Need Family vehicle

[Darky]

We've got 2 kids and my wife is pregnant with a 3rd. This will be the final child, if I can help it...Anyways, besides my XJ we have a Focus LX sedan. We need to get a hold of a vehicle capable of carrying both of us plus 3 child seats. We're looking at minivans (obviously) but also possibly SUVs and wagons. We're even considering a retired cop car if the back seat is wide enough to fit them. Anyone have any ideas, recommendations, experiences, warnings, etc? The Focus will be the one to be replaced. I need to be able to go wheelin and the Focus is fun for unmaintained dirt (sand) roads and the like, but a wheeler it is not. Thanks.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

AWD subaru wagons do pretty good in the dirt and sand, and are extremely reliable, not sure on the 3 car seat deal but ive had my 2 kids and the baby in a carseat in one and they had plenty of room. maybe that would work out for you. or you could just make a custom 3 kid childseat and bolt it in back there

 

[XJsurf]

I fit 2 car seats and an older child in the back of my xj. They are wide enough, but snug.

 

[Hamer460]

I have triplets, and new at the time a 94 Taurus did the job. Now I have my XJ and the wife has Expedition.

 

[YELLAHEEP]

Budget / price range?

We were surprised at the depreciation of our '03 GMC Envoy..... Paid $38K, owe $21K and is only valued at $13K and change. That means you get to buy a great SUV for cheap (as far as I'm concerned).

We've had a great experience with our Envoy. The only warranty work we needed was a squeaky hood latch and a steering column ignition switch that would short causing the gauges to freak out. Other than those issues, we've put 36K miles on it, replaced the shocks/struts and that's it.

If $13K is in your price range, give the Envoy a look. :thumbup:

 

[RichP]

God I hate saying this, go with a mini-van but go with a NEW one. Do the fluid changes like your life depended on it. My brother in law has a Toyota, darn nice but too many gadgets for me, both sliders electric, navigation system, the works. Gets good mileage too, better than either my XJ or my TJ by about 8 mpg and he's got a heavy foot too.
We stopped at two, should have gone with two more but hindsight as they say. I figure if we had had 4 it would have given us more options in our 'golden years' about who we wanted to errrrrrrr, grace with our presence

 

[Darky]

We'relooking in the range of cheap or thereabouts...She was lookin at a 93 Aerostar for $1200 to which I said heck no. It needs a lot of work that I don't feel like having to do. I'm looking in the range of 7k or so. We won't be needing it yet for another 5 months so we've got lots of time to look and save up money. We'll be selling the Focus (2000 stick shift, CD, AC, 85k miles, needs some minor cosmetic work), listing at $3500, and I plan on taking out a loan for the remainder. So the final price will vary depending on how much we can save and how much we can get for the Focus. For me the Astro/Safaris vans are rating pretty high on my list. The last generation ones were fairly nice, not high on gadgets, and I know that 4.3 will last pretty similar to our 4.0s....

 

[GrimmJeeper]

We'relooking in the range of cheap or thereabouts...She was lookin at a 93 Aerostar for $1200 to which I said heck no. It needs a lot of work that I don't feel like having to do. I'm looking in the range of 7k or so. We won't be needing it yet for another 5 months so we've got lots of time to look and save up money. We'll be selling the Focus (2000 stick shift, CD, AC, 85k miles, needs some minor cosmetic work), listing at $3500, and I plan on taking out a loan for the remainder. So the final price will vary depending on how much we can save and how much we can get for the Focus. For me the Astro/Safaris vans are rating pretty high on my list. The last generation ones were fairly nice, not high on gadgets, and I know that 4.3 will last pretty similar to our 4.0s....

not to mention, just like the xjs, they made a billion of em, and they are all pretty much the same

 

[xjtrailrider]

I'm no Chevy man but I've heard that the later model Astro's with the 4.3 are very reliable and actually make a descent tow vehicle as a added bonus. I know that I still see a bunch of them on the road as service vans, so they must be tough.

We have a 01' Windstar Sport, 3.8, bright red with all the bells and wistles including dvd, and ps2. It makes a good travel vehicle getting 25 mpg on the highway and can cruise all day long at 80. The engine/tranny has been flawless with 60k on it but the little things give me a headache, I've put 2 drivers side window regulators in it so far. It was hard on tires untill I put some Michelins on it and they are holding up well.

Its always a crap shoot buying anything other than a XJ used!

 

[motorcityxj]

We'relooking in the range of cheap or thereabouts...She was lookin at a 93 Aerostar for $1200 to which I said heck no. It needs a lot of work that I don't feel like having to do. I'm looking in the range of 7k or so. We won't be needing it yet for another 5 months so we've got lots of time to look and save up money. We'll be selling the Focus (2000 stick shift, CD, AC, 85k miles, needs some minor cosmetic work), listing at $3500, and I plan on taking out a loan for the remainder. So the final price will vary depending on how much we can save and how much we can get for the Focus. For me the Astro/Safaris vans are rating pretty high on my list. The last generation ones were fairly nice, not high on gadgets, and I know that 4.3 will last pretty similar to our 4.0s....

yes astros are very stout. I love mine, me and bro both drive them for our company trucks. Both of us own 2 of them and some chevy express and gmc savanana. I love the astro. Best overall minivan ever. Cheap as hell to repair, easy to repair, tows like a truck, it has more interior volume than a suburban if you can believe that. They made about 100,000-200,000 of them every year since 1985. Much like the xj it was a brilliant design that lasted years (21 in this case) one mid cycle refresh. Parts are compatible, junkyard easy to find. My local pick n pull usually has over a dozen astros. Mine is reliable mine is a 1993 with 226,000 miles, engine stock never touched, did have to rebuild the tranny last year. 4.3 chebby is a great engine, 4l60e smooth shifting good tranny, rear end is up to the minivna task.

only down side is the seats in the passenger vans arent fancy flip and fold, or stow and go or something like the new honda or new dodge. But with the 27 grand you save i think you can bust out the ratchet wrench once or twice a year if need be.

Its a much better van than the aeostar, and you can get awd, and it will do well on sandy trails etc. There is a site for them much like naxja though not as good. http://www.astrosafari.com/
and you cant lift one a few inches for a few hundred and fit 31's on them if thats you bag baby.

http://www.overlandvans.com/

i just ordered some lift shackeles and a two inch body spacer lift and shackle lift (well sub frame really, shares the front sub frame with b bodys aka bonneville caprice olds 88 etc big bodies from the early 80s) My astro has so many ladders, steel shelves and tools in it it has sagged about 3 inches. I got a lift just to get it back to stock.

you can fix your astro for cheap to nothing. It has my endorsement, its much much much stouter than any of the fwd vans

best of all you have a choice of $2500 low to no rust good runners to high teens brand new awd loaded with leather on star and the works. Shouldnt be hard to find a mint one on you budget.

 

[XJ Dreamin']

That price range will get you a nice ZJ, especially in 2WD. Since the astro/safari is RWD, and since motorcity has given such a rousing endorsement, I guess that would be good too, even though it is..gaa..GM. But then, your getting rid of a Ford, so at least you wouldn't be moving down

 

[Bradlybob]

I too have to recommend a minivan. I never thought I would own one but I have to admit they are handy as hell. We have an '04 Toyota with no complaints, but that sounds like it's out of your price range. I'd stay away from pre '04 Toyotas. Like stated above, the Chevy Astro/GMC Safari would probably be your best bet for your price range. Won't win any beauty contests, but it should fill your needs nicely for years to come.

 

[Stumpalump]

Don't overlook grandpa's Buick. Big 4 doors with low milage are a dime a dozen. I just got my wife a 99 Buick La Saber with 65k miles on it. The old man died and the family sold it. Garaged kept all maintnence records from dealer service,new michline tires, V6 for $4500. Her last car got toataled but I'm glad she was in a big 1992 Buick Roadmaster. We got it from a little old lady that got afraid to drive for a 1000 bucks. These cars arn't cool but they are cheap,loaded and float like a boat.

 

[motorcityxj]

Don't overlook grandpa's Buick. Big 4 doors with low milage are a dime a dozen. I just got my wife a 99 Buick La Saber with 65k miles on it. The old man died and the family sold it. Garaged kept all maintnence records from dealer service,new michline tires, V6 for $4500. Her last car got toataled but I'm glad she was in a big 1992 Buick Roadmaster. We got it from a little old lady that got afraid to drive for a 1000 bucks. These cars arn't cool but they are cheap,loaded and float like a boat.

was it a roadmaster with the LT1 ? i hate to argue but those ARE COOL, those are the coolest old man cars. B bodys are sweet, was yours like this ?

a fleetwood Brougham or Impala SS would be much cooler, but i would take a caprice station wagon and i am not even 30. B bodies are cool cars. Big pimpin'

 

[Stumpalump]

was it a roadmaster with the LT1 ? i hate to argue but those ARE COOL, those are the coolest old man cars. B bodys are sweet, was yours like this ?

a fleetwood Brougham or Impala SS would be much cooler, but i would take a caprice station wagon and i am not even 30. B bodies are cool cars. Big pimpin'

Yes it was just like that only white. That thing would fly on the open road and It got 20 mpg. Full frame on construction V8 with every creature comfort known to man. Some dude rear ended it in a new mazda sport ute that he just left the dealer lot in. I bought it back from insurance and sold it the next day on craigs list. It is missed.