1997 Chevrolet Venture Review

It has taken forever, but General Motors finally is in the mini-van game with a solid contender--offering head-on rivals to Chrysler's market-dominating minivans.

GM's new carlike competitors are the 1997 front-drive Chevrolet Venture minivan and very similar Pontiac Trans Sport and Oldsmobile Silhouette.

The Chrysler minivans look sleeker, but the GM models are more powerful and have better handling--judging by my recent test of a Venture. GM's European Opel and Vauxhall operations also get a version, which explains why the GM minivans are several inches narrower than Ford and Chrysler minivans; most European streets aren't wide, that's why.

The Venture is the value-leader--while the Trans Sport is the sporty version and the Silhouette is the luxury model. Base prices range from approximately $20,000 to $27,000.

The steel-body U.S. trio replaces GM's futuristic-looking, plastic body minivans. Those vehicles initially had an underpowered engine and old-fashioned three-speed automatic transmission. They improved a lot mechanically after their 1990 debut, but they never got over their slow start and things like an enormous windshield with big posts made them sales flops.

GM found it doesn't pay to be too futuristic in the conservative minivan market. Thus, its new minivans are far more plainly styled than the plastic-body GM minivans--or the Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager and Chrysler Town & Country minivans.

In fact, the GM entries are downright boxy, with the Venture's large, toothy chromed grille making it the most prominent.

All have strong acceleration, thanks to a no-frills, pushrod 3.4-liter V-6, which provides 180-horsepower and plenty of torque. It is hooked to a four-speed, electronically controlled automatic transmission and can tow a hefty 3,500 pounds with the optional towing package. Fuel economy is an estimated 18 m.p.g. in the city and 25 on highways.

The new GM minivans have spacious interiors--especially the 120-inch-wheelbase extended models, which are appreciably longer than the base, 112-inch-wheelbase models. The narrower width caused by those European streets hardly is noticeable.

The Trans Sport seats up to eight, while the Venture and Silhouette seat seven, with good rear cargo space behind the third seat. You expect items such as removable seats with fold-down seatbacks--and you get them.

Bulky cargo is easy to load, thanks to big rear and sliding side door openings. To ease loading from the rear, struts align nearly vertically to the vehicle with the liftgate open, and thus don't intrude into the loading path.

The new minivans have dual air bags and standard four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Traction control is optional.

Very importantly, a driver-side sliding door is offered for long-wheelbase models, with such a door arriving for the short-wheelbase models next year. Chrysler introduced a driver-side ``slider'' door for 1996, and it has become wildly popular.

The minivan crowd wants all the conveniences it can get. Only Ford is stuck out in left field in the 1997 model year without a driver-side sliding door.

GM retains its exclusive, convenient $350 passenger-side power sliding door for long-wheelbase models.

While the Venture comes with three or four doors, I tested the long-wheelbase version with dual sliding doors. It's the top-line Chevy minivan and lists at $22,699. The base short-wheelbase three-door model costs $19,925.

The 3,792-pound long-wheelbase Venture is quiet, even at highway speeds, and handles much like a big car. Steering effort is a bit high, but steering is precise and communicative. A well-controlled suspension easily soaks up road irregularities and delivers an even ride.

You can tell by the excellent handling that GM had its demanding European markets in mind when designing the suspension.

The brakes do a good job and have nice pedal feel, and the smooth automatic transmission shifts crisply. The V-6 doesn't get too noisy during full-throttle acceleration and has especially good low- and mid-range responsiveness.

Getting in and out is easy, and up-front seating allows good visibility and comfort. An attractively styled dashboard contains easily reached controls and gauges that can be read at a glance.

My test Venture was solidly built, although rough pavement occasionally elicited a few rattles. Neither sliding door of my test Venture fit right, but the vehicle only had 64 miles on it and Chevy says it didn't have time to allow a dealer to correctly adjust the doors.

Like the Chrysler and Ford, the extended-wheelbase Venture is pretty long at nearly 201 inches, so potential buyers should check garage clearances. And it is not the sort of vehicle you want to parallel park.

Chrysler's minivans have built up quite a lead and a loyal following, but GM's new minivans could start eating into their market fairly quickly once the word gets out about them.