#LuxuryVans

Rare Rides: Luxury Van Time With a 2017 Ford Transit Explorer Conversion

Today’s Rare Ride was sort of off the radar as a present day vehicular category until your author was presented with one in an ad. It’s the sort of luxurious conversion van people bought to take their grandkids on vacation in the Nineties and early 2000s, but updated for today.

Presenting the Ford Transit Explorer Conversion. It’s quite large.

Corey Lewis Mar 18, 2021

Rare Rides: The Stunning 1992 Oldsmobile Silhouette, in Teal

A special day has arrived here at Rare Rides. Our subject is modern, sleek, and the Cadillac of Minivans. That’s right, it’s Van Time with the Oldsmobile Silhouette.

Corey Lewis Jan 24, 2020

Rare Rides: A Mazda Bongo 4×4 - JDM Van Time From 1994

For decades, the Japanese market has loved vans of all shapes and sizes, ranging from basic kei to fully-loaded VIP luxury. Rare Rides has touched on JDM van time just once previously, with a luxurious and capable 1990 Toyota Town Ace. Today we’re taking a look at what Mazda offered a Nineties Japanese consumer of vans.

Corey Lewis Nov 21, 2019

Recent Comments

Theflyersfan 2023 Nissan Rogue: Coming soon to a rental car lot near you! So it can be driven at 10 below the speed limit in the left lane when the right lane is wide open. I guess I'm of the age where I remember what Nissan was and still shudder at what they became, although I think I am seeing signs of life. The days when the 300ZX TT was up there with supercars in terms of performance. When the first Altima had the mini-Infiniti J30 styling and interior. When the Sentra SE-R and NX2000 ran with the GTIs and Civic Sis. The Maxima was the Japanese 3-series for those who didn't want to pay that much for the 3-series. And then 20 or so years ago, appliances like this started to appear and the quest for the most sales made as cheaply as possible took over and flushed all of that down the drain. The new Z can help, the new Pathfinder looks like it got the plot back after being lost in the weeds for a while, and I know there's someone in Nissan that would love to go Beast Mode on the Altima. But I look at the Rogue and I see a cheap Toyota. Styling cliches of the times. Gray on Gray on Gray on Gray on Gray with black trim. Name written out in big letters like R O G U E is supposed to have me making a quick U-turn to the next Nissan dealer.What do I see with a Rogue? I see a CUV that was purchased at too high of an interest rate for too long of terms because they wanted something new and the Toyota dealer said no and the Mitsubishi dealer went out of business 10 years ago. I see Point A to Point B transportation where someone prays for reliability, but knows after 80,000 miles, the fuse has been lit on the bomb between the seats. And they justify it by saying that by 80,000 miles, they'll have a better, higher paying job, and one of the kids will be out of braces, and they can refinance the home they overpaid on, and so on. But the better paid job never came. And the braces turned into other medical bills. And the interest rates never went down and you're still overpaying on that house. And there the Rogue sits at 85,000 miles and a dead transmission that will cost thousands to fix. That's what I see when I see a Rogue.
MaintenanceCosts My house, currently under renovation, has a L2 charger. Charging via L2 at home is dead simple and way less time-consuming than trips to the gas station. The rental townhouse we’re living in during the renovation only has a regular 120V outlet in the garage. We’ve been using it, and it actually works just fine given the amount we drive, as long as we always remember to plug in. If we forget to plug in for a couple of days straight then it can be tough to get back ahead of the curve. Looking forward to having my L2 back once the project is done.
Cprescott Nissan has long become a third rate vehicle maker like Mitsubishi.
JMII Not me... but my brother had a hybrid Cayenne for awhile. He charged at home and at work. The vehicle had enough range that 90% of his commute was in EV mode. Since it had a gas engine he was never forced to recharge elsewhere.
IBx1 Imagine trying to shill a Focus/Fiesta with the powershift DCT.

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Rare Rides: Luxury Van Time With a 2017 Ford Transit Explorer Conversion

Rare Rides: The Stunning 1992 Oldsmobile Silhouette, in Teal

Rare Rides: A Mazda Bongo 4×4 - JDM Van Time From 1994

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