Well, for one it's old. It is at least a generation or two behind class leaders like Honda Odessy and DCX Town&Country/ Caravan. The Nissan Quest and and Toyota Sienna are also new.
By the time the next Lambda architecture mini-vans come out...all of the above will certainly be into a new generation. Lambda will literally need to leap frog 2 or 3 generations to be competitive.

I'm sure your friend's Venture fullfils his needs.....but in the mini-van game....GM is currently a bottom feeder.

I'm fine with that. I realise that GM only has so much developement money to spend. No problem.

But the point that I was making is.....how GM takes an outdated program...makes some mild revisions...and then tries to convince us that these are fresh, segment busting products. My bullsh!t meter has a very low tolerance.

This from Edmunds:

Pros: Carlike ride and handling, power-sliding doors, eight-passenger seating option, available DVD entertainment system.
Cons: Flimsy modular seats, poor interior fit and finish, coarse engine character, mixed crash test results.
What Edmunds.com says: Not terribly refined, but loaded with value, the Chevy Venture is a solid minivan if you don't need all the latest features and gadgets.

 

Well... again, perhaps jumping the gun on bashing this?

The new vans aren't even out yet...