Car and Driver
We’re at the point of our work-from-home lives where we’re starting to daydream not only about our dream cars and dream trucks, but the vans we would take on cross-country road trips—as well as taking our families to grocery stores, malls, and soccer practice—once we’re allowed to get out on the open road again. So, you know the drill: we booted up our favorite online configurators and built the minivans and cargo vans we would buy if we were living the #VanLife. Here’s what we’d drive:
Roberto Baldwin’s $40,550 Ram ProMaster 3500
Ram
The Ram ProMaster doesn’t immediately come to mind when thinking about a van conversion. But surprisingly, it has a large following in the #VanLife conversion community, and luckily for me, my van of choice can be built up by a company in my backyard. So I used Ram’s configurator to start my build.
Starting with the ProMaster 3500 136-inch-wheelbase model with a high roof, I optioned my van with the $3495 RV Ready Prep package. It adds critical items to the van like a more powerful 220-amp alternator, swiveling front seats, a rear heater, and a Class IV hitch. The 3.6-liter V-6 with 280 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque should give me all the power I need to tow Jet Skis, motorcycles, or the occasional project car. I also opted for the bright-red paint job to help me find my home away from home in a sea of gray vans after a long day of hiking or surfing. For the conversion, San Francisco’s Glampervan will trick out the ProMaster, with the core build starting at $29,000. I decided to go all in with the $68,950 Deluxe build, which includes a queen bed, kitchen, fridge, outdoor shower, water heater, solar panels, privacy screens, a roof rack and ladder to reach my surfboard, awning, upgraded rear springs to handle all the extra weight, and auxiliary electrical system. The result is a van that both my wife (who hates roughing it) and I would be happy to trek across the country in. — Roberto Baldwin
Dave VanderWerp’s $48,540 2020 Honda Odyssey Elite
Honda
For this assignment, I had to look no further than what’s parked in my garage. It’s a brown/brown (Pacific Pewter/Mocha) Honda Odyssey in the top Elite trim, which first served as C/D’s long-term test car. Honda keeps things simple, with very few options other than the five trim levels. For me, I know the kids are going to spill, so leather’s a must, and it’s a good idea to keep the overworked parents in front satiated with the Elite model’s heated and ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel, and the uplevel audio system to drown out the back-seat ensemble when necessary. My kids are still little enough that we get a lot of use out of the rear-seat DVD player, too.
Chris Doane Automotive
The Odyssey blows the (sliding) doors off the other minivans, with acceleration performance (zero to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds) that’s as swift as an Integra Type R’s. It also outsteers and outdrives the competition, plus pretty much any three-row mid-size SUV. And I took care of the low-grip (0.75 g on the skidpad) factory 19-inch tires with a replacement set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ rubber. Because safety first.
My Odyssey has proven equally useful in hauling my family of five and, with the fold-away third row and removable second-row seats, in helping with many a home-improvement project. Also, consider this: After two years, the Odyssey’s private-party value is $32,309, according to KBB.com, while a similarly equipped Chrysler Pacifica will have plummeted to $23,028. That means over the first 24 months, it costs nearly $400 more per month to drive a Pacifica. Some think minivans are terminally unfashionable, but if you want people and cargo space, they can’t be beat. When I see other parents in their mainstream three-row SUVs, I see people who paid more to get a lot less functionality. And that’s not cool. — Dave VanderWerp
Joey Capparella’s $49,635 2020 Ford Transit Cargo Van
Ford
The Ford Transit is relatively new to the U.S. market, but it has a long legacy of van excellence in Europe. The American Transit isn’t quite as cool as the ones you can get in Europe—there, it’s available with either front-, rear-, or all-wheel drive—but Ford has improved it for 2020, adding AWD to the options list here. So, I ended up using Ford’s U.S. configurator to build my van.
I took my Transit in cargo-van form, with the powerful 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 and all-wheel drive. Because I want it to have a sleek profile (well, as sleek as a cargo van can get), I opted for the low-roof setup. And the $200 Green Gem paint could almost be considered a substitute for British Racing Green. I added more than $11,000 in options, focusing mostly on the interior and adding niceties such as an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, power front seats, remote start, parking sensors, and driver-assistance features such as adaptive cruise control and blind-spot monitoring. Who’s ready to move across the country? — Joey Capparella
Connor Hoffman’s $52,480 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Red S Edition
Chrysler
In 20 years—if I decide that having kids is more important than owning a Porsche 911 GT3—I see myself as the dad who resents the imposition on my car-buying choices and wishes he could be driving a Porsche instead. The perfect car for that? The Chrysler Pacifica. If I was ever forced against my will to own a minivan, it would be the Pacifica. It’s the most stylish minivan of the bunch, and it kind of goes, too. So, in case my life ever comes to this, I used the Chrysler configurator to spec my future family hauler.
Unfortunately, the better-looking 2o21 Chrysler Pacifica doesn’t have a configurator yet. So I’m sticking with the unnecessarily sporty 2020 Pacifica Red S edition. The Maximum Steel metallic paint is a clear winner for me here because I love blue-gray tints—and it looks quite good with the obnoxious black and red Chrysler badges. With the Red S edition Pacificas, red seats are standard. Yes, red seats in a minivan. I’m going to add the Uconnect theater with streaming capability ($1995) to keep the kids entertained, and I also get the 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen up front, which is standard. All in, I’m looking at $52,480. Sigh. I want a Porsche instead. — Connor Hoffman
K.C. Colwell’s $85,000 (est.) Mercedes-Benz Metris
Mercedes-Benz
This sort of breaks the rules of this spec-it game, but the van I would buy is not on sale. So new is the Mercedes-Benz Metris pop-top camper that the brand has yet to finalize the price or even its official name. Nevertheless, Benz assures us that the four-sleeping, rear-drive van will start just over $70,000 and be on sale sometime near midyear.
I would even take it in the Cavansite Blue Metallic exterior featured in this handout photography. And if the 20-spoke wheels aren’t included, they would be on mine. I’ve always been a fan of the Metris’s size and performance. Not its acceleration. It’s rated to tow 5000 pounds. While 1500 pounds of towing beefier than the Honda Odyssey doesn’t seem like much, it’s a 43 percent increase in capacity that I’d more than likely exploit. I would also spec all the interior shades and awnings Mercedes offers. The roof rack and the slide-out kitchen, too. I’m probably looking at an $85,000 rig, which begs the question, why not a Sprinter? The constant micromanaging of lane position that comes with that kind of size is a tax I’m not willing to pay. And if there is a stiff breeze, fuhgeddaboudit. The Metris practically slices through the air by comparison, and it more than serve my small family’s needs: an errand runner during the week and a forward operating base with which to explore this country’s national parks on vacations and weekends. That’s my kind of van. But I do want those highway miles as painless as possible. A Sprinter will go 90 mph; it isn’t a particularly pleasant 90. A Metris cruises nicely at 90. — K.C. Colwell
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
