Minivans are one form of automotive transport that don’t get much respect. During her active child rearing years, my wife would have rather been eaten alive by crocodiles than own a minivan and be characterized as a minivan mom. Nevertheless, although the segment has been seen as reaching a pinnacle in terms of sales, several manufactures have turned 
out new models this year. And since in reality they are superb movers of almost everything, it’s time for a look at the segment. 

Nissan has reinvented its minivan for 2004. The first goal was to make it bigger and my fist impression of the Quest was that this is one honking big minivan. When my wife saw it parked in the driveway, she immediately started thinking about a huge pile of stuff in the garage that needed transport to Goodwill or the local recycling center—O.K. the dump.
Nissan has pumped up the interior volume to a hefty 212 cubic feet. Whether this constituted the largest enclosed space in the industry really
is not important because the largest volume does not necessarily translate into the most usable space. But the interior does feel really large. More importantly, the second row seats fold down and drop to the floor. The third row folds and rotates into a storage well in the floor. This type of interior scheme with seats that fold out of the way is definitely one of the strongest trends in minivan design and adds significantly to usable space, particularly for large, bulky objects.

Occupant safety is another major design goal of the new Quest. The van 
is equipped with smart air bags that utilize a crash zone sensor and an occupant weight sensor to moderate air bag deployment in the event of a crash. Side-curtain air bags are a standard feature to protect passengers in all outboard seats. Side-impact air bags for the front seats are optional, but should be standard equipment.

The Quest S model, our text vehicle, registers as a strong value at $25,000. It has all of the necessary equipment and none of the questionable items such as leather-covered seats and steering wheel, which would be out of place in a basic family mover.

The Quest is powered by one of Nissan’s smooth and powerful V-6 engines. With 240 horsepower on board, the Quest accelerates as quickly as any minivan should. Cruising is quiet and painless with lots of passing power. The automatic transmission shifts so smoothly and silently that its operation is imperceptible. Although Nissan claims that the Quest is a great handling minivan, this is one assertion you need to take with more than one grain of salt. Driven on twisty mountain roads, the suspension is overly soft and the road feel through the steering wheel is all but imperceptible. If you need a minivan that handles in mountainous territory, the Quest is not a good choice. 

The exterior of the Quest wears a somewhat unique design focused on horizontal line that begins atop the front fender moves upward to suggest
a dynamic quality. Yes it is different. No, I can’t say that it is either attractive or really striking. But give Nissan a B+ for the effort to distinguish what is essentially a big box. 

The dashboard and center console are even more idiosyncratic. First off, the usual instrument cluster that resides behind the steering wheel is centered on top of the dashboard. In this location I found it rather hard to read. I never could figure out all of the functions. Next, the center console is shaped like a slightly slanted pillar that sprouts from the floor and terminates about the same level as the center of the steering wheel. The top of the column is flat, runs almost parallel to the floor, and houses all of the usual air conditioning and audio controls. I’m not sure in my nearly 20 years of reviewing cars that I have ever had to access controls that were located on a flat, horizontal plane, rather than a svertical surface. The controls were hard to access and even more difficult to decipher. My conclusion is that this is one styling experiment not destined for the textbooks on good design. 
 

Vehicle: Nissan Quest 3.5S
Price as tested: $25,280
Engine:
Type: 3.5-liter V-6
Horsepower: 240 @ 5,800 rpm
Torque: 242 ft.-lbs @ 4,400
Fuel economy, automatic transmission 
City – 19 mpg
Highway – 26 mpg
Curb Weight: 4,176lbs.