Gas Milage on long trips.

Read above.

Strange problems from the beginning, power passenger door just stops working and then starts working again. Dealer has replaced the lock and weather-stripping, still does not work right. Weather-stripping has been replaced 2 other times and on order for a 3rd time. We have had water in the headlights since this van was new and the dealer states this is normal. Transmission started to slip after about 1 year, dealer stated nothing wrong. Brought the van back to the dealer 2 more time for the transmission and they stated that the driver was causing the transmission to slip by not warming up the vehicle or it was the traction control. Transmission problem continued to get worse, left the car with the dealer again and they sent it to a transmission shop, over $2600 to rebuild the 2 year old 34,000 mile transmission that had nothing wrong with it. This was still covered under warranty. The van has more rattle noise than loose change in a clothes dryer. Multiple times over the past 2 years we have smelled wires burning, but as usual not found to be wrong. Just had the brakes/tires done and found that the wheel hub and bearings were bad and had to be replaced. Now having problems with the non-power rear driver’s side door not closing as well as the power door not working again, they blame the weather-stripping again. The air conditioning does not always blow cold air and nothing has been found to be wrong. The original warranty runs out in just over 1000 miles and I do not know what is going to go wrong next. We wish we could get out of the vehicle, but we own more than it is worth. The buyout is more than the Kelly’s blue book price and we still have 2 years left on the smartbuy. There was nothing smart about this buy. We will never buy a Chevy again. I would rather spend
$8,000-10,000 more and buy a Honda or Toyota.

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Dealer covered several early problems under "warrenty" even though it had expired. Dealer has been great.

Never know what is going to go next - this van is terrible!!

Bought the 2001 WB edition of the venture new. My wife drives this vehicle, and usually puts less than 8k miles on it a year. She is VERY easy on the van. After 36k mile had a front wheel bearing go. About 1k miles later the battery exploded. 2k miles later the passenger power window stopped working (in the down position in winter, of course). About 2k miles later the fuel gauge went (reads full all the time) and the horn, locks and lights got a mind of their own. Then, found coolant in the engine - seal leak - $1200 dollar repair. We have less than 50K miles on this van. Windshield wipers went last night and found headlamp leaking now. I wanted to keep this van for several more years, but now I'm almost afraid to. May be cheaper to buy something new. My S-10 and Lumina both ran well over 100k miles with NO issues. Stay away from the Venture.the 92 S-10 is still running every day with only normal wear items replaced.

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Lumina Van

Fuel efficiency

Several component failures after warranty expiration

Soon after i bought the venture (its warranty had expired by 1 month) The motor in the rear windshield wiper went. The day it hit 100,000km major component failure left and right, not to mention all the minor things as well. The intake manifold gasket failed (which repotedly occurs in at least 3 out of 10 Ventures after 85-90,000km) repair for that was $2000 and 1 month later the transmission failed. The auto tech reported that the cost to fix it would be no less than $3500 and then our vehicle's value would be about $3000. In other words our Venture is worthless at this point. Needless to say I will never buy another Venture or Chevy again!

I'll give it this, it is good on gas mileage.

It's evil. Pure evil. And Chevy won't fix any of the problems described as "common", even admitted by their OWN service manager. SHAME on you Chevy.

My father purchased this death trap used in 2003. They "claimed" it was a demonstrater ... with almost 20k miles on it.
From the get go, this thing has been a thorn in our sides. The fuel indicator just stopped working, so you could have a full tank or run it dry and it would never tell you any different. We have to keep track of the mileage otherwise Dad would end up stuck on the side of the road (He is 82 and a WWII veteran). Chevy wanted over $1000 to fix this problem. Several mechanics have given us quotes and said it's a very common problem. Bottom line, it's not in the budget to fix.
Then there are the brakes. Just had to spend almost $1000 for new brakes all around after putting new brakes on 18 months ago.
The tranny is iffy at times, it certainly doesn't like highway driving.
The air condition has broken for the 3rd time ... and yet again ... will cost $1000 to fix. So that won't be taken care of. How good an idea is it to have an 82 year old man with emphysemia driving around in the heat and humidity with no a/c?
The van rattles, shakes and rolls. The captains chairs are horribly uncomfortable and at times I believe the van has a mind of it's own ... and it has a death wish for us (especailly me as I despise it).
I wish Dad could unload this lemon, but it's just not in the mix right now.

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First mini van owned.

it runs as long as you ignore the fact you paid good money for a rattle trap

service from chevy there van stinks yet they do not care if it works or not

I have had nothing but trouble with this van from day one. The windshield wipers stop and you have to get out of the van and thump them on the window to get them to work again this has been fixed 2 times. I also have trouble with the power door locks they lock and unlock whenever they feel like it. I also have trouble pumping gas it automatically shuts off you can only get 5o cents pumped at a time. I was told all these things could not be recreated at the time of service so basically they were not happening. For the gas problem they suggested I pump gas at a different station. I have had the intake gasket changed at 60000 miles. This was covered under my extended warranty and right now the van is in the shop for loose rocker arms??? The blower does not work on #3 the driver side window works when it wants too. I have complained for the last 2 years about the van Thumping when you come to a stop... This was blamed on dust on the rear brakes. Not the case I paid $40 to have the dust cleaned off and still they thump. I learned to ignore this.Chevy has not helped at all with my complaints about this van. I will never own another chevy. I think if Chevy had handled my complaints I would be okay with this whole mess. I mean nothing is perfect but come on service was promised to me and not follwed through. I was called a dumb blonde from the service department talk about really pushing a person over the edge.

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dodge carvan loved the van it had an oil change at ande cheverolet and they put the wrong filter on and the engine blew up. Again with the service thing. I seem to never get what I pay for

none that I can tell you about!!!

Everything from bumper to bumper!!!

First it was the windsheild leaking, then the driver window stoped gowing up right, sometimes not at all! The interior lights go on and off by themselves, the headlights leak so constantly replacing bulbs. Intake manifold has been replaced because of the van jerking when changing gears. 3 days later was told another valve needs replacing BUT will hold for awhile until transmission will need replacing. Electric door is very dangerous, there is no sensor to detect anything in its way. When closing that door the radio volume gets very loud. When the chevy dealership told us about replacing the transmission we went straight to the Ford dealership. Can't trade it in when the van is only worth 3,000 and we owe 8,000!!! GM knows about these problems and DON'T CARE!! My van only has 86,000 miles on it and I am being told that at 90,000 these ventures will need new motors and transmissions??? So now I am stuck with it and taking a chance on having my children stuck on the side of the road one day. Shame on GM!!! I will NEVER EVER go back to GM again!!!

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chevy lumina van. Loved it until it had almost 200,000 miles on it. No major work done to it.

Great acceleration,decent ride,lots of room good handling and decent gas milage for V6

Not insulated very good around doors and firewall. Too much road noise and air. Terrible cup holders and the back seats are kind of hard to remove and install.

I purchased this 1999 Venture used in 2003, it had 98k on it with new tires. It now has 149k and served us well in the time we have owned it. I would recommend it.

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Dodge Caravan, Mercury Villager, and GM full size van

Ease of moving around the inside of vehicle, gas milage

Breaking down

I bought the van new in 01. I loved the van and the gas milage was great but it constantly had something wrong with it. Just traded it in and got 8,500 for it with 70,000 miles on it. Problems we had included: 3 automatic window motors, the VCR was replaced 3x, 1 tie rod, rear main seal,head gasket, automatic locks, the interior lights came on and off when I was driving, and both the front and back windows leaked at one time or another.

Power seat is comfortable, it was great on a long trip. good pick up, great gas milage.

the cup holders are small, and the arms on the captain chairs could be a tad longer.

I shopped for four months for a mini van. I have owned my venture for two months and am completely satisfied. I had a 1995 chevy s-10 that I bought new, it had 111000 miles and the only thing i have replaced is the tires at 67000 the air compressor at 70000 and the altenator at 105000 (not even a light bulb) so I have had good luck with chevys. I also have a 1990 mustang LX for nine years, with 140000 miles and it runs like a sewing machine, one thing I do is keep up the routine maintanance so maybe that is why I have had good luck. When I was shopping for a mini van I looked at Chevy's Dodge, and Ford. Sorry, from Detroit area and will not buy anything else. I liked the Ford's horsepower, but not the seats and the gas milage. I liked the Dodge grand caravan, but when push came to shove, the chevy won out because of the recall factor. Fords and Dodges have been recalled for catching on fire. Something about fire I prefer to stay away from. The Chevy had few recalls for very minor things. The Chevey had more HP, and better gas milage than the dodge. I also got more bang for my buck, meaning the extended version van, all power, captain chairs, removable bucket seats in the second row, and a fold down optional removable third row bench seat depending on how much cargo room I need, i can make it happen! I find the seats were easy to remove when I needed it or I can just fold them down. I would have had to buy a 2004 Dodge to get that option. I also like the Vortec engine. My sister has the same engine in her chevy truck, it has a 160000 miles on it with no problems. I bought this van for a trip that I went from Tampa FL, to Michigan, to Tennessee, then to Joplin Missouri, then back to Tampa. Over 4000 miles in two weeks, and I can do some driving! I had no problems. It rode and drove great. It had plenty of get up and go when I needed to merge into traffic, it pulled the hills good in Tennessee (we are talking backwoods in the cumberlands) and the front and rear air condition kept me and my dogs very cool in the summer heat. I find that I had good visability, the power seats we comfortable, and my dogs loved the room they had to move around in. I averaged around 26 miles per gallon, and the 25 gallon gas tank was nice because I could spend more time on the road, and less time at the gas station. I know that people think that other vehicles are made better (foriegn) therefore equals saving more money in car repairs. I do know that when I have had to have a car repair, like when I had to have an altenator put in my chevy s-10, it cost me $125.00 installed. Can you get this done in a Toyota? I know that the van will cost more in repairs because of how the engine is located under the hood. Since ALL mini vans are made this way (crammed in) you are going to find higher repair cost just because of the labor it takes to get to the repair. I do know that all in all, Chevy parts cost are lower. I owned a 93 probe (made by Mazda) all though it was assembled in Michigan, the parts came from Japan. When I found out that the altenator just within itself was $400.00 (this was in 1995), I traded it as soon as the warrenty expired. These are things you need to consider when you buy a vehicle. There has been some reports that there was wind noise in the venture, I did not notice it. I can hear the engine when I punch the gas, but I like that sound! The radio is also handy. When traveling around, you can use the seek type option, and it will find your type of music. I also am saving a lot of money on my car insurance because my van came equipped with several anti-theft devices, including the PIII key, that will render the van disabled if anything tries to start it without the specific key for your van even if they punch out the lock.

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Roomy

Brake Problems $600, Steering Problems $400, Intake Manifold Problems $1000+++++, Turning away from a company after more than twenty years of customer loyalty, because you finally realized they don't give a crap - Priceless. After three years or so, this will become the most expensive vehicle you have ever owned. It has many problems that GM will not admit are just the result of poor design. I thing someone at GM is actually getting paid by the marketing departments of Honda and Toyota.

For the first three and a half years we thought this was the greatest vehicle we had ever purchased. We were sure we would get another six years easily. In the last year, we have come to the conclusion that its continued existance is a day to day proposition at best. If you have ever seen the movie "The Money Pit", this van has all of a sudden become the automotive equivalent of it. About eight months ago, we had to have the brakes redone for the second time. This time around, front rotors were warped, and rear main had blown destroying fairly new pads back there. Mechanic said this was typical for Ventures. A month or so later, steering problems had me digging deep in the pockets again. Once again, the mechanic said, this is typical of a Venture. I was beginning to think that my wife was using "staying home with the kids" as an excuse to chase her untold dream of baja racing. About two weeks ago, I noticed an oil stain on our new driveway. At first, I just blamed it on one of the relatives cars, but then noticed that it started to follow my wifes parking patterns(usually halfway on to my side). We took it in for an oil change, and you guessed it. The intake manifold problem had reared its ugly head. We will find out next week if it has caused in additional damage. I thought surely nothing else could go wrong with this vehicle until I found this site. Now I am afraid to scrub it too hard when I wash it because I am afraid the Chevy emblem may wash off and reveal that it is really a stretch Yugo. I have bought nine new Chevy's, my family has bought many. My dad retired from GM, and I really want to be supportive of U.S. based companies. That why it pains me to say, I just can't afford this "crap" any more. I am going to have to switch to Honda or Toyota because they do a good job of standing behind thier products. As a matter of fact, Honda and Toyota should give GM a little payola for producing the Venture. They will probably get more customers because of this crappy van than they could have gotten out of millions of dollars of advertising.