vehicle. She wants it very badly, and it's perfect for her because it's already banged up pretty bad. If she totals it.... it's no major loss.

But the van has 109,000 miles on it. I should reach 150,000 by Christmas, so I'd say by next spring I should start to hear them talk of getting a replacement van for me, at that time, I will see about buying the old one.

[Big and Bashful]

I thought cars ecspecially diesels, could be good for up to 250000 miles. I thought that Jap bike engines, screamers which rev to between 11000 and I believe these days some road bikes will hit 16000 revs. Well I believed they would not enjoy long lives like the old thumpers and big low revving V twins do. However, the two highest mileages for ZX10 Tomcats on the forum I frequent are 380,000 and 250,000 miles. Not bad for Jap screamers! OK the 380,000 miler had a rebuild after a clutch disintegrated at 154,000 miles, but it still isn't bad! I find it hard to believe that a large company like Kawasaki can have the same defect in about 4 different generations of bike without fixing the problem. Still there is someone out there in EBay land with a cheap and permanent fix so I won't worry too much once I have checked mine out.

[dillon]

Looks like it would bottom-out pretty easily. I had a '95 Caravan, and now have a '08 model. I drive them until they die and then donate them for a tax deduction.