The Mini-Van: Utilitarian Ideal or Abomination?

[Bake]

Poll question: The Mini-Van: Utilitarian Ideal or Abomination?

Personally, I have to go with Abomination. No style. No flair. No cool factor.

Discuss.

Bake

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Only the greatest invention ever.

:eyes:

[taterguy]

19. The poll is about minivans, not Ped-Eggs

:eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

20. Yet another fabulous invention.

Your posts to me are inching towards sassy, dude. I think you better watch your back.

[taterguy]

21. My posse's watching my back

Go ahead.

Make their day.

[Marrah_G]

24. As much I love my Ped-egg...I would be lost without my mini-van

[SacredCow]

2. I like the original ones:

On edit: Just go ahead and tell me that the above has no personality... I'll totally call out the Narwhals to put some pain on ya....

[Bake]

6. That's not a minivan, that's a microbus!!

They're NOT included in the poll!

Bake

[SacredCow]

8. But they were clearly the first spark....

I submit the microbus concept (compared with a minivan):



If VW ever green-lights these, I'm going to be first on the waiting list!

[Bake]

14. Not bad, but I still like the original.

Reminds me of the Alice's Restaurant Massacree ...

Bake

[SacredCow]

15. Definitely prefer the originals....

but for interstate travel, they're less-than ideal.

Once I finish the restoration of my Beetle, I'm planning on finding a '60s bus so I can have a set of air-coolers.

[DemBones DemBones]

16. The first car we ever bought! A VW bus is

loaded with personality. They were a bargain, too. We got our 1967 bus brand new for $65 a month.

[Rosie1223]

3. I drive a minivan now

but will probably get a car the next time.

But whoever invented the Stow-N-Go seats in the Grand Caravan was a Fucking Genius!!

[Midlodemocrat]

18. All the kool kids have minivans.

Bake is just jealous because mine has FUCKING SERIOUS SATELLITE RADIO


:bounce:

:rofl:

[Bake]

25. It's SIRIUS, ya doof.

You probably listen to classical music on it anyway.

Bake

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Jeebus!!! I must be more tired than I thought.

and, classic rock, honey. Including Hair Nation.

:rofl:

[Bake]

35. Oh hell! I forgot about Hair Nation!!

BON JOVI!!!!!! (Not to be confused with his country cousin, BanJovi).

:rofl:

Bake

[jobycom]

4. The coolest car I've ever owned was a Grand Caravan ES.

FUCKING CARAVAN FUCK YEAH!!! Had a spoiler, 17" low profile performance tires with aluminum rims, a better sound system than my house. Took that thing from Florida to Las Vegas and a lot of points in between. Took it down beaches marked "Four Wheel Drive Only" and down a snow covered mountain whose dirt road was supposed to be closed (almost hit a snowmobile head on). Took three generations of my family across country in it more than once, and used it as an RV on camping trips.

Damn I miss that car. Badly.

[flvegan]

5. It's the drivers that are the abomination.

I swear 70% of the time someone is hogging the fast lane on the interstate, rocketing along at 60 mph, line of traffic behind him/her, it's a friggin' minivan.

:hide:

[Bake]

7. I'm guessing that's somewhere in Virginia, too!

:hide:

Bake

[Midlodemocrat]

12. Pfft. My van goes a lot faster.

[Bake]

13. Do you have one of those illegal-in-your-state radar detectors?

Or do you just fly nekkid?

:hi:

Bake

[CreekDog]

9. it's Midlotilitarian

:D

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. My family's Dodge Carvan lasted 250,000+ miles,

Took our family on multiple vacations while giving me and my two sisters some needed space, accommodated all my belongings when I started college, and actually got decent mileage to boot. (33 mpg on the highway). And it had very few mechanical problems for the first 200,000 miles.

So I have to go with Utilitarian Ideal, personally.

[LSdemocrat]

11. It's a hell of a lot better than the giant SUV

[HopeHoops]

17. Mine is a Pontiac with the engine to prove it

I never would have considered putting the words "power" and "minivan" in the same sentence until I drove this thing.

It seats 8 and you can put 4x8 sheets of plywood flat on the bed with 6" of clearance when you shut the hatch - there is NO SUV that can do that!

Oh, did I mention the load adjusting air shocks and built-in air compressor?

Twenty years ago, I would have laughed at you if you suggested I would drive a minivan one day - but back then we had the Toyota moon buggy and the tin can Caravan.

[deucemagnet]

22. Mini-vans are the Hagar slacks of the automotive world.

They say, "I've given up on style and being cool. I just want something practical. Come to the dark side. We have comfy elastic waistbands."

[Bake]

26. Perfect!!

I salute you!

:patriot:

Bake

[Marrah_G]

23. I own a minivan- It's for practicallity.

I lost my cool factor a decade ago.

[Bake]

27. How sad for you.

I actually had a minivan once - a 1990 Ford Aerostar. My daughter called it the Running Shoe (because of the shape, I guess) and my son didn't want me to pick him up from school in it.

I got my mojo back, however. After I got rid of the van.

Bake

[Midlodemocrat]

28. An Aerostar? Dude, that is like the abomination of the minivan world.

:eyes:

[Bake]

36. Everybody has to have somebody to look down on ... sigh

Anyway, I got rid of the Aerostar and got a '97 Toyota Supra Limited Edition - now THAT motha would freakin' FLY. The cool came back.

Bake

[Marrah_G]

32. Mine looks like a giant red wine grape........

Sadly it will be quite a few years before any coolness has a chance to return....until then it is vans full of teenagers and Lowes purchases.

[mwooldri]

30. When your minivans look like this...

... you will definitely vote "Other". Utilitarian it is, abomination it isn't. Plus this one gets good gas mileage: 31 miles per US gallon for an automatic diesel: have a smaller engine and manual transmission and you can go as high as 39 miles per US gallon.

http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/S-MAX/Overview

http://image.motortrend.com/f/car-news/ford-s-max-named-2007-european-car-of-the-year/1014844+w700+cr1+re0+ar1/2006-ford-s-max.jpg

[skygazer]

31. My best friend and I refer to it as a Boxer-bus

Between us, we had four Boxers who loved to go for rides and his minivan provided them all with their own seat.

So I'd have to go with utilitarian ideal.

[DarkTirade]

33. Why not both?

[Orsino]

34. It's not an either/or question.

I think the minivan is both. It's versatile, being equally as capable of moving multiple passengers as it is of offending multiple onlookers.

[Bake]

39. Good answer!

:hi:

Bake

[begin_within]

37. Too many are going around with only one person in them.

I could see if you have a large family to haul around, then the gas use could be justified. But all I see all day long is women driving around alone in them, with hair pulled back, talking on their cell phones illegally (at least in California it's now illegal to use a hand-held cell phone while driving). A huge waste of gas just to get one person around.

[NJmaverick]

38. Basically a box on wheels. Doesn't get much more utilitarian than that

You may end up losing all your cool points, for owning one, but it gets the job done.

[Taverner]

40. It. Just. Works.

Screw the cool factor...maybe you should watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEFE3B0Rje0

[baldguy]

41. Utilitarian Ideal

The abomination was its predecessor - the station wagon:

http://image.automobilemag.com/f/features/collectible_classic/10131439+w440/0807_01_z+1965-1968_ford_country_squire+front_three_quarter_view.jpg

[Bake]

43. When I turned 16 (many many moons ago)

I didn't get a car, but my Dad did give me my very own KEY to the family vehicle: a '62 Chevy BelAir wagon, which we affectionately called the Shit Wagon. It didn't have the cool woodgrain panels, though.

Bake

[Tuesday Afternoon]

42. Abomination

A dinosaur whose time has come.