Dodge Caravan

[aprild]

We are going today to possibly get one!

I want to know the good, bad, & Ugly. Although i'm hoping there is no ugly!

Positive, negative, pros, cons.

Anything you know, i want to know!!

 

[Kirby]

We have a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. It has been a good car for us, great for traveling! No major problems thus far. The only minor problem is that the sliding doors don't always unlock by remote on the first time anymore. It's got 112,000 plus on it now, two trips to WDW and one to Chicago (same distance from here), plus numerous shorter trips. We're planning on running the wheels off of it. Gas mileage is still the same as it was when we bought it, 18/20. We sometimes get up to 22 on the highway depending on how flat it is.

 

[pixiemomma]

I have a 2005 (bought in June of 04)...make sure you get the one with the larger trunk. I can barely fit my kids hockey equipment in the back let alone the equpiment and groceries. We've had it in the shop a few times...nothing serious but the struts are bad already. We are on the road alot...our van has been to Canada, Maine and Florida 2x, not to mention Baltimore 2x a week and Philadelphia 1 or 2 times a week. Oh and the tires need to be replaced a second time in 34000 miles. We got over 400 miles to a fill-up on our last trip to Florida.

 

[MICKEY88]

I have a 2005 (bought in June of 04)...make sure you get the one with the larger trunk. I can barely fit my kids hockey equipment in the back let alone the equpiment and groceries. We've had it in the shop a few times...nothing serious but the struts are bad already. We are on the road alot...our van has been to Canada, Maine and Florida 2x, not to mention Baltimore 2x a week and Philadelphia 1 or 2 times a week. Oh and the tires need to be replaced a second time in 34000 miles. We got over 400 miles to a fill-up on our last trip to Florida.

what brand of tires...

 

[tar heel]

Drives like a car -- very comfortable van. pixiemama's right about the length, though -- you've got to get the "Grand" if you want to have space.

Brakes need to be replaced frequently, but that may be true with all vans. Transmissions have been an issue, but you'll get a long warranty on that if you're buying one from the past couple years.

We did 166,000 miles with one replacement transmission and a few much smaller things on our first caravan (1994). Second one (2000) has 97,000 and had a major repair around 70,000 (motor) and has a leaky but running okay transmission now. We'll replace it if necessary with the plan of getting at least as many miles as we did with the first one.

The other negative is that, like most American cars, Caravans depreciate rapidly the first year. For this reason, we bought our second one gently used b/c a two-year-old one was almost exactly half the price of a new one.

 

[LaLa]

We have an '02 Grand Caravan and we love it. The only problem we have had with it have been the automatic sliding doors and liftgate. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. We have taken it in and had them work on it a couple of times for this, but it is still a problem every now and then.

We have taken it on numerous trips to DW and out to Texas with no probs at all. We had our DVD player installed after market at about half the price. It really is the ultimate family ride.

Out of all the minivans we test drove, this one felt the most like a "car" to me. It just doesn't feel cheap or anything. Seats are a big thing to us and if you put a cheap seat in it, I won't buy it. I do have to say we have looked at the later models with Stow and Go seats (ours doesn't have it) and although I would love the extra storage space, I am not a big fan of those seats.

 

[Towncrier]

We are on our fourth Dodge Grand Caravan. I tried to talk her out of buying a minivan because I thought we would be better off with two smaller cars, but she would not hear of it. We loved our 1988 minivan(s). Yes, we owned two of them at the same time. Sue was not as thrilled with the 1998 version as it seemed to have less interior room. Our current minivan is a used 2002 that we bought a couple of years ago. It's currently in the shop having the Bambi shaped dent removed from the hood, but it has otherwise been a reliable vehicle (as have all of our minivans). The 1988 had some engine work done just shy of 70,000 miles. The 1998 also needed a new head gasket and a transmission seal at around the same mileage. All of the aforementioned work was covered under either the manufacturers warranty or the extended warranty (that we purchased on the advice of a good friend of 20 years who just happens to be our Dodge mechanic).

Is the van perfect? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But then again, my friends with the "perfect" Honda Odyssey just had to have their transmission replaced at 96,000 miles and they have had repeated trouble with their automatic sliding door. I guess that no vehicle is really perfect.

Good luck and good hunting.

 

[pixiemomma]

what brand of tires...

Bridgestone

 

[Southern4sure]

I have a 01 Grand Caravan Sport. It has alot of storage space in the back. It drives like a dream and I havent had any problems at all. Good Luck in choosing one

 

[aprild]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

We don't know whether to buy in Nov for 3500 cash back, or wait till DEC to see what the incentive is????

If we wait till Dec, we might have had a better incentive in Nov!!

Buying a new vehicle stresses me out!!

The dealers said they don't know till Dec 1 what the Dec incentive will be.

Hmmm decisions, decisions!!!

 

[minkydog]

I adored my Dodge Caravans, both of them! They drive like a car and with the longer wheelbase, were big enough to carry everything including my son's wheelchair.

But I have two words for you: Brakes and transmissions. We replaced them in both cars. So get the extended warranty or set up a savings account. The transmissions go at about 100K, brakes at 60-75K.

Now we have a GMC Safari. I love it, but it can't hold a candle road-wise to that Caravan.

 

[binny]

well this is a topic I can talk about! LOL

were on number 8!

DH drives one for work and gets a new one every 1 1/2 - 2 years (company owned of course lol) . We have had 3 personally. my 2001 was wonderful but that was the one I wrecked now I have a 2000 and its ok. Its an AWD which is different for me. I dont love this one as much as the others but I still like it.


A grand is a MUST. I dont even know why they make the others.

We put a LOT of miles on Dhs vans and they do really well. One van had a windsheild problem, I think he went through 7 or 8 in the year and a half. Really bizarre. One had brake issues but they finally figured that one out and fixed it. All in all though they have been really good!

 

[airhead]

Plan on getting another one when this one dies.I take good care of it so I'm hopin' I get another 50,000 miles before she dies. best vehicle I ever owned.

 

[sha_lyn]

01 GC sport here too.

Only problems has been with the window motor for passenger window and the latch for the hatch, which were both repaired under warenty.

 

[bballmom56]

We had a 1999 Caravan and loved it! Decided to trade it in at about 110,000 miles as it was going to need a transmission. Prior to that we never had a major repair and it NEVER let me down. So we traded it for a 2005 Caravan. Love this one, too. Has more bells and whistles than the old one (yeah, we moved up to power windows and locks!) and is a 4 speed. Gas mileage is not as good as the old one, but oh well, I still love it.

 

[SeeDisney]

We had a 2000 Dodge Caravan and not even 50,000 miles and the transmission was leaking a lot of oil. DH suspected the the transmission was going to die.

So we traded it in for a 2005 Honda Odyessa.

Good luck to you.

 

[PaulaSue]

I have a 99 Grand and Love it!

I drove a Grand Caravan as a Nanny (for 3 years that family) in the early 90s and always loved it. TG they got rid of the fake wood siding though.

Especailly after driving other minvans as a Nanny (was for 7 1/2 years before my own kids) I told DH when we talked about kids that I wanted a Dodge Grand. I just wish they were even longer for all my stuff.