The biggest thing to look at is power to weight ratio and gearing. A modern mini van is heavy enough that a 4 cyl engine would be about maxed out with just the weight of the vehicle and passengers and would get poor mileage. To the best of my knowledge none of the current minivans get much more than about 25 MPG. A lot of the Chrysler mini's had tranny issues. In the last few years they seem to have gotten that fixed. Most of them have little of no cargo space when all the seats have got someone in them. My son had one that had about 6" of cargo space behind the rear seats. His new one has about 18".
If safety is a concern then steer clear of the minvan market. About 3 years ago none of them passed so they created a "new" set of test for them. Just like the "in the class" rating for cars. 5 Star in a little car is not the same as 5 Star in a full sized car.
Now I know that you are concerned about mileage and don't need 4X4 (few people really do) but I would not discount the bigger SUV's. We have a 98 Suburban with the Vortech 5.8. It gets about 20 at 55 and 18 at 70. Even with the 3rd seat the cargo area is about 4 feet deep. With the rear seat removed and the center folder up it will carry 4x8 sheets of plywood. Now I will admit that ours is having mechanical problems......at 260,000 miles. We are going to replace it in the next couple of months.
As far as the Trailblazer and like sized SUVs they really don't get much more in mileage than the full sized ones. It's really only 2-3 MPG at beat and some get less than that. We traded a 2000 Explorer on the Suburban. It got 21 at 55. 1 MPG better.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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