2000 Chevy Venture	>> page 2
written and submitted by: Horace Cooper

 

Perfect? Clever? Dream come true? These aren't typically the words used to describe a minivan by any car enthusiasts in my neck of the woods. But these are the words that my brother and his wife used to describe their 2000 Chevy Venture. In town for the inaugural festivities, he and his wife gave me a chance to get acquainted with their latest automotive acquisition.

Most of the automotive coverage in America focuses on sports cars and sports utes. As a result this very popular segment has gone forward largely without a lot scrutiny. You may not know this, but minivans in general have undergone quite an evolution since their introduction in the early eighties. What once was a spartan, underpowered non-aerodynamic box has become a somewhat luxurious, fairly well powered non-aerodynamic box. They manage to combine decent fuel economy, efficient packaging, and a high enough dose of the luxury comforts that we've come to expect from mid-size sedans that it's no surprise that they comprise one of the best selling parts of the automotive industry in the US.

From the beginning it turned out to be fortuitous that the Venture was around. My date and I had gone to the Black Tie and Boots Ball the night before my brother's arrival and discovered to our dismay that finding parking was more chimerical than believing that Bill Clinton can speak truthfully. Knowing that there would be three couples in our group the next night, it was a good thing that we had the option of going together in the Venture.

Their Chevy Venture LS was midnight blue and was the long wheel based version powered by a 3.4 liter OHV V-6 packing 185 hp. It's the only engine offered on the Venture but it is more than adequate to move this front wheel drive vehicle off the line with a sense of alacrity. You don't have to worry about spinning the front tires but you do have to be concerned about torgue steer if you really put your foot in it. A couple of times I had to fight the wheel because I was accelerating so hard and trying to steer at the same time.

I climbed into the driver's seat and buckled up. There was definitely plenty of room. Mind you I'm only 5'8, but I could have worn the cowboy hat I wore at the previous nights party and still had room. The upright seating definitely gave me a commanding view of the road. I remember driving our neighbors VW Vanagon when I was in high school. Unlike the VW, the steering wheel in the Venture is proportionally sized and faces me at a car like angle. Pulling out of the drive way I realized this definitely was no sluggish diesel.

There are three levers which control seat adjustment. Two on the side adjusts height and rake and a lever in front moves the seat forward. A little more complicated than I expected but if you can't have power seats, these levers make getting the perfect setting very easy. Also, answering that age old question, "why don't they do that on all cars," the seat belts for all outward passengers are height adjustable.

All the guages are easy to read and straight forward: there's a speedometer, a temperature guage, and a fuel guage. All the basics plus an information center cluster. This cluster allows the driver to see at a moment's notice any and all problems with vehicle operation. It was here you'd find that the door was ajar, a headlamp was out, windshield wiper fluid was low or that an oil change was needed.

Unfortunately, according to my brother, the oil guage indicator does not reset itself automatically after an oil change necessitating the draconian requirment that the owner's manual would have to be used in order to find out how. Fortunately this didn't prove necessary during its weekend stay.

Very cool is the electrically powered right sliding door. 2001 models have this option for the left as well. A simple press of a button on the key fob, on the dashboard or from the middle seat and the sliding door automatically opens or closes. It's almost hypnotic to watch. Sadly, unlike the Mazda MPV, the window in the door is fixed and in fact only the rear windows vent with electrically powered actuators.

Saturday morning we headed off for the Swearing in ceremony and thanked our good fortune that our planning allowed us to get seats with a great view. Although the weather didn't totally clear up, defying the predictions, the snow never appeared and even umbrellas didn't prove necessary. I parked the van in my office parking spot and noticed how easy it was to maneuver.

The vehicle was equipped with dual airbags and bucket seats in the rear. The layout in this vehicle allows seating for 7. 3 passengers in the middle, 2 in the front and 2 in the rear. The middle and rear seats folded and could be removed. While folded down both sets had neat cup holders carved into the back so that they could be used as food trays in a pinch. Additionally the middle seats had built in child seats preventing the need to lug around a car seat. My brother tells me this is especially useful when the vehicle has to serve double duty for carrying groups of children and adults.

On the other hand, my sister-in-law explained that she wished that the child seats had mini-head rests so that as the kids fall asleep they wouldn't keep waking up when their heads tilt sideways. I guess that makes sense. She also commented that it would be nice if the child seats could be an option on the rear seat and not just the middle for those occasions

Although it was drizzling off and on the large windshield wipers easily kept the front windshield clear. The button for the rear wiper was very clearly marked and cleverly allowed for both interval swipes and the regular on setting. Even after the flurries finally came, the large windshield was kept clear.

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