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Which is the Most Family
Friendly Van?
For this case we used the most
recently introduced vans and thus the General Motors vans were excluded, as was
Mazda's and others. In addition, our pick as best van ever, the Honda Odyssey is
being redone for next year with several improvements including a handy lazy
susan type tray, more power, and better utility. Although the Honda would hold
up well in terms of performance in this case, it just cannot compete in utility
with the fresher models.
The Defendants:
Nissan's Quest, Chrysler's Voyager, Toyota's Sienna, and Ford's Freestar are all
guilty of trying to provide the buying public with durable, handy, and
economical transportation in the form of a van.
The evidence: We dealt with the best sellers in this comparison trying to avoid
leather interior, power doors, and DVD options. We were looking for well-priced
vehicles that you could get dirty without worry. As for price, every one of the
vans was within a thousand dollars of each other with the Chrysler being the
most expensive and the Freestar the price leader.
Athletically, the Nissan Quest was the best. It has excellent handling, a
powerful drivetrain, and a lot of interior room.
The Voyager had the flip and fold seating and storage option and it is
sensational. If you don't hot foot it down to your nearest Dodge or Chrysler
dealer to see how this feature works you are missing one of the great
engineering feats in family history. In addition, the third seat folds flat into
the floor or swings out to be used as a seat to watch a drive-in move or a
soccer game in comfort. The drive train is capable, and you have a quiet ride.
The Freestar had a nice interior, is nicely priced, and has a large engine and
plenty of safety features. However, it just not have the fit and finish of the
others or the utility.
The Jury:
Mom's view:
The Toyota was the most enjoyable to drive. It had a lot of wind noise, though,
and the placement of the transmission shifter took a while to get used to as it
resides at the bottom of the dash. The Nissan's had the most unusual shifter
location using a truck type placement high on the center console next to the
driver.
All of the vans were nice to drive, but the Toyota was so easy to park it
bordered on amazing. This long van had a turning radius of just 37 feet, or more
than two feet less than the competition. That can win a lot of kudos when in
tight parking lot situations.
In terms of ease of loading, the Nissan was the champion. The large opening
doors made even made it possible to walk into the third seat area without having
to move the second seats a bit. However, the rear seats did not fold out of the
way as easily as the others.
It is of great interest to me how these 4000 pound vans can get such excellent
gas mileage while the top heavy and equally heavy SUVs struggle to even reach 16
mpg on the highway. The vans are also safer as they don't topple over as easily.
Anyway, the 26-gallon fuel tank on the Freestar gave it a potential cruising
range of 600 miles on the open road. The rest of the group had smaller tanks,
but they all could conceivable give you well over 500 miles of travel before
refueling. Realistically, you can expect gas mileage in the 22 to 23 miles per
gallon on unleaded. In terms of safety ratings there wasn't a bad one in the
bunch.
Don't let a van's appearance fool you, these two ton vehicles can accelerate
quite well and can hold there own in highway passing situations even when
loaded. The Quest and Sienna were the fastest.
My verdict is for the Toyota Sienna. They were all good, but the turning radius,
silent power of the engine; great gas mileage, build quality, and resale were
the key considerations in my decision. If we still had young children, bite your
tongue, the Chrysler Town and Country would be my choice without question. The
Stow and Go seats are magnificent and make attaching a baby seat, hauling diaper
bags, and even hiding items a breeze. The Quest's appearance and the interior
didn't suit me. The Ford felt and looked old and there was nothing to get me
excited about it.
Dad's view:
Is a van supposed to be just for hauling or for driving enjoyment or both? That
is the decision I had to make. Well, much to my surprise the Sienna was a joy to
drive although the handling was soft. Toyota must be downplaying the power
because this two-ton people mover is never is at a loss for motivation. The
downside was a transmission that was a little too relaxed for my driving style.
However, the shift lever is very easy to use and you could fetch your own gears
if so inclined. The Nissan was the easiest to manually shift with its high
mounted lever. In addition to driving enjoyment, the Sienna sipped regular
unleaded so slowly that we thought the gas gauge was broken. Negatives were the
soft handling and small seats that may not appeal to everyone. If you are into
speed, the Nissan has the strongest engine. The Chrysler was the quietest, and
had the best interior features.
All the vans had enough floor space to enable you can carry a full sheet of
plywood. The Toyota's third seat is split 60/40 and each side can fold into the
floor well. The second row captain's chairs tumble forward. Removing the second
row seats in the Sienna is the most difficult of any of the vans though. The
Sienna is available in eight passenger configurations, which is a plus for some
users.
Ford's Freestar has one of the most novel feature of any van and that is an
inside mirror that enables you to see what is happening in the rear seats. It is
similar to those used on school busses and it is very useful. It also has the
engine with the most torque, but it is not the quietest of powerplants.
The best feature on the Quest, outside of its strong engine, is the wide opening
doors. It is so easy to get into the second and third rows of seats that it
makes you wonder how long it going to take the competition to copy this feature.
As the other vans, the Quest's rear seat folds flat into the floor, but it is
takes some muscle to pull it out of the floor into the upright position.
Unfortunately, the second row seats are also fairly difficult to remove. Not as
bad as the Sienna's, but not as handy as the Chrysler.
A center mounted instrument cluster built below the Quest's 6.3-inch information
display and a console mounted shifter make the interior of the Nissan the most
unique, and strangely, not difficult to adjust to.
My vote would go to the Nissan. The strong engine, tidy handling, and spacious
interior were all good qualities that offset the difficult to read gauges and
questionable placement of some controls.
Young male's view:
The Nissan Quest was just plain strange inside and out. It was certainly the
easiest to load and held the most. The engine was the most responsive and had
the most buttons to play with. You have an overhead console and an available
full-length rear overhead console, four 12-volt power points, and a Skyview
which is Nissan's name for its rectangular glass roof panels in the Quest's
roof. It was my favorite because it could be driven hard and it felt sportier.
Young working woman's view:
I cherish utility and the Dodge and Chrysler vans with the Stow and Go are my
favorites. They come well loaded, have adequate power even when loaded, and are
well priced. I especially liked the Town and Country from Chrysler that had the
available power lift gate, power side doors, and crisp handling. The option list
for these Chrysler vans borders on rivaling War and Peace in number of pages.
You have to decide on so many option packages that it is best to come well
prepared. The flexible-fuel 3.3-liter is not as handy as the larger 3.8-liter
V6.
The Verdict:
The question we asked was why did the Freestar provide so little evidence it was
the best van. It appears to be well situated with the largest engine, lots of
options, safety features in abundance, and looks good. Basically, what we found
was that it did just did not feel as useful as the others. The beautiful
interior is not as creatively done and the engine is more truck like in noise
level and reaction. The rear seat folds into the floor but does not split, and
the touch isn't as good as the others. Mind you this is a good van, it just is
not as useful or as inventive as the others. A couple of years ago this would
have been the best van around, but since 1999 the competition has surged and
Ford has put a lot more energy into other areas from our viewpoint with a new
sedan, hybrid SUV, and GT supercar all competing for attention.
The Chrysler/Dodge vans had the most useful interior features and the quietest
ride, but suffers from concerns over quality control. Although we feel these
concerns have been addressed, it is difficult to change the public's impression.
Furthermore, these vans are not as easy to maneuver and we felt the need for
more power. There is no question they are the most family friendly.
Nissan's Quest is just plain unique. If you like the powerful engine, spacious
interior, and different interior set-up you can get a good deal. We felt that it
was not nearly as easy to live with on a daily basis as the other vans and the
gas mileage was not as good.
Toyota's Sienna was guilty of being the best mini-van for our needs. Outside of
the very heavy second row seats, the Sienna provided exceptional gas mileage, a
spunky engine, and a comfortable, if not sporty, ride. It was by far the easiest
to live with on a daily basis.
Written by The
Car Family |
