Anyone have a Dodge Caravan?

[lulugirl]

We are in the market for a minivan. I really love the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey, they get high marks from Consumer reports.
A family member can get me a great deal on a Dodge Caravan (2% below invoice, and they are very reasonably priced to start with.) Consumer reports gives them a "so-so" rating.

I would love some feedback on any of these vehicles! I really love the idea of saving $$$ and going for the Dodge, but I need something that is going to be reliable and safe.
Thanks!
-Elisabeth

 

[MosMom]

We have a Dodge Grand Caravan and I love it. We have had it since 98 and it has never had any sort of problem. It is a great van. We have driven it to Canada (2,000 miles) twice, Orlando twice, New Orleans, and multiple other long drives. With my experience so far, I wouldn't ever get another mini van.

 

[lulugirl]

Thanks for your quick response! May I ask what the difference is between the Caravan and the Grand Caravan, is it just size?

 

[winniedapooh]

We have 2- a 98 and then we got another one last year for me. We love them and have not had a problem with them. We love the service and that there is more room than other vans. We have 5 kids so we need all the room that we can get. We also would never get another brand.

 

[Towncrier]

The Grand Caravan has more room behind the last row of seats. We're on our 4th Dodge minivan and we've loved every one of them.

 

[MosMom]

Originally posted by lulugirl
Thanks for your quick response! May I ask what the difference is between the Caravan and the Grand Caravan, is it just size?

The grand caravan is longer than the normal caravan. I believe the grand caravan is 11 inches longer which doesn't sound like much but there have been many things we picked up and they barely fit in our grand.

 

[r3ngels]

We are on our 2nd. I would recomend them.

 

[MosMom]

Oooooooh the new caravans have that "Stow N' Go" seating where you don't have to take the seats out anymore and it gives a cubby hole space to put things when the seats are out. We recently paid our caravan off and want to go without payments for awhile but I can't wait to get a new one with those seats!

 

[alabamaalan]

I also have the 98 Grand Caravan and have enjoyed it, but it is the only mini-van I have owned so nothing to compare it to.

 

[Towncrier]

One thing to keep in mind if you get the new stow-and-go seats. They had to rearrange the exhaust system and location of the spare tire in order to make room for the seats. You had better have a AAA membership if you get a flat unless you feel like doing the limbo to get underneath the car to grab the spare.

Otherwise, it sounds like a really nice feature.

BTW - In the old days, I used to say that they called it a "Grand Caravan" because it cost $1000 more than the standard model. Those days, unfortunately, are long gone.

 

[alexandmaddie]

We had a 1996 Caravan and now have a 2004 Grand Caravan. Have had great luck with both vans. We really love the extra room in our current van.

Krista

 

[KarenC]

We are on our fourth Chrysler Minivan--the Voyager, Caravan and Town and Country are essentially the same vehicle with different trims and options.

We have never been stranded in any of these cars and the only big repair on any of them was on the air conditioning on our 95 Caravan--now the warranty is long enough that it would have covered that issue.

My husband prefers the Chrylers to the Honda or Toyota because you can put a full sheet of plywood in the back. Not that we're buying full sheets of plywood that often (can't think of when we did) but if he wanted to he could. Doesn't matter to me, I'm happy with the car.

 

[gallaj0]

I have a 99 Grand Caravan, and wouldn't buy another. We've had transmission problems, which the caravans are nortorious for. Try a search on caravan transmissions, and see what comes up.

I also wouldn't buy one unless you are getting the stow and go seats, the regualr benches are too heavy for my wife to lift alone, and she's no wilting flower; I can barely move one by myself.

But you get what you pay for, and I was going low price when we were shopping for a van, so I didn't expext much, and that was what I got, not much.

 

[my3kids]

Run run run away from Dodge Grand Caravans. Oh my goodnes, the dealer practically needed to put a cot in the service department for me, I was there so often. I would conservatively say the car was in the shop more days than it was at home and trouble free. Anything that could break, did break, and most more than once.

Do a search on this board. Someone else asked a few months ago and the responses were all pretty avid in their love or hate. Seems you have a chance of getting a really good one, or a really terrible one. A woman I know had her steering wheel come off in her hands. My AC broke down the week we bought it. I ended up with a new transmission, new head gasket or something like that, new locks, new speedometer because the speed would go from 0 to 80 while I was in a residential neighborhood and then back down to the 20 it should have registerd.

If you get the Grand Caravan, budget an extended warranty into the price!

 

[my3kids]

Oh, and keep a metal bucket and some heat safe gloves in the back to pick up pieces which fall off along the way...makes it a lot easier for the service guy to diagnose the problem if you have the piece that came off.


(But, the seating and space was great, and the interior fit and finish was nice. It looked good, just didn't last good )

The upolstery fabric seemed to be of good quality, if that is helpful.

 

[bballmom56]

We have a 99 Caravan with about 95,000 miles and I love it. It has never needed a major repair. Maybe we were just lucky but I would buy another one. DH has been talking about looking for a new one, but this one still has a lot of life left in it!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

we had a '96 Caravan and whoever said you got a really great one or a really horrid one was right on. I sometimes imagine that the entire assembly line was drunk they day ours was put together. I should have known something was up when I had to get a new battery the first winter we owned it.

Needless to say, we replaced every belt on the thing and rebuilt the engine at around 55,000 miles. This was all in addition to the standard alternator/pumps etc repairs. We limped along with the thing for 7 years, for what I spent in maintenance some years we could have easily made payments on a Lexus. The Goodyear repair shop sent us a nice fruit basket every Christmas.

In the end, I practically had to pay Car Max to take the thing off our hands.

I hope they've improved the model since then.

 

[OhMari]

I know many, many people drive caravans, but the college kids are putting the caravans, in line with people with mullets.

I've heard so many jokes this summer from college kids about these vehicles, I cringe cause I know many people that drive them, and their jokes are pretty accurate.

 

[Snowysmom]

We have never had a Caravan but we do have a Toyota Sienna and really like it. I like the crash test ratings and reliability ratings on it. Plus it is great to drive. The 3rd row seats fold down to make more cargo space. I have heard that Caravans aren't overly reliable just like the Windstar we have. We needed something safe and reliable and so far it has worked out well.

 

[swea_pea1]

Love, Love, LOVE my '01 Grand Caravan!