Expert Reviews
By Rick Popely
Cars.com National December 1, 1999Vehicle Overview
Express is the full-size van at Chevrolet and a twin of the GMC Savana. Express comes in passenger and cargo versions and is sold in unfinished form to van converters. Two sizes and five engines are available, and all models have a full frame and rear-wheel drive.
Exterior
Regular Express models have a 135-inch wheelbase and are 219 inches overall. Extended models are 20 inches longer in both dimensions.
Short or long, choices in side and rear doors are the same. Buyers can choose from two swing-out passenger-side doors or a single sliding door (a no-cost option). At the rear, all models have two doors that open 180 degrees to the sides. A rear defogger is a new option on models with rear windows (which are optional on cargo models).
Interior
On cargo models, the standard accommodations are two front bucket seats. The only option is to remove the passenger seat, which eliminates the passenger-side-impact airbag as well.
Passenger models can be furnished to seat as few as five people and as many as 15. Regular-size models can hold up to 12 people with two front buckets, two three-place benches and a four-seat bench in the rear. A third three-place bench seat is optional on the extended model to increase capacity to 15.
By removing all seats except the front buckets, regular-size models can hold 267.3 cubic feet of cargo and extended models offer 317 cubic feet — more than twice as much as Chevy’s front-drive Venture minivan.
Under the Hood
When it comes to engines for the Express, Chevrolet believes in offering the right tool for a variety of jobs. The base engine for regular-size models is a 200-horsepower 4.3-liter V-6, while a 5.0-liter V-8 with 220 horsepower is optional.
A 255-horsepower 5.7-liter engine is standard on extended passenger models and optional on cargo vans. A 7.4-liter V-8 with 290 horsepower, as well as a diesel 6.5-liter V-8 with 195 horsepower, are optional on heavy-duty models (three-quarter and one-ton payloads). With all engines, a four-speed automatic transmission is standard. Antilock brakes are standard on all models.
Trailer-towing limits range from 4,700 pounds on regular-size models with the V-6 to 10,000 pounds on heavy-duty extended models with the 7.4-liter V-8.
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