A 4 cylinder helps it's cause. But it's still a heavy vehicle with a car transmission in it. Same as the old Caravans. But there isn't much point on debating the merits of a particular, 15+ year old vehicle. You might get lucky, and you might not, I've had cars that were terrible on paper but never let me down, and had things like 4Runners that "never die" die in traffic, right in front of an oncoming bus! The fact that the current owner bought it broken and never got around to fixing it makes me wonder if he found some other things wrong that made it not worth fixing. But as always, buyer beware, make sure you look it over before you make an offer.
And my vote for best minivan from the '90s is the Previa with a 5 speed. From the '80s, Caravan with a 5 speed. But seeing as you live where stuff rusts, I doubt you'd find either of those. Sometimes, given budget and availability, you can't hold out for something "good", you just have to go for whatever is the least bad ha ha
