Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a 2010 dodge grand caravan and I drive it 80 all day long. It also does 0 to 60 in 7.5
seconds and squeal the tires on take off and this is with a V6
Also don't forget that in a van like I would drive (a 70-74) your the first one at the scene of the accident. That'll slow ya down! I noticed many years ago when I was long haul that in Connecticut everytime I had to slow down it was an older couple in a Subaru Forester. I had to slow way down 5 times in one night and everytime it was a Forester. I am not making this up. It was back in the early 2000's. I figured I did not want a Subaru if they couldn't go any faster than 45 or so. Oh I was angry and frustrated that night! I still don't like Subaru's.
As for Minivans, there are usually children in them so the drivers are usually smart enough to drive slower and be more cautious... But don't let that fool you, our Honda Odyssey has a pretty powerful V6 engine and plenty of horses to take on most sedans off the line.
Bottom line, minivans have plenty of power but their drivers are more conservative due to what they are, family haulers!
I used to dive different vans for work when I delivered janitorial supplies and I never felt safe driving over 70 especially when fully loaded. If I had to hit the breaks for any reason I could just feel all the weight lunging towards the front of the van. It's just not safe to drive fast in a van.
I used to haul Rail Roaders, to take a fresh crew out to a train and bring back the tired crew. I hauled in a 250 mile radius. We had Ford, Chevy and Dodge full sized vans, and a couple mini vans.
All of them would cruise at 80, with no problem (not a lot of major hills). The full sized vans were a bit more sluggish on take off, but once up to speed was not a problem. Our speed limit is 75 on all the interstates and 65 on all of the secondary highways.
It's been my experience that a normal van is considerably heavier than a pickup with the same engine. The van's that we had with the optional, bigger engines, had no problems. The vans we had with standard engines were sluggish on takeoff.
As far as wind is concerned, a person had to pay attention. Of course, a pickup with a topper or shell on it, had a worse problem than the vans I drove. Being lighter, the truck was more influenced by wind gusts than the vans, but you still needed to pay attention to what you are doing.
In the snow, the vans did much better than a full sized pickup with no load, just due to the extra weight.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
