At $4,900, Is This 2000 Nissan Quest The Minivan You Didn't Know You Were Seeking?

The seller of today's Nice Price or No Dice Quest says the van's rear-seat VHS player is "almost useless, but it's very cool to have." Let's see if this "cool" minivan has a price tag the whole family will think is just as rad.

My East Coast friends have been sharing warmly bucolic pictures of their homes covered in snow, tinged sepia-toned by late-autumnal magic-hour light. Meanwhile, out here at my digs, we've been basking in 80° highs and comfortably cool, but crazily foggy mornings.

Whether you need the secure footing of a 4X4 for snowy roads or just want to make the right impression rolling up to the valet at the latest celebrity hot spot restaurant (which in LA would be Max & Helen's), the 1993 Range Rover County LWD we looked at last Friday would likely get the job done. Claimed in the ad to be in exceptional condition, that classic County carried an exceptionally high $28,000 asking price. Unfortunately for the seller, these trucks aren't quite there yet in the higher echelon of the classic car market, a factor pointed out by many of you in the comments and reflected in the overwhelming 88% "No Dice" loss the big Brit suffered in the voting.

In the 1990s, a U.S. advertising company created a commercial for one of its automaker clients, promoting its "exciting" crossover over a dull, boring minivan. The gist of the ad was a man working out in a crowded gym who hears an announcement over the loudspeaker repeating, "There's a beige minivan with its lights on in the parking lot." Viewers are expected to infer that he is the owner of the minivan and would rather return to a dead battery than admit it to the other sweaty, sinewy gym-goers that he possesses such a lame ride.

Here's the thing: while I can remember that ad, I couldn't tell you the brand or model it promoted. Take that, Mad Men! And to add to the debate over the inherent dullness or coolness of the form factor, today we're going to look at a real beige minivan: a 2000 Nissan Quest SE with a VHS player for the back seat passengers. How neat is that?

Nissan developed the Quest in partnership with the Ford Motor Company, which sold a kissing cousin of the model as the Mercury Villager. There was much more Nissan DNA in the minivans than Ford, but both sides made several compromises and concessions in bringing them to market. Notably, the vans' base was derived from Nissan's Maxima, including the entire powertrain. One anecdote regarding the chafing caused by the joint development focused on the HVAC system. At the time, Ford used text to denote lever and dial functions while Nissan had gone the pictogram route. Figuring out a compromise added to the minivan's development time.

Craigslist

This van is from the model's second generation, and benefits from that in having a fourth door, bringing the model more closely in line with its competition. In expected minivan fashion, it also has three rows of seats. The first two of those are separate captain's chairs with armrests, while the rear-most is a three-seat bench. Altogether, that allows for seven-passenger capacity, although the minivan's cargo carrying ability is somewhat hampered by the need for tools to remove that third row.

This Quest has just 74,000 miles on the clock, and the ad claims a single owner accumulated those miles. Under the hood is a 3.3-liter VG33E V6 making 171 horsepower and 200 pound-feet of torque, which is paired with a Nissan-sourced four-speed automatic with lock-out overdrive. According to the seller, over $2,000 in maintenance has recently been performed on the van, including the fitting of brand-new tires and the replacement of ignition system components. Now it's said to run well, with no tattletale lights on the dash.

It looks very clean as well, both outside and inside. The only visual marring noticeable is an unfortunate dent and some scraping on the front bumper. Everything else appears to be in solid shape with no curbing noticeable on the alloy wheels or failure of the clear coat over the gold metallic paint.

The cabin is clean as a whistle and shows no significant wear, aside from some raised padding on the center armrest from years of elbows pushing there. The oddball VHS player mounts vertically at the back of the console between the front seats. It seems actually to work, displaying the video signal on a small screen above the player. It even includes the original Nissan-branded remote control. Those back-seat passengers also have their own A/C controls, which operate the ceiling-mounted vents.

This Quest includes all of that and comes with a clean title. The seller is asking $4,900 for the van, a price that they warn is "FIRM!!" This Nissan dates to an era when there were many new minivans on the market. Today, that number has dwindled to six, with the minivan segment accounting for about 3.6% of the total new-car market.

That doesn't diminish its value for families, and while older, this Quest still seems to have plenty of life left in it. Is it worth the $4,900 asking price to live with it?

What's your take on spending that amount of cash on this Quest? Does that seem fair given its condition? Or is that too much, movie night or not?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Las Vegas, Nevada, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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