Nutz4Gunz45 Fast forward to 2005 for the Buick version - the Terraza. We had one and a ‘98 Silhouette. Awesome memories in the Silhouette, but the Terraza was... less ok.
Nutz4Gunz45 Well they already had the Astro and Safari and the big ass Chevy van I think so maybe two more would’ve been too many. But like mentioned above Buick got the Terraza years later and Saturn got the Relay Chevy had the Uplander and Pontiac had the Montana.
I had a 1995 with the 3.8. Ran it to 200K miles. Couldn't kill it. My kids tried as it was their first car when the learned top drive. So many family adventures and good memories.
As an Oldsmobile enthusiast, I always thought the Olds Silhouette from this era was very unique, quirky, yet very cool styling. Try finding one today. This entire disposable era of cars makes them virtually impossible to find collector examples.
Yes I drove a white one around Chicago all over was a courier messenger out of Schaumburg, IL. to 350,000 miles..... Love to find one today... a very rare vehicle...reminded me of the vehicle they had on Lost In Space...........
GM was facing dismal reliability. The 3.1 V6 was one of its best, so they used it. I always thought they should've used Buick's 3800 from the start (it was optional later). The Bean counters ruined GM.
@@PreGamelersaid no one anywhere. almost all technology has came from the USA for the last 100ish years. That's not to say no other nation has had innovative ideas or good products but the USA is definitely a world leader when it comes to electronic engine management, suspension management, automatic transmission shift management and not to mention climate control not to mention computers or any other devices we use today. When this car was made at that time most cars were throttlebody or carbureted it was US strict emission standards that drove innovations such as fuel injection, distributorless ignition, variable valve timing, displacement on demand and other technology that is now common on most new cars.
@@AtomicReverend Japanese cars have been better made for a long time and still are to some degree. The USA has some a long way in terms of reliability, but to say we are the world leader in in electronic systems is a huge stretch. Go into any home, look at the electronics and tell me how many are made in the US?
Brings back memories of the old 92 Trans Sport my dad used to have. Paid $300 for it and ran it for 12 years till it died. Door handles broke and window motor died but everything else worked.
I remember we had one of these back in 2000-01. It was roomy and the engine took a beating on back roads (lived in Eastern Shore, MD near Henderson) but it held up well. I always liked this van for it's looks.
DTD110865. Not in my experience. Just about every vehicle I see in the ditch in the winter is a 4WD/AWD one... usually after they break all four loose trying to pass slower cars. Every one has four wheel brakes... and FWD cars are lighter, havd a lower centre of gravity, have lower unsprung weight, and have most of their weight above the driving wheels. I have a 4x4 truck and I’m way more careful with than I am with my FWD minivan. It’s 4x4 because it’s absolutely deadly as a 2WD. My minivan has made it through snowy mountain passes and up old logging roads no problem.
Two of my friends parents used to own trans sport back in the early 00's both of them burned down because the dashboard caught on fire... gotta love the 90's GM quality
120hp and a 3-spd auto? This thing must have been a dog. These also had 3-channel ABS which was horrible. Most cars at the time were using 4-channel. Futuristic design still looks futuristic. The dust buster look.
The silhouette should have been under Saturn. I guarantee you it would have added another 5 years to the Saturn brands longevity. The “space frame” design (plastic body panels) was a Saturn trademark right?
+cmtmj2006 I think the older generations need to take some of the blame as well. Society was much different than when they were kids and how they were raised, so the same approaches cannot be used entirely. Phrases like "when I was a kid, I did X...," can be ineffective and irrelevant in a modern context. I feel like as parents should have been a little more involved instead of the "he or she's old enough now" approach, and the kid is only 16 or 17 years old. Need more guidance and family time, otherwise it's entertainment. Curious to see what you think.
on what grounds would you say that, lol. Even a Toyota Yaris is uglier, come on. As were most minivans before it. It's extremely hard to design a good looking minivan in my opinion, but the "cool gimmick to stand out" strategy usually works on me.
I was driving one down the road at 65mph the hood came up and smashed out the windshield and I saw the hood bouncing down the road in the rear view mirror, I’ve never laughed so hard
Skippy Thorson your wrong. It was mid 1989 and my parents pulled up to an arco gas station to fill up. Next thing you know a brand new white APV pulled up. Everyone in the gas station was talking about it and staring at it. In its time it was a very futuristic design, the feeling wore off a few years later . But I’m it’s day it tuned heads!
Back when they came out they were very futuristic-looking. Heck, even for today they look kind of flashy and futuristic. Minivans do generally suck though.
@ Skippy Thorson They were cool in the early 90s. Remember.. the minivan back then was what the crossover is now. A “cool” alternative to an older style family vehicle.
All you have to do is look at the Chrysler van they show at the very beginning of this video and you can see why these things were so popular (and they WERE hugely popular). In 1990, all cars and trucks still had the "square body" look to them that was prevalent throughout all of the 1970's and 1980's. Even well into the 90's many vehicles still had that "square body" shape to them. Then look at the design of these things. They were extremely "futuristic" then and that made them look VERY modern compared to everything else on the road. I assume they sold really well for at least half of the 90's because you definitely saw lots of them on the road back then.
bayouengineer / they are awesome and entertaining channels! However, they can only give you today's take as a younger driver. This is as close as it gets to get an idea how they were at that time period.
We had a TranSport SE when I was a kid and I have very fond memories of it. Also, as a first hand experience, if you loose something in one of these vans you are guaranteed to never find it again
I'm living in Germany, and these things are obviously incredibly rare over here. When I was a little boy (i.e. in the mid-2000s to early 2010s) I regularly saw one owned by someone in the neighbourhood and thought it was the coolest car ever… Edit: I LOVE a blue interior.
I was paid very well to assemble every one of these vehicles while working for GM in Tarrytown, NY from 1994-96. My absolute best working experience for a 20 something year old. Good times indeed!
Just shows the design mentality of GM back then.... the same goes with the pure garbage they produce today.... just listen to how noisy those wipers are, the creaking rear tailgate, the looseness of the rear heater control...lol
Pussaty Its not the best car, id much rather own a Highlander or Pilot, but its a hell of a lot better than even the previous gen of equinox that he used to have, let alone these POSes
Wow, I remember seeing these all over the place. Yikes. I'm glad the minivan phase died out awhile ago, but now it's just crossovers instead. I'd like an old fashioned station wagon, that isn't german and expensive as fuck.
Thank you for sharing more GM footage. It is appreciated. They started off wrong and they kept improving them. The second generation with with a global more conventional design that was shared with Opel and Vauxhall. I recall when it finally got the 3800 V6 too. This design was sold in Europe as the Chevrolet Transsport. It was the Pontiac design with Chevrolet badging.
I KNEW 1 PERSON WHO BOUGHT IT BRAND NEW AND WHEN HE OPENED THE DRIVERS DOOR HE HIT HIM SELF IN THE HEAD KNOCKED OUT BY THE TOP ANGULAR SHAPE OF THE DOOR. LOL
I think we used to have the Pontiac version in Europe.. At least I remember seeing one or two when I was young, or am I mistaken? Not a shape you would forget, right?
Just to clarify, I went to check used cars websites and indeed, you can find a few on sale here!! And according to Wikipedia, in Europe they sold the Oldsmobile Silhouette but badged as a Pontiac, and with a Diesel Peugeot engine. Kinda want one now!!
@@giselasilva5415 Here in Holland, I saw a white Pontiac Trans Sport and it indeed had the Oldsmobile face! I expected it to have the Pontiac face but, now that I think of it again, the Olds face looks better!
In '91 we bought the APV Chevy. If I recall it wasn't a bad minivan. Took a little to get used to via front windshield. It served the family for the times. I came out of a '84 Chevy Wagon at the time. 2018, I still drive a Chrysler Pacifica minivan. Technology does change with the times. Thank you 🚘
I had a 1990 Chevy Lumina van went 456,000 km sent it to the pile in September 2017 everything still work except the air condition gave up last summer. Caused very few issues was reliable as any import vehicle. Fuel mileage on highway was 32 mpg and about 20 mpg city. Imperial miles per gallon. Had the same motor and tranny in it that I bought it with. Changed oil every 10,000 km used synthetic oil 10w40.
Amazing to me how the narrator states they were stylish and everything you want. Hideous and ugly and death machines they were really shows how far we have came in the automotive world.
I love this generation of GM minivans the best. When they came out with the 2nd generation in 1997 i heard of them things having all sorts of problems along with them turning into royal rust buckets.
These did have one very significant first. They were the first to offer a Power sliding door in the mid 90’s. This is something that has been a must have and is essential for a minivan for last 20 years
I always thought they looked like a shuttle-craft from the Enterprice (the good old NCC1701 D from Star Trek TNG) in white xD I do truly miss these simpler times :)
Because it takes a certain amount of fuel to perform certain amount of work,if the vehicles have approximate weight and aero they're gonna use the approximate amount of fuel no matter what generation that vehicle belongs to.
I love when he turned on rear heat and the switch looked barely screwed in. Wouldn't bother me but people I've dealt with in New car dealerships would lose their minds.
When I was a kid we called these "The Dustbuster". IMO they look like a shuttle craft from Star Trek TNG(popular show at the time, maybe that's where they had their inspiration). As for the car itself, I had a 1991 Buick Regal, 3.8 Buick V6, 4 speed overdrive. Very peppy/torquey car, I don't get why they didn't put this drivetrain combo in the much heavier minivans, it was used in a lot of GM cars at the time. More power plus better fuel economy with the overdrive. They even could have done a supercharged 3.8 V6 minivan, that would have been a riot IMO. Quality on these sucked though, 10-15 years later they were completely gone to the scrap heap in the sky. It was an interesting idea by GM, the plastic body panels were something GM was actually good at, think C4 Corvette, the Saturn line, 4th gen F-body had composite doors, hatch, front fenders, front hood(depending on trim). Just once again poorly executed by GM, the accountants sucked all the quality and good stuff(like 3.8 V6) out of this van.
The Pontiac Transport still looks cool and futuristic today. I think they ruined the looks of them in what 94 -95 when they made them stub-nosed looking with a Pontiac Bonneville headlight clusters on all models. Sadly I can't remember the last time I saw one of these on the road.
My daily driver is an 09 Civic with a 4 cylinder that makes 140 horsepower, which is extremely wimpy by today's standards as much as I love my car. So it's really freaking funny watching these videos where a V6 only makes 120 horsepower
Looks like Toyota Targo van, image cannon ball run in one of these. It’s to bad they didn’t sell these in Australia, I would brought Chev the other two are ugly.
121 hp? That was trash even for then. It had pretty good acceleration considering though. I actually like the Aerostar. 5000 pound towing option for a boat or camper. The Aerostar also had an AWD option. It was ugly, but I think all of them were.
The Astro Van was always better. Imagine if GM had invested in upgrading that platform's interior to the Lumina's, it would have done better than relying on the despicable V6/transmission that the Lumina had to rely on.
At one time we had two of these, at the same time. We had a 90, and a 92 and both where a joy to drive. We traded them in for a E350 van -- I kinda miss the APV's though. One draw back not said, it the battery is very hard to get too.
No, that's just a little bit below average for the modern world. There are many new cars sold in Europe today that do 60 in 14 seconds. Just because you Americans stupidly demand every car to do 60 in 6 seconds or less (without ever using that power to its full potential, doesn't mean this is very slow.
Protector of the Republic "just because you Americans stupidly demand" I'm not even American but that is a salty comment. Your delivery could've easily been a little more courteous.
