WAY OT- Dodge Caravan- share your experience

[MKCP5]

Wow! I am amazed at all the problems people have had. We have had two plymouth voyagers. One went for 160K miles w/ no major problems except a radiator at about 140 k and now have a 98 grandvoyager that has 152k miles on it so far with absolutely no hassles at all. Wouldnt hesitate to buy another. good luck!

 

[tlbwriter]

Huh? Whatever. There's always gonna be people whining too! BTW, the repairs for inspection involved a headlight bulb that had burned out, a wiper blade that had worn out and a tire that had damage from a pothole. Yeah, those are terrible things to repair. Notice, I said MINOR? We also own two Honda Accords that our sons drive. Wow, I must be smart to have 2 Hondas. You come across as just a little rude.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I just thought it was funny that you would claim Chrysler minivans have a "great rep" (which they do not, by the way, unless one happens to be a Chrysler salesperson) and then list the problems you've had with them as if they were nothing. To me, those repairs would have been a huge deal. But the things you listed here as repairs for inspection are what I would consider maintenance, not repairs. When you said you had to make "repairs," I assumed you meant actual repairs to things that were not working, not routine maintenance like replacing tires.

 

[Gillian]

We're shopping for a van also, or an SUV. Something that seats 7 and can tow a pop up. I've looked at the grand caravan, it seems very nice. I don't like our local salespeople much though.

One comment about Honda. My 2000 Accord has had 2 major problems. First, the computer went at 45,000 miles. I found out yesterday (during the regular 60,000 mile service) that the transmission is leaking and needs to be replaced. Both issues were totally covered by Honda, even though we don't have an extended warranty.

I am happy with the way they handled the problems and would buy another Honda without hesitation.

The new Oddysey is beautiful. I like their simple pricing structure also.

 

[CheapMom]

The Oddysey seems to have the best reviews over all. But, I am probably going with the Nissan Quest. That is what we have now and we have almost 200K and it is still plugging away. Never had a major problem. A few little things and routine W&T. They have some good incentives until May 31 (Toyota too) so it would be a pretty good savings over the Honda.
I looked at the KIA which is pretty cheap but it gets the worst gas mileage and that is pretty important right now.
Thanks everyone for our replies.
(DisneySteve- your van catching on fire post is crazy. I am glad you were home and not in your car.)

 

[bdcp]

I'm sorry you feel that way. I just thought it was funny that you would claim Chrysler minivans have a "great rep" (which they do not, by the way, unless one happens to be a Chrysler salesperson) and then list the problems you've had with them as if they were nothing. To me, those repairs would have been a huge deal. But the things you listed here as repairs for inspection are what I would consider maintenance, not repairs. When you said you had to make "repairs," I assumed you meant actual repairs to things that were not working, not routine maintenance like replacing tires.

First, no one I know works for Chrysler. I actually don't love Chrysler and probably will buy a Honda next time, but that's partially because we can afford to buy the Pilot I want and the Accord hybrid for my DH. Do a web search on any car, including, yes, gasp, Honda's and you will find complaints about all of them for a variety of reasons. I just thought it was interesting that someone would panic over a few posts. I love Honda's. They were historically overpriced and for years, no dealer would lower the sticker price. But, we've had repairs on Honda's too. Any car kept for 100k miles is going to have to have things replaced. What I have spent on mostly minor repairs is not nearly what I would have spent on a new car by any stretch. Those were on 2 different vans over the last 16 years and the air conditioner on every car I've ever seen, including Honda's usually doesn't last more than 7 years. Even if it's just a freon leak that can't be just repaired. I chose to replace my A/C. It didn't have anything to do with needing to be done to drive the car. I actually bought my first minivan for my family's safety. It is usually in the top two minivans for safety and my insurance is cheaper than any other car we own due to that. It's about perspective. My '98 has had no other issues except for maintenance, water pump and the A/C so how is that a problem? $2,500 in repairs on a car that's been paid for for 3 years is not exactly an issue. Not to mention, the lower insurance cost. The recall was the clockspring in the steering column for the air bag. The first van ('89) had transmission problems as did quite a few Chrysler's over a few years time and it was replaced for free. You act like I had a list a mile long. The water pump on the '98 was actually replaced as a precaution at about 100k due to the fact it was not at 100%. It was maintenance. It had not failed yet. These few repairs were done to keep a car for a longer period of time and it runs great. It has never stalled or quit on me, ever. Have you noticed other people have had no real problems? I've spent almost as much on our Honda's. We get our oil changed every 5,000 miles no matter what and mechanics have told us that is the biggest problem they see. People come in complaining that something failed and they haven't had the car looked at in a year for anything and then they blame the manufacturer.

 

[shelly3girls]

bdcp
You will be surprised at the discount you can now get on the Pilot. Our local dealer told us that they do not discount either. We checked on carsdirect.com to get a good price on the car. We were going to buy from them (had to drive 1.5 hrs to get the car to save $2,000) then the dealer near my work matched the price, beat the trade-in price, beat the financing and beat the price on the extended warranty. We ended up saving over $4,000 from our local dealer!!!! Well worth the research, I can't believe that people continue to pay sticker price at some dealers. We traded in our Town & Country and love the Pilot. I still like the ease of the van for families with infants but now that the kids are older we wanted to move on to an SUV (need it for driving on the beach). We still bought the extended warranty on the Honda b/c we put a lot of miles on our cars (25,000-30,000 per year).

 

[maxaroni]

Had a Dodge Caravan and unloaded it....

We had one transmission go bad, still under warranty. It was replaced and started going bad again and still under warranty, replaced again. At that point, we knew if it went bad again, we would not be covered, therefore, we got rid of it, while we could.

 

[chip_mc]

If your ego can handle it take a look at the Kia vans.. I have a 97 Chrysler town and country I use at work all the time till recently..(transmission gave up at 165000 miles), I liked using that, last year we got on the minivan kick and started shopping around... got an excellent deal on a Sedona EX with all the toys..only real downside is there is no extended model like the Dodge, but plenty of room for us, and can't beat the price.. We have about 12000 miles on ours so far, just took it to Orlando last month, very comfortable, plus I have plenty of extra cash left for trips to Disney and a DCL cruise this fall :>

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I had a 98 Chrysler Town & Country with 112K miles that I traded in recently, never had any problems whatsoever. I'd even bought an extended warranty and never got to use it! Before I bought it I drove it to the Ford dealership where my brother is a mechanic so he could look it over for me (it was less than a year old). All the Ford mechanics gathered around and oohed and ahhed over it, LOL. It was his recommendation that I buy it.

DH and I are loyal to Chrysler, specifically Jeep products. Between us we've had 8 Jeeps (him since high school) and we've had very few problems, if any. We bought the T&C after we had our twins because it was very much like my Grand Cherokee but with more room. I'm back to driving a Jeep again because I wanted something smaller, but I do miss the space in the van. If I were to buy a van again I would not hesitate to buy one of the Chrysler vans.

BTW, I always buy my extended warranty through AAA. It covers everything the original warranty covers, and is cheaper than some of the manufacturer's warranties (around $1200 last time I bought it). You also can make monthly payments toward the warranty for up to a year if you prefer. You can buy the new car warranty anytime up to 36K miles I believe, and they also offer a used car warranty.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We bought a new 2005 Grand Caravan SXT I think, Butane Blue and we love it!! Our old van was a 1983 Dodge Caravan with 165,000 that finally had to be "retired". We love the stow and go seating, the ds love the dvd player, wireless headphones, hooking up the ps 2, climate controls etc. We have put alot of miles on the van already, the only problem we had so far which they fixed was a seal leaking. So far so good. We even put a stove in it and drove to another state, 2 weeks ago my dh put a whole couch in it. The guy watching us couldnt believe it. I think we sold him on the van too!! We also have a 1992 voyager, it only has 75K, but its still going strong.

 

[tlbwriter]

Do a web search on any car, including, yes, gasp, Honda's and you will find complaints about all of them for a variety of reasons. I just thought it was interesting that someone would panic over a few posts.

You missed my point completely. I would never panic over a few posts. I would also never choose to buy a car over a few posts. Because a few posts are meaningless. My point was that you cannot determine whether a car is reliable by asking your friends about theirs. It's all about statistics. You've got to get more data than you can get on this kind of board.

Those were on 2 different vans over the last 16 years and the air conditioner on every car I've ever seen, including Honda's usually doesn't last more than 7 years.

Again, that is your personal experience. How long does the A/C last, on average? I would have assumed, based on my own personal experience, that it's longer than 7 years.

It's about perspective. My '98 has had no other issues except for maintenance, water pump and the A/C so how is that a problem? $2,500 in repairs on a car that's been paid for for 3 years is not exactly an issue.

I'm sorry, but it would have been an issue for me. Yes, it's perspective. I read a post once from a woman who said her GM SUV was wonderful and so reliable, because in the two years she'd owned it, it only had to be repaired three times, and two of those were under recall so she didn't have to pay for them, and the other was an electrical problem that was less than $1000. Well, that is pretty far from wonderful and reliable to me! Whether the repairs are done under recall or not is irrelevant - it still means the car has to be repaired, and it's still an inconvenience to me.

Have you noticed other people have had no real problems?

Actually, no, I have noticed no such thing. But, once again, it's completely moot. You could find 10 people on this board who never, ever had a problem with their Chrysler minivans. But it doesn't matter, because those 10 people are not a valid statistical sample. And statistically, when you count hundreds of thousands of minivan owners, you see that certain brands are more likely to have problems than others. The personal experience of one person, or ten people, or two hundred people, is not a valid way to determine whether a car is more likely to be reliable than other cars. No matter how much some of us may want it to be so.

 

[Disneyrsh]

We had a 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan. At 15K miles the entire steering column failed (while we were on vacation!) and had to be replaced. At 30K miles the speed limiting sensor failed and threw me into 1st gear on the highway doing 65-terrifying! Then at 33K the master cylinder for the brakes failed and the rear brakes were so mis-aligned that the repair guy at the dealer said I was less than a mile away from having no brakes at all.


So, three strikes, it's out, and I am now the VERY happy owner of a 2003 Mazda mpv. You can go to www.mpvclub.com and see others who love this cool minivan too. Zoom Zoom!

Plus, my mazda cost me about 6K less at the time than a comparably equipped toyota sienna, which I think was LUDICROUSLY overpriced....

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Just curious if anyone has a Saturn Relay? We are thinking of getting one of these when our Caravan lease is up. Any positive/negative comments would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Just curious if anyone has a Saturn Relay? We are thinking of getting one of these when our Caravan lease is up. Any positive/negative comments would be welcome. Thanks!

We didn't by--but we looked. For the price it is--compared to my '97 Pontiac Transport Minivan--the interior looks...very cheap. Paying in the upper $20K's for something that looks cheap doesn't appeal to me.

The DVD player is on rails--and supposedly can be adjusted along those rails. I did not like that the factory player--you put the disc in by the screen. I'd like to be able to put it directly in the stereo system--b/c driving on the highway--it would be nice to swap out a disc without having to unbuckle your seatbelt.

LOVE the stow and go seats--all the back seats (middle and back row) are stow and go--evidently the only make that does this (according to the sales guy). They have pop out things on the backs of the seats--at first I thought...how cool, tray tables like on an airplane. NOPE--just storage compartments.

I guess I am first attracted to the look of the vehicle--was the same with the Vue as well....Saturn makes pretty outsides--I think they should either spend a few extra material dollars.....or use more nice looking (but just as cheap) materials to snazz up the inside.

Needless to say, I won't be purchasing it.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

We didn't by--but we looked. For the price it is--compared to my '97 Pontiac Transport Minivan--the interior looks...very cheap. Paying in the upper $20K's for something that looks cheap doesn't appeal to me.

The DVD player is on rails--and supposedly can be adjusted along those rails. I did not like that the factory player--you put the disc in by the screen. I'd like to be able to put it directly in the stereo system--b/c driving on the highway--it would be nice to swap out a disc without having to unbuckle your seatbelt.

LOVE the stow and go seats--all the back seats (middle and back row) are stow and go--evidently the only make that does this (according to the sales guy). They have pop out things on the backs of the seats--at first I thought...how cool, tray tables like on an airplane. NOPE--just storage compartments.

I guess I am first attracted to the look of the vehicle--was the same with the Vue as well....Saturn makes pretty outsides--I think they should either spend a few extra material dollars.....or use more nice looking (but just as cheap) materials to snazz up the inside.

Needless to say, I won't be purchasing it.

Thank you Lisa!

 

[MommyBoo!]

LOVE the stow and go seats--all the back seats (middle and back row) are stow and go--evidently the only make that does this (according to the sales guy). They have pop out things on the backs of the seats--at first I thought...how cool, tray tables like on an airplane. NOPE--just storage compartments.

The sales guy lied. What a shock! Chrysler has stow and go seats.

We have a 2005 Grand Caravan and are very happy with it after 8 months and 10,000 miles. We drove every minivan out there and this was the one we were most comfortable in. And we dragged the carseat into every one too. It just didn't fit right in some of the vans. I love the stow and go seats and the side curtain airbags. We got the extended warranty and would do that with any vehicle we buy.

My parents have had a Town & Country for three years and have had no problems with it. They also have two Jeep Grand Cherokees which are fantastic. My inlaws had a voyager for more years than I can remember and loved it.

That's our opinion. But, then again, we also love the Ford Taurus and bought one (our second) for DH last year. No problems with the Taurus either.