Are van designers brain dead these days?

[maestro]

I mean come on... All we need is a van similar to the Astro but fine tuned a bit. It should seat 7 with removable seats, have a low deck height for loading goods, be power enough to tow a smaller travel trailer or boat with ease and most importantly you should be able to drive it just about anywhere, meaning that it should fit into an underground parking lot!That means is should not be taller than 6' 8" with 6' 6" being even better. I'm not asking for the world here, just some common sense.

Did you ever see the Nissan NV2500 concept vehicle? It looked fantastic but then they totally uglified it for the production model. Check it out here: http://www.automobilesreview.com/pictur ... pt-07.html

[JaxSPL]

Honestly, for what I do, I would rock that van in a heartbeat.

[Cobra]

i haven't seen any vehicle that i'd replace my stro's with if they got wrecked. I'd check out the NV2500 if it came in AWD if not it's useless

[dvil]

What about Ford Flexy!? Well, not really. :-k

[CaptSquid]

That, and that Nissan aberration, are NOT vans in any sense of the word. They closely resemble the Suburban, but the similarity stops there.

[doyoulikeithere]

Seems like they must be extinct actually..
After all, they stopped making Astro/Safari's.
I couldn't really label either of those others, in good faith, as vans.

[safari kev]

The concept of that van looks great. I do think GM shot themselves in the foot by discontinuing the astro/ safari (after 20 years on the same platform, it was time for a refresh). They could have rolled out a new version. I think with an additional 6 inches of cargo space from front to back and a high top style roof standard, they would have been perfect as a work van/ family hauler. I know my high top safari is an excellent work van, and the high top makes moving around in the back much easier. There are a TON of companies here that are still using safaris from the mid 90s to mid 00s in their fleets, so GM must have done something right with them (as for the venture/ uplander cargo vans, I've only seen a handful of them outside of post office duty).

[T.Low]

I mean come on... All we need is a van similar to the Astro but fine tuned a bit. It should seat 7 with removable seats, have a low deck height for loading goods, be power enough to tow a smaller travel trailer or boat with ease and most importantly you should be able to drive it just about anywhere, meaning that it should fit into an underground parking lot!That means is should not be taller than 6' 8" with 6' 6" being even better. I'm not asking for the world here, just some common sense.

Did you ever see the Nissan NV2500 concept vehicle? It looked fantastic but then they totally uglified it for the production model. Check it out here: http://www.automobilesreview.com/pictur ... pt-07.html

Its not a van. Its a simple lesson in how to take the "sport" out of sport utility vehicle.

[97CargoCrawler]

I don't get it. We now have the retardedly tall Sprinters...and very soon the Econolines will be discontinued for full force manufacturing of the Transit. Grrrrrr! I guess I need to get my other van really soon.

[maestro]

Amazing how they could create something useful like a panel van or sedan delivery 60 years ago with a full frame and 8 cyl engine but they can't do it now...

"Oh Mr. Vicenzo Lancia, why did you have to go and invent the unibody for automobiles..."

So what if I have a Lancia Zagato with collector plates sitting in my garage...

I can't always be expected to drive that full frame beast!