Chevy Venture Owners

For those of you who own a Chevy Venture/Pontiac Transport older than 2005 (same platform..different make and model), how to do you feel about it. I am looking at a 2002 but I did some research and found that they have horrible crash test ratings from the IIRC but decent ones from NHSTA. I found this footage on You Tube and I know they didnt change the body style until 2005 (at least it doesn't look like they did) so I am worried that it is not safe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k01OWycYTig&feature=related
you can see that the cab just buckles...scary.

http://www.informedforlife.org/ has the most detailed information to compare crash performance for various vehicles It can be a little daunting to sift through for some, but worth it....

I personally wouldn't choose a Venture

What is your budget & what specific features are you looking for?

papooses said:

http://www.informedforlife.org/ has the most detailed information to compare crash performance for various vehicles It can be a little daunting to sift through for some, but worth it....

I personally wouldn't choose a Venture

What is your budget & what specific features are you looking for?

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Thanks for the link..
I'm only looking for something that will fit 7 of us comfortably and safely. Unfortunately I am limited to this specific car dealer because we bought a vehicle from them a couple of months ago and they are allowing us to trade up for a bigger car with no more money down. As far as I know (from a phone call) they only have a 2002 Chevy Venture and a 2001 Dodge Caravan as far as minivans go..they also have a 99 Ford E-150 Conversion van with low miles but that thing is huge. I'm going down today to see if they have anything else...SUV or whatnot. If not though I might be stuck with one of those three vehicles...the Conversion van would be the safest and most reliable from what my research has told me.

We have also been seriously thinking about a Venture, for the reason that some models seat 8. Right now we don't need a van that seats 8, but in the next few years if we have more kids (we plan to), we would need an 8 seater. I was set on the Venture for that reason, probably an '03 or '04, but now I'm really looking at Siennas and Odysseys. Our budget would only get an '00 - '01 Sienna or Odyssey, but I still think it would be worth it. The crash results for the Venture/Montana are scary... I just don't know if I can bring myself to get one! So, if we do end up having 6 kids (we probably will) I'm thinking that we'll have to deal with that when the time comes.

I can't speak for the reliability or know the safety stats offhand, but 2001 was a good year for vans- anchor wise. It was the first year LATCH was phased in, and before the minimums were set at 3 TAs. The 2001 Caravan has a tether anchor for every rear seating position as well as LATCH available for every seat (the third row can be used either center or outboard, but not all three at the same time since the center position is borrowing from the outboard ones).

stayinhomewithmy3 said:

We have also been seriously thinking about a Venture, for the reason that some models seat 8. Right now we don't need a van that seats 8, but in the next few years if we have more kids (we plan to), we would need an 8 seater. I was set on the Venture for that reason, probably an '03 or '04, but now I'm really looking at Siennas and Odysseys. Our budget would only get an '00 - '01 Sienna or Odyssey, but I still think it would be worth it. The crash results for the Venture/Montana are scary... I just don't know if I can bring myself to get one! So, if we do end up having 6 kids (we probably will) I'm thinking that we'll have to deal with that when the time comes.

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I definitely would opt for an older Sienna or Ody over the Venture if you have the option..speaking specifically of the safety and reliability.

crunchierthanthou said:

I can't speak for the reliability or know the safety stats offhand, but 2001 was a good year for vans- anchor wise. It was the first year LATCH was phased in, and before the minimums were set at 3 TAs. The 2001 Caravan has a tether anchor for every rear seating position as well as LATCH available for every seat (the third row can be used either center or outboard, but not all three at the same time since the center position is borrowing from the outboard ones).

Click to expand...

Sadly I think the Caravan didnt fair so well as far as crash tests go either...and the reliability?? Sucks! BUT..I will say, we owned a 93 Caravan and milked 220,000 miles out of it before it finally quit on us...those weren't supposed to be very reliable either...although we did have to replace the transmission twice and the cooling system once.