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.
The brand new Kia Carnival has some of the best exterior styling and an attractive, modern, interior. The Toyota Sienna has a hybrid motor that gets great gas mileage, over 30 mpg. The Honda Odyssey leads the class in performance.
However, with seating configurations up to seven passengers, maybe eight, isn't it time for these vans to be classified by another name.
I remember the full-size vans of the 80's. My cousin had a Ford with a personalized paint job. Do you remember the Chevy Astro, the Dodge 2500, these vans had all types of kits and conversions, and shaggy carpeting...
Minivans seating capacity hasn't changed much since the mid 80s. If the were called minivans then, they are minivans now. I do agree that the line between SUVs and minivans has blurred somewhat. Even then, what defined a minivan was a sliding door.
Does anyone know if there was ever a mass production van or minivan where it was sliding doors for the front and the back? I imagine the front sliding doors would slide forward towards the hood.
They are minivans because they are based on a car platform. The OG Caravan was a two box K-Car. The current Sienna started life as a Camry (and is heavily modified).
The Full size van, the Dodge 2500, the Econoline E-250, etc. are based on truck platforms if the names aren't a giveaway. The Dodge 2500 is on a Ram 2500 chassis. The E-250 is a two-box F-250.
The Astro and Aerostars are unique - they were based on the S-10 and Ranger respectively. GM and Ford don't do that anymore: the Transit Connect is based on a Focus and GM doesn't make minivans for the US anymore.
Does anyone know if there was ever a mass production van or minivan where it was sliding doors for the front and the back? I imagine the front sliding doors would slide forward towards the hood.
There were a couple concept cars that did that, but I don't think there have been any production cars.
Here's a Bertone Ramarro, based on a C4
Renault Scenic concept from 1991. Really not sliders, they were weird hinges that moved the doors forward and backwards:
They are minivans because they are based on a car platform. The OG Caravan was a two box K-Car. The current Sienna started life as a Camry (and is heavily modified).
The Full size van, the Dodge 2500, the Econoline E-250, etc. are based on truck platforms if the names aren't a giveaway. The Dodge 2500 is on a Ram 2500 chassis. The E-250 is a two-box F-250.
The Astro and Aerostars are unique - they were based on the S-10 and Ranger respectively. GM and Ford don't do that anymore: the Transit Connect is based on a Focus and GM doesn't make minivans for the US anymore.
The older full-size dodge vans were unibody construction so not truly a full-size pickup configuration.
Chrysler started the minivan revolution in fact Ford and GM pulled out of the minivan business because Chrysler was what people wanted to buy, and when Chrysler came out with the stow and go seating that really help them to secure the minivan market back in the day, and Lee Iacocca father of the Mustang was also the father of the minivan.
Does anyone know if there was ever a mass production van or minivan where it was sliding doors for the front and the back? I imagine the front sliding doors would slide forward towards the hood.
The only vehicle I have ever seen with front sliding doors was a pick-up truck concept from gmc called the terradyne from around the turn of the minimum.
The brand new Kia Carnival has some of the best exterior styling and an attractive, modern, interior. The Toyota Sienna has a hybrid motor that gets great gas mileage, over 30 mpg. The Honda Odyssey leads the class in performance.
However, with seating configurations up to seven passengers, maybe eight, isn't it time for these vans to be classified by another name.
I remember the full-size vans of the 80's. My cousin had a Ford with a personalized paint job. Do you remember the Chevy Astro, the Dodge 2500, these vans had all types of kits and conversions, and shaggy carpeting...
The Astro was a minivan too. Full size vans, or just “van”, were much bigger, hence the name minivan.
What’s wrong with classifying them as minivans. Full size vans sat between 8-15 passengers.
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.
