Ah.... Chevy can still do something right.

Well, just when I thought that my theory that chevy was trying to destroy itself from the inside out, here they go and they make me change my mind. They are just destroying the car industry from the inside out, the minivan part of the company is still holding strong. The Chevy Astro from the 2001 model year proved that to me. I was able to get quite a closeup look at the car when some friends of mine and I went to Daytona Beach on a little vacation. One of the guys just purchased the van for his job, and we thought it would be great to take a huge van, that way we would have some room. Boy, were we ever right, there was a ton of space inside this tank. We could all stretch out and just enjoy the open countryside, until we hit traffic in Jacksonville that is.

The Astro has been a consistent winner for Chevy, and the reason is simple. Its just a plain old minivan. No frills, no thrills, just what you are looking for. Lots of room, can handle extra weight, a great AC circulating system (we really need it, it was smoking hot), and lots of other plain old stuff that people take for granted. They work just great on this one, and give the owner a carefree trip to baseball practice, the mall, or on a 700 mile vacation. Lets go over a few of the specifics.

ENGINE

While it may just be a little six cylinder van, it uses those six to do the work. The car was able to carry a fair amount of weight, and still pass trucks going around turns. The acceleration is not the best in the world, although it is the best of all the minivans I have driven.

SUSPENSION

It was like riding on air. We didn't feel a single bump or blip in the road. A very smooth and enjoyable ride, which is great when you have a 3 man poker game in the back seat. Well, only great if you are winning, unfortunately for me, I wasn't. But I must say, the ride was nice, even though I could have used a few card bumps and "oh redeal"'s due to the usual jolting of passenger vans, but that was just not the case here.

BRAKING

The brakes were very good, you could stop whenever you wished with no problems. This has been a problem in the past with Astros however, but so far.. so good.

BODY

Well, here you go, typical minivan. Not too much style on this baby, I have to say, when we were driving on the beach, the girls were looking at the mustangs and not the minivans. Oh well, we could fit more girls in the minivan anyways.

INTERIOR

An excellent and very comfortable interior. Cloth seating with very cushioned seats, same old thing, no flare, but effective.

GAS MILEAGE

I am unsure of the actual mileage of the car, but we managed to go 713 miles on only two tanks of gas, so it wasn't that bad. A lot cheaper than if we would have taken my car.

HANDLING

This minivan must think that it is a compact car the way that it handled. It would hold onto curves and move around the highway with ease. The steering is very tight however, almost too tight for someone if they are not used to it, so watch out if you have been driving a very loose car.

OVERALL

All in all, this is a good van. For all the reasons listed above I would recommend it to someone who was in need of a minivan. Just remember, it is a minivan, so don't expect it to be the greatest thrill of your life.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed, take a test drive today if you did, if not, read other opinions of mine, and see what you like.