I purchased my Aerostar, used, in 1998 because I owned a small sports car and with more than one child it wasn't practical. I shopped the local dealers, and ended up at Ford. I looked at models ranging from year 1994 to 1998, all previously owned. I finally settled on the 1994 Aerostar.

The selling points for me were:
*The price. Obviously pre-owned vehicles go for much less. I was able to pay for the van without incurring a monthly payment.
*The spacious interior, and layout of the van. I chose the Aerostar over the newer Windstar because it offered more interior room. With kids, there are always bags and bags of things you need to take along and the Aerostar offered space. The seating arrangement was so that if I need to hop in the back (when I'm the passenger, of course) I can do it. I can retrieve a dropped toy, bottle, or paci without having to contort to get back there.
*Mechanical reliability. The vehicle was four years old at the time I purchased it and it had very little mechanically wrong. It had just come in and hadn't even had the time to be cleaned much less doctored up by the mechanic, and for a four year old vehicle I was impressed that the only work it needed was an alignment. For the past year that I've owned it, it hasn't been in the shop yet. I've replaced fuses, and had the scheduled oil changes and maintenance, but I've spent no large amounts of money for repair.

The drawbacks to this model are:
*It doesn't have child safe locks. My children haven't yet mastered escaping from their car safety seats, but if they did, they could easily unlock the doors making them more apt to be opened. That worries me.
*The bench seats are heavy and cumbersome making them difficult for me to remove and reinstall on my own. Also, although they do fold down to give you more space, only the back folds whereas on other models the seats fold flat.
*In the snow, due to the back door swinging up and out instead of having double doors that swing out to the sides, it tends to dump snow on whomever is opening it.

I'm really happy with my Ford minivan, and when I'm ready to make my next purchase I will begin by looking at the newer Ford models. The combination of reliability and spaciousness make this the perfect vehicle for a busy mom.