> Looking for New Villager or Windstar:

> I am shopping for a new Mercury Villager or a Ford Windstar (both Ford
> products.) A run down of prices (base and options) + your own experiences
> with either vehicle would be very helpful. Dealers come up with gimmicks of
> all kinds and I intend to walk away…but any popular ones that you can
> share?

The May 1994 issue of "Car and Driver" has a comparison test of the Nissan
Quest GXE (sister to the Villager), the Ford Windstar LX, and the Plymouth
Grand Voyager.  Final ranking had the Ford first, the Plymouth second and
the Nissan third.  The scoring was very close.  Suggest you pick up the
issue (it’s probably not on the news stand anymore but the library will
have it) and read it.  

David Ernst
david.e.ernst.den.mmc.com

ga65…@inet.d48.lilly.com writes:
>I am shopping for a new Mercury Villager or a Ford Windstar (both Ford
>products.) A run down of prices (base and options) + your own experiences
>with either vehicle would be very helpful.

I bought a ’93 Villager.  My first minivan.  I was apprehensive, and expected it
to drive like a truck.  I have been very pleasently suprised.  It drives and
handles very nicely.  I got the suspension upgrade primarily to get the Goodyear
Eagle tires.  

**Favorite Bits**

Small overall size helps out in parking lots and garage.  Plenty big for Mom,
Dad and two kiddos on 1 week vacation to Destin Fla. last year.

Adjustable back seating.  I got the captain’s chairs, which the kids love.  I
use the sliding rear seat capability a lot.

Styling  (obviously subjective)

Handling

**UNFavorite Bits**

Bottom cushion of front seats don’t tilt.  front-back and up-down is it.

LEDs on A/C controls are hard to see during the day.

Wish it had more power (I admit I’d probably say the same regardless of the
engine)

++++++++++++++

Recent reviews (either C&D or Automobile) said buy a Villager for best handling,
Grand Caravan for best room, Windstar for a compromise…
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Steve Cutchen       Upon reflection,these opinions may not even be my own;
scutc…@arco.com          they’re certainly not my employer’s…

I run an older 240SX, almost 200K miles on it with no problem. I’ve done
a test drive in the new one.  Buy the older one, if he wants a 240SX. The
new model has wimped out, going for looks instead of handling. They
essentially kept what was wrong and tossed what was right.  On the other
hand, I heard an announcement that Nissan was going to revive the 200SX
as competiton to the Probe, etc, which hints possibly good things in the
future. When? Don’t know – just heard the one radio report, no print
or anything else, like specs.

Bob Benson
bben…@sscvx1.ssc.gov

>I have a friend who is considering buying a 95 Nissan 240SX with automatic
>transmission.  His current car is a 87 Pontiac Trans Am (automatic).
>He wants a new car which is going to be more reliable and has better
>quality and a softer ride than the Trans Am, yet is still sporty, etc.
>Does anybody own one of these new 240′s or have any thoughts on them?

I have a number of firm opinions on this particular travesty.
First, to quote a Nissan factory rep, "The new 240 is an `affordable luxury
coupe’, designed to compete with [believe it or not... -T.] the
Lexus SC300 and BMW 325is."

Now, I own a lightly modified 1990 240SX with the 12-valve 2.4L engine, and
I can only fault my car on two counts: it *really* needs a turbo
or V6 to compete in its class, and it needs to have the suspension redesigned
to accomodate wider wheels and tires.  From what I can tell, they kept
the chassis setup the same (oops), softened the suspension and increased
the roll compliance, and fitted the same max-width tires.

In addition, they left the 16-valve 2.4L normally-aspirated 4 in the engine
bay.  There was talk for a while of bringing over the 2.2-liter twin-turbo
version of the SE-R/Infiniti G20 engine, which makes about 225 hp, and
packs quite a wallop at low RPMs.  IMHO, not following through on this
was a big mistake.

To sum it all up, they took out everything I love about my car, and left
in all the pieces they could have improved.   I get the feeling that
this was in defense of the 300ZX non-turbo car.  A car that exciting
for 10K less than a new 300ZX would simply cannibalize Nissan’s sales
of its more-profitable 300ZX line.

I would suggest to your friend that he take a look at Mazda’s MX-6 V6;
I drove both the stick and the manual when they first came out, and
I was mightily impressed with how comfortable both versions of the car
were around town and in the twisties.  Not as sporty as the Ford Probe
GT variant, but not too shabby at all.

Trevor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trevor A. Fiatal————————Computer Engineering, UNC-Charlotte
tafia…@uncc.edu——————-Project Mosaic PC Network Administrator
"System error: Volume /earth is full.  Please delete anyone you can."