Moonbeam

"It may look like a sturdy, affordable minivan with high seating capacity and low build quality. Sure. Its manufacturers were happy with a complete lack of features and utter disregard for good looks. But mindless acceptance of obvious facts did not make this country what it is today. Forget about what the Moonbeam is, and start thinking about what a stunted adolescent with thousands of dollars can pay for it to be. Eligible for customization at Benny's Original Motor Works."

- Benny's Original Motor Works description.

The Moonbeam is a four-door minivan featured in every game of the franchise since Grand Theft Auto III (with the exception of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and the standard editions of Grand Theft Auto V). It was added to Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the Lowriders update for the enhanced versions only. It is manufactured by Declasse in the HD Universe.

3D Universe
"Good for big families. Or large gang of criminals."

- GTA Vice City Website

Between Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the Moonbeam is straightforwardly modeled after a, albeit featuring tall tail lights. The Grand Theft Auto: Vice City version's tail lights are similar to those found on vans, while other renditions have single red lights.

The Moonbeam is generally depicted as a bulky 1980s van, but minor cosmetic changes have been made throughout its appearances. The Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories renditions of the Moonbeam features a split grille, a smaller front and rear reverse lights attached to the rear bumper, while the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City rendition, albeit similar in design, features a single grille, larger front and rear amber lights attached to the rear bumper, along with a unique "MOONBEAM" badging on the rear compartment door. The Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rendition is based upon the GTA Vice City model, but the badge is absent. Moonbeams can only be seen in single colors.

During development of GTA III, the van was originally known as the "Aster", a clear reference to the Chevrolet Astro name. The van is depicted in the Capital Autos website.

Grand Theft Auto IV
In Grand Theft Auto IV, the Moonbeam (this time with a Declasse manufacturer badge) is still based on a 1985—1994 Chevrolet Astro/1985—1994 GMC Safari, but the front end has been greatly altered, incorporating more realistic detailing and design cues. The tail lights share their textures with the Bobcat and resemble those of the.

Design-wise, the Moonbeam remains identical, but features various distinctive details around. The front end of the van features a black strip and rectangle turn signals on the bumper, along with a lower extension and a plate holder. The grille and headlight setup remains similar to the 3D Universe renditions, but incorporates a dual set of headlights located in black housings. The hood area is relatively small and features silver lettering displaying the manufacturer's name.

The sides remain relatively similar, but the ride height is a bit lowered and incorporates site steps and silver badging. On the cabin area, the side and rear windows are permanently tinted, a trait also shared with the Minivan.

The rear of the car is more or less identical; the tail lights are smaller in comparison to the 3D Universe iterations and lacks the extra bumper lights, but makes up by featuring silver badging displaying the car's name and the manufacturer. The bumper has a black upper side and a central section for the plate holder.

The Moonbeam can spawn with several accessories:
 * A standard black grille or a custom billet grille covering the headlights.
 * One of the two side steps, the first one painted with the car's color with a grey foot step, and the second one finished in silver/grey.
 * A stock roof, a set of two black luggage bars or an elevated "Super Streamline" aero roof.
 * Rear quarter panels in place of the windows.
 * An optional set of rear-mounted continental tire and ladder.

Most of the lower half of the bodywork is painted in a primary color around the vehicle, while the upper half and the lower trimmings of the vehicle are painted with a secondary color. It uses a set of star-shaped rims.

Grand Theft Auto Online
In Grand Theft Auto Online, the Moonbeam returns with the same design and features. However, the improved graphics makes the car's overall appearance cleaner, with newer light textures and lack of tinted windows (although one can apply window tints through mod shops). Its interior uses the "Cavalcade" interior textures and dials.

Unlike its previous iteration, the Moonbeam no longer has the accessories and instead, they were carried over to its custom variant. The hinged rear passenger doors found on previous iterations have been replaced with sliding doors; therefore, the handles are now located at the front of the doors. Paint scheme remains identical to its GTA IV iteration, with the lower half of the bodywork painted in a primary color around the vehicle and the upper half and lower trimmings of the vehicle painted with a secondary color. The vehicle retains the same wheel design, being similar to the "Five Star" rims available in Los Santos Customs.

3D Universe
Moonbeams between GTA III and GTA Vice City Stories all possess similar handling properties. Performance is poor, due to the under-powered engines, rear wheel drive layouts (Moonbeams in GTA III and Vice City are front-wheel drive), heavy bodies, soft suspension, and high center of gravity (leading to a tendency to flip on rough terrains); as a result, the Moonbeam is generally unsuitable for high-speed driving and has little practical use aside its fundamental function as a mode of transport. In GTA San Andreas it's one of the worst vehicles, as not only does the vehicle have bad performance, it also has a bad build quality and low durability. The Moonbeam only holds a maximum of four occupants.

Grand Theft Auto IV
The GTA IV rendition of the Moonbeam is powered by a modeled V8 engine and features a rear wheel drive layout. However, its lack of power makes this characteristic negligible; the Moonbeam drives as slowly as its predecessors, and still suffers from understeer. Frustratingly, the Moonbeam fails to withstand a large amount of damage, as its large size would suggest.

The vehicle shares the same engine sound as other vans, namely the Pony and the Burrito.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The Moonbeam is powered by an FR single overhead camshaft V8 capable of moving it at an average top speed. Since the vehicle has a minivan-style body, it weighs a bit less than other industrial-style vans, and as a result has decent acceleration. Unfortunately, this costs it in terms of durability and traction. Poor weight distribution and the high, soft suspension causes heavy oversteer while cornering. Even though the Moonbeam is a van, it is classified by the game as a muscle car for races.

Unlike other vehicles similar to its size, such as the Minivan, the Moonbeam's lively engine and transmission work hard at propelling the vehicle off the line quickly, resulting in a long burnout from the rear wheels and yielding an impressive 0-60 time for its size. Although its handling is quick and responsive; unlike other vehicles similar to its size, the Moonbeam is prone to suffer from extreme oversteer during hard cornering, even at relatively low speeds. Traction is acceptable given its RWD drivetrain, and braking is on par with other vehicles it competes against. The Moonbeam is a decent getaway vehicle in terms of its top speed and acceleration thanks to its brisk engine and transmission, but players should be very cautious while cornering hard, especially during a hot pursuit.

The Moonbeam shares a similar sound with sports sedans like the Tailgater and the Schafter.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * The Moonbeam can only be modified in a TransFender garage.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * B Only available at Benny's Original Motor Works.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * A Moonbeam is requested as part of Stevie's Car Thefts, appearing with a uniquely black and red body. As a new Moonbeam will respawn at the same spot until the player delivers one to S&M Auto Sales, the player can save one at their safehouse before delivering another.

Grand Theft Auto III

 * Import/Export - The Moonbeam is one of the 23 vehicles wanted for the Portland Island portion of the Import/Export side mission.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * Robbery - The Money Truck - Moonbeams are used by guards who escort the Securicar, and chase Vic once he has carjacked the money truck.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * Stevie's Car Thefts - The Moonbeam is one of the 30 vehicles wanted by the Stevie's Car Thefts in the side-mission of the same name.

Grand Theft Auto III

 * Garage 30 north of Momma's Restaurante, Saint Mark's, Portland.
 * In the departments of Hepburn Heights, Portland.
 * In Callahan Point, Portland.
 * In the Carson General Hospital in Rockford, Staunton Island.
 * In the Liberty Tree offices in Bedford Point, Staunton Island.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * Commonly driving around Vice Point.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Commonly seen driving around Los Santos especially Idlewood.
 * Parked outside The Pig Pen in East Los Santos, Los Santos.
 * The poor areas in southwest San Fierro and south Las Venturas, in addition of the countryside.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

 * Found driving around in Saint Mark's.
 * In the parking lot of the Ferry Terminal in Harwood, Portland.
 * In the underground parking lot of AMCo. Headquarters in Torrington, Staunton Island.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * Seen driving around at the Escobar International Airport.
 * Commonly driving around in Little Haiti.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * Commonly found in Broker, Bohan, and the west end of Alderney.
 * Commonly seen in Middle Park East.
 * Very common on Charge Island, Industrial, and Colony Island.
 * A Moonbeam spawns on the intersection between Diamond Street and Albany Avenue during the mission Wrong is Right. It has no driver so the player can easily take it although this will likely result in mission failure.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased from Benny's Original Motor Works Website for $32,500 (enhanced version only).
 * The Road Captain of a Motorcycle Club can request a Moonbeam for club use in free mode for $1000. This version has bulletproof tires and bullet-resistant front and rear glass.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * After collecting all thirty cars for Stevie, he agrees to purchase cars from Niko Bellic, with the Moonbeam fetching $2,200.

General

 * The Moonbeam plays the following radio stations by default when entered:
 * West Coast Talk Radio in GTA San Andreas.
 * Integrity 2.0, WKTT Radio or PLR in GTA IV.
 * Radio Los Santos, West Coast Classics or The Lab in GTA Online.
 * The Moonbeam may get its name due to the real-life variant Chevrolet Astro, as they both share names with astronomical themes. This is also further proven by the beta name, the Aster.

Grand Theft Auto III

 * The Moonbeam was originally planned to have sliding rear doors, although technical limitations in GTA III made it impossible.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * The Moonbeam in GTA Vice City, along with the game's Bobcat, is one of the earliest vehicles in the series to physically depict its name, sporting a "MOONBEAM" badge on its trunk lid.
 * In the beta for GTA Vice City, the Moonbeam was originally implied, just as planned originally for GTA III, to have sliding rear doors. However, the limitations still existed. Sliding doors were not added to the Moonbeam until GTA Online.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Driving a Moonbeam into the TransFender in Las Venturas will cause the vehicle to spawn on top of the garage but underneath the roof, trapping the player and the vehicle. At this point the player can only escape by blowing themselves up, re-loading the game's save file, or re-loading the game itself.
 * There appears to be a typo in the second color set of the vehicle in the files: 117 is tied to a garnet red color, but 227 is not tied to anything (as the color range is between 0 and 126). It is possibly meant to be 117, assuming the car is supposed to use monotone colors.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * The Moonbeam is equipped with the "door ajar" bong when the driver's door is opened.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * The addition of the custom variant and its modification options in GTA Online references the Astro/Safari van's popularity in the lowrider scene.
 * Unless the player owns a regular Moonbeam as a personal vehicle, it will not be listed in muscle car races.
 * The custom variant however, is. This is also the only vehicle in the GTA Online: Lowriders update that is not included in the creator.

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