Dodge Grand Caravan? Any opinions?

[okeydokey]

We had so many problems with our last one that I swore I'd never buy another Chrysler product. It was a disaster.
a

Us too. Horrible, horrible vehicle. Awful transmission problems, ac had to be completely redone twice. Windows stopped working. Never again.

 

[luv2mickey]

Good choice you will not regret it, love love love my Odyssey no more worries about major repairs, like with my Chrysler,at 145000 miles no odd noises no major repairs. I would feel comfortable driving across country with no fear of breaking down, couldn't say the same about the Chrysler at 60000 miles.

 

[mikehn]

We were in Orlando last week and rented a minivan. They gave me a brand new Toyota Sienna. That is one sweet ride.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

So glad you went with the Odyssey!

I have a 2008 Grand Caravan that is in the shop constantly! The money I've paid to get that %#&% fixed is ridiculous! I have 45,000 miles on my van. The brakes have been replaced 3 times and I can feel them grinding again so it will be going back in soon! The doors get stuck constantly, the a/c has had issues multiple times along with both the driver and passenger side window. I can also feel the transmission starting to slip a bit!

I had a 2000 Caravan prior to this and had very little problems. 2008 was the year of the new redesign and they had alot of problems...the 2009 is supposedly better. They did recall the brakes and the a/c so I did get my money back for replacing the brakes..but only for 1 time. They won't cover the other 2 times we've already done it!

 

[budafam]

We have a 2000 with 71,000 miles on it and so far so good (knock on wood)... I've heard bad things about the transmissions going out. My aunt bought a brand new one in 2005 and had nothing but issues with it. They swore they would never buy another one but I'm pretty sure we would. I would never buy brand new though... find a good used one with low miles. New is just such a waste of money.

 

[arthur06]

We have a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. My wife loves her "museum" as she calls it.

We but it in 2010 with about 25,000 miles. It has Stow and Go, 3 DVD's, Dual Climate control, Power doors, windows and locks. It really is a great car with 3 small kids.

She works for the USPS and has a work car and I work for a company that allots me a work vehicle. We put about 300 miles a month on our van, unless we are going out of town or something similar.

We have never had any maintenance issues with our van, but we don't drive it much. It pretties up our garage most days.

She wants to trade it if for a Suburban, but as little as we drive it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to do so. Just the insurance and license are a killer on SUV's.

 

[nilseks]

Good job, OP! I truly believe you would have regretted the Dodge. I was so, so, soooo happy the day I got rid of mine.

By the way, for others who are in the market...I traded in my Dodge for a Kia Sorento. Boy am I glad I did! I've had it for 8 months now and I love it so much. I still can't believe the difference in mileage between that and a minivan. When I first got it I was like, "am I EVER going to have to fill the tank on this thing???" It's so weird not to have my vehicle constantly breaking down!

 

[leebee]

I had a 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager (same vehicle as Dodge Grand Caravan) that we loved; traded it in at 228,000 miles because it needed $3K of rust repair to pass inspection (yup, lots of solid and liquid salt on the roads in the winter up here). We replaced the transmission at 90,000 miles but that was about the only major repair. Now I have a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan and like it almost as much, but the things I don't like about it are things like having to put the van into park to open the electronic sliding side doors (annoying, can't just pull up, put on the brakes, and let DD hop out for dance), and I am not a fan of captain's seats in the middle; I prefer the short bench, but this van, bought used, has captain chairs. Other than these minor things, I am a fan!

I am glad to see that the redesign was in 2008; perhaps I won't have the issues with my 2007 that some of you are having with the newer vans. Yes, I'd like a Honda or an Odyssey, but there's just no way we could afford the monthly payments... over $300 a month for a used vehicle? That's half my take-home pay!

 

[monorailsilver]

I have a Dodge Grand Caravan SXT --- and I will NEVER AGAIN in my life own another Dodge/Chrysler vehicle. This thing has been nothing but one headache after the next. Problems with electrical system, problems with brakes constantly needing replacements, problems with the steering, etc etc etc... I could go on and on and on.

I wouldn't recommend any Dodge/Chrysler to anyone, especially a Grand Caravan. The ONLY good thing about this car is the "stow & go" seating. Other than that? Garbage.

I swear my dh is not on the dis boards with a name I don't recognize. He could of written the above post.

We have a 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT or whatever it is called. We hate it. We bought it new November 2010 although "mom" aka the dealers wife, drove the car & put 3000 miles on it.

Why did we buy it-my dh gets a discount via work-ya know 1% under factory & we needed a bigger car since the 3 kids in the 5 seater Envoy was not enjoyable going anywhere anymore.

So since we couldn't afford the Acadia we wanted we went with something cheaper. Yep & it is cheaper.

It is an SXT model but it doesn't have navigation/DVD player. We did not want that for fear our kids would not get out of the car for a 5 min ride because "wait the just let me see this part."

Anyways:

We bought it & I brought it back a day or 2 later since it pulled to the right really bad. The owners son & the head mechanic guy said it was normal. Our Envoy which we kept doesn't pull like that. Nor did my DH's Grand Prix that we traded in for this thing pull like that.

We brought it back again last week after an alighment & new tires & they were scratching their head. My dh flipped the tires like the alignment place said to do & the dealer did it again & it still pulls. My dh also said some measurements were off but the dealer said it was with in specs.

My dh found a small oil leak. Took it to the dealer & they said it was normal. Um, really? None of the other cars leak-OK I have no clue but he does the oil changes & can take a engine out & put it back in so I guess he has a clue about these things.

Other then that what we or I hate about it:

It is hard to climb in the back/via the sliding doors. Maybe that is with all vans but this is our first.

The climate control stinks. It is dual plus the one in the back & there are 3 dials I have to adjust. I swear I am going to get in an accident one day adjusting the temp.

Back to the temperature settings. They are in a horrible spot. They should be up higher but I get why they aren't-for those cars that have the navigation system. There really needs to be a better spot for them. My windows get foggy I actually have to take my eyes off the road for a few seconds to find the defogger button or to turn the knob to on.

The steering wheel does not tilt. It says tilt but it doesn't really tilt.

So we have the SXT, I would expect from having that level there would be pretty much everything in it standard across all SXT's minus the navigation/DVD system. Nope.

I miss from the Envoy-my seat is #1 & my dh is #2. Makes life easier when we swap cars just to press a button to our set seat adjustment plus the power mirror moves too.

Rain sensing wipers. Yeah I know not a biggie but I liked them!!!

I know there is more but I am tired & I need to go to bed. I can tell you 4 days ago my dh was ready to trade it in & get me the lower model Traverse. I did talk him out of it because it would of been $100 more a month & it wouldn't have all the things I want in it.

Thankfully the van is at 0% but this is the last time we stray away from GM.

 

[5forDis]

Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey are listed as best minivans.

I absolutely loved my Honda Odyssey (2003 bought new) UNTIL the transmission failed at 148,000. It is a Honda & I really expected more from a Honda (that is why we paid the extra $$$). I then found out the transmissions in Honda Odysseys and Pilots have been problematic (Class Actions Suits have been settled for the 2001-2002 models) & there have been recalls. It turns out that my year was recalled and we never received notification even though we had all of our service done at the Honda dealership. They informed us about other recalls and corrected the problems but not this one.

When we addressed this with corporate Honda America, they basically said, "Well, what did you expect, you have almost 150,000 miles AND we cannot be sure the transmission recall problem is the reason your transmission failed". The transmission people said it is the EXACT problem as the one that was recalled (coolant doesn't work and it basically burns your transmission). I've owned only Hondas (I've had a Civic, 2 Accords, 2 CR-Vs, Pilot) & really trusted the Honda product. I recommend anyone thinking of buying a Honda does a thorough search of known design flaws. Honda has gotten off so easy with their known and pervasive transmission failures...Toyota had all the bad publicity for the braking system & I am surprised Honda didn't receive the same attention.

My car basically stopped from 60 to 0 on the highway with my children in it with no warning (it bucked and then stopped). I am very lucky that I was able to get to the side and we were not in heavy traffic or we would have been seriously injured or worse. Since we had the transmission rebuilt, it has failed 4 more times & been rebuilt/replaced. It is under warranty and as soon as I am close to the end of the transmission warranty, I will be trading that minivan away. I'm definitely not buying another Honda even though I love the space and look of the new Honda Pilot.

I wish the van was not so problematic...I'd like another couple of years without having to purchase a new car.

 

[5forDis]

OP-I'm sorry about my post. I posted this before I read that you bought an Odyssey. What year was it? I don't want to sound negative..just telling you about the Odyssey problems with transmissions and to let you know not to expect Honda to help you if they fail to notify you about a recall.

Like I said before...I loved my Honda until 148,000 miles. I would probably still have + things to say about Honda if they had given us some money toward the transmission due to their dealership and them never notifying us of the recall (they notified us of plenty of others like the gas tank lid, seat belts & we always had the problem fixed as soon as we were aware...I would never have ignored a transmission recall knowing the future costs). I hope your Honda is spared from the transmission nightmare. I know 2 other people directly that had the same problem with their Odysseys as we did & were smart to trade theirs away. I feel bad for whomever happened to buy their problematic minivans.

 

[DVCPAT]

We have a 1998 dodge grand caravan and it’s been a great vehicle. It has 286,000 miles on the original engine and still runs great. The transmission needed a rebuild at 236,000 miles and that’s really been the only major repair. I’ve owned German, Japanese and American made vehicles and the dodge has been the most reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned.

Our Mercedes ML350 transmission failed at 37,000 miles and would have cost a small fortune if the warranty had expired. My BMW was a sensor failure nightmare and the dash display pixels started to burn out. Audi had ghost like electrical problems that would come and go…..I’d never own a german car without a factory warranty. Mazda was OK but had more problems than the dodge.

I’ve had great luck with American made cars.

 

[tinker&belle]

OP-I'm sorry about my post. I posted this before I read that you bought an Odyssey. What year was it? I don't want to sound negative..just telling you about the Odyssey problems with transmissions and to let you know not to expect Honda to help you if they fail to notify you about a recall.

Like I said before...I loved my Honda until 148,000 miles. I would probably still have + things to say about Honda if they had given us some money toward the transmission due to their dealership and them never notifying us of the recall (they notified us of plenty of others like the gas tank lid, seat belts & we always had the problem fixed as soon as we were aware...I would never have ignored a transmission recall knowing the future costs). I hope your Honda is spared from the transmission nightmare. I know 2 other people directly that had the same problem with their Odysseys as we did & were smart to trade theirs away. I feel bad for whomever happened to buy their problematic minivans.

No worries..it is good to hear so we know what to look for. I think I might go get the first oil change at a local Honda dealer or see if I can register online to try to get any updates. The Odyssey we purchased is an 07, so hopefully honda has worked that out. Did the car do anything else funny before it suddenly stopped?

 

[5forDis]

TCS & another light lit up (can't remember the other) right before the transmission failure. Hopefully, the 2007 is better than the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, etc.

 

[MAH4546]

Consider a Volkswagen Routan, which is identical but with better interior components and superior Volkswagen dealer service.

 

[arthuruscg]

But in the end you have a rebadged dodge.