Astros [WAS: Jo -- Oddysey?]

[Wade Bartlett]

iangillies at alamedanet.net wrote:
> The Chevy Astro is the way to go for smaller track vans. 
<snip thoughtful discussion>

Ian's response was much more comprehensive than mine, but he's right on 
all counts. I had 220k on my first when I got rid of it (it developed an 
annoying electrical problem that neither I nor the dealer could isolate 
at the plug-box on the firewall, causing it to occasionally simply DIE), 
and 180k on my last one when I stepped up to a full size.  The 
seat-mount tie down points were really nice, and the other thing about 
the passenger vans is that with all the internal carpeting and such, 
they ride quieter.  Living in NH, I had the AWD version which was very 
useful on a few occasions, and essentially transparent the rest of the 
time. YMMV, though: Consumer Reports always panned Astros for poor 
reliability. -W
************************************
Wade Bartlett, PE
Mechanical Forensics Eng'g Svcs, LLC
179 Cross Road
Rochester NH 03867
603-332-3267
http://mfes.com
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