2002 Chevrolet Express Van - Cars Worth Noting - GM's new full-size minivan - Brief Article - Product Announcement

Automotive Industries, Feb, 2002 by Gerry Kobe

Gee Christmas.

The "gee" is for G-van, GM's full-size, people-and-cargo devouring monstrosity that perfectly illustrates why minivans are so named. "Christmas" is for Christmas. Or to be more specific, for hauling Christmas presents to my folks' house to celebrate the holiday.

As a matter of fact, when I requested Chevy's Express for evaluation, it was with the sole purpose in mind of seeing how it handled Christmas cargo. I'd bought some bulky items as gifts this year and with the presents piled high in my basement, I thought for sure I'd bring the big G-van to its knees.

The first thing I did was put the van in "cargo mode" by removing the third seat in my eight-passenger LT model. This manly exercise involves bear-hugging the full-size bench seat, wrestling it to the sill of the back doors and then running in terror as it plummets to the ground. I also briefly considered extracting one of the captain's chairs in the second row, but having just watched a PBS special on strangulated hernias, I decided this risky procedure should be done only on an "as needed" basis.

With the back of the van wide open, I decided to first load what I could into the space between the front and second row of seats. Five packages, then 10 packages; the space never seemed to fill up and, in fact, never did. Eighteen packages later my basement was empty and the Express was ready for more.

Santa's sleigh has nothing on this van. It's big comfortable and has awesome utility.