Having a van or station wagon is an inherent attribute of american family life. Up to some point we could get by with Big Boat and Little Wagon (above), but in June '95 we've got first *batch* of visitors. Of course I could put five adults and two kids in either car we had (and throw all the camping gear on top), but it was getting kinda... inconvenient, that's the word. All of a sudden I started looking for a full-size van; and found that fellow instead. A :"top of the line" Ford Aerostar doesn't seem to sound like too impressive, but it is nonetheless quite a machine. This extended cab model had all the gizmos these midi-vans ever had - 4.0liter V6 (which I would gladly have on my nearly three-ton jeep!), 4-speed shushbox, all power options, dual A/C, rear ABS, and - Full-Time four-wheel drive! Not to mention the dual-tone paint, again blue below and white above. This floppy runner easily topped a 90-mph speedometer in a few trips to Toronto, Ontario. In just three months her clock put on ten thousand miles more. Sometime near the fifth month of my ownership, a transfer case chain started slipping. Like a dying starter - it misses a beat today, tomorrow it's dead. Had some fun removing a transfer case on the parking lot in Detroit under some October rain. That thing quickly ate up about $800, despite all my attempts to do most of the work. No doubt this van is a mechanics' nightmare. Only four spark plugs out of six are within an "easy" reach - from the front wheelwells. Two rear plugs can only be reached from underneath. Even to add transmission fluid takes a special funnel - or a dose of ingenuity.
But the real fun came when the snow fell. I drove that thing on fresh wet 5-inch snow on top of wet ice, and unlike the previous two cars it didn't go anywhere but forward with the gas pedal half-way to the floor, and the speed almost matched the speedo readings! That was quite a shock, believe me. From this time on I felt ever-increasing sympathy to full-time 4WD, even on the dry pavement. 
This van is still in service, more than sixty thousand miles since I bought it. At 123,000 miles, the engine feels just as strong as it did at 66,300, transmission shifts as good as it did, rear half of the transfer case was replaced free courtesy FoMoCo (and aluminum rear driveshaft replaced the OEM), the original set of Michelin XW4 tires lasted until 118 kmi (!!!), which I believe is only due to four-wheel drive. It still is our main vehicle in the ski trips to the mountains. My only and constant whine is it being ford-ish sloppy in turns - and here 4wd may be rather dangerous. I am sure it'll topple before it ever squeals a tire in a turn!