Chevrolet Venture

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The Chevrolet Venture was a minivan produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1997 to 2004 model years. It replaced the Chevrolet Lumina APV. Visually identical minivans were also was sold in Europe as the Opel Sintra, and in the UK they were badged as a Vauxhall. Opel assisted in the development of the minivan as well. During the 2004 model year, the Venture (along with the Astro) was replaced by the similar new 2005 Chevrolet Uplander. The Venture (along with other GM minivans) was built in Doraville, Georgia.

History

The Venture was introduced to the market in 1996 for the 1997 model year as a replacement for the radically styled Lumina APV. In the United States it was also sold as the Oldsmobile Silhouette and the Pontiac Trans Sport, which was later renamed as the Pontiac Montana for 1999. The Venture and its siblings were powered by GM's 3400 V6, introduced in 1996 in their precessors (Lumina APV, Trans Sport and Silhouette), rated at 180 hp. After 1999 the engine was slightly redesigned to produce an extra 5 hp, for a total of 185. All Ventures used a four-speed automatic transmission. A Warner Brothers edition introduced in 2000 featured a DVD entertainment system, a novelty at the time. The exterior was refreshed in 2001, and all-wheel drive was introduced in 2002. Reviews and sales were generally lukewarm, especially about the relatively narrow cabin due to being designed for European roads. The vans came in both short and long wheelbases, and all-wheel-drive versions like the Chrysler minivans. The 3rd row was designed to fold flat, but forming a higher floor unlike the Honda and Mazda minivans that folded into a well behind the 3rd row.

The Venture was replaced after 2005 by the Chevrolet Uplander, which was essentially a facelift with one long wheelbase configuration, and a longer nose which served chiefly to improve crush distance and styling more like an SUV.

Safety

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested the Pontiac Trans Sport (a twin of the Venture) in 1997, and it got a "Poor" rating in the offset frontal tests because the front end of the passenger compartment buckled and crumpled upward, with heavy upward steering wheel movement, which caused the dummy to move upwards in a position that would injure a real human. In addition, one of dummy's feet snapped off, which would also mean heavy injury and or paralyzation of an actual human. Those tests also shot the Venture's and Silhouette's safety reputations, and this slowed down sales. Its European twin, the Opel Sintra, did very bad in the EuroNCAP's crash tests as well, with only two stars (out of four).the results are below: [link]

Structure/Safety Cage: Poor
Head/Neck: Poor
Chest: Good
Leg/Foot Left: Poor
Leg/Foot Right: Poor
Restraints/dummy kinematics: Marginal

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