Frank wrote:

I hafta give Nutsy credit; he really does drive this ng. We (Yes, I'm
obviously guilty, too.) are responding to a thread about his Kia
minivan!


Why didn't you jump in on the thread about Scotty's toaster?

Oy vey!

In the interest of full disclosure, I love minivans. I've been a
minivan guy since the 60's when I bought a VW microbus. [Side note: The
paperwork on that sucker labelled it a "station wagon." Interesting.] I
kept that as my utility vehicle into the 90s. Over its long lifespan,
it carried me and all my belongings from New Orleans to Seattle. Made
many long distance camping trips. Carried several of the 1984 Ultima
Thule Everest expedition members up into the mountains for practice
climbs. Numberless ski trips. (Yeah, that pathetic heater made those
kinda chilly!) Hauled tons of crap back and forth from the house to the
boat in an endless procession of trips. Etc.


Cool vehicles, I've owned a series of Volkswagens including
the pickup version of the microbus. A Karmann Ghia too, but
that's a story for another day.


In '96 we sent Ol' Paint to that big VW graveyard in the sky and bought
a pickup. (RIP, big fella!) Pickups are great vehicles. Really useful.
But they ain't microbuses, err, I mean, minivans. So in 2000, we sold
the pickup and bought a Honda Odyssey. It's the VW bus of the third
millennium. I love it. We've just turned 100K miles and it's ready for
its first tuneup. It's on its third set of tires and is ready for a
second brake job. Aside from that, we had to have 'em degunk one of
those emission control valves recently; but that's it. Half those 100K
miles were spent towing; so we haven't exactly been gentle with it.
Minivans rule! But Kia... ?

Don't know enough about Kias to say, other than if Bubbles
gets one, it should be looked at with suspicion because he
is after all nuts. I'd go with Ol' Thom's minivan instead.

We're on our second minivan which is a '98 Ford Windstar
with towing package. Gets 25mpg on the hiway, about to turn
110k miles. It's basically used like a pickup truck most of
the time, all seats out & a layer of plywood with I/O carpet
tacked down inside. The dog rides inside with us and stuff
piled up in it doesn't get rained on or stolen. It's been an
excellent regatta wagon and boat-tower, also handy for
moving furniture once in a while. I still have the seats in
case we need to move people.

DSK