Seeing the Mercury Villager takes me back. My Mother had a Mercury Cougar. Whiles getting a oil change etc and sitting in the waiting area. I always liked seeing the new Mercury and Lincolns they had. I remember seeing the Villager. I took home a Mercury Brochure Whiles my Mom was talking. I remember seeing the Nautica Edition for the Villager just like Ford had the Eddie Bauer Edition for the Explorer. Ford also had some ties with Mazda as well. The Ford Escape and the Ranger was Mazdas as well but im not familiar with their names. Im glad i grew up in the 80s and 90s to experience the strange things Car Manufacturers did with vehicle styling. Nowadays they don't seem to be as creative.
I loved the idea of the Nautica trim, but it was pricey. Ended up with Pontiac Dustbuster and one of the next gen which each served us well. We had an aftermaket vcr/tv unit between the front seats which was awesome for our 3 kids. We also had rigged 3 cheap headphones which meant my wife and I could talk or listen to something else.
@davidcarroll8735 Those things were game changers if you had kids on trips! You had a TransPort? I did a cheesy Star Trek themed vid on the GM minivans a while back.
I remember a Chinese gal at work that told me she really liked the Mercury Villager but bought a Nissan Quest because she didn’t want a Mercury engine.😜
@P_RO_ I know that, but I would be talking to someone my own age and he's claiming a 05 GMC Sierra was leaps better. Probably had a Father who was a GMC man.
My grandparents who I grew up with had a 93 Mercury Villager back in the late 90s. It was a green one with I believe a gray or tan interior. I just remember the middle row had climate controls on the left side and audio jack where you can plug in headphones and have a separate audio source from the main car audio that I think was controlled we from the front. My grandparents installed an aftermarket center console they got from Costco that had a 9inch CRT tv and a VHS player that I watched movies when we went on long trips.
Those portable VCR systems were all the rage then. Before minivans in the 90s, you generally only saw tvs and VCRs in conversion vans. Ueah the headphone Jack's and controls were on the left as there was no sliding door then.
We had that original Nissan Van. It was fantastic. We had a mid-row bench in lieu of the captain's chairs so on road trips we could lay all the seats flat into an odd shaped full size(ish) bed. It was not fast, but it did get off the line well, very smooth ride too. We never used the ice box, but it was there as standard. Ours was in perfect condition and ran great at 180,000 miles when Nissan bought it back. They paid a lot to buy it back and offered an additional 1000$ towards a new Nissan. My parents bought the '94 Altima which had just come out. It was the first of three they owned. Nissan really used to know how to build a good car for cheap money. By the time the Quest came out the price was a lot higher, and my family didn't really need the space and convenience anymore. Our neighbors had a Nautica Edition Villager. It was very pretty in the driveway. Unfortunately, the transmission only made it to 70,000 miles before it started giving them trouble and they got rid of it pretty quickly after that.
@reslider Wow...Odd to see a transmission issue on a Villager with such few miles. The original van was kinda cool and most I saw had some serious mileage on them. Same goes for the boxy Toyota vans.
There were a couple of these lurking around my neighborhood as a kid, but I never paid them much attention. Definitely learned a few things on this chatter!
My dad had one of the early 93 Villagers. Got it in the fall of 92. Replaced our 87 Pontiac Safari wagon. Same 3.0 that my 85 Maxima that I would eventually get from my paternal grandmother...
Talk about old minivans...I'm so old that I remember the Mazda MPV was the people hauler choice of Rap artist b4 the SUVs I can also remember when all SUVs were called "Jeeps" like all tissues are "Kleenex" and diapers are "Pampers" 😂 Ahhhhhh those were the days...my hip hurts
I remember when the 3 SUV's were a Chevy Suburban, Jeep Wagoneer, or an I-H Travelall. Before disposable diapers were cheap enough to be common. Even paper towels weren't quite a 'thing' yet. Gotta wonder what would have happened if the minivan had come along back then when station wagons were the 'people mover' cars?
LOL..First gen MPVs didn't know what they wanted to be yet. I still hear someone every now and then refer to a SUV as a Jeep....Even a RAV4. I'm guilty of calling a tissue Kleenex myself.
@@P_RO_ EXACTLY...and all 3 of them kinda looked alike too. I guess we've come full circle because even though today there are far more than 3 SUVs they STILL ALL LOOK ALIKE 🤦♂️😄
@@autochatter dont feel bad Chatter I still say "Q-tips" sh!t i dont even know what they're real name is 🤷♂️ .... cotton on a stick🤔?? Hell if i know😆
@averyparticularsetofskills Oh...I say Q tips too...Who would ask for a cotton swab?.Same for Band Aids.....Thats a brand...."Honey...I need a adhesive bandage!" I'm Southern, so there's a decent chance if I request a Coke, I may be asked what kind...Sprite,Dr Pepper, Coca Cola, etc lol. A home video game console is a X Box even if it says Nintendo on it. BUT....A RAV4 is not a Jeep Wrangler.
Fun fact: a red 1st generation Mercury Villager was featured in the 1995 film Boys On The Side starring Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore, and Mary Louis Parker. The red Villager was their cross-country vehicle, mostly driven by Whoopi.
I remember these vans. Especially the Mercury version. Always like these. Especially the second gen. Would have been cool if they would have done a third a gen with the 3.5 V6 from the Altima. 😊
@J_J_Ander Thank you! Everytime the F150 comes up in my head I'm like...Jeeez...They have made F Series for soooo long! Will it be a 3 or 4 part series? But I'm gonna do it.
The Ford Freestar/Mercury Monterey were spiritually replaced by the Ford Flex crossover, and in my opinion, the Flex was a cool vehicle. You should do a video on the Ford Flex.
Thank you for another video. I saw this late last night. You did your homework once again. I liked the fact you could get digital gauges with the Villager. I did not know that. It was interesting to know how the Asian automakers started and kept developing until they got it right where as the American automakers got it wrong and never could get it right. That was lost opportunity. The Koreans got in the game too. What was sad is they were high quality vehicles and as soon as the diverged, it fell apart. I saw you mentioned the GM vans. They never were competitive as they could have been sadly. The sad part... crossovers and suv's rule today in 2024.Good work. I learned what you do as a career from this video too. Good for you!
@@autochatter That explains your wealth of car knowledge. Your channel has so much potential because of this. Let it grow! I am curious have you work for GM and Ford brands and Chrysler? What roles have you held? I bet the business has changed too.
@OLDS98 I was a Service Advisor for both in the early 2000s,and GM after that. Most of my years was with Nissan, but I've also been with Pontiac,Isuzu,Mazda,and am currently with Lexus.
@@autochatter I used to have a nice service advisor I had a great relationship with. His name was Shawn/Sean/Shaun Sudnow. He used to help me with my previous Oldsmobile Ninety Eights I owned. It was a Cadillac/Buick/Oldsmobile dealer. He moved to Hawaii. So you were working with Pontiac excitement too? Good for you. I bet that dealership experience at Lexus is interesting. My cousin owns a Lexus NX. I rode in a ES sedan. I was not impresssed. I am sure you enjoy what you did at Lexus.
The last Quest looked like a hearse to me I believe the Ford Windstar used the same transmission as the Taurus but was substantially heavier and was used like a truck
Another fine chatter, mate! I was never a fan of these but I reckon they were alright... only drove one of them.... alright but I found it too small. Anyway... keep chattering. Like, comment, subscribe and hit the all notifications bell y'all! Have you chattered about the first modern era crossover yet? By that I mean the AMC Eagle.... it was a great little workhorse and quite comfortable. Mine had the 258 six.... loved it! Dependable af, that engine! All the best, later.
I really just like the rare instances that Mercury got something Ford didn't. That Nautica Villager was almost an actual reason for Mercury to exist (a proper slightly premium, not-just-a-Ford product). Sometimes I feel like by discontinuing Mercury, it has just allowed Ford to lower the standard for what is a Lincoln.
@iluvcamaros1912 I'd agree. I think the bigger issue was most of the later Mercury products had a Ford counterpart. The few that didn't like the last Cougar,Villager,Capri,and Maurarder, were either poor sellers or too niche to turn them around.
I'm confused as to why Ford collaborated with Nissan just to release the Windstar two years later. My cousin had a 1st generation Villager for a bit. It was okay but it felt like a downgrade from their second generation Grand Voyager.
@colinschmitz8297 It does seem a little odd. Nissan struck the deal with them around 88 or 89. It was the replacement for the Colony Park technically, which went away around 91. Guess Ford didn't want to wait longer for a Windstar based Mercury to take its place. I didn't care for second gen Caravans as much. The all new third gen in 96 was a game changer IMO.
5:49 - GM *never* figured out how to make a good minivan. However, if they would just put sliding doors on their Traverse, I could be convinced they finally got a decent minivan in their lineup.
Between 94-98 I was working at a Ford dealership and the Villager was a far better driving minivan than the Windstar ever was. One was like driving a midsize car and the other was like a base Taurus with weight issues. And like you mentioned, Transmission issues with the Windstar.
I actually wish there was a Simulator just for Automobiles or anything with Tires! Like a Really good and detailed road sim with Cars to Semi’s from 1910s to Now 🤷♂️ in great graphics and being able to drive around the Real world etc. As I always liked to drive
Didn't see too many of these compared to the others and I've never even ridden in one. Probably a result of price and that Chrysler was almost always a step ahead of everyone else with minivans. Mercury was still viable and like here sometimes had their own vehicles which Ford didn't offer. Minivans were at their zenith through these times but the market was crowded which had to limit sales for anyone but the front-runner. It seems all the manufacturers were either invested in another brand (or several) or were collabing with them back then, with many of the direct overseas divisions of US manufacturers going away or making major shifts in their market position where they were sold. The xenophobia over 'foreign cars' was mostly gone as Japan had proved they were equal to or better than anyone else. But getting back to these particular cars, I saw a higher ratio of the Villagers on the road (and in better condition) compared to the others a few years back which did strike me as being somewhat odd. I have noted that even when used, upmarket cars seem to be kept in better shape than the common ones, probably an economics thing. The Quest was always scarce here. Anyway as always an enjoyable episode of recounting what once was and of learning some new details on cars. Keep 'em coming!
@P_RO_ Thank you! The original Quest was advertised by Nissan as "best IMPORT BRANDED" minivan with the first gens, but that was when Toyota was still doing quirky and I don't think the Odyessy was here yet. I have a relative that had a 96 Quest and she put close to 300k miles on it. I saw a disproportional amount of Quests vs Villager because I was working at a Nissan store in the mid 90s.
My mom had a black nissan quest. I was the first mini van she owned. It was great until It died on us one day. My mom replace it with a Pontiac Montana. Eventually, she replaced that with a Chrysler Town & Country. And now she has a 2016 ford edge. I don't know why I shared this information.
@JoshScott-v7j Yeah I remember seeing a article about that! It looked pretty similar to the final product. My wife had a 07 Quest. It was good to us for many years.
@JoshScott-v7j It was sitting outside slowly rotting away, so I don't know what kind of maintaining they were doing LOL. Concept cars usually get destroyed. They don't want to risk someone putting one on the road. They crushed that Nissan Bevel? concept too then. It was cool looking as well.
@@autochatter also don't tell anyone but I've driven everything from Nissan 240s to IH Scout 2, Astro Vans to Taurus Wagons. Hands down my 1999 Villager is my favorite ride ever. Shhhh.... 😊
@doug6191 Ouch! Don't tell my wife. She loved her 2007 model. They went to normal guages in front of you then and got rid of the toothy grille. The ride and room was great, but the wheelbase was so long I referred to it as a aircraft carrier at times.
@autochatter There wasn't much I liked after Renault stepped in. The '03 Altima was great, and the '05 Frontier was, too. Everything else was just not for me.
@doug6191 Post acquisition, I liked the 350z (had one), Frontier,Titan,pre 2013 Pathfinders,Xterra, and some Infiniti models....Oh and the GTR of course.
@@autochatter I forgot the 350Z. That's an exception. The truck side of Nissan was fine, though the Titan and Pathfinder Armada were a bit garish. Sentra and Maxima were ruined. The Quest was, um, not for me. The Versa was okay with a manual.
@doug6191 I was working at a Nissan dealer then so got a great deal on it.I won't say with a straight face it was better than a Odyessy or Sienna then, but it turned out to be a great vehicle that she put 170k miles on it before trading. Her mother bought a 09 Quest and last I heard, the new owner has well over 300k on it. None of those are my type of vehicle anyway. My current car would probably fit in the back of that Quest LOL.
Seeing the Mercury Villager takes me back. My Mother had a Mercury Cougar. Whiles getting a oil change etc and sitting in the waiting area. I always liked seeing the new Mercury and Lincolns they had. I remember seeing the Villager. I took home a Mercury Brochure Whiles my Mom was talking. I remember seeing the Nautica Edition for the Villager just like Ford had the Eddie Bauer Edition for the Explorer. Ford also had some ties with Mazda as well. The Ford Escape and the Ranger was Mazdas as well but im not familiar with their names. Im glad i grew up in the 80s and 90s to experience the strange things Car Manufacturers did with vehicle styling. Nowadays they don't seem to be as creative.
They were good vans. I'd take a Villager over a Windstar anyday!
@@autochatter true. The Windstar/Freestar sucked. Especially when some would catch on fire. 🤦♂️
@jasperdilincoln2341 Thats definately a negative for them.
I loved the idea of the Nautica trim, but it was pricey. Ended up with Pontiac Dustbuster and one of the next gen which each served us well. We had an aftermaket vcr/tv unit between the front seats which was awesome for our 3 kids. We also had rigged 3 cheap headphones which meant my wife and I could talk or listen to something else.
@davidcarroll8735 Those things were game changers if you had kids on trips! You had a TransPort? I did a cheesy Star Trek themed vid on the GM minivans a while back.
I remember a Chinese gal at work that told me she really liked the Mercury Villager but bought a Nissan Quest because she didn’t want a Mercury engine.😜
@wmalden ROFL...Reminds me of guys I knew that thought the GMC pickups were so much better than the Chevy ones.
@@autochatter Go back far enough and you'll find GMC had it's own engines, and it was marketed more as a working truck rather than an upscale Chevy!
@P_RO_ I know that, but I would be talking to someone my own age and he's claiming a 05 GMC Sierra was leaps better. Probably had a Father who was a GMC man.
That's funny - I only see the Mercury's with their sypee reliable / economic v6s still on the road , just shows what China kitty knows
My grandparents who I grew up with had a 93 Mercury Villager back in the late 90s. It was a green one with I believe a gray or tan interior. I just remember the middle row had climate controls on the left side and audio jack where you can plug in headphones and have a separate audio source from the main car audio that I think was controlled we from the front.
My grandparents installed an aftermarket center console they got from Costco that had a 9inch CRT tv and a VHS player that I watched movies when we went on long trips.
Those portable VCR systems were all the rage then. Before minivans in the 90s, you generally only saw tvs and VCRs in conversion vans. Ueah the headphone Jack's and controls were on the left as there was no sliding door then.
We had that original Nissan Van. It was fantastic. We had a mid-row bench in lieu of the captain's chairs so on road trips we could lay all the seats flat into an odd shaped full size(ish) bed. It was not fast, but it did get off the line well, very smooth ride too. We never used the ice box, but it was there as standard. Ours was in perfect condition and ran great at 180,000 miles when Nissan bought it back. They paid a lot to buy it back and offered an additional 1000$ towards a new Nissan. My parents bought the '94 Altima which had just come out. It was the first of three they owned. Nissan really used to know how to build a good car for cheap money. By the time the Quest came out the price was a lot higher, and my family didn't really need the space and convenience anymore. Our neighbors had a Nautica Edition Villager. It was very pretty in the driveway. Unfortunately, the transmission only made it to 70,000 miles before it started giving them trouble and they got rid of it pretty quickly after that.
@reslider Wow...Odd to see a transmission issue on a Villager with such few miles. The original van was kinda cool and most I saw had some serious mileage on them. Same goes for the boxy Toyota vans.
i drive a 95 Mercury villager. 191000. mostly original parts. easy to work on . and nobody tries to steal it ;) great video
Awesome! Good to hear there's still some running around!..and Thank you!
😭😭😭nobody tries to steal it ,yo you hilarious
My parents had a brand new 1996 Mercury Villager. It was the first new car they bought. This video brought me back with a lot of memories.
@kyledexter485 Cool! Glad you enjoyed it!
I think I actually saw more Villagers than Quests when these were new.
I recall a pretty even mix. I would assume there was more Mercury Dealers in the 90's than Nissan ones.
There were a couple of these lurking around my neighborhood as a kid, but I never paid them much attention. Definitely learned a few things on this chatter!
@juelzm149 Hey..Nothing is more exciting than the wonderful world of minivans! 😃 Thanks for the view!
My dad had one of the early 93 Villagers. Got it in the fall of 92. Replaced our 87 Pontiac Safari wagon. Same 3.0 that my 85 Maxima that I would eventually get from my paternal grandmother...
@@jasonsobol32 Cool!
Talk about old minivans...I'm so old that I remember the Mazda MPV was the people hauler choice of Rap artist b4 the SUVs
I can also remember when all SUVs were called "Jeeps" like all tissues are "Kleenex" and diapers are "Pampers"
😂
Ahhhhhh those were the days...my hip hurts
I remember when the 3 SUV's were a Chevy Suburban, Jeep Wagoneer, or an I-H Travelall. Before disposable diapers were cheap enough to be common. Even paper towels weren't quite a 'thing' yet. Gotta wonder what would have happened if the minivan had come along back then when station wagons were the 'people mover' cars?
LOL..First gen MPVs didn't know what they wanted to be yet. I still hear someone every now and then refer to a SUV as a Jeep....Even a RAV4. I'm guilty of calling a tissue Kleenex myself.
@@P_RO_ EXACTLY...and all 3 of them kinda looked alike too.
I guess we've come full circle because even though today there are far more than 3 SUVs they STILL ALL LOOK ALIKE 🤦♂️😄
@@autochatter dont feel bad Chatter I still say "Q-tips" sh!t i dont even know what they're real name is 🤷♂️ .... cotton on a stick🤔?? Hell if i know😆
@averyparticularsetofskills Oh...I say Q tips too...Who would ask for a cotton swab?.Same for Band Aids.....Thats a brand...."Honey...I need a adhesive bandage!" I'm Southern, so there's a decent chance if I request a Coke, I may be asked what kind...Sprite,Dr Pepper, Coca Cola, etc lol. A home video game console is a X Box even if it says Nintendo on it. BUT....A RAV4 is not a Jeep Wrangler.
The Circuit City comment killed me! 😂
@petestaint8312 I forgot to put a old circuit city clip there 😅 Its called knowing your audience ROFL!
Great stroll down a shared memory lane. #subscribed
@@davidc8735 Thank you very much!
Fun fact: a red 1st generation Mercury Villager was featured in the 1995 film Boys On The Side starring Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore, and Mary Louis Parker. The red Villager was their cross-country vehicle, mostly driven by Whoopi.
@@donaldwilson2620 Cool..Last movie I saw with Whoopi was prob one of those Sister Act flicks.
I remember these vans. Especially the Mercury version. Always like these. Especially the second gen. Would have been cool if they would have done a third a gen with the 3.5 V6 from the Altima. 😊
@Hobotraveler82 The third gen Quest was built on a Altima platform and had the 3.5 V6.
Really enjoy these videos! Thank you! Patiently waiting for the F150,😅
@J_J_Ander Thank you! Everytime the F150 comes up in my head I'm like...Jeeez...They have made F Series for soooo long! Will it be a 3 or 4 part series? But I'm gonna do it.
@@autochatter Gonna take more than 3-4 parts even if you omit the special editions, but looking forward to that when you do it.
The Ford Freestar/Mercury Monterey were spiritually replaced by the Ford Flex crossover, and in my opinion, the Flex was a cool vehicle. You should do a video on the Ford Flex.
@donaldwilson2620 Yeah the Flex was neat. It's been in the back of my head to do sometime back. Much better than the Freestyle!
Thank you for another video. I saw this late last night. You did your homework once again. I liked the fact you could get digital gauges with the Villager. I did not know that. It was interesting to know how the Asian automakers started and kept developing until they got it right where as the American automakers got it wrong and never could get it right. That was lost opportunity. The Koreans got in the game too. What was sad is they were high quality vehicles and as soon as the diverged, it fell apart. I saw you mentioned the GM vans. They never were competitive as they could have been sadly. The sad part... crossovers and suv's rule today in 2024.Good work. I learned what you do as a career from this video too. Good for you!
@OLDS98 Thanks! Yeah I've been in the car biz since 94 in several roles over the years.
@@autochatter That explains your wealth of car knowledge. Your channel has so much potential because of this. Let it grow! I am curious have you work for GM and Ford brands and Chrysler? What roles have you held? I bet the business has changed too.
@OLDS98 I was a Service Advisor for both in the early 2000s,and GM after that. Most of my years was with Nissan, but I've also been with Pontiac,Isuzu,Mazda,and am currently with Lexus.
@@autochatter I used to have a nice service advisor I had a great relationship with. His name was Shawn/Sean/Shaun Sudnow. He used to help me with my previous Oldsmobile Ninety Eights I owned. It was a Cadillac/Buick/Oldsmobile dealer. He moved to Hawaii. So you were working with Pontiac excitement too? Good for you. I bet that dealership experience at Lexus is interesting. My cousin owns a Lexus NX. I rode in a ES sedan. I was not impresssed. I am sure you enjoy what you did at Lexus.
@OLDS98 Lexus is great. They are very well built. Back when I was with Pontiac, I sold them. Almost forgot...Was selling Hyundai back then too.
The last Quest looked like a hearse to me
I believe the Ford Windstar used the same transmission as the Taurus but was substantially heavier and was used like a truck
@joemazzola7387 Yeah..The Taurus was known to blow torque convertor, so a heavier van would only be worse.
Another fine chatter, mate! I was never a fan of these but I reckon they were alright... only drove one of them.... alright but I found it too small. Anyway... keep chattering. Like, comment, subscribe and hit the all notifications bell y'all!
Have you chattered about the first modern era crossover yet? By that I mean the AMC Eagle.... it was a great little workhorse and quite comfortable. Mine had the 258 six.... loved it! Dependable af, that engine!
All the best, later.
Thank you! I've made mention of the Eagle in several vids now, but no...I haven't given the first Crossover it's due yet.
@@autochatter Food for thought 🤔🤔🤔
I really just like the rare instances that Mercury got something Ford didn't. That Nautica Villager was almost an actual reason for Mercury to exist (a proper slightly premium, not-just-a-Ford product). Sometimes I feel like by discontinuing Mercury, it has just allowed Ford to lower the standard for what is a Lincoln.
@iluvcamaros1912 I'd agree. I think the bigger issue was most of the later Mercury products had a Ford counterpart. The few that didn't like the last Cougar,Villager,Capri,and Maurarder, were either poor sellers or too niche to turn them around.
I'm confused as to why Ford collaborated with Nissan just to release the Windstar two years later. My cousin had a 1st generation Villager for a bit. It was okay but it felt like a downgrade from their second generation Grand Voyager.
@colinschmitz8297 It does seem a little odd. Nissan struck the deal with them around 88 or 89. It was the replacement for the Colony Park technically, which went away around 91. Guess Ford didn't want to wait longer for a Windstar based Mercury to take its place. I didn't care for second gen Caravans as much. The all new third gen in 96 was a game changer IMO.
5:49 - GM *never* figured out how to make a good minivan. However, if they would just put sliding doors on their Traverse, I could be convinced they finally got a decent minivan in their lineup.
@doug6191 Traverse and Flex were designed for people that liked the versatility of a minivan, but were in "I need a minivan" denial.
I actually want the first gen for a weekend camper.
Between 94-98 I was working at a Ford dealership and the Villager was a far better driving minivan than the Windstar ever was. One was like driving a midsize car and the other was like a base Taurus with weight issues. And like you mentioned, Transmission issues with the Windstar.
@@ericharrison619 I'd agree with that. Wasn't head gaskets also common on the Windstars?
The Toyota Previa was a weird egg shape design which like the previous minivan had the engine underneath the driver's seat
@davinp It was...and had optional AWD and a Supercharger!
I clicked on the video earlier, but it said that you had removed it. I assume that some extra editing needed to be done.
You are correct. Made a boo boo LOL.
I figured it was something YT did. They've gone nutso lately ☹
I actually wish there was a Simulator just for Automobiles or anything with Tires! Like a Really good and detailed road sim with Cars to Semi’s from 1910s to Now 🤷♂️ in great graphics and being able to drive around the Real world etc.
As I always liked to drive
@APerson-ni1gb That would be neat..Would take alot of work to have a library of 125 years of vehicles though.
Didn't see too many of these compared to the others and I've never even ridden in one. Probably a result of price and that Chrysler was almost always a step ahead of everyone else with minivans. Mercury was still viable and like here sometimes had their own vehicles which Ford didn't offer. Minivans were at their zenith through these times but the market was crowded which had to limit sales for anyone but the front-runner. It seems all the manufacturers were either invested in another brand (or several) or were collabing with them back then, with many of the direct overseas divisions of US manufacturers going away or making major shifts in their market position where they were sold. The xenophobia over 'foreign cars' was mostly gone as Japan had proved they were equal to or better than anyone else.
But getting back to these particular cars, I saw a higher ratio of the Villagers on the road (and in better condition) compared to the others a few years back which did strike me as being somewhat odd. I have noted that even when used, upmarket cars seem to be kept in better shape than the common ones, probably an economics thing. The Quest was always scarce here. Anyway as always an enjoyable episode of recounting what once was and of learning some new details on cars. Keep 'em coming!
@P_RO_ Thank you! The original Quest was advertised by Nissan as "best IMPORT BRANDED" minivan with the first gens, but that was when Toyota was still doing quirky and I don't think the Odyessy was here yet. I have a relative that had a 96 Quest and she put close to 300k miles on it. I saw a disproportional amount of Quests vs Villager because I was working at a Nissan store in the mid 90s.
My mom had a black nissan quest. I was the first mini van she owned. It was great until It died on us one day. My mom replace it with a Pontiac Montana. Eventually, she replaced that with a Chrysler Town & Country. And now she has a 2016 ford edge. I don't know why I shared this information.
@LucasMeyer48 I'm glad you did! She likes a vehicle where pretty much anything you can buy at WalMart or Target can fit in it.
Did you know that the concept car for the 3rd gen Quest was crushed 2 years ago?
@JoshScott-v7j Yeah I remember seeing a article about that! It looked pretty similar to the final product. My wife had a 07 Quest. It was good to us for many years.
@@autochatter They look so interesting! I read that they couldn't maintain the concept anymore so they crushed it.
@JoshScott-v7j It was sitting outside slowly rotting away, so I don't know what kind of maintaining they were doing LOL. Concept cars usually get destroyed. They don't want to risk someone putting one on the road. They crushed that Nissan Bevel? concept too then. It was cool looking as well.
@@autochatterThe Bevel and Quest were crushed and were stacked on top of each other in a junkyard on top of another scrapped concept from Nissan
@@JoshScott-v7j Sad...I'm still mad at Nissan for not making the iDX. The spiritual successor to the Datsun 510.
The Nautica was cool , but when Honda got there foot in the door they trounced everyone.
@char1737 Just about yeah.Chrysler stayed relevant too.
Ok so the 1999, "Mercury Villager has a non-interference engine?"
@cjackfly The 3.3s are supposed to be yes. Same for 1st gen 3 liters.
@@autochatter No wonder when my timing belt went boom at -40 below zero it didn't boom the engine.
@@autochatter also don't tell anyone but I've driven everything from Nissan 240s to IH Scout 2, Astro Vans to Taurus Wagons. Hands down my 1999 Villager is my favorite ride ever. Shhhh.... 😊
@cjackfly Yikes that's cold.
@@cjackfly Your secret is safe with me.
Damn shame what’s happened to that company..
@@diddlybow3891 which one?
Nissan
@diddlybow3891 Yeah.. Ive always had a soft spot for the brand. The Renault alliance saved them, but later killed the brand IMO.
@@autochatter Nissans used to be cool. Z cars, hardbody pick ups. Nissan were like dependable Japanese hot rods compared to the other Japanese brands
@diddlybow3891 Thats likely why I became a fan of them years ago.
ford with mazda.
@kc0lif Ford owned a stake in Mazda for a long time. Untill around 2014 I think?
13:49 - Easily the ugliest minivan ever.
@doug6191 Ouch! Don't tell my wife. She loved her 2007 model. They went to normal guages in front of you then and got rid of the toothy grille. The ride and room was great, but the wheelbase was so long I referred to it as a aircraft carrier at times.
@autochatter There wasn't much I liked after Renault stepped in. The '03 Altima was great, and the '05 Frontier was, too. Everything else was just not for me.
@doug6191 Post acquisition, I liked the 350z (had one), Frontier,Titan,pre 2013 Pathfinders,Xterra, and some Infiniti models....Oh and the GTR of course.
@@autochatter I forgot the 350Z. That's an exception. The truck side of Nissan was fine, though the Titan and Pathfinder Armada were a bit garish. Sentra and Maxima were ruined. The Quest was, um, not for me. The Versa was okay with a manual.
@doug6191 I was working at a Nissan dealer then so got a great deal on it.I won't say with a straight face it was better than a Odyessy or Sienna then, but it turned out to be a great vehicle that she put 170k miles on it before trading. Her mother bought a 09 Quest and last I heard, the new owner has well over 300k on it. None of those are my type of vehicle anyway. My current car would probably fit in the back of that Quest LOL.