This is a fantastic vehicle. It is very versatile. I bought the 8 passenger version with most of the bells and whistles (no TV, not ever). It was a pleasant buying experience (finally) and it is a pleasure to drive. It transports my family of 6 (and friends), musical performance equipment, camping gear, home business supplies, lumber, etc. I like the handling and performance (especially with a load,) and reliability. It is superior in every way over the 3 Chrysler minivans I owned previously. I believe it is good value for the money.

The removal and replacement of the seats can be frustrating at times. The seat belt retracting springs have weakened which leaves then extended after use. The extended seatbelts can get caught in the doors preventing closure. Maybe I am easy to please but I can find no other faults with this vehicle.

I highly recommend this vehicle if you are considering a minivan purchase. If you like SUVs this vehicle has similar characteristics but gives you more room and versatility. This vehicle suits my motoring needs in every way. Some may prefer an SUV or other manufacturer's minivan. If you own a winner then I suggest you stick with it. Otherwise test drive a Montana. You may be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

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Chrysler minivans (3). The GM Montana is superior in every way.

Wonderful handling characteristics for a minivan. Nimble and quick. Stylish. Comfortable and quiet. Excellent acceleration, even fully loaded. It's a minivan for someone who still enjoys driving!

Seats are a little softer than you'd like on long trips.

The Montana rental I drove in California was a real kick for a minivan. It gave great performance and was very enjoyable and functional for the whole family. I also have seen some other reviewers commet about the crashworthiness tests of this vehicle (and its clones), and feel obliged to point out that these tests are based on a very small sample of crashes (for obvious reasons of costliness). More meaningful are the insurance loss data that are accumulated over several years, which show the Montana to be an extremely SAFE vehicle: its injury rate is only about HALF the average of all vehicles. It is certainly NOT a "widow maker," as some other posters to this site have suggested. For the latest insurance data, check out this site:
http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ictl/ictl_wagon.htm

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Older Chevrolet Lumina APV. This is a new generation, upgraded version of the original GM minivan, and it's quite good, though I don't have any great complaints about the first generation.

Engine is strong , good headroom in the back seats for someone over 6'.

Access to normal maintenace items very poor. Seats too low, makes for good headroom but sore knees on a long ride. Front Seats very uncomfortable for a tall person. all the bumps hit in the wrong places.
Too narrow on the inside. Items that fit in a Caravan require removal of seats to haul in the Montana.

Paid 27,000 the vehicle is fine if you only carry small passengers and not much cargo. If you do your own maintence don't buy this vehicle.

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Dodge Caravan, a little less headroom but seats much more comfortable. Access to normal maintenance items much better. More usable cargo space.

Overall we like our 1998 Pontiac Trans Sport Montana. The seats are very light and easy to remove, good gas mileage.

Headlights fill up with moisture. This must be a design flaw. We have had the headlights replaced 4-5 times now under warranty, and they continue to fill up with mositure. Many other minor problems, but the headlamp moisture problem really bugs me. GM indicated that moisture in the headlamps are normal?? Normal, yeah right, and I enjoy watching paint dry.

I would not recomment this van, simply because of the headlight issure and lack of ownership GM has taken on this issue.

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None

I love this car! Everything

NOTHING!

I love my Montana. I'm a BMX racer and sometimes I need to bring my friendsa and their bikes! The Montana delivers power and comfort. I opted for the MontanaVision package. I absolutely love my Montana and would not trade it for the Caravan I tested. The caravan sucked! It's seats were absolutely uncofortable! It also had no power! It's 3.8 delived nothing when you needed it! My montana has plenty of power and a great handling package. I would recomend Pontiac Montana to anyone!

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1999 Dodge Caravan

Seating is very flexible. Good price or so my sisters said.

Where do I start. I live with my sister and said she bought it based on price. Worst vehicle I ever driven and worst service I've ever experienced. Service people don't seem to care IE. you bought it, it's your problem. I'd never buy a GM product after my experiences. The vehicle was 2 months old when I first drove it. Had under 1000 miles on it. The trim has a cheap feel to it. I couldn't believe my eyes but the cheap plastic panels on the outside were not aligned. It was a effort to close the driver side door. The right sliding door felt like it was not aligned (A wobbling feeling).

3 months after buying the vehicle, the vehicle starts to shake while on the highway. As I get off the off ramp, it seems to go away. I call my sister and let her know I'm bringing it to a GM dealership. The service rep said the ABS was malfunctioning.

It's been over a year now, but she has since had a alignment done, electrical problems, windows leaking during a car wash. I told her to unload it soon. She was reluctant as she said she would lose money on it and it was convient for her 3 children and husband. However, I showed her some internet site (Can't remember which one) that rates vehicle saftey and the GM vans came in DEAD last. Those pictures really convinced her (She has 2 girls and a boy) to sell it. Now she just has to find sucker to buy it. She'll be looking for another Minivan with Safety as her main priority which is will either be Sienna, Odyssey or Windstar.

Would NOT recommend this vehicle. Bad quality, bad dealership experiences, horrible safety rating.

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Sienna, windstar

Looks good, lots of bells and whistles, quiet engine

Not a safe vehicle at all. Got rid of this "Orphan Maker". Trim really sucks, alot of small plastic parts breaking easy, falling apart. Squeaks galore, there are so many that can't tell it's mechanical or the cheap trim. Exterior plastic panel fell off one day when I was at a stop light - bloody embarrassing. Electrical problems since day one. I will never buy a GM vehicle again nor let anyone in my family buy one...

Paid 29,000 Cdn. Someone who likes squeaking and clunking. I would only reconmend this to parents who are heavily insured, want to leave everything to their kids and want a short life expectancy ! Check this out:

http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/vans/trans_sport.htm

Someone should tell the GM execs to stop making "Orphan Maker" type vehicles. People, email the website to the executives at this auto maker !

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Windstar, Caravan

Great looking car!! I am surprised what the 2.7 liter can do.
Trunk space is outstanding. Plenty of interior room.

Getting in and out of the car is difficult. The rear sight lines are very poor. The drivers side power window went out, of course right after the warranty was up. Wind noise at highway driving speeds is pretty bad.

Great value for the features included. I would recommend it for sure. Although the quality is not quite up to some of the imports it is pretty close. If you have more than one child in a car seat it is a tough go even with the roomy interior.

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'91 Pontiac Grand Prix,

I traded in a 1996 Ford Windstar. I really thought I would buy a 2000 Windstar, since I enjoyed the '96 so much. But after comparing prices, the Montana won hands down over the Windstar. Why would I want to pay more money for a Windstar that has far fewer options. I got a driver info center on the overhead console, power sliding door and the suspension package. The best way I can describe the difference in handling between my '96 Windstar and the 2000 Montana is to compare the Windstar to a fat man sledding down a hill. You just plow into the turns and hope for the best. The Montana, with the Sport Suspension package, handles curves and turns like a sports sedan. City driving and highway cruising are also very comfortable. And of course, the Pontiac is the best looking mini-van on the market today. Ride, price, looks, and performance make, in my opinion, the 2000 Montana the #1 choice among mini-vans.

I have owned this car just under two years and have 65K miles on it. Previously, I have owned seven BMWs. This car is superior to the 3-series BMW in three ways. (1) The double firewall greatly reduces the noise from the engine compartment, (2) The Tiptronic transmission (dual auto and manual) is wonderful for the flexible application of power, especially when passing, (3) The front-wheel drive is superior on slick roads. I definitely recommend spending the extra money for the V-6 engine. Another great thing is the 100K power train warranty. That's twice what the BMW provides. My mileage on the road averages about 28 mpg.

The drink holders are a joke. I sure wish someone would figure out an after-market product I could install. The low-beam lights are not as effective as the BMW. One pet peeve of all German cars: the blue bright-light indicator is hard on the eyes after driving hours across the barren roads of Nevada. I routinely have to cover it with a yellow sticky with a pinhole in it to cut down the intensity of the irritating light.

I paid app 24K with no trade. I highly recommend this car for anyone who enjoys performance and handling. I don't know why anyone would pay 10K more for a 3-series BMW after driving the Passat.