Which Mini Van?

[Princess Nancy]

Okay after weeks of trying to decide...I am going to get a new van.

What do you drive and why?

I like the Town and Country the best I think...
I like the stow and go seats.
I am concerned about the comfort of the seats in the 2nd and 3rd row.

Other suggestions?

 

[StephMK]

I love my Toyota Sienna! Knock on wood, no problems, just regular maintenance. The 3rd row is stow & go & there is enough room in the middle for 3 people to sit w/o being squished, it's an 8 passenger. DH is 6'8" and fits comfortably in the front.

 

[bluezy]

We have a Dodge Grand Caravan (basically the same thing as the T & C) and I love it. I've ridden in the 3rd row and had plenty of leg room (I'm 5' 3") even with my SIL (5' 9") sitting in front of me. She also had plenty of leg room in the second row. I find the seats to be very comfortable as well. And I absolutely love the flexibility of the stow 'n go seating -- especially with the split 3rd row. We have 5 kids -- but the older 2 don't usually go anywhere with us anymore (they're 22 & 24) -- so we're usually traveling with 3 kids (ages 6-12). I love being able to fold down 1/2 of the back seat to have extra cargo space. I find that even with all of the seats in use, there is still a good amount of cargo space (much more than our previous mini-van -- a Pontiac Transport). I also think the Caravan gets good gas mileage for a vehicle of that size and weight -- usually abut 17 mpg for my every-day, in-town driving and 23+ on the highway fully loaded with 5 people and all of our luggage.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

I have a 2001 T&C and I have loved this van. I bought it new and it now has 186,000 miles on it. I have had to do very little to this van other than regular oil changes and tire rotations. Now it does have some little things wrong with it (power sliding doors and power lift don't work, power locks are starting to give me some issues) but you know what, I haven't had a car payment in about 5 years and the only expensive thing I have done was replace both a/c's. I will miss her when she does give up on me.

 

[tarheel618]

I had a terrible, terrible experience with Dodge/Chrysler. There is another thread on here with people who have had similar experiences. It seems I hear more people with complaints (here and others I know personally). Please, please google and do research on repairs for their products. I ended up trading 6 months before it was paid off just because I couldn't take the emotional toll of dealing with the repairs.

I would go with Toyota or Honda. By the way, I traded to a smaller vehicle a nissan.

 

[tarheel618]

Here is link to the other post
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2723470

 

[bdcp]

We owned a 89 Grand Caravan and a 98 Grand Voyager. The 89 had the transmission replaced once by Chrysler and it was starting to skip in 98 when I got rid of it and got the new one. The 98 I had til 07. At that point I got my 07 Honda Pilot. When I had my Chrysler's I always wished I had Honda Odysseys' instead, but when they first came out they were much smaller than Chrysler's minivans. We never had the repairs on Honda's the way we did on the Chrysler's. Toyota's are good vehicles too.

The a/c in both minivans started going within 75,000 miles or so.

 

[bluezy]

Personally, when I buy a car, I buy the car that fits my needs and budget the best regardless of the horror or love stories I hear from other people who have the same car I'm considering purchasing. I've owned cars that were lemons for me but other people I know who had the same car had no problems with it and loved it. I've also owned cars that other people have had all kinds of problems with and traded in quickly, yet I had no unusual problems with them and in one case I absolutely *loved* the car for the 10+ years I owned it (after hearing several people tell me to stay away from that model because they had all kinds of problems with it). Every make and model has some lemons and some models have model years that are just plain bad but that doesn't mean the model in general is bad. Personally, I don't think any make/model is 100% reliable -- there's always a few bad ones in the bunch no matter what. I check Consumer Reports and a few other "non-opinion" sources before making a decision, but ultimately, I buy the car that is best for me.

 

[Princess Nancy]

Hmmmmmmmmmm

You are all making me rethink the T&C.

Guess I will look more at the Toyota Sienna or Honda

 

[jrw118]

Hmmmmmmmmmm

You are all making me rethink the T&C.

Guess I will look more at the Toyota Sienna or Honda

I bought a preowned honda odyssey about 3 weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It has stow and go for the 3rd row. I got an EXL. The leather is gorgeous. I am thrilled. Everyone I speak to about the Odyssey have no issues other than oil changes/ brake pads.
I too had a terrible time with Chrysler. My Town & country limited needed about $4000 in repairs in about 2 months shortly after passing 100,000 miles. Now a days 100k miles is nothing. I also had a Chrysler Pacifica (traded it in for Odyssey). Thankfully I purchased the 100,000 mile warranty. I had at least $10k n repairs done during the 100k miles. The worst part about Chrysler is their horrible resale value. They do not hold value at all!!! My Pacifica was originally $41k. Barely traded for $7500 and it was only 5.5 years old. Good luck with your search.

 

[debf]

I drive a 2010 T&C and I love it. Before this van I had a 2003 T&C and I loved that one too. The stowe and go is great. DS loves how the back windows go down. I never had any problems with 2003 van.We knew we would buy another one. I will admit the seats in the 2010 are not as big or plush as the 2003 but thats because of the stowe and go. It is so much easier than taking the seats out when you need the extra room.

 

[bluezy]

Hmmmmmmmmmm

You are all making me rethink the T&C.

Guess I will look more at the Toyota Sienna or Honda

If you Google "Trouble with ______" and fill in the blank with whatever van you're looking at or thinking about, you'll find postings for every make and model on the market. It really comes down to the luck of the draw with which specific car you get regardless of the type. Buy the one that fits your needs, budget, and liking. If you're buying a used van, have it checked out by a trusted mechanic before purchasing and if possible, buy from a reputable dealer who does their own warranty work -- they're less likely to sell a car they know they're going to have to repair frequently.

 

[englishteacha]

I have a new-to-me 2006 Town and Country. I like it a lot. I've only had it 3 weeks. I love the stow-and-go seats. They're great!

 

[DawnM]

We looked at the Sienna when we were looking. I don't think the Odyssey was out yet at that time.

We ended up getting a Sequoia because DH wanted a truck for the towing capacity and I wanted the van for the seating capacity, so the Sequoia was our compromise!

But I liked the Sienna and a close friend has an Odyssey and I love her van too.

Dawn

 

[nicki.momof3]

I have had 3 dodge caravans.

I love them for a # of reasons.

1. I have 3 kids. We keep the entire 3rd row up and and only one 2nd row up. It leaves a huge space for the kids to get in and out without climbing over each other.

2. Built in 6 DVD changer is wonderful for long trips.

3. It runs great. Knock on wood we have never had a problem.

4. BUILT IN AMERICA BY AMERICANS. We are 100% supporters of American jobs. We have personally been hit hard by the economy and we will never risk American jobs for a foreign car.

 

[sparklynails23]

I have a 2001 Town and Country with over 200k miles on it. I've spent almost nothing on repairs to this thing. I should probably sell it before it starts breaking down and because I just bought a new T&C, but I can't bear to part with it.

 

[yesiamcrazy]

We have the Toyota Sienna and we love it. We've got 6 kids and it fits us great. We've had no problems. Drives great.

 

[kacaju]

I have had a 2007 Town and Country for a year now. I LOVE IT!! As others have said...you will find/hear the good and bad of any car/van once you start looking.
Personally you need to find a van that will fit YOUR family.

For me... I needed the stow and go seating..that was what I was after and I love them.

We show dogs. By myself, I can flip the seats up, down, to fit a crate, fit an extra kid in the car at a last minute notice. I have been known to bring home an extra dog after a show...stay late and have had to drive my daughters friend home...sometimes bring her friend and dog to the show...whatever...The ability to be so flexable with the seating, arranging crates in the van is so worth it to me. To others.....the stow and go are not as important. As long as we show dogs, I will stick to a van with complete 2nd and 3rd row stow and go.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I have had 3 dodge caravans.....

BUILT IN AMERICA BY AMERICANS. We are 100% supporters of American jobs. We have personally been hit hard by the economy and we will never risk American jobs for a foreign car.

I think it's great to support made in America, but keep in mind some of your car's parts were not made in America.

http://www.automotiveaddicts.com/inthenews/07-10-06.html

 

[bellarella]

I have had 3 dodge caravans.

4. BUILT IN AMERICA BY AMERICANS. We are 100% supporters of American jobs. We have personally been hit hard by the economy and we will never risk American jobs for a foreign car.

I'm glad you love your Caravans, but this last one isn't accurate (well, the built in the US -- I don't mean to suggest your motives are not genuine).

Dodge became a part of DailmerChrysler in the late 90s -- a German company. Cerberus Management, a private investment group based in the US, but with international investors bought them out. Then Chrysler went bankrupt and Fiat, an Italian company pulled them out of bankruptcy.

The Caravan is actually made in Windsor, ON Canada, not the US.

This link shows how hard it is to "buy American" in an international economy. The Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna actually employ more Americans (both in parts and assembly) than any other minivan sold in the US.

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story...ct=ami&story=amMade0710&referer=&aff=national

As for the OP, I looked into the T&C. I wound up with the Odyssey. I found the stow and go seats to not be very comfortable, and realized that the number of times I would need to stow really wasn't great enough to sacrifice the comfort. I have a friend who has the Dodge Caravan and loves it though. She has had some mechanical issues, but they have been fixed (by Carmax, where she bought the vehicle used).