Originally Posted By: Vladiator
In my area I see a lot of Mercury Villager/Nissan Quest minivans for $2k-$5k with sub-150k miles and often in good condition. Late 1990s through early 2000s is the model to look at. Very reliable and powerful enough to haul whatever you got.
I had two of these...a 1995 and a 2000. The 1995 was built on a Pathfinder frame/motor. It was bulletproof, and I abused the [censored] out of it. besides 3 kids, I also did flooring PT and flipped houses. EVERYTHING went into that van...flooring, tools...drywall...etc
I used to do a lot of fishing and towed a boat all over PA and NY...and all the way to Canada...often! The boat was a 17' aluminum and weighed in around 3500lbs. I also towed a 16' Stratos that went over 5000lb on occasion. [censored], I even went off road with it many times through farmers fields at times!