I've had my Nissan van - the tall one - for two years now. I've racked up 90,000 miles in those years, and until Saturday, never had a problem. But on Saturday, 30 miles or so from home, on my way back from Virginia Beach, I ran into and killed a deer.
The event was awful. It was dusk, and it's hunting season, so I was watching. It didn't matter. One instant, the road ahead of me was open. The next minute, a large deer was there. She died instantly, and I think there's a small blessing in that. There were no cars around me, and that's another blessing.
The biggest blessing is that I wasn't hurt. The big van took the hit. The front is high enough that the deer didn't crash over the roof and into the windshield, as she would have if I'd been in the Toyota minivan - or, I imagine, in a Sprinter. The grill is a mess, the bumper is hanging, and the radiator took a blow - but I was able to drive the van home.
If you're thinking of buying a van, I can't say enough about my Nissan. I loved her before this - 90,000 miles and zero problems, zero - but I love her even more now.
