1992 Ford Aerostar XL Plus Review - A Retro Minivan With A MANUAL Transmission!

[@ItsMillerThyme]

There’s something cozy about watching that shifter vibrate at idle

[@Doctor_Robert]

1:21 The 4 Litre was a Cologne V6 (created by Ford Germany in the 1960s and to be found in everything from the Ranger to the Ford Capri and the Ford Sierra XR4i), the Vulcan only came in 3 Litre flavor.

[@evanb1266]

This. The 4.0 was a larger version of the 2.8 & 2.9.

[@ryanthompson2893]

Unlike the 4.0, the Vulcan isn’t complete crap 😂

[@jeremiahallyn4603]

Ah, that old Ford radio. It was in all models back in the late 80s and into the 90s. My Papaw had a 1988 Ford F-150, and I remember messing with the Bass and Treble on the radio in his truck. I love reviews of old cars and trucks ✌️😃

[@trumpet12345]

I wish old radios returned😢

[@jonathankleinow2073]

I remember that radio from my grandma's 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis. Lots of road trips down to Gulf Shores or New Smyrna Beach with Roger Whitaker tapes in rotation.

[@Blowncapacitor84]

My new pep pep had one, too. I fed him food and sat on his lap like a grandkid should!

[@johnsonlong8491]

Just turn the bass and treble knob all the way up. Its how to use it

[@alpaljl]

Aerostar!!! I have always had a soft spot for these vans. They look so cool. I was brought home as a newborn in a 1993 Aerostar.

[@bryannikkila9751]

I live in Northern Michigan and still drive a 1993 Ford Aerostar 223k miles

[@alpaljl]

@@bryannikkila9751 Nice!

[@virongreene5146]

The Aerostar was based on the Ranger chassis, that's why it was truck like in ride quality. The competition was based on uni-body car designs. The Aerostar had a higher tow rating and parts commonality with the Ranger and F-150 of it's time. I loved mine. Unfortunately it was totaled out by deer.

[@WildGilles]

The closest competitor was probably the Chevy Astro, which was also based on a small pick up truck, the S10.

[@user-tu1ee6dc5f]

Step dads totaled in a tbone. It was great many road trips in this thing. Never knew they made em with a 5 speed.. Guy I knew had a 4/4 one of these like 8 yrs ago.

[@PennsyPappas]

actually its not based of ford ranger chassis. it shares many parts with ranger but underneath is a reinforced unibody that was unique to the aerostar. we were told that same myth but we found out when we went to have the vans undercoated. still rode much like a truck and could handle things like a light truck of the day.

[@Powersproductions130]

Okay, now I like the Aerostar even more. Ranger chassis??? That’s so cool.

[@thomasthurston6656]

It was rear coil suspension mom had a 91 new in CALIFORNIA SoCal.

[@chrisstevenswrites]

As an Aerostar enthusiast, seeing a stick shift from the factory is incredible.

[@njguy9373]

Never saw a long wheelbase Aerostar in manual. I miss the days when you could order any combination of options. I saw a short wheelbase, digital dash, Captain's chairs, manual window but automatic transmission version recently online. This is a long bed Ford Ranger with a van body instead of a pickup body. Nothing can kill these things except rust.

[@TravisPupek-gi6hg]

Dang that van is probably the nicest underated can of the late 80's and early 90's and that manual is a complete gem. Wish I still had my 1993 vw eurovan

[@josephstarnes8747]

I miss 2 tone paint. I'm glad it is kinda making a come back. Some cars now have a different color roof. Now we just need white walls to make a come back!

[@jerrywalters8885]

Best vehicle I've ever owned 2500 plus tax 155k fully loaded xl all but AWD. Lasted till 267k when Grsnd Canyon opened up the block at 75mph on the Interstate. Helped move 4 times only used uhaul with it first time other 3 it did ALL the moving except bed moved in friends pickem up. Lol wife loved it kids called it Jolly Green as was dark green with grey along bottom under trim never needed anything but maintained never left us stranded once. Even survived a two time roll over in the snow when a car cut my wife off on a windy day with nothing but 1 bussed side mirror car driver replaced and dents all over. Didn't lose o e single WIndow and wife was perfectly fine not a scratch. Started right up and drove itself out of the ditch back onto the road to wait for police. Heater never lost a beat.

[@joshshuckahosee7942]

we had an old S10 ext cab, same story with it but no snow instead it was a summer baked dirt road an 70 mph stupidity..not me doing the flipping by the way lol but yeah, just remember it pulling in top crunched in huffing an puffin but still tryna do truck things..LIKE A ROCK!

[@touringandtrails]

These vans were tough as nails. I had a 97 model, picked it up for $1200 way back in 2004 for my delivery van. On a route my oil pressure dropped to zero, drove it an additional 6 hours without oil pressure. Figured I would run till failure, but it made it home. Will never forget the metal-on-metal noise. Dropped the oil pan over the weekend and found the oil pump laying in the pan, both bolts backed completely out. Put a new oil pump in and it ran another 50k miles when it was totaled in a wreck. True story, although I wish it had the manual transmission.

[@dragon81heart]

Ok quite jealous! I’ve never gotten to drive a manual Aerostar. Drove plenty of them but never even seen a manual in person let alone drive one. I miss these vans. They always surprised me how well they rode and how quiet they were on the inside. Phenomenal road trip vehicles!

[@zythr9999]

unless it had the 2.8

[@cehuffman]

HUGE FAN ...you have an amazing appreciation for the past. I think your comparison to the Silhouette is incorrect. The GM comparison would be the GMC Safari or the Chevrolet Astro. The Chrysler concepts are front wheel drive and I don't think are fair comparisons ...thank you for being a historian of autos!

[@nate_d376]

This takes me back....my parents had one, my uncle had one, my other uncle had one, my grandpa had one....and I inherited two of them....for a while. I will say this, the dual A/C (rear) caused a lot of trouble as they aged. Very expensive to fix, if fixable at all.

[@blk77sunshn]

The Ford Aerostar brings back alotta memories, well done ! My father purchased the very first model dodge caravan in 1985 (actually bought it in mid 1984) it was pretty wild. If you turned on the a/c you lost 55hp and could barely make it up an ant hill, so the windows were down ALOT ! LOL I really like your videos, they are very informative and entertaining ! Keep up the great work.

[@bwofficial1776]

You never see these things any more, and especially not this nice. I always thought they were ugly but I can respect them. It's basically a Ranger van. Ford didn't figure out the unibody FWD van for a while longer. It's amazing that manual minivans were once a thing. The two tone is fantastic and the long wheelbase looks much better than the short wheelbase.

[@matt_d7828]

I saw one of these driving around the other day. Paint faded and the sides were pretty rusted out but it stood out. It was so nostalgic seeing one as it reminded of my childhood. These were so common back in the 90s.

[@ReverendJasper]

The 3.0 was the Vulcan but both the 2.8 and 4.0 were Cologne engines.

[@stegomon]

Don't forget the 2.9

[@RobsNeighbor]

In 1996 I rode in a 4 cyl turbo Manual Dodge Minivan. My friend put an automatic Aerostar in Reverse on the highway and that was it for that transmission.

[@engineer_alv]

That was what happened to most transmissions back in the day. Once they gained electronic controls in the late 90s most added a safe mode and would only coast if switched out of drive at speed

[@RobsNeighbor]

@@engineer_alv At the dealer I would test that from time to time...

[@jakebeetham1]

My parents owned a red 1990 Ford Aerostar XLT when i was a kid and we took that minivan everywhere. Literally all over the east coast of the US. Aerostars are extremely reliable vehicles.

[@rhekman]

1:10 The Ford Vulcan V6 was introduced with the Ford Taurus in 1986 and was a clean sheet design prioritizing reliability and low maintenance. It was cast in Ford's Cleveland foundry, and assembled in Lima Ohio. The 4.0 V6 was completely different. Available in the Aerostar, Ranger, and Explorer in North America it was built in Cologne, Germany, and traces it's roots back to the 2.9, 2.8, and 2.6 and 2.4L V6 engines available in the Ford Cortina, Capri, Granada, Sierra, and Taunus models in Europe (also massaged by Cosworth in the UK) in the 70s and 80s, as well as Mustang II, Bobcat, Pinto, etc. in North America.

[@BruisersBeaters]

an Aerostar was my first car. My family got it new in 1995, and had it side by side with our 87 Cavalier for a couple years.

[@peterberrios6028]

My wife had a 92 explorer, then a 96 explorer, both 5 speed manuals. The 92, like this Aerostar had the stick angled towards the driver, very user friendly. The 96 manual explorer had the stick sticking straight up, and when you put it into fifth, it was like reaching for the glove box, it was WAY over to the right. They sounded great, I miss them.

[@Doctor_Robert]

I'm astonished a vehicle in Minnesota could be this clean!!

[@engineer_alv]

my guess is it's been garaged it's whole life or it came from elsewhere. The mileage is a dead giveaway (only 20K)

[@cjpappas7726]

It has been a Minnesota vehicle all it's life. Previous owner mostly used it to pull his boat during the summer, so when it went into storage so did the van. It did get driven some in the winter during his ownership. The true mileage is closer to 110k. Something fried the computer chip that controls the odometer. I had a new one put in and have put 20k on under my ownership so far. I don't ever plan to sell it, so it's been fun counting up from 0.

[@joeseeking3572]

The Aerostar (and the Astro) were truck based, vs. the Caravan and the dustbuster cousins. They were naturally less sophisticated and comfortable, but much more capable for towing.

[@PennsyPappas]

well actually the aerostar is still unibody but its reinforced which contributes to its truck like ride

[@drewzero1]

I can still smell the interior just from looking at it! Forget shotgun, I always called dibs on the middle row bench seat just to play with the radio controls. Our Aerostar came with two sets of Ford-branded Koss headphones that fit the ¼” jacks in the rear radio controls. (Think I still have those somewhere.)

[@Dankcatvacs]

used to call these vanginas untill i found out they were rwd. look at this platform , everything is accessible under the hood! how cool to drive one with a manual.

[@WilliamHollinger2019]

6:08 my parents used to drive a blue 1990 ford aerostar. I remembered messing with the speaker with this thing my mom was upset when I did this. We replaced this one with 2002 Honda Odyssey ex that van has been a reliable vehicle.

[@RustyZipper]

I remember we had a rental one during vacation of this era. My brother and I were playing around and locked the steering wheel column up during a stop. Boy did we get a beat down on that mishap. Eventually my mother was able to free the lock with the spare key ironically enough. This one is gorgeous 😍

[@bazilwreckerloughead]

I love the looks of that, particularly the front end. That's a good looking mini van. (I NEVER thought I'd say that.)

[@randommanlady]

This brings back memories. We used to tow the family Boat with a 1994 white extended wheelbase XLT version. I remember crawling under the bench seats to grab stuff in the cargo area. My mom was blasting her Mariah Carey Britney Spears Madonna Celine Dion cassettes And when I was bored I would lie under the bench seat and pull apart the foam underneath. I remember My brother and I would race to get to the front seat. I'll never forgive that stupid teenager in the trashy Oldsmobile who t-boned our aerostar, totaling it 😢 After that my parents replaced it with an ugly purple Chevy conversion van.

[@CarringtonHollister]

For us it’s the Mahaila Jackson, Commissioned, the occasional Tri-I-Tee you, Lee Williams, you know the usual gospel singers was played in our 1994 cappuccino brown on brown Aerostar

[@Thankyou_3]

Great video ❤🙏👍 Looking back now, the Ford Aerostar, GMC Safari, Mazda MPV (4 cylinder with manual transmission version) and Toyota Previa are absolutely gems of automotive history. Any minivans came after this era were disastrous in quality. Rear wheel drive and manual transmission were good recipe for longevity…

[@robertflanders1158]

I remember there being a glove compartment under the front passenger seat.

[@nate_d376]

Yeah. On some models.

[@Kizzle001]

Our 90 Voyager had that also.

[@RearEngineShop]

Manual Aerostar?! I’ll be dipped. So cool.

[@bluerazor7049]

The extended Aerostar always looked better than the shorty in my opinion.

[@BACKFIREFUR]

Been looking for one of these for years. I miss the Aerostars we had as a kid.

[@GOPRepubliklan]

Anyone remember stick shift school buses into the early 90s? I remember my district had a few full size 65 passenger V12 gas buses with stick shifts from the late 80s and they were unbelievably SLOW. That bus driver had hulk arms between the shifting and hand cranked door. What a time to grow up.

[@Cali_Lux_Cruiser]

Wow! I miss our ‘88 Aerostar EBE!

[@davidp2888]

The paint scheme! The white walls!

[@jameshorigan3322]

Thanks for another great video Zach! One for the algorithm! 🙂

[@jimmyjimjims7483]

The 3.0L Vulcan was an unstoppable powerhouse but the automatic transmissions in these were like glass, you weren't getting 120k miles out of one very easily. Having the 5 speed makes this thing nearly indestructible. I have a memory of getting food poisoning at the corvette cafe in downtown San Diego in the 90's and throwing up all over the back of my moms friends Aerostar lol

[@jerrywalters8885]

I got lucky our 96 made 267 k when motor block gave out only had 2 flushes and standard maintenance otherwise. Best 2500 I ever spent out more of 30 vehicles

[@ModestNeophyte]

we had a family at church that had a manual 4wd version of that thing! thought it was cool. would love to have one today

[@EnthusiastCarHangar]

It’s a cool vehicle. The steering wheel and radio remind me of the 1992 Crown Vic I had.

[@royboy605]

I love this van man! V6 RWD MANUAL!? I would rock one of these in a heartbeat except… IIHS safety ratings. Crash test results for these are hilarious and worth a quick search on KZbin.

[@cjpappas7726]

Sort of true...but just about any GM van is far far worse whether it be the Astro, dust buster vans, or Venture group.

[@royboy605]

@@cjpappas7726 don’t forget Toyota previa!

[@ferdinand9103]

Now you need to track down an early 90s Mazda MPV with a stick. Ive only ever seen one in person and it was a derelict van sitting on the lot of a gas station in a small town on the way to the lake we always went to in the summer. It was gold with tan interior and it was just rotting into the pavement last I saw it and then it eventually got shipped off somewhere at least 15 years later. My mom had a 94 MPV but it was a dark green with an automatic, was a solid van.

[@Andrew-n1v]

Incredible film my sir. I bet a lot of us viewers were conceived in one of these vans

[@NoName-ik2du]

Oh god, I had completely forgotten about the terrible windows in old minivans. Thankfully my parents generally stuck with sedans and station wagons, so I was only exposed to the misery of a minivan on a hot summer day on the occasions that I was riding places with my friends.

[@bwofficial1776]

It always surprised me that it took two decades for minivan manufacturers to realize "hey, we can make the back door windows roll down too". To be fair, it took them a decade to realize "hey, why don't we put back doors on both sides to make it easier to get in and out?"

[@NoName-ik2du]

@@bwofficial1776 It's particularly bizarre because minivans were the successor of station wagons, so why wouldn't they just automatically start off with the same features wagons already had?

[@cld2930]

Nice van in great shape. My favorite mini Van from back in the day was always the Chevy Astro/GMC Safari.

[@American_Voyager101]

last time seeing an aerostar is at 2022 and its a super duper rusty one parked up at kings highway in Brooklyn NY but also its a ultra rare car to see as well

[@alexisdawn8322]

i miss my family's old econoline and the old e150 van we had was great with a tall family

[@514jej]

That is in such amazing shape! As others have said, it is more related to a Ranger than a Taurus, hence the truckier feel. Towing capacity was much better, reliability might have been as well? Rangers seemed bullet proof. Didn’t know this came in a stick shift, though. Great video!

[@PennsyPappas]

It's definitely a series in between since it has its own reinforced Unibody chassis and not the ranger one but still not as soft as day a Taurus. A unique vehicle for sure.

[@o.k.therapper141]

Zach randomly shouting at me is a welcome change

[@kennedysingh3916]

A number of them were sold in Jamaica but could have been more popular if they were right hand drive.

[@christophersmith1155]

i had the pleaser of driving this as our company car for our cell phone stores.

[@joshshuckahosee7942]

a cobra powered 00s lincoln Continental review would be awesome, especially how in depth this man gets, ive owned a 96 and a 00, i intend on getting another when the money is right.

[@davinp]

At least you can open the rear window, as you couldn't open them on the Chrysler minivans - they just pushed opened

[@jeromep3182]

My uncle had a 88 Ford econoline 150 high top conversion van and that’s the one I would rather have

[@MrJayrock620]

Yes the ride was a little bit rougher than the Caravans or the Dustbuster vans, but it was a trade off. These and the Chevy Astro vans could tow, and had better payload capacity. So it just came down to how you intended to use them that was a deciding factor for both

[@dipstiksubaru3246]

Would be sick to see a boosted SHO swap done on this thing!!!! Or even just a boosted Vulcan

[@sneakerfreak2002]

Ugh these were the epitome of junkorama back then lol It was a neck n neck race between the transmission and the rust

[@dave11686]

My mom had a 94 in two tone brown

[@drewzero1]

My grandma had a 93 Eddie Bauer in Brown. I thought it looked like a big graham cracker! Grandpa used it as a truck because it was bigger and stronger than his Ranger, and it had four-wheel-drive.

[@LaytonKnightt]

The interior looks far more modern than the exterior.

[@blautens]

Big, boxy, unicorn. Great condition, too.

[@Trance88]

I see lots of F series truck components on this van. That shifter is straight out of an F150 from the era. Same transmission too, I'm assuming.

[@renj6531]

A manual is what you want in these The A4lD was so bad back in the day parts were on backorder for rebuilds

[@damilolaakanni]

I was hoping you'd explain why there isn't a "5" on the shift pattern despite you saying it came with a five speed manual transmission. There's no way that could be a low range or crawler gear, as you said that this is RWD.

[@sampik2003]

I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the 5th is "OD" as overdrive, being a bit of a feature back then. (Regular 5 speed though.)

[@drewzero1]

Yes, the 5th gear on these 90s Ford 5-speeds are labeled OD because the driveshaft is spinning faster than the engine - hence "over" drive. We had that on our '95 Ranger and it really couldn't accelerate at all in 5/OD. If you wanted to speed up at all while cruising on the highway you had to drop into 4.

[@dragon81heart]

@@sampik2003you are correct

[@gm12551]

😅if you don’t know that the OD is 5th gear…

[@bwofficial1776]

As others have explained, 5 is Overdrive. Get in some old trucks and first gear will be labeled as L and second will be labeled as 1.

[@victorb1782]

Bro always wondered about the a/c thank you

[@brian5o]

I’ve ALWAYS wanted one of these!!!! I wonder if you could get a 5-speed in an Eddie Bauer? Those were sweet.

[@cjpappas7726]

I think the 90-94 Eddie Bauer Aerostars would've been 4.0 equipped so no manual. I would guess 1988-1989 you probably could've gotten the manual in Eddie Bauer form as 3.0 was only available engine then.

[@brian5o]

I’m shocked that the 5-speed manual was still available for the Aerostar in 1992. I think GM dropped the manual for the Astro/Safari not long after they were introduced due to low sales. Manual minivans are always cool. I think the mast one available in the US was the Mazda5.

[@cjpappas7726]

The manual was available until 1994, which was supposed to be the last year of Aerostar. It continued to 1997 but in automatic form only.

[@AlphaMatt1000]

Love your channel and variety of cars! I can tell you take your inspiration from Doug Demuro!

[@kikster304]

Ive never seen a manual 5 speed mini van in my life

[@doug6191]

I remember Tanner Foust picking one of these for an episode of Top Gear USA. Naturally, they destroyed it.

[@dustinkauffman5868]

Hmm not a huge fan of Fords but I couldn't resist a stick shift van!

[@johnsonlong8491]

I love long throw shifter

[@NissanQuestGuy96yt]

Nice Van Man!!!

[@AdrianAzizSantoso-gq7rw]

3:27 CRUISE (VANILLA SKY)

[@anajay78]

Wow that thing is mint.

[@Metalodeath]

If it were me I would have bought the dust buster back then!

[@CarringtonHollister]

We had 2 Aerostars in the family one was a 1994 XL in Cappuccino brown and another was a 1995 in Sea foam Green the latter was given to my eldest sister and we kept the 1994 until we sold it along our candy apple red 2004 Freestar and 1995 snow White Dustbuster Lumina minivan

[@t.b.g.504]

Rarer than hen's teeth these days!

[@ImmortanDan]

Now find one of those Gen 1 manual Astros

[@kimberlypappas6715]

I miss my Aerostar (automatic). Workhorse.

[@trolling755]

Built ford tough!!!

[@James-mw6se]

Nice 🙂 car look good 😊

[@brian5o]

I’m sure this is the same 5-speed that was used in the Ranger, Bronco II and 1st gen Explorer.

[@PennsyPappas]

it was in fact aerostar and explorer were made in the same factory

[@randycarolsmith1437]

I want one of these so bad lol never thought id say that about a van dadlife lol

[@randycarolsmith1437]

I also learned to drive one a rusted out blue and white 91 lol

[@markwilliams2620]

The body style changes were flush headlamps and making the extended body the standard. Otherwise it was the same 1984 Aerostar.

[@cjpappas7726]

The extended length was just an option and that way all the way to 1997.

[@mybackhurts7020]

I learned to drive stick in one😂. I call the unicorns cuz the sooo rare

[@nicholasjgentry80]

Don’t forget the lumina minivan by Chevy

[@kurticusmaximus]

How is it from Minnesota and not a rust bucket?

[@jeepthing98]

I dont think Ive ever seen a LWB Aerostar with the manual transmission

[@PennsyPappas]

My brother also has the Cargo van version of this which is another oddity as well

[@curiousgeorge986]

You incorrectly stated that they came with a 4.0 Vulcan. It was the 4.0 Cologne The 3.0 was was Vulcan

[@johnsonlong8491]

You cant compare aerostar with caravan and pontiac transport. You should compare it to chevy astro

[@Jonathan-bk3dq]

That 3.0 Vulcan is very shaky.

[@waynestell2808]

Did I see 20K miles on the odometer? If that's the case then this Aerostar is a unicorn.

[@PennsyPappas]

Well don't believe that. So when my brother bought it the odometer had 90000 or so on it. However it had stopped working entirely and so even that number wasn't accurate. When we took the cluster out and had it fixed we wanted the number at 90k but the guy said it wouldve taken a week so we just let it be new. But considering how much had to be done mechanically it is basically a new car with only 20K miles in a way

[@2H2521]

The Vulcan is a very junky engine, fuel economy of a V8 with the power of a 4 cylinder, just a gutless piece of crap that Ford used for way too long. I have guilty pleasure for these some reason though, I’ve seen a bunch of them the past couple years. 😂

[@BrokenAdam770]

04:48 BIG FRIGGIN BOTTLE FAIL!!!

[@GSKYYT]

Feels like a truck cause that’s a ZF5 from a bricknose pickup

[@michaelcoffey7362]

Nice 😊

[@42luke93]

I prefer column shift automatic