I really liked the Venture until this last week when we took it into the Dealer. It began about two weeks prior when the van began to be sluggish while accelerating when the engine was cold, and a slight knocking in the engine. With a recent oil change I was concerned so I took it in. With 90,000 miles it was a good time for a tune-up. After leaving the Van with the Dealer, they called the next day and told us the cooling system had leaked into the engine quite awhile ago and has corroded hoses, cylinders, pistons, etc, etc, etc.. Estimated cost for replacement $7000! Needless to say we won''t be buying a chevy for our replacement vehicle!

Smooth ride and very comfortable

Transmission, power sliding door, engine customer service

Loved this van at first but now I HATE IT. Had minor problems with the transmission around 30,000 and of course lots of problems with the power sliding door (recalls) and they still can''t get it right. Still I liked driving it especially on long trips. Very nice smooth ride. Now at 44,000 miles the nightmare begins. Engine is shot. Took it to a local mechanic who said it needed an oil pump 800$. Engine still made noise so I took it to the dealer and they said I had a coolant intermix. Had to pay 1400$ for them just to tell me what caused the problem (cracked head) and that I was negligent and should have saw the signs before it totally ruined the engine. 4600$ for a new engine. Also while it was at the shop they found out that my airbag system was broken and now they want 1035$ more to fix it. #@$#!!!!! Tried to use the customer service line which I thought was going to help but guess what it IS A BIG JOKE ALSO

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Seats 7 adults comfortably. Sliding passenger door and the 4th door on the driver side makes getting in and out easy. Hand grips for people not as agile. Buttons for heater and AC are large enough to find without having to take your eyes off the road for any length of time. This is a major improvement over the old lumina van.

The drawer for "junk" or odds and ends is located down at the floor. This is too far away to use effectively while driving. Even when stopped, the draw does not come out or go back in easily. Instead of the netting between the 2 front seats there should be some type of solid console that is enclosed. Small items fall through or get caught in the netting.

This vehicle is the 2nd GM van we have owned. We owned, and still own, a 92 lumina van (161,000mi so far). Both vehicles have performed up to my expectations. The Venture has been very comfortable and reliable. Nothing has gone wrong in the 13 months we have owned it. It has survived 2 Minnesota winters and seems to have good traction on the road in snow and ice. I feel the main thing one should look for when buying any type of vehicle is the service department of the dealer. The service people at Lewiston Auto in Lewiston, MN are superb. I credit the no problem experience with both the lumina van and the venture to the service department at this dealer.

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1992 Lumina Van

drives nice, comfortable,just fix the trans!

transmission, and service dept.

This van is terrible! I had an oil leak at about 1000mi. It took four trips to the dealer to find it needed a rear main seal. The headliner was frayed and when replaced i had to reconnect five plastic panels and fix the rear washer. The horn has honked 2 times while traveling down the road and one of the powerside door locks quit working. The compass quits operating sometimes and the ignition is sluggish at times. The doors rattle and the transmission jerks r to d and p to d. Been offered another warranty extension, but they will not fix trans. They say there is nothing wrong. But they have attempted repairs, so someone there thought it was not working right. Been in shop 31 days and i have had 10 rental cars.

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10 rentals!! I have driven it all!!!

Roomy

Electrical

I like the Van but, I been in the shop twice for some electrical problems.

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None

Automatic sliding door. It has just recently been recalled for the SECOND time!! Door apparently opens by itself, while the car is in motion. The dealership didn''t notify me either! I happened to read it in the paper last week!

Pretty much everything.

This car is nothing but problems! I''ve had it fo 3 years now and have put only 30,000 miles on it. Can''t tell you how many times it has been in the shop. Every time I turn around there is another problem. Never will I buy another Chevy/GMC.

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This is my first minivan. Honda/Toyota next time.

Hmmm ,I find this van comfortable to drive otherwise. It drives well on the highway.

The stalling is the worst! We''ve replaced the brakes already,the windshield wipers in the front don''t work as well as they should. The plastic on the interior is cheap looking too. Weaknesses outdo the strengths. Not recommended!!

We were looking to purchase a family van in the summer of 1999. After surfing the net for info on vans and looking around, we decided on the Chevy Venture. After owning a 1990 Geo Metro, which we had absolutely no problems with other than replacing brakes, we felt comfortable with a GM product. What a false sense of security that was!!!About a month after purchase (bought 8-99) we''ve started to have problems. This vehicle stalled at a stoplight right after being on a road trip, about 100 miles return. We notified the dealership. They ran tests, found nothing wrong.Over time since then, this van continues to stall after it''s been on a long haul. Most recent (4th time) was a trip back from Delaware. I drove off the turnpike, stopped for gas, went to pay (pulled up to the store) , bingo , it stalled again. Once we got it going again, it was fine for about 4 minutes; it then stalled out after crossing a bridge making a right turn. Thank God it was late and there wasn''t any traffic, or we would have been rear ended. We had to pull over, since the steering and brakes are completely lost when this happens. At this point my husband took over driving duties. We counted, and it stalled a total of 8 times until we got home (30 min. drive from the turnpike). It was scary ride, especially when it stalled in the darkness. My husband would put it into neutral and restart it just to keep us going down the road. We have contacted the dealer and GM about this problem repeatedly (4th trip to the garage today),and the problem can''t be found.They say there isn''t anything they can do about it. GM will not cooperate with us.I am afraid to use this van. We are in touch with a lemon law laywer and they will be hearing from him. I doubt highly we''ll be purchasing any other GM products in the future!! They do not seem concerned about their customers'' safety. I am interested in hearing from any other owners who have had problems of this nature with their Venture.

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The power. The looks and sound system. Safety. My wife almost got in a "Jam" but the abs and the traction control work great.

Side door. I do not like it. (left side)

Sofar so good. I like the power. It seats alot of people. Traction control is great. Comfort.....chevrolet.........need I say more. From a cops point of view...it is very safe!

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Windstar ford, Dodge (great van but cheap). Toyota, Nissan.

have to admit i like driving this van, it is comfotable, and roomy. has a decent amount of power and control is alright.great heater too.

too many warranty concerns for being a brand new vehicle.

the van is leased for use by my company, i have had many warranty concerns and the dealer seems to shrug them off at any chance by saying they are "still in spec" some examples are,headlights dim in and out,smells of antifreeze, mystery light on dash that is being checked on by the service department for last two months.is on constantly..very annoying.the transmission seems to have large clunking randomly, and the ABS system seems tomake a lot of grinding noise. a few other itms that have already been fixed, drivers seat padding came off frame and needed to be replaced,glovebox door was replaced. this vehicle has been back to the delaership way to many times as far as i am concerned, seems to be very high maintenence,including the very annoying "oil change"indicator.the dealership seems to assume that all the buyers will come to them for service regardless of the treatment they recieve, i am a fairly knowledgable male and most of my concerns are not addressed properly as far i am concerned, i hope this is not the way gm/chevy treats all their custumers. a brand new vehicle should not be having some of the problems i have encountered,maybe a few would be acceptable, maybe the quality control should be stepped up a few degrees.with a few changes this could be an excellent product.

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None

Has a nice smooth ride. Lot''s of power(180 HP-3800 lbs.). Very smooth shifts. Seats 7 adults. 5 rear seats are independently removed or folded up. Built in child seat is more secure and easily converts for use by an adult. Dual sliding doors are very convenient. ABS and traction control are great. Factory AM/FM/CD stereo sounds great and has adjustable volume feature that raises and lowers volume automatically when road noise increases and decreases. Has great visibility all around with large windows and side view mirrors. Daytime running lights and auto on/off headlights are convenient. Turn signal warning buzzer when on for more than 3/4 miles is a great feature and hard to find in any other vehicle. Plenty of cargo room. Never had any major problems requiring a trip to the dealer.

POOR rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety(IIHS) for the frontal offset crash at 40 MPH. Passenger power sliding door sometimes bounces back open after fully closing requiring a second attempt in which it then stayed closed. This happens about 1 out of 20 times which is not too bad. We just have to wait until fully closed before walking away. It never opens while in motion. Rearmost windows only open manually. One rear seat got stuck in the locked position due to a bent rod and was replaced by dealer promptly and under warranty. This model has 3 recalls in which one was a power sliding door switch replacement and second was a brake line neede to be tied down so as not to rub against the wiper rod and last was to install a cover in the underside of the rear seats to prevent folding mechanism from injuring finger. All rear seats are a little low and don''t provide enough thigh support. Cup holders are not deep enough to keep drinks from tipping.

Overall I''m satisfied with my 97 Venture extended minivan. I heard the regular length does not drive as well. I.ve had it for 3 years. NHTSA government crash test rating is 4 out of 5 stars. IIHS insurance crash rating is POOR and last place in it''s class. Crash test data kept me from giving it a better star rating. However, compared to all other vehicles out there minivans and SUVs up to 4000 Lbs. are the safest vehicles you can own. Vehicles heavier than 4000 Lbs. tend to have worse injuries when involved in single vehicle accidents such as hitting a tree or solid stationary object. In other words, all minivans are safer than any other type of vehicle. This minivan rates acceptable when crashing full frontal and with a similar or smaller vehicle. Bought it 1year old with 7k miles and saved $5000. Buying used not only saves money but also you can access more reviews and make a better educated decision.

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Only test drove these. Honda Odessy was OK but too expensive and had a few problems(read reviews). Toyota Sienna also too expensive and had major sludge problems(read reviews). Mazda MPV was better bu