Auto P.S.

[LL - NY]

My friend and our school had/has Astro AWD's.

Pretty much based on the old Chevy S10 pick-me up truck. The AWD system
was directly from the Oldsmobile Bravada (the Old's "upscale" version of the

Chevy S10 Blazer) so it's a true AWD system, similar in concept to quattro,
and
very transparent in operation. My friend reported, with not so sophisticated
snows,
that the thing was an absolute, go anywhere tank, better than either his 100
CSQA,
or his VW Passat 4-motion.

Adequate drivers, comparatively crude interiors (to your last two Audi's),
and,
as I recall from my friend's Astro AWD, the weak link is electrics and
cooling
systems (really the heater, which, being under/behind the dash makes things
a bit labor intensive. Overall, also as I recall, the vehicle seemed
reliable enough
for it's design age and relative cheapness. As I recall (it's been awhile) I
think he
had a number of problems with the windshield wipers.

Seats (they had the captain's chairs) were not great on the long haul. Drove

reasonably well when unloaded, but when loaded to capacity with kids,
actually
made me slow down. LOTS of cargo capacity, especially if you remove the rear
benches, more room than any of the current crop of mini-vans. If you choose
to get one, get the
4.3 liter models (the later ones), the 2.8's are underpowered, thus tend to
stay
in lower gears longer and use more gas.

HTH,

LL - NY



On 1/4/09, Fay Kelley <iceisit at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> My friend Bill says
>
> they made a lot of Chevy Astro Vans
>
> and Subarus ....
>
> if you had to pick, which one would you chose
> being you already have experience with
> Audis ...
>
> I can use the cargo room but I can't get
> something I cannot drive through the snow at all.
>
> We have cables and can buy another set ...
>
> Do any of the Astro Vans have 4WD
> or Quartro ?
>
>
> --
> Audi Grrl
> Red '97 A6 Avant AWD
>
> ~
>
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