Nissan expands Quest to contain people and stuff

“When,” a colleague asked while eyeballing the 2004 Nissan Quest minivan, “will you get a cool car to drive again?”

Such verbal abuse is the fate that those who ply the roads in vans must suffer, folks who a couple of decades ago received the same abuse when plying the roads in station wagons.

The Quest has been on hiatus at Nissan, which last sold it in a short-wheelbase version in the ’02 model year. Mercury sold a derivative of that model, which it called the Villager and dropped at the same time Nissan dumped the Quest.

Nissan brings back the Quest for ‘04; this time it’s considerably bigger. Wheelbase and length are extended nearly 10 inches so it now boasts three rows of seats rather than just two, though I’d have to say the smaller, two-row version was a bit more nimble and easier to park and garage.

The Quest also boasts the feature all minivans must to be considered in fashion -- third-row seats that flip and fold flat into the floor so you don’t have to remove them to load the cargo hold.

Although Chrysler years ago unveiled a concept van in which the seats folded flat into the floor (and running boards appeared when the doors were opened, disappeared when the doors were closed), the Honda Odyssey introduced the flip/fold flat-into-the-floor third-row seat in a production van.

Oddly enough, the Chrysler minivans won’t have such flip/fold/flat prowess until the middle of next year.

For ‘04, Nissan as well as Toyota, Ford and Mercury bring out updates of their minivans, activity that suggests vans are a hot market. Yet they are holding at the 1-million mark in annual sales with no sign of growth.

But vans still are worth fighting for because if folks buy your brand and are happy, they’ll stay with you when they move into a sport utility or crossover vehicle when the rugrats graduate from soccer.

Vans, unfortunately, have been designated the vehicle of choice of soccer moms, though empty nesters are a close second among buyers. The stigma has kept sales growth in check.

Nissan is fully aware of that, as evidenced by the fact that early TV ads for the van feature “the modern-day woman,” as insiders like to refer to her, but there’s not a kid within camera range.

But, as usual, we digress.

The Quest sports a new look, long and wide with sculptured sheet metal that at first glance makes it look like a member of the Cadillac family.

It’s offered in S, SL and SE versions. The S comes with only manual sliding side doors; the SL with manual driver’s-side and power passenger-side sliders and power hatch lid; and the SE with power sliders on both sides plus the power hatch lid. The power doors and hatch lid have the bop-and-stop feature with which they retract after striking an object in the path.

We tested the SL. Second-row seats quickly flip forward to provide wide access to the third row. Second-row seats also fold so you can carry long items in the van, but they don’t disappear into the floor.

To hide the third-row seat, you pull a plastic handle that folds the seat back and then pull a strap that lifts the seat over and down into the cargo hold hole. Wham, bam, the seats are gone and the floor is flat, ma’am.

However, the system could be tweaked.

When you pull the handle to lower the seat back, the strap on that seat back moves away from you and it’s a reach to grab. And the seat isn’t a featherweight when lifted by the strap to secure in the hole. Before you fold the seat, the headrests have to be removed and stored in a bag along the sidewall. But you have to remove the bag and find a place to store it to fold the seat.

Sadly, seat storage below the floor eliminates the room needed for all-wheel drive.

Neat touches include a variety of compartments and storage ledges throughout -- in the sidewalls and under the dash below the steering column and the glove box, for example. There also are grocery bag holders on the first- and third-row seat backs, power plugs front and rear, cup and bottle holders built into the sides of the second-row seats, pop-out cup holders along the right side of the driver’s seat, a pullout storage drawer on the left side of the passenger’s seat and power adjustable brake and gas pedals to accommodate a variety of driver sizes.

One gripe: placement of the instrument panel in the center of the dash rather than in front of the driver, supposedly to take it out of the driver’s way. We’d rather look down than to the side. In the panel’s usual spot in front of the driver, there’s a storage compartment with lid.

The Quest is powered by the same 3.5-liter, 240-horsepower V-6 offered in a variety of Nissan’s cars, including the Maxima and the Altima. It’s teamed with a four-speed automatic. Only the SE gets a five-speed automatic; with it the mileage rating drops to 18 miles per gallon city and 25 mpg highway from 19/26 with the four-speed.

At the rate at which the boxes in the fuel gauge disappeared in the SL tested, the 19/26 rating is mighty generous, especially given that we never carried more than two people or any luggage during the test.

The ride is smooth, thanks to four-wheel independent suspension.

Handling is typical minivan, meaning there’s no doubt you are piloting a long, wide minivan and not a Maxima, especially when called upon to slip into the parking stall.

The SL starts at $27,090 (the S at $24,590, the top-of-the-line SE at $32,990).

Standard equipment includes four-wheel anti-lock brakes with traction control (stability control added in the SE), power driver’s seat, AM-FM-CD player with eight speakers and controls in the steering wheel, power side and rear vent windows, power locks, remote keyless entry and side-curtain air bags.

Options are packaged and run from $700 for alloy wheels and a rear sonar sensing system that beeps when something is in your path when backing up; to $1,900 for a DVD entertainment system with two screens, one for the second row, one for the third; to $2,300 for a navigation system plus six-disc CD changer.

An enticing option is the SL upgrade. Rather than have to opt for leather at $1,500 to get heated seats, you can spend $750 and get heated cloth seats plus side-impact air bags and the sonar sensing system. Nice touch: cloth to warm you in the winter and keep you from sticking to the seats in July and August.

One item not available on the SL but optional on the SE is Skyview, which offers fixed glass roof panels over the second- and third-row seats for viewing the scenery, plus a power sunroof over the front seat. Nissan says the feature may be a future SL option.

Nissan is counting on sales of 80,000 vans annually, double what the last Quest did. Because the van market isn’t expected to grow, Nissan expects those added 40,000 to come from conquests of its competitors.