We had outgrown the Mitsubishi Outlander. Jasmin, Ama, Nanay, Jacob (kid’s seat) and myself couldn’t fit in the Outlander when Lucas was on the way.
I decided I need a van. That feeling started to get me excited! I know Honda Odysseys and Toyota Previas had a great aftermarket (at one point).
NEW VAN VS OLD VAN
I then looked into the newer vans and saw something amazing and reinforced my notes that vans are dope. Van Kulture started around this time. Most guys were using the 3rd Gen Sienna platform and they had started to make some aero kits for it!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! The problem was the price tag for a Sienna was $36,000. They did look good though!
I always outweigh the pros and cons of getting a new car. With $36,000, I could pretty much make an old van brand new.
- Rebuild engine (since most 90s vans were high mileage anyway)
- Redo the interior
- Redo suspension
- Repaint the exterior
Probably those were gonna be way less than a brand new van. Even though I love the look of the 3rd gen Sienna or even the last gen Nissan Quest, I decided to go with a 90s van.
Now, now I had to decide between Odyssey or Previa. I loved the fact that the Previa can be AWD or RWD. But I wanted to get the version I wanted.
Previas had a few different variations.. but the ones I really wanted were:
- AWD or RWD
- Rotating middle row Captains chairs
- Supercharged
- Dual Sunroof
I thought about an older Honda Odyssey, but I really like the AWD/RWD vehicles. So that narrowed down the van to pretty much a Previa. As I was looking at Previas, most were rough condition and every one of them had high miles. I knew that the Previa was gonna be high mileage, which I would rebuild and since they have lasted 200k-300k miles, imagine how it would be if I had a refreshed engine.
But I had to find the right one.
