1991 Chevrolet Astro review from North America

The van eats batteries. I've been through 3 and working on a 4th.

Starter once at 177.9k miles.

Positive battery cable.

Both idler arms at 178k miles.

Front brake pads and rotors, both front brake lines, rear drums adjusted.

Distributor cap and rotor button.

All four tires.

Some light body rust... all over. Nothing cancerous as of yet, though. Is worst on the roof.

I got this car from my dad about a week after totaling my Mazda RX-7 (won't go there...). At first I HATED it! I was a 18 year old guy, driving a VAN, for goodness sakes! well, I've come to love the beast. For a van, it has a very low center of gravity and can take turns extremely well at relatively high speeds. Performance wise, it isn't too shabby. My rx-7 would have left it in the dust, obviously. But for a 3600lbs or so vehicle, it doesn't do bad. If you stand on it it will squeal and break loose. Not enough power to smoke the tires... but...

The 4.3L v6 in the car gets OK fuel mileage for that size engine. I get around 17mpg in town and 22-24mpg on the highway. But it makes up for the fuel drinking in raw power. I've pasted many a car going up steep roads doing 60-70mph in 3rd while they are struggling to gain or keep speed.

Astro Vans seem to last forever. Mine has been in 3 collisions (only a minor fender bender while *I* have owned it) and it still refuses to stay down.

My grandmother drove mine over 4 miles one day after it had a coolant leak. FOUR miles with NO coolant. The hood was too hot for me to touch. I let it cool down, put new oil in it, new coolant and drove it down to the shop and had the leak fixed. I've just now started having problems with the engine. That's about 15k miles more on an engine after a severe overheating experience! Not many cars or engines can boast that.

I'm going to have to get it rebuilt soon, though... Starting to make major noises and vibrating bad.

I'd definitely buy another Astro given the chance. Probably an AWD model.