2001 Nissan Quest: Overview

Vehicle Highlights

Quest and Mercury's Villager vanish after a short 2002-model-year run as Nissan and Ford end their minivan joint venture. Nissan says it will have a new minivan for 2004. Minor styling and dashboard revisions mark '01 Quests. All are 7-seaters with a Nissan V6, automatic transmission, ABS, sliding-track 3rd-row bench seat, and dual sliding rear doors. No power doors or side airbags. Heated seats are standard on top-line GLE, optional on SE. Base GXE gains SE/GLE 16-inch wheels. All offer a rear-seat video entertainment system at no extra charge. Quest performance and accommodations mirror those of comparably equipped Villagers.

COMPETITION

Though the competition has heated up, we feel that the new Dodge Caravan is still one of the best minivans you can buy. It offers all of the creature comforts in a pleasing package at a fair price. Our other Best Buy is the Honda Odyssey. It's a little bit smaller than the Dodge, but more sporty to drive, and it has a super-convenient flip-and-fold-away rear seat.

Trailing at a close second are the Recommended Chevy Venture, Ford Windstar, and Toyota Sienna. Though these vans are comparably priced and offer loads of neat features, we feel they can't match the road manners of our two Best Buys. Also garnering Recommended ratings are the Chrysler Town & Country and Chrysler Voyager. Though they are mechanically similar to the class-leading Caravan, they don't offer the breadth of model choices.