1997 GMC Safari review from North America

I bought my 97 Safari from a guy that brought it to the mechanics and then didn't want to pay for whatever the mechanic told him was wrong with it.

So when I bought the van the top half of the engine was taken apart and was sitting in a box. being a mechanic myself I put it all back together and had it back up and running within 2 hours.

Nothing has gone wrong with it to this point with just around 8000kms being put on it by us.

I had a 1990 safari/astro and it just kept running and running.

The 97 Safari van I have now is the newer body style and the first year of the newer interior style as well. I like the interior this newer way a lot more. the 4.3 Vortec engine has tons of power, almost too much for what this van is. If you push down the pedal to make this van take off its like driving a very powerful car.

If you know your engines then you will also know that the Vortec heads have heart shaped combustion chambers areas and is very similar in design (except better) than the old camel hump heads from back in the day.

I recommend to anyone that is a classic Chevy fan to try out a Vortec powered Chevy and you will find it a blast to think that after all these years chevy built a newer vehicle that gets okay mileage and has some old technology built into it. Old technology that was used in muscle cars of the 60's and 70's.

I like the design of the body on the 95 and up safari vans, although the 97 model and up interior is much nicer than the 95/96.