Does anyone have a 2008 Dodge Caravan?

[ChrisinNJ]

I hope this is a good forum for this question...

We took a 2 week road trip to Disney (from NJ) & got into a car accident on the way home. My 2000 Ford Windstar is totalled & I am car shopping. I am looking at a new 2008 Dodge caravan. My MIL had an older caravan & had trouble with it. But I am getting a good deal on a lot more options with this car over a Toyota Sienna.

So, if you have one, how is it? This is a BIG purchase for me so I want to hear the good, the bad & the ugly!

Thanks!!!!!

 

[KATHINOWA]

We have one. I like it. We had a 98 caravan and traded it in for a Pilot. We kept the Pilot and bought another Caravan. It's great for road trips.

 

[crcormier]

So far so good with ours.

 

[mamacatnv]

I rented one in June - it was gutless, really gutless but other than that it was fine. We drove it 1200 miles with 6 people. We all fit as did the luggage and a cooler. The rental had a fixed bench seat in the middle that was uncomfortable, if I were buying one I would go with captain seats for the middle. The under the floor storage was really nice and surprisingly held a lot. The AC system worked great and had dual controls for the different zones.

I own a Honda Odyssey and much prefer my Ody for comfort, ride and power. I just didn't want to put those kinds of miles on my Ody when for $100 I was able to rent the Caravan for 2 weeks.

Happy car shopping

 

[wovenwonder]

My 1993 Caravan is on her way to the junkyard this week and I so hate to see her go! Just too many major repairs needed. Needless to say, we LOVED our Caravan and I would highly recommend one. Up until this major repair we never hand anything major that needed to be done.

 

[Kirby]

I have a 1999 Grand Caravan and it's been great! We've taken it on four long trips, twice to WDW, once to Chicago and once to DC. It is a wonderful car to travel in. Mine has almost 170,000 miles on it and hasn't needed any major repairs, knock on wood.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

I have a 2008 Grand Caravan with all the bells and whistles. LOVE LOVE LOVE this van! I have the captain seats in the 2nd row and bench in the 3rd. Dual dvd's players which will come in so handy on our next trip to Disney. my oldest and youngest are 10 years apart and just don't like the same movies. This way they can watch their own... and my middle dd just watches anything. Storage is awesome and it runs soo smooth.

I previously has a GMC Envoy XL that just didn't work well for our family of 5.

Before that I had a 2003 caravan but didn't love it near as much as this one. This one is worth every penny!

 

[airhead]

I LOVE IT! I had a 1998 Caravan that never gave me a bit of trouble,so I bought a new Grand Caravan.Its a lot bigger than my old mini but it rides much nicer and there are a lot of safety features on this one. Airbags are everywhere! And now the vans have a stabilizer incase of fishtailing. Its has 3 zone air/heat . This was a big plus for me because I travel with crated dogs and I needed to be able to keep animals comfortable during lond rides. I have the stow-away-seats which will probably
be STOWED-AWAY for the life of the van!
I really like it and I got it for a very good price!

Good Luck!

 

[bballmom56]

We had a 1999 caravan that I loved, then traded it in in 2005 on a new Caravan. I love this one too. We got an excellent price on it. It doesn't have many luxury features, but we really do like it. 69,000 miles so far and no major problems.

 

[chrisw127]

We actually own a Toyota Sienna, but when we were in Disney, we rented a Caravan and hated it. It seemed to have a lot of design quirks.

My good friend owned one and it had the nerve to completely break down right before they had a brand new baby last year--at 100,000 miles. It was a 2003. Before that, it had major problems, like the A/C going out and costing big money to replace. Same thing happened with a friend, but she had a used one that was slightly older (1999).

Really, I haven't heard any good things, but again, my experience is second hand and based on only one week of driving a 2008.

 

[MeghansMommy]

I rented one in June - it was gutless, really gutless but other than that it was fine. We drove it 1200 miles with 6 people. We all fit as did the luggage and a cooler. The rental had a fixed bench seat in the middle that was uncomfortable, if I were buying one I would go with captain seats for the middle. The under the floor storage was really nice and surprisingly held a lot. The AC system worked great and had dual controls for the different zones.

I own a Honda Odyssey and much prefer my Ody for comfort, ride and power. I just didn't want to put those kinds of miles on my Ody when for $100 I was able to rent the Caravan for 2 weeks.

Happy car shopping

WOW - what a great deal! I'd do the same!

We have a 2005 Dodge Caravan and it's been great so far. We have to trade it in (it's a lease) but we'll probably buy a new one. We love the stow away seats and the DVD player, though we may not get that the next time.

Good luck with your decision. Buying a car has always been a ton of stress for me. I hate doing it! I think that's why we always end up leasing, but leasing is such a rip off.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I have a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with many bells and whistles. I love the remote dual sliding doors. It also has the stow and go and is great for traveling. We can make it all the way to WDW without having to stop for gas and we still had over 1/4 tank left and that is with the AC on. It really has saved money in that right. I have thought about trading, but my mom just bought it in July and she loved it alot, it becamse mine when she passed away in August and I just can't trade it. It can handle all of our luggage and then some, why give it up.

Suzanne

 

[Mr Man]

We rented a Chrysler T&C on our last trip to WDW-which is quite similar to te Dodge GC. Loved it! Really nice feel to it. I didn't get a chance to drag race it or anything (don't ask....it's a rental car thang..... ) but it moved around just fine for a minivan.

We loved the different seating arrangements inside & the dual DVD's for when we went to non Disney parks (don't tell on us please).

I expect you can get a better price on the Dodge minivan than you can on just about any other brand.

I am a bottom dollar car buyer (Mopar Man always have been). I have a Dodge truck & DW drives a Durango-both financed at 0% (I like free financing).

Check around, they should be offering some serious incentives heading into the holiday season.

Good luck.