If they are both in decent shape, which would you buy?
1993 Nissan Quest; 143,000 miles; inside and outside looks great, good tires; front-wheel drive. Price: $4495 after trade-in.
OR
1994 Ford Windstar; 104,000 miles; good interior and exterior, good tires. I’m not sure if it’s FWD or not; in fact, I can’t find any info on it on kbb.com. (My uncle called me with this info; possibly he has it mixed up with the Aerostar?) Price: $3000 after trade-in.
With the Nissan, we will have a 12-month payment that is manageable. We could buy the Ford outright. However…with over 100,000 miles on each, I would expect the Nissan to have a longer life expectancy than the Ford.
My uncle is cheering for the no-payment option. I’m willing to make a payment if it’s a better car.
sigh Why doesn’t my dad make these decisions for me?
If the Ford is in decent mechanical condition, buy it. That way the money you would have paid on the Quest can be used for soon-to-come repairs that are certain to pop up. Don’t forget to check for recalls.
My family has a 96’Quest and it’s been good to us so far…I love that van…it was my first car too…ahhhh the memories…plenty of space in the back if you know what I mean…hehe…fogging up the windows baby!!!
I heard the Ford Windstar is a piece of crap anyways…
I’ve owned two different Windstars for six years now. Neither one of them has given me any trouble. At all. Oil changes and gas, and that’s it. And not a single subsystem on either one of them ever broke as far as I can remember.
I bought a Windstar originally after test driving all the other Minivans. The Windstar had the all beat. After we gave back the first one on lease, we bought another one. But before we did I went and test drove all of the other ones again, thinking that maybe I’d spot something different now that I was familiar with the Ford. Nope. Still bought a Windstar.
Close runners up were the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey. The Dodge minivans came in dead last.
I agree with Sam. Though I don’t own a minivan yet (will be buying one in a couple of months) I rent one on a regular basis(at least 12-15 yimes per year). I always request a Winstar, after having rented most other models. I’ve never had a problem with one.
There’s no such thing as a 1994 Windstar. It’s probably a 1995 model that was built early. My parents drive a '95 Windstar which has been great except - and this is a big except - for the head gasket failure problems for which these vans are infamous. Ours blew out at 42,000 miles and it would have been a $1000+ repair if not for the extended warranty. If you go for the Windstar, make certain that the head gasket has already been professionally replaced. You might want to go so far as to take it to a mechanic and have the compression checked. You do not want a Windstar with the original defective head gasket. If the engine checks out, the Windstar should be OK. Good luck.
We just got our Windstar in December, it had 93,000 km on it then and nearly 100,000 km on it now. It’s a '96 and does not differ much from the 2002 version, I actually prefer the style of ours over the new model.
We love it. It is roomy, exceptionally comfortable, and has lots of power.
Re: Head gasket failure (and this applies only to those vans with the HO 3.8 litre engine.)
Ford issued a recall for this problem so you should make sure that this gasket has been replaced.
The only other thing that needs to be serviced or checked regularly is the MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor) as they have a tendency to foul up.
Getting an extended warranty is a good idea, repairs on most new vehicles tend to be very expensive. This is especially true with front wheel drive minivans and cars as there can sometimes be extra labour involved just to get to the parts that need fixing.
I wouldn’t recommend Kelley Blue Book to check out the value. Their values are always a lot higher than N.A.D.A. and not as accurate IMO. I did a quick search on the N.A.D.A. website (www.nada.com) just a basic search on a 1995 Ford Windstar Cargo Van (it doesn’t show a 1994) with 104,000 miles shows the average trade-in to be $1,380 and the Average Retail to be $2,780. That’s after deducting $1,000 for high mileage. KBB shows it as having a trade-in value of$2,015… $635 difference from N.A.D.A. That’s why I don’t use KBB. Again, just MHO.
No matter what you decide to get make sure you research the value of it before you buy it and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a VIN history from Carfax. Just to be safe.
I’m probably not helping much here… but I’m trying.
I ahve a '94 Mercury Villager (substantially the same as a Quest) and a 2000 Windstar. The Windstar is substantially roomier – both behind the third seat and for the passengers. The Quest is tighter, quieter vehicle and gets better gas mileage.
BUT – and this is a big but – the Villager you’re looking at has 39,000 more miles than the Windstar. That’s the equivalent of about 3 years of normal driving. And it’s $1,500 more. As much as I like our Villager, I don’t believe it will have the long life I associate with a Vovo or Mercedes.
If you’re absolutely sure the Quest has been scrupulously maintained, it might be worth it. Otherwise, the mileage and cost difference is great enough that I’d be more likely to go with the Windstar and bank the difference for repairs. Remember, at 139,000 miles, even a well-maintained car will have components that are at or near the end of their projected life.
The Nissan Quest = Mercury Villager = Ford
My grandfather has a 1995 Ford Winstar, and it has over 130k miles and runs like a charm. Also the Ford Windstar is very safe, and the Nissan Quest, is not as safe. Also the Ford has more room and can fit a 4x8’ sheet of plywood in the back. He has the 3.0 engine, and while its not speedy, it can cruse at 80 forever on the freeway.
Good luck
Ben
(its always good to have a michanic to check over the Van even though its through a dealer. They can sometimes miss stuff)
What we really need is something along the lines of a small bus. My big kids are BIG–one is nearly my size, the other much bigger–and the little ones are still very little, so we have to deal with 2 carseats as well.
We took the Nissan to the mechanic today, and he gave it a thorough going-over. He seemed impressed with it; it has been well-maintained, tuned up recently, and didn’t have any problems that he could anticipate.
Mrbodypoet is pretty sold on it–he is a look once/buy kinda guy, and hates to shop around. I’m still doing some research, but I bet we end up with the Nissan.
It’s front wheel drive, which is a huge plus for me; I don’t think the other one is, although I still haven’t found out for sure.
Boy. As soon as my oldest gets his own vehicle, it’ll simplify things…then, if we want to go somewhere as a family, he can drive himself and at least one passenger.
Thanks so much for the input, folks. It really helps me think things through. Tomorrow I’m going to get the VIN and run whatever checks I can online.
Regards,
karol
“What we really need is something along the lines of a small bus.”
This may be a long shot, but I drive a 1986 Pontiac Parisienne Safari 8-passenger wagon which really fits that description. It’s virtually indestructible, gets decent gas mileage for its size (EPA 15 city 22 highway) and you don’t have to remove any seats to get a flat load floor; they just fold down. The '77-90 GM full size wagons (Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Chevy – all basically the same) have a good reputation for lasting forever and being relatively inexpensive to maintain. If you don’t mind driving something that looks like it came out of The Brady Bunch, it’s worth a shot. You should be able to find a nice low-mile example for $2500 or so. Just don’t buy one with the Powermaster electroboost brakes (they’re 1986 only – any other year won’t have them). They are the Achilles heel of my car. I’ve had it for two years now (bought 3/00), and aside from the constant brake problems due to that stupid system, it’s been dirt cheap to maintain.
Thanks so much for this info. I’m writing it down for future reference, at the very least.
As I do more craft shows (my plan for the next few years), I will need something that is roomy and can carry a lot of “stuff”…candles, crates, display shelves, etc…this may just fit the bill, and it would still carry all my peoples!
Feynn is my SO, so you already heard about my Windstar. We enjoy it, and haven’t had any problems with it. I don’t know anything about a Nissan Quest, but my sister has owned a Nisson Sentra since she bought it off the lot in '89, and while it’s been extremely reliable (the odometer rolled over), it does seem to cost more (on average) to repair when it does need repairs. Several places have refused to even look at it.
You may want to look into the comparative prices of parts and repairs.
I currently own a 97 Windstar. I just put a $2600 transmission in it. I also put an $1800 transmission in my 94 Mercury Sable three years ago and had problems with my 89 Ford T-bird’s transmission.
I don’t tow - I don’t drive crazy - I think Ford makes great cars except for the Transmissions. Four Ford products (had an Explorer, too) three bad transmissions (all automatics).
I sold the Explorer at 36K miles so it may not have had a chance for a transmission failure.
My sister, who has the unique talent of being able to destroy anything mechanical in existence, has the same Windstar you’re looking at.
She has not been able to kill it.
I do all the maintenance on it, and from a DIY standpoint, the widstar is the winner for me, hands down. Tune ups, brakes, all normal maintenance are ridiculously easy to do (example: My company van, a Grand Caravan, takes me three hours all told to do plugs& wires. It’s a fifteen minute job on the Ford.) Also, IMHO, the mechanicals are good and sturdy; no weak-link components to fail in really hard use.
As long as the recalls have been done, and the vehicle is in good running order, I’d choose ford.
As far as the transmissions are concerned, a very simple thing most owners don’t know is that the shifting and many other functions of a trans are controlled by a computer and not by valving, as they used to be. My Chrysler would fail to shift out of first gear once in a while, I’d simply unplug the battery (which reset the computer) wait a few minutes, and resume as before. Three shops told me to get the tranny replaced, but each time it messed up, (maybe twice a year?)I’d do my little battery trick, and hit the road again. Total cost to me for 192,000 miles of operation? bubkhis. I could have replaced the computer, but since all that was ever needed was a few minutes in the parking lot of a Wal-mart to “fix” the problem, I never bothered.
This has happened, by the way, to my Explorer, but only once. I was able to “fix” it in the same way, at a total cost of Nil, and haven’t had any trouble since- 92,000 miles and still runs like new.
My big kids are BIG–one is nearly my size, the other much bigger–and the little ones are still very little, so we have to deal with 2 carseats as well.