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As an American I absolutely hate the van-formatted filth your godforsaken continent has vomited upon our automotive market. The Transit is practically made out

As an American I absolutely hate the van-formatted filth your godforsaken continent has vomited upon our automotive market. The Transit is practically made out of cardboard compared to the E-series it's replacing. The Fiat Ducato is a POS in every way but it's too cheap for fleets who only loot at initial buy-in to pass up. The Sprinter is a nightmare in terms of TCO. I didn't think anything could be worse than the Ram van it replaced but it's trying very hard. Then there's the Transit connect. Those twats bent over backward to re-use a bunch of Focus parts bin stuff and neutered a perfectly good vehicle. There's plenty of room for a real van-worthy suspension and live axle under there but nope, you're stuck with <1000lb cargo because Focus. And the City Promaster and NV200 are the same damn story with their respective brand's own drivetrain issues. Give me back my motherf*king Astro and Aerostar.

sk5t 5y ago
I applaud your vitriol for the Transit and its ilk. Nissan is the Chrysler of Japan and best avoided on all matters. GMC Savana, still a real van?
OldHand2018 5y ago
> As an American I absolutely hate the van-formatted filth your godforsaken continent has vomited upon our automotive market. Yet the Mercedes Benz Metris is the only properly-sized minivan available in the US. Unfortunately it is targeted for commercial use like airport taxis, so they sell it as RWD-only and with a plastic commercial-grade interior so it is overpriced for what you get. The best station wagon of the last 40 years was the P3 Volvo, which you should still be able to find used at reasonable prices and with reasonable mileage. The exterior design was excellent and it keeps looking better and better with age, but the real brilliance was the interior. The driver and front passenger got the absolute best seats Volvo has ever made, and the rear seat was a 40/20/40 split with the seat belts integrated - you could fold seats down for cargo purposes and you never had to deal with belts getting in the way of anything. Combined with extremely durable carpet that looked nice enough, you got a car that could take all the abuse a station wagon should be able to take, yet look and feel pretty nice (it was definitely NOT a luxury interior though).

sk5t 5y ago

I applaud your vitriol for the Transit and its ilk. Nissan is the Chrysler of Japan and best avoided on all matters. GMC Savana, still a real van?

OldHand2018 5y ago

> As an American I absolutely hate the van-formatted filth your godforsaken continent has vomited upon our automotive market. Yet the Mercedes Benz Metris is the only properly-sized minivan available in the US. Unfortunately it is targeted for commercial use like airport taxis, so they sell it as RWD-only and with a plastic commercial-grade interior so it is overpriced for what you get. The best station wagon of the last 40 years was the P3 Volvo, which you should still be able to find used at reasonable prices and with reasonable mileage. The exterior design was excellent and it keeps looking better and better with age, but the real brilliance was the interior. The driver and front passenger got the absolute best seats Volvo has ever made, and the rear seat was a 40/20/40 split with the seat belts integrated - you could fold seats down for cargo purposes and you never had to deal with belts getting in the way of anything. Combined with extremely durable carpet that looked nice enough, you got a car that could take all the abuse a station wagon should be able to take, yet look and feel pretty nice (it was definitely NOT a luxury interior though).