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Chevy Astro: Wise Investment for the Mechanical Novice?

3K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  bluecollar8 
#1 ·
I'm a younger guy, 23 in just a few days. I drive probably less than 6,000 miles a year. School, work, and music festivals. My previous cars were pretty low maintenance and the most I've ever done was pour in some oil and change a flat tire. However I've always been a tinkerer and feel that I could learn as I go.

Right now I'm without a car... my poor little Mustang got squished between two cars on the highway when the guy behind me rear ended me at 65mph. I had been planning on selling my mustang anyways for a larger car so I guess it kind of worked out minus losing my summer job, sustaining neck and back injuries and dealing with lawyers and the drawn out settlement process... :?

In any case, I've been looking at Astros for a while now, and they seem like a great fit for my needs as an artist and musician. I have a lot of gear, and the Astro's cargo space would mitigate my need for renting a trailer as often. :banana: (yeah I should really just buy a trailer but I don't have anywhere to store it!)

I found a decent 2000 Astro with 133k that has everything that I was looking for, dutch doors, roof rack and a tow package so that I can tow a trailer with even more gear if need be. Exterior looks great, but the interior is a bit worn, in fact pretty dirty looking in person. Right off the bat, the driver side window does not go down all the way, and the rear speakers don't work. I know it could be a pretty easy fix, dismantling the door, drilling out the rivets on the old window motor and installing a new one but I'm worried it could be a whole can of worms. The rear speakers I'm a little more worried about if I have to rewire them completely, but the musician in me is planning on eventually putting in higher quality speakers with my subs anyways. AC runs pretty cold but the front vents don't blow that strong, rear vents however blow very strong. He says he's replaced the fuel pump, alternator, and leaf springs in the past 3 months so it should hopefully be good for another 50-100k? He was very nice and even took it to get smogged with us at my mothers insistence.

I did work him down to 3k before agreeing to come see it, which is blue book in my area for this Astro at 'fair'

http://ventura.craigslist.org/cto/4583509914.html

I drove to check out with the mums, and she was very apprehensive, to the point of offering me a $3000 loan if I get an SUV like a Toyota Highlander or Jeep Grand Cherokee instead. I thought great! Lets go look at some better Astros at a dealer... but no only for an SUV :roll:

We checked out a 'very good' 2001 Toyota Highlander V6 4x4 that has 137k miles with very well kept interior/exterior and maintenance records. Drives very smooth. I borrowed my roommates 2001 Limited Highlander on many occasions to transport my art and tow a 12' trailer and I liked it very much. I also like that it has more cargo capacity than a Grand Cherokee... however it is affectionately known as a Camry with an SUV Body... and there aren't any aftermarket lift kits! :shock: (For this reason I'm a little more interested in a 4x4 Jeep because of the aftermarket capabilities, however they cost more to maintain.) The biggest set back is that it is the basic trim package and doesn't have a hitch installed which would cost me $300-500 to get installed. Big plus is that its my favorite color.. Blue!

The Highlander is listed at $7000, with KBB at $6,800. My mom sweet talked the kind owner (also a mom) down to $5,700 because I'm a student and they want me to drive a safer car... but do I want a mom car? At this price I'm tempted to take it, and if I don't like it, I can sell it and get whatever else. Hmmm.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/ct ... 14811.html

I'm at a loss as to what to do. The highlander would certainly be less headache, but more upfront cost, also when something does eventually fail it will likely be more expensive to fix than the Astro.

Hoping that I won't have any major major maintenance issues, I've calculated that it would take just around 8 years of driving before the 2 mpg difference between the cars would level out the cost of ownership.



I'm not really planning on keeping either vehicle for that long as I'm expecting my career will either involve me getting a full size van or being able to afford a newer car, maybe even a flying car.

I like the idea of the Astro, but I don't have any tools other than screwdrivers, some sockets/wrenches, saws and a drill. Totally open to expanding my workshop, but I have no idea what that could end up costing. Am I going to run into trouble and incredible unforeseen expenses?

Without my moms help my budget for a car right now is $3,800... so I don't know how much of a better Astro I'm going to find unless I wait a few more painfully carless months (I live in the middle of nowhere) to see how much I get from this car accident settlement...

What do you guys think?

Thank you thank you thank you! :ty:

Blue
 
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#2 ·
MMPHRM ! Sometimes a guy's gotta do what mom says...

It's a moot point, but I would opt for keeping mom happy, at least until you are out on yer own.

Not trying to be negative about the Astro, and positive about some other vehicle, but it seems to

me that you aren't really suffering from the Astro-bug that infects most of our gang, nor are you

intending to haul the soccer team around, and you may not have the resources that you would

need if the vehicle pulled a Murphey on you. Sorry, but I say "keep mom from tearing her hair out !"

Uncle Bob
 
#3 ·
RECox286 said:
MMPHRM ! Sometimes a guy's gotta do what mom says...

It's a moot point, but I would opt for keeping mom happy, at least until you are out on yer own.

Not trying to be negative about the Astro, and positive about some other vehicle, but it seems to

me that you aren't really suffering from the Astro-bug that infects most of our gang, nor are you

intending to haul the soccer team around, and you may not have the resources that you would

need if the vehicle pulled a Murphey on you. Sorry, but I say "keep mom from tearing her hair out !"

Uncle Bob
X2
Working on Astro vans is not for a novice mechanic. :2:
 
#4 ·
Consider digging around the forum here for various threads on "How to replace my XXX". Fuel pump, water pump, AC components, intake manifold gasket, transmission fluid and filter etc etc. Read the descriptions of what's involved in tools, space, time and most importantly confidence. ANY repair job is do-able with the right tools (you have tols?) BUT it takes a pretty confident outlook to see your car dismantled on the driveway to keep in mind that you WILL get it all back together and it will run.

Once you read about how to replace something on an Astro, go read up on how to do the same component on your other prospective cars. A brake job, for example, on a 2000 Astro is a whole different animal than for a 2000 Honda/Toyota/Subaru.

Read up on the differences between various years of Astros. There was a major change in 95, a minor change in 2003 and there were about four different fuel delivery systems each with their own pros and cons and "opportunities for language enhancement due to newly learned cuss words". There were short Astros and long Astros. That might be of concern to you hauling music stuff. There were rear wheel drive and all wheel drive Astros. Some have windows, some don't. Some have barn doors, some Dutch doors.

The front A/C will never blow strong. That's just the way it is with Astros.

He replaced the rear leaf springs. That's a flag for me. Why did he do that? Unless he's lifting or lowering, there's no good reason to replace leaves probably ever but surely not on a van that new. Perhaps he was hauling unusually heavy loads?

ANY vehicle you end up will require maintenance and upkeep. It's part of the joy of ownership. Logic suggests that the less miles on a car, the longer it will go before needing something replaced.

Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans and Subarus are fabulously reliable and easy to service. They get better gas mileage. They usually have non-greasable bearings (no lube jobs required). They are much easier to access in the engine compartment than Astros. The Toyota Corolla was at one time the third most actively running car in the world, behind the VW Beetle and the Chev half ton pickup. There's got to be a reason so many of them were/are out there and running.

Jeeps, on the other hand, are notorious for being expensive to maintain. There was a time when Jeep parts were pretty universal, shared with many other makes and across several years. But now days a 2000 Jeep might have very different parts from a 2001 Jeep and a 2002 might have parts that are different again. And Jeeps don't fit parts from any other make/model. Jeeps don't even really have a "make". They're not really GM or AMC or FORD or WILLYS or KAISER or anyone else. All of those companies have made Jeeps. But the Jeep has always been an "add-on" to the car manufacturer line, not an integrated, part sharing model like a Toyota.

"...it should hopefully be good for another 50-100k?..."

NO vehicle is "good for another 50-100k. None.
There's a lot more to a vehicle than fuel pump, alternator and leaf springs.

[Toyo Highlander] "...there aren't any aftermarket lift kits!". You can lift anything. Paying someone else to assemble a "kit" is a mindset that will keep money flowing OUT of your wallet. If you want to start learning about how to work on cars, consider starting by learning what the components are and what they do. Source them yourself, save money, do the lift (or any job) the way YOU want it done and with the confidence that you know every nut and bolt in the thing, instead of just bolting on a kit that someone else generically put together to cover thousands of other models.

Lump
 
#5 ·
RECox286 said:
MMPHRM ! Sometimes a guy's gotta do what mom says...

It's a moot point, but I would opt for keeping mom happy, at least until you are out on yer own.
Yeah keeping mom happy is a good idea. I am on my own now, but certainly in no place to buy much of a car, I still let her buy me groceries occasionally :D

Lumpy said:
Consider digging around the forum here for various threads on "How to replace my XXX". Fuel pump, water pump, AC components, intake manifold gasket, transmission fluid and filter etc etc. Read the descriptions of what's involved in tools, space, time and most importantly confidence. ANY repair job is do-able with the right tools (you have tols?) BUT it takes a pretty confident outlook to see your car dismantled on the driveway to keep in mind that you WILL get it all back together and it will run.
I don't have any specialized tools but I do have a pretty healthy collection of wrenches/ratchets. I have been doing research on Astros for almost 2 months and watched many a youtube video on replacing various parts and yeah none of it seems extremely difficult, but I haven't exactly ever been that good at putting things back together the way I found them... heh. Certainly easy for me to forget how many things are going on inside a car.

Lumpy said:
He replaced the rear leaf springs. That's a flag for me. Why did he do that? Unless he's lifting or lowering, there's no good reason to replace leaves probably ever but surely not on a van that new. Perhaps he was hauling unusually heavy loads?
Yeah he told me that he towed a 20ft trailer with it.

Lumpy said:
[Toyo Highlander] "...there aren't any aftermarket lift kits!". You can lift anything. Paying someone else to assemble a "kit" is a mindset that will keep money flowing OUT of your wallet. If you want to start learning about how to work on cars, consider starting by learning what the components are and what they do. Source them yourself, save money, do the lift (or any job) the way YOU want it done and with the confidence that you know every nut and bolt in the thing, instead of just bolting on a kit that someone else generically put together to cover thousands of other models.

Lump
Very true, it's more of a comment on the nonexistent aftermarket and user community, also that lifts are not recommended since apparently they're not built that strong. I'm not planning on doing any crazy off roading, I just like how lifts look and feel :cool: Seems that for Astros and Jeeps there are many fan made kits made for the specific models. I've certainly looked into a DIY lift but I'm not looking to fabricate car parts any time soon, maybe after I take that welding class :p

If searching for a car has caused me this much of a headache I can only imagine what it would be like when something goes wrong...

Thank you so much for your replies, I appreciate it very much, it has helped me think about this some more. I'm getting pressured into getting this Highlander later today so thats probably whats going to happen. I kind of just want it so be over so I can drive home and sleep lol. It is a nice reliable car and I like driving them so its not the end of the world.

Thanks!

Blue
 
#7 ·
I'd go with the Astro, yes it is not the most practical car/suv/van out there.... but they are awesome, fun to drive, you can stick a lot in them, you can lift them, you can lower them. and you just plain look cool driving them.
 
#8 ·
I'm getting pressured into getting this Highlander later today so thats probably whats going to happen. I kind of just want it so be over so I can drive home and sleep lol. It is a nice reliable car and I like driving them so its not the end of the world.
Given all the things you've said so far, it sounds like you're on the right track..... This'll do ya for a while, and if you decide you want to do something else later, you can when your situation is different....

Good luck out there....
 
#9 ·
First, if anyone/everyone here is capable of working on and repairing their Astro van, you can too.

Second, show this to your mom:

In testing performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, the Astro and Safari fared better, improving from a single-star rating in 1991 to a three-star (driver) and four-star (passenger) rating by 2000. In side impacts, the Astro and Safari both received the highest, five-star rating in every year that the test was administered.

Despite these safety ratings, in 2007 the IIHS reported that in real life situations, the 2001-2004 Chevrolet Astro recorded during calendar years 2002-2005 the least number of killed drivers of all passenger vehicles in the United States, as calculated per every million units on the road.
Third, I would much rather be fixing a 15 year old Astro van than 15 year old 4x4 Toyota Highlader. Just the few minutes I spent researching, the Highlander has a very low reliability rating while the Astro scores much higher. Parts are going to be cheaper for the Astro and if you do require mechanical assistance, everyone, everywhere has worked on an Astro.

Fourth, be a man and show your mom you can make a practical, rational decision based on research and facts! :D
 
#12 ·
Corsemoto said:
First, if anyone/everyone here is capable of working on and repairing their Astro van, you can too.

Second, show this to your mom:

In testing performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), however, the Astro and Safari fared better, improving from a single-star rating in 1991 to a three-star (driver) and four-star (passenger) rating by 2000. In side impacts, the Astro and Safari both received the highest, five-star rating in every year that the test was administered.

Despite these safety ratings, in 2007 the IIHS reported that in real life situations, the 2001-2004 Chevrolet Astro recorded during calendar years 2002-2005 the least number of killed drivers of all passenger vehicles in the United States, as calculated per every million units on the road.
Third, I would much rather be fixing a 15 year old Astro van than 15 year old 4x4 Toyota Highlader. Just the few minutes I spent researching, the Highlander has a very low reliability rating while the Astro scores much higher. Parts are going to be cheaper for the Astro and if you do require mechanical assistance, everyone, everywhere has worked on an Astro.

Fourth, be a man and show your mom you can make a practical, rational decision based on research and facts! :D
Thanks for the input and the info. Yeah I was pretty confident about getting the Astro when I went to go pick it up. I was planning on biking the 30 miles on my own in 104 degree weather but thought I'd save myself the sweat and figured she could be of some help. Wrong. She sat in the Astro as we test drove and talked loudly and rudely to her new boyfriend on the phone who knows nothing about cars and was reading us the consumer reports reviews out loud. She was super untrusting of the nice guy selling the van and was calling him a liar because he was a little shy. Then she waved money in my face and I couldn't help but be tempted.

Luckily I didn't end up getting the Highlander, it is a nice car but I'm a student with a lot of debt... Not having a trailer hitch was a big deal breaker, It doesn't make sense to me to be spending that much more money and still having to modify the car when I could tune up an Astro and have money left over. If I'm going to spend that much, the car better have everything that I want. I miiightt still consider a 4Runner with a tow package, but at that MPG might as well get an Astro. Also I really don't want to owe my mother money because I frankly don't want much to do with her! :lol:

I don't know what I'll do now... Probably wait a few days and see what happens...
 
#13 ·
Part of being an adult is making decisions and learning from those decisions, good or bad.

Part of being a parent is helping your children into adulthood by letting them make decisions for themselves. I'm sure she thinks she has your best interests at heart but eventually you have to take a stand. :D

Never hurts to think things through a little bit more, unless the ride you really want is snapped up by someone else while you're thinking. :think:

There's more to research than old Consumer Reports reviews, as you're finding out. :thumbup:
 
#14 ·
Also I really don't want to owe my mother money because I frankly don't want much to do with her!
Well that changes everything.... I retract what I said earlier and encourage you to stay within your own means.... An Astro is a good solid car, but it's old and has all the issues that come with it, so it's always a good idea to consider all the options....

Good luck whichever way you go....
 
#18 ·
Here's a totally biased opinion... I've owned 5 Astro/ Safari's over the last 20+ years... all have been excellent vehicles... maintenance has been a key factor in all of them lasting many years and the first four I owned that I bought used with varying mileage clocking over 500,000 miles combined. I've owned two RWD models and recently purchased my third AWD. Working in the engine compartment can be a challenge for even what would be simple repairs on say a pickup or similar vehicle where you have room to access components, there is just no room to easily access most stuff. I have only had one major repair to do so far on the 5 I've owned when I spun a crank bearing on my '92 RWD Astro. For me there is no more versatile vehicle out there. Whether you're toting around the soccer team, cruising cross country, hauling around cargo, four wheeling, camping etc I feel they just can't be beat.

The bad thing about them is the difficulty in accessing stuff to do what would be simple repairs on many other vehicles which can lead to huge labor costs if you're not wrench savvy.
 
#19 ·
I've worked on many different vehicles over the course of my life many of them Astros and Safaris.I've had an 87 and now own a 90 Astro.The 90 was a Georgia van a friend had given me (I live in the Buffalo/Western NY area.Salt City in the winter,pot holes and construction in the summer). The van had over 200,000 on it .We drove it for maybe a year and it has been stored for the last 8 years.I just swapped the engine out this last winter and have been trying to tie up a lot of loose ends (Exhaust,brakes,etc.).I find the Astros easy to understand and work on.I am still amazed at how in expensive a lot of the parts are.I can still put an exhaust from the converter back on it for under $100.Try that with a Jeep or Toyota.And as you can see from this site there are so many different things you can do with them.I also find the 4.3 to be a good strong runner and I love the fact that I can put some weight in the back of it without it squatting down the road unlike my Caravan.I've always gotten decent gas mileage out of mine (2wd with the throttle body 4.3, short wheel base). When we first got the 87 I was not much of a van guy but that old ride changed my thinking on that.I have found that the Astro gives you the bang for your buck.I'm still amazed at how cheap parts are for them compared to other vehicles.I changed out a fuel pump on a Newer Yukon this last winter.$400 just for the pump.$48 for a fuel pump for my 90 Astro.
 
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