On our recent vacation, we rented a 2000 Olds Silhouette minivan for 10 days. It only had 500 miles on it when we got it and we put on over 1400 miles on it during our rental period. I liked it so much I'm seriously thinking of getting one. It seems a little silly since I only have two children and our two sedans serve us well, for the most part. But I was really seduced by this van! :-)
We were able to fill it full of luggage and people, put a bike rack on the back and the bike trailer on the roof rack, and still feel comfortable during a 7 hour each way drive.
The driver's seat and front passenger seats have the usual multi-way power adjustable seating positions, and they were both extremely comfortable. My husband is over 6 feet tall and was able to find as great a driving position as I could, even though I am 7 inches shorter.
This van does have power! Even loaded down, I was able to pull into traffic and accelerate quickly. The shifting is very smooth, and the braking is also very quick. Even though I was not used to driving such a long car, it seems that the turning radius is fairly small and I was able to easily maneuver it around. My husband, the notoriously 50 point turner, was even able to get it parallel parked, without too much ado.
I especially loved the power sliding door! It was great to be able to push a button from the driver's seat and open or shut the door. Many minivans that I've driven in the past require you to practically arm wrestle the door shut with a hard slam. Not so with this van. Even my 3 year old learned to beg for the chance to "push the button".
Another feature that I liked was the adjustable seat belt positioner for the lap shoulder belts. My 5 year old niece is no longer in a car seat and the positioner worked perfectly to center the seat belt over her chest, not her neck or face.
I could go on and on about all the great feature this van has, but there are too many to mention them all individually. The only features I did not like were that the power window buttons move in the opposite direction than any other cars I've driven, so that was a little disconcerting. Also I dislike having the automatic locks engage the second the car is put in drive. I know this is common to a lot of new cars these days, but I like to control my own locking or unlocking of doors, thank you very much.
Oh I almost forgot to say that I was especially impressed by the good gas mileage that we got during our trip. I mentioned that we drove over 1400 miles during our 10 days? Well, we only got gas three times, and only once were we filling the tank up from very low. We spent about $65 on gas altogether, not counting the full tank that we started with. I didn't figure out the math, but with the cost of gas so high these days, I can't believe we didn't spend a ton more money. No complaints here!! :-)