- Minivans! You might not think that
they're the coolest type of automobile out there. Truth is, minivans are awesome. Today, we're tearing down all
the negative minivan stigma and looking at nine of the
best minivans of all time. One of 'em has got a
frickin' F1 engine in it. So grab a seat in the third row and drop a bunch of McDonald's French fries frickin' everywhere. This is The D-D-D List! Big announcement, Nolan and I have been turned into
collectible figurines. Got Nolan in his Mustang. We got me in my Golf. These limited edition vinyl
figures are on sale right now. And these aren't like our other merch. They are real collectibles, and once they are sold out, that is it. We are not making them. So they're not gonna make any more. So if you want your own
James and Nolan collection in your garage or your office, or I dunno, on your bedside table, so you can kiss us, you know, into bed every night, make sure you click the
links in the description. The first link is for me. And the second link is for Nolan. And I don't know, just get
both of us before we're gone. (engine roars) Nolan's little catchphrase, be kind. This packaging is really
cool and impressive. Ooh, this is Nolan's Mustang. I love that, that's
going right on my shelf. I love that. Now, the unboxing of my toy. There says, I love you,
(awwing) my catchphrase. And I am riding in my Mark-3 Golf. It's very accurate. It's even got the little
rotor forms on it. I love this. Oh, it's even got the door
to the office right there. And then the set of Up to Speed. So you can have a little,
a little Up to Speed set in your home.
(engine roaring) I am so excited about this. When you get yours, please
post photos with them and tag me because I'm a
fricking action figure, you guys. Back to the show! - [Woman] Mercedes R63 AMG. - Mercedes R63 AMG is not your average soccer practice carpool caravan. Nothing against mommies, mommies are the bee's knees. I love mine. Stay safe, Liz. But the R63 AMG is in a whole
different class of minivan. And the class that it's
in is a classy class. Rewind to 2006. Mercedes took their first
stab at a luxury minivan with the R class. Initially, the base model
has the 3.5 liter V6 with about 270 Hertz pers. And it was priced at 48 large.
(record scratch) Shockingly, there's not a huge market for snobby tall station
wagon looking minivans. And the R class was total sales flop, but instead of bailing,
Mercedes doubled down like KFC and made the R63 AMG. This power mini flaunts a 6.2 liter V8, it gives this boy 507 Hertz pers, 507 Hertz pers in a minivan! And 465 pound feet of torque! The engine can send all 5,300 pounds of this big beautiful Benz to 60 in about four and a half seconds. It's got 15.4 inch brakes, that is larger than Domino's
second largest pizza! The interior is spacious,
plush, and luxurious. It's got individual con
control in all three rows, literally zero other
minivans can hold a candle to R63 AMG's total package. It's so cool, they don't
even call it a minivan. They call it a Grand Sports Tourer. But we all know what it is, it's a minivan. It's fast minivan, but it's a minivan. One thing that is not mini
about it is the price tag. The base R63 was originally
listed for $88,000. And I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my spoiled rich four-year-old spilling his
Gogurt all over the backseat of a hundred thousand dollar super van. Which is probably why only 200
of these most niche vehicles were ever made, making it
part of an ultra rare club. - [Woman] Brubaker Box! - Now it might be a
little bit of a stretch to call this second boy a minivan. But it's mini and it's vanny, so, it's on the list. In fact, lots of folks out
there consider the Brubaker Box to be the first minivan ever. So, it certainly deserves
a place on our list today. In the early '70s, a dude
named Curtis Brubaker designed the pioneer "minivan" and called it the Brubaker Box. The whole idea here was to
create a modern reimagining of the VW Microbus. The Brubaker is made
entirely of fiberglass panels and it has wooden bumpers that
stick way the heck out there, but that's not even the weirdest thing. There's one door for the whole car! A couch backseat with a fricking ottoman. And honestly, one of the craziest
dashboards I've ever seen! It looks like what you'd find in a submarine themed escape room. I'm not talking about one
of those nice escape rooms. I'm talking about the one that you get a four for one
deal on for Groupon. That is the last time we let
Chris pick our double date! It's a kit designed to bolt directly onto an unmodified VW Beetle chassis, but Brubaker did not have
the smooth talking charm of someone like Ryan Reynolds. And he failed to reach an agreement with Volkswagen to sell
him just the chassis and drive train. And the poor guy was
forced into bankruptcy. All in all, only 19
B-Boxes are still known in existence today. - [Woman] Renault Espace! - Look, Europe needs minivans too, okay? Over there, they call 'em
multipurpose vehicles. They also call garbage cans rubbish bins, and semi-trucks lorries. So, I don't know what the heck
they got going on over there. The Espace, which sounds
like an Italian soup, is one of the earliest
and most beloved minivans in the whole entire world. And since it made its debut in 1984, it has been constantly evolving, reinventing, and updating, like Madonna or the Taco Bell menu. Granted, the most current Renault Espace resembles more of a
crossover than a minivan, but we're not gonna like take
it off the list for that. It's a frickin' van legend. But the real reason we put
the Espace on this list is because of this, the Espace F1. In 1994, Renault celebrated
the 10th anniversary of the van by creating this insane concept. They took a traditional carbon
fiber reinforced Espace body, combined it with an F1-style
lightweight chassis, bringing the total weight
down to 3,000 pounds. Then they threw a V10 F1 engine right in the frickin' middle of the van, surrounded by four carbon
fiber racing seats, which made for a sick
soundtrack of engine purrs while you drive around. On the outside, normal-ish
looking family van, on the inside Formula One race car that makes your ears bleed! This thing went from zero
to 60 in 2.8 seconds. It's max speed was a certified
bonkers 194 miles per hour. And it looked like the
Disneyland monorail, without a doubt one of the
best minivans of all time! - [Woman] Bertone Genesis. - When you name something the Genesis, you mean some serious business. Ask God. And baby, did Bertone
mean business with that. This Bertone designed concept
car was first displayed at the 1988 Turin auto show. And no less than 30,000 hours
went into making this thing. Now, they say it takes 10,000
hours to master something. You could have mastered three things. Guitar, dancing, (gulps) and- Breakdance. New York ballet. The Genesis is a Goldwing door minivan made with Lombargine Machine parts. It's powered by the same 450 Hertz per V12 from the frickin' Countach Quattrovalvole. Paired with a three-speed torque flight automatic transmission,
which might not sound like a cool transmission to
you, but let me assure you, it is a very cool transmission. Google it, all right? It's for racing. Just like all of the vans on this list, the outside of this thing looks like the front of the Disneyland monorail. And in 1988, that was the future. The rear door slides open
to reveal an interior that is maybe more draw
jopping than the exterior. There were two front-facing rear seats and one rear-facing middle row seat. And the front seats were captain's chairs that swiveled around, so you and the rest of your traditional
Italian family can chat. So, why didn't this
insane V12 powered minivan ever actually get made? Well, it was mainly
created as a design study and since Lombargine
already had the LM 002, there wasn't room in the market for this badass monorail car. - [Woman] Ford Sho-Star! - The Ford Sho-Star was an exercise in performance minivan design put forth at the Detroit auto show in 1995. It's a real portmanteau of car. The first part of the Sho-Star's name comes from the Taurus Sho, 'cause it's got the
fricking Yamaha V6 from it. The Star part comes
from the Ford Windstar. Maybe one of the most
straightforward minivans in the history of minivans. If your mom didn't drive
a Windstar in the '90s, I guarantee you that your best friend or your cousin's mom or
your neighbor's mom did. If you had to draw a minivan blindfolded, it would probably look like a Windstar. But then, one fateful day,
Ford did something wild. They introduced the Taurus
Sho to the Windstar. They dated, they fell in love. And nine months later,
had a beautiful little 6,000 pound baby minivan
named the Sho-Star. And it is really frickin' cute! The Windstar body gives it that satisfying smooth and round minivan shape. Plus some sweet fiber
optics added some spunk to the tail lights and
the oval grill logo. But the Sho's dual overhead cam, 24-valve three-liter V6 is
the kicker on this concept. It's got a five-speed manual transmission and 220 Hertz pers. That was a lot in 1995,
especially for a frickin' minivan. Gas also cost fricking a
dollar and 15 cents a gallon, and Michael Jordan came
back to the Chicago Bulls and Post Malone was born! So, what I'm saying is
1995 was the perfect year, it is the exact opposite of this year! - [Woman] Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear! - Number four on this
list is another mashup and an absolute beaut! Mitsubishi first introduced
the Delica back in 1968. And the name is actually
short for delivery car. That's right, hey were
designed to move stuff from one place to another place. That's what delivery is. But the fourth generation
Delica released in 1994 is known as Space Gear! And it's far more spacey
than your average UPS van. Plus, they were never
sold in the United States which gives him that hard to get appeal that makes everybody creep. The space gear has the
same engine and transmish as the Mitsubishi Pajero. There were several engine
options and configurations, but the highest spec, the Royal Exceed, is a lifted four-wheel
drive turbo diesel powered Disney rail from mono-land
looking beast van. And it's got mud flaps and a bull bar, which let people know this
is a little off-road monster. If someone needs to deliver something to the other side of a muddy, rocky, totally unlevel patch of terrain, the Space Gear is the van for you! And inside is just as accommodating, with a high roof in an
array of skylights called- - [Japanese Speaker]
Kurisutaru raitoru ruufu-ya. - Just like the powdered lemonade, but spelled different and tastier. And thanks to the 25 year import rule, these guys are finally old
enough to be imported to the US, so now you can be the captain of your own JDM Disneyland monorail on US soil. - [Woman] Mazda MPV! - You might not think that the
Mazda MPV is the coolest van, but you know who is cool? The f(gunshot)ing Wu-Tang Clan. And you know what they used to drive? Mazda MPVs. And it wasn't just Wu-Tang, a lot of other iconic rap cats
were driving MPVs as well. DJ Premier's MPV, which he modified with big old aftermarket speakers was rumored to be the
legendary listening station for rappers to first
test out their tracks. Later, the Wu-Tang clan
shouted out the MPV in their song, "Cream," with "Catching keys from across seas, rolling in MPVs, every
week we made 40 Gs." But Biz Markie claims to be
the first to start the hype on the two-door four-wheel drive minivan with his song, "Bad By Myself." Check out the complete list of rap cars in this episode of Wheelhouse. - [Woman] Ruf Vanagon! - The Volkswagen Bus is easily one of the most beloved vans of all time. It's the hippie mobile,
the cultural touchstone, it's looks like the Scooby Doo van. Although I do think that was a Ford. And if you ask me, yes, I
think that Ryan Reynolds should have played either Shaggy or Fred in the live action
version of the film there. Third gen VW Bus was called the T3, it was sturdier, boxier, and
with its water cooled engine, it was a huge improvement over the previous air-cooled generations. But Ruf, yes, that Ruf, decided to take it a
step further and equip it with the same 3.4 liter Twin Turbo Flat 6 from the fricking yellow bird. What is this? The Disneyland monorail? imagine how fast you could
transport you, your bros, your surfboards, down to the
beach, catch some sick waves and stare at all the Betties. Or how fast you, Scooby
Doo, and Ryan Reynolds could solve the curse of Viking Lane! I'm telling you, anybody that's working in Hollywood watching
this, I'll be Shaggy. Ryan Reynolds is Fred. And the kid who plays
Spider-Man can be Scooby Doo. - [Woman] Ford E350 Centurion! - This next one's kinda weird, but it's number one because it's the one that I want the most. Yeah, maybe I want an
Espace, but I can't fricking drive a car with an F1 engine. This is the one that
I want in my driveway. And at the end of the day,
I'm the one saying this stuff, so- Also, so this is just a list, it's not necessarily ranked. Even though I just did say
that this is the best one. Hoo boy, this is is probably
the weirdest pickup truck on God's green earth. And I know what you're thinking. Pickup truck, James? What the frig is this doing
on the list of the best video type video, what
is this doing on a list of the best minivans of all times? Have you lost your marble? Maybe, I don't know. Yes, I think I'm going crazy. But it's unrelated. The Ford E350 Centurion
is actually a truck van, a van truck, a vuck, if you will! This vuck is all minivan
business in the front and pickup truck party in the back. It's the van truck that Ford
was too chicken to make. And just like my personal
preference for mayonnaise on hot dogs, it's wrong in
all the right kinds of ways. This Franken-van was made
when the conversion company Centurion Vehicles thought, hey, let's take an Eocnoline van, fuse it with an F-series truck bed, and add a fifth wheel for towin'. America! Being that these vucks
are not Ford manufactured, and are essentially patchwork projects, every E350 Centurion is a
unique and beautiful snowflake. But they all had few things in common. A maximum of 10 miles to the gallon. An engine that sits in
the center of the cab, encased by a solid wood console. Quaint little curtains for the windows. Back seats that double as pullout beds. Turret lights for
nighttime poetry reading. Miles and miles upon miles
and miles and miles of carpet. You might find a CB radio
here, maybe a television, sometimes even a little refrigerator. For your soda? Anything you wanna keep cold, son. Probably suspicious stains
and a troubling smell. But just like Van Wilder
after his final exam with Professor McGonagall at
the end of the first film, you just don't know what you're gonna get. Well, there you have it. We hit all the best
minivans that ever existed. Proof that minivans aren't
all diapers and handy snacks. They can be cool. Check out this episode of Wheelhouse on cars in rap and check out this episode of The Bestest on vans. Like please, if- (laughing) Subscribe or I'll bite no one. I love you.
My buddy is the guy who owns that brubaker box in the video! He completely restored it himself and it is very sick