That was Peter's van from one of the Astro Safari forums with the 502. He had a matching lifted trailer he did for it too. Did all the work himself. He brought it to VanWest once for us to see.

Astros after they get to a certain age can be expensive to maintain, if you can't do the work yourself. The AWD versions are even more expensive to maintain.
Do check out the Astro Safari forums to get some insight from people who have owned them. Unlike classic Chevy/Dodge/Ford vans Astros do not hold their value as well so if you do sink a lot of money into one of these plan on keeping it a long time because you won't likely get it back.

You never stated how you want to use the van. Daily Driver or do you want to go crazy and customize ? It makes a difference in the replys you will get.

Before spending a lot of time trying to help the original poster of this thread, may want to look at the date it was posted, a little over 6 years ago. Some areas of this site draw a lot of dust from lack of action.

They can be expensive to keep up, I'll have mine 'til one of us dies I guess. I like it that much anyway.

2006 !

........Yup....

The original poster for the question may be gone but it still bears answering. Perhaps the info will be useful to someone else.

I have a 2000 that I have owned since new and I must say the answers here are mostly spot on. Overall it has been a great little van despite some minor problems.

I would also mention the poor gas mileage to anyone looking to buy, but I would buy one again if I needed another van.

Agreed Bryce, on all points. I do like my current astro 2wd as I get pretty good MPG (for a van) , at 20 over all average, with the best being 24 that I have ever gotten.

I know this is a pretty dusty thread, but I must say I was very happy with my 98 Astro AWD on the trip back and forth from the Wisconsin Nats. Drove 72-77 mph for most of the trip and I was getting 19.7 mpg. That's a big woo-hoo for me because I usually average around 16.

A good friend of mine is going to buy an Astro. He wants to get into vanning. He now is considering an AWD and just getting rid of his 4wd pick up as he doesnt want two vehicles to maintain but needs 4wd to get to town in the winter. He is not much of a computer guy and has asked me to check on here for him about the pros and cons of AWD VS. 2WD.
Cons- Considerable drop in MPG, Higher maintanance costs, Pretty much no difference then between 2 or 4wd with any other vehicle is what I'm gathering.
THe AWD system in the van is a good working system except that someone mentioned an electric activation motor or something that tends to go out that cost around $150. Anything else he needs to know. THis would be his daily driver as well as taking it to van runs and camping trips etc. Thanks for theinput.