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Find the best Used Vans and Mini Vans

If you are on the lookout for good and running used vans or used minivans, the first thing you have to do before making that big trip to your favorite used car dealer is to make the following critical information ready: for what purpose you are going to use the vehicle, e.g., whether for family vacation trips, or as a load-carrying vehicle. Is it that you love burning gas and just want to use it for to and fro to office and other daily trips. What are the special features you are looking for in your vehicle; whether you are going to use the vehicle mainly in the center of the town, or on highways, or on the countryside and in the suburbs.

Once you do that, then you can make your choice from the horde of used vans and used minivans available in the market, e.g., used Toyota Sienna, used Dodge Caravan, used Honda Odyssey, used Chrysler Town and Chrysler Country, used Kia Sedona, and many more.

Introduction to Vans and Minivans

The classic van is a box-shaped vehicle with rear engine and rear-wheel drive that is almost the same size as a large automobile but taller and higher off the ground. It can be used for transporting goods as well as groups of people. Today vans come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and with a varity of interiors. A minivan is also a multi-utility vehicle; it has the body resembling that of a van, but has rear-side doors, rear-side windows, and front-wheel drive.

The front-wheel drive feature - a feature common to smaller automobiles - of a minivan has changed the public image of the common van (like the Station Wagon) from that of an old-fashioned, dowdy vehicle to that of a modern chic vehicle. The fro nt-wheel feature also made for easier assembly of the vehicle, and allowed for more cargo/passenger area along the floor due to the absence of the drive shaft hump. Minivans today are designed for maximum interior space, typically they have three rows of removable seats, and can accommodate seven to nine people. With the seats removed, the cargo area in the larger minivans can have an area as large as 4 feet by 8 feet.

Vans are also tagged as MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) as they are used for a variety of pruposes - carting the family, driving to the job, lugging around goods and things like that.

Utility and Popularity of Vans and Minivans

The market of vans and minivans has since evolved drastically, and today you can get these vehicles in a variety of sizes and planforms. In spite of their poor public image compared to chic and swanky smaller automobiles, and even their reputation for poor maneuverability and performance in comparison with other types of vehicles, vans and minivans remain a popular choice for large suburban families in the United States.

History of the Van

The first, original minivan design was conceived in the late-1970s by a group of companies led by the pioneer Chrysler. Then, way back in late 1983 Chrysler launched the Dodge Caravan and Renault followed it up in early 1984 with the Renault Espace. This was the birth of the van market in America.

The target audience for these vans at that time was suburban families who did not want to carry over their Station Wagons because they were looked down upon as not cool and chic enough. It was a boring and old-fashioned and was touted to be the choice of an older generation. Moreover, the vans had better fuel economy and looked more stylish compared to a Station Wagon.

Top 10 Best-Rated Used Vans

One of the best and prime online sources for figuring out which car is top-rated in the market is the consumer Reports site. Their reports are not biased, nor does any company fund them. Moreover, they buy the veh icles they test, making their choice excellent.

Here is a list of the top-rated vans in the market. However, remember that a list is always subjective and one man's pill can be another man's poison. So, you may not agree with this list, but anyway here it is:

Minivans (or, mini MPVs)

Fiat Idea
Hyundai Matrix

Mitsubishi Space Star
Nissan Note
Opel Meriva

Compact minivans (or, compact MPVs)

Chevrolet HHR
Chrysler Cruiser
Mazda 5
Renault Scenic
Volkswagen Touran

Large minivans (or, large MPVs)

Chrysler Town and Country
Ford Galaxy
Honda Odyssey
Renault Espace
Mercedes Benz Vaneo

Nowadays, the SUVs (Sports Utiliy Vehicles) are doing to the vans what the vans did to the Station Wagons over two decades back. That's because an SUV has the carrying capacity equal to a van and in addition has rugged macho looks, which the van does not have. So, many companies are now producing SUV-Van hybrids (examples: Chrysler Pacifica, Chevrolet Equinox) because that seems the right way to go, at least for now.

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