Both versions of the Chevy maintain the same overhang. Ford's extended has a mile hanging back there and that is no good.
I would have to disagree, on the no good part, to give you my background: My family has had 2 15 passenger Ford vans (1993 (Gas, was driven to 170k or so and sold because we needed more power to tow a 16' horse trailer) and 1999 (7.3L Diesel, Currently at almost 200k miles, with no major problems not caused by a dealer)), before we had that we had a 15 passenger Dodge conversion van (1980something, got burned in a barn fire).
At work (a hotel) we had 3 15 passenger Ford vans (2004 and 2005) and 2 15 passenger Chevrolet vans (2004 and 2005), we have since sold the Fords, the reason the hotel sold them was that 5 vans was too many (long story as to why there were 5 vans in the first place) and the Chevrolet vans have traction control, power seats and remote door locks, so they stayed.
I would rather drive with the Ford vans, their mirrors are light years ahead of the Chevrolet's (they actually have a blind spot mirror built in), the drivers seat is also 3-4 inches closer to the middle in the fords, which isnt a big deal for smaller people, but I am not a small person (5' 11" 260#) and the Chevrolet seats are too narrow for me, also the fords have a smaller blind spot due to the seat being more centered, you can see between the seat and the A pillar and through the windows behind the A pillar, which I cant do on the Chevrolet vans.
to their credit, the Chevrolet vans have a little more cargo space with the back seat out (as long as you remove the brilliantly placed jack from the middle of the floor) and the back doors open wider, but the interior height is shorter due to the carpet being at the height of the top of the seat rails.
As for maintainance, I am told (by some friends who bought a 15 passenger Chevrolet) that the 15 passenger specific parts (exhaust system, drive shaft, windows, etc) are more expensive because unlike in the Fords those parts only fit the 15 passenger vans, they don't fit the other vans or the trucks.
as for the 15 passenger Dodge vans, when we were replacing the old dodge we looked at dodges but they were all LOUD inside, and the LOOOOOONG tail over the back axle looked problematic, so we went with a Ford and haven't looked back, we also looked at the Chevrolet vans but we didn't like the feel and they didn't have a diesel engine available.
We got the 1999 Ford E350 with 80 or 90k miles on it in 2000 and have had it ever since, it has never let us down, it has made many trips from NY to GA with and without a trailer behind it, it has also gone from GA to NYC to pickup a 18'x48' pool (in the van, on the roof and behind the van) it has had transmission work done (after it went to a dealership for recall work, they drive it around in the back lot and got a couple of pieces of 1.5-2.5" rock in the bellhousing where they made an awful racket (which they couldent find) until we took it to a good independent shop who found the (almost polished) rocks and gave them to us.
other than that the only major issues have been a alternator that froze up and a oil leak (only when hot and at 2000+ rpms) from somewhere in the valley at the top of the engine.
Aaron Z
