From the perspective of someone who has not driven anything this large since moving a household in a U-Haul truck about 35 years ago:
On this two-day trip from St. Louis to Chapel Hill, we ended up driving on a wide variety of roads and freeways during the day and night in just about every kind of weather condition. My overall impression is that the van feels like a smaller vehicle than it looks. The steering was responsive, the suspension gave us a smooth and stable ride, the braking was firm and even, and the transmission shifted cleanly during acceleration. We could feel the effects of crosswinds while driving, not surprising for this very tall van, but we only rarely noticed any buffeting when passing large trucks. When we were driving in the snow, the van felt sure-footed and stable. The diesel engine provided impressive torque for passing and for cruising up hills without struggling or losing speed; it will be interesting to see if my impression changes once we are driving a fully loaded van. The seats seem well-suited for long driving stints, and the forward/side visibility is spectacular thanks to the high seating position and the large windows. It took some adjustment to rely solely on the side mirrors and blind spot assist technology for changing lanes, since there’s no rear window, but we soon got comfortable with it. On the freeway, there was less road/wind/engine noise than I was expecting, though we did find ourselves talking louder and playing music at higher volumes than we normally do. Fortunately, the music played cleanly through the sound system, which interacted easily with my iPhone for both music streaming and for phone calls.
Overall, a great test drive, and we are anxious to outfit the van for our first camping trip, coming up soon.
Well, it was bright and shiny for about 24 hours . . .