We are likely forced to be in the market for at least one, maybe two vehicles. My wife wants a minivan.

I’d like to keep it under 75,000 miles and it would often be used fkr long road trips with kiddos, so she says the dvd system is a must, along with leather seating.

A current option is a local private sake 2017 Grand Caravan GT w/71,000 miles.

Anything to look out for on these?

I have never been a fan of Chrysler/Fiat products



Check the Kia Sedona

While I've not been a big Chrysler fan, my kids have had great luck with their Dodge mini vans.

A few months before the pandemic, they purchased one from Enterprise leasing (replacing an older mini van they pretty much drove into the ground). If you move forward, at least you'll have a good benchmark for costs by checking the Enterprise website.

I was gonna say, besides it being a Chrysler product?

Dodge Caravan & longevity/reliability aren’t often used together. I’d be very hesitant to buy a Dodge minivan, especially used, off warranty.

How about a used Mazda?

With the crazy prices on new and used vehicles you might be able to lease a new Kia Sedona or similar for a low monthly pmt. Otherwise it's going to cost more in this market for a quality used vehicle, they are just few and far between with the post pandemic chip issues.

I have a friend that has one and it's had transmission and A/C problems as it approached 100,000 miles and generally hasn't worn well.
Have you considered a Honda Odyssey? I've had several friends with the Honda and they seem to be running well with little trouble, one well over 250,000 miles.

I have a buddy that uses them for delivery vehicles, all have 200k+ on them and he says they are cheap to buy and maintain and extremely handy.

We had a 2007 years ago with 125k miles on it when we traded it in. No issues.

quote:

Dodge Caravan & longevity/reliability aren’t often used together.

Well, it's been a LONG time since I've had one... But the 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan I had back when my three kids were little was very reliable. We drove it all over the country with no issues.

We bought a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica brand new, my wife loves her "granny van". Only problem was rust on the front hood lip, repaired under warranty.

I inherited a Grand Caravan from my dad. The only complaint I had was that the front seats were terribly uncomfortable for a trip of over around 45 minutes. Small, squishy and no support whatsoever.

I have a Grand Caravan. It's a 2010 that I bought new. It's my fifth one, presently about 260,000 miles; each one has been between 250,000 and 300,000+ miles when I got rid of it.

This one is on its second transmission. I was told when I bought it that it had a mercedes transmission, a new development along with the 4.0 litre motor. Dodge Transmissions tend to fail. The Grand Caravan prior to this one went through five of them, and when it was sitting in my driveway on new tires and a blown transmission, some guy happened by, offered a few hundred in cash, and took it. The tires were worth more than the car, and I wasn't going to put a sixth transmission into it.

For this one, I was away on a firefighting assignent when the transmission failed. I told my wife to take it to the dealer; they sent me pictures of metal. I told them to replace it; we got billed three grand and it turned out to be a used transmission. No idea how long it will last.

We've gone through a number of windshields; the angle and size result in a fair amount of road damage. No way around that.

The right window regulator, front seat, has failed multiple times. I've got the window safety wired in the up position right now, with a spare regulator handy; will probably put it in this fall when it's cooler, and perhaps I have spare time.

The driver seat lower left plastic, which contains the switch assembly for moving the seat, fails on all the grand caravans; it catches on the driver leg and eventually rips out, and it's a pain in the butt.

I like the fact that it's got doors on both sides, and the seats fold into the floor. Easy to fill up with boxes or whatever.

Braking is noticeably different when it's just the driver, vs. all seats full. Some vehicles, it's not as noticeable, but it is on the Caravan.

For the most part, the caravans have been okay. We wont' be buying another, though. No kids at home, no need for another one.

My sister has a newer one & as far as I know it's been trouble free for them.
It made the move from Maine to TX without issue.

I've only driven it around the block, after plugging a leak on her tire, but it drove nicer than I expected in that short spin.

Going from an EB Flex to a GC is going to be an adjustment, for sure. The GC will be much less peppy.

I have a 2015 Jeep Cherokee with 252K miles on it and I'm guesstimating about $12-14K worth of warranty work that has been done (including a new engine at 210K miles). It needs new cats, but those aren't covered under the lifetime/unlimited mileage MaxCare warranty (that FCA doesn't sell anymore - wonder why).

I've sworn multiple times now that I'd never own another FCA product - especially since they discontinued that warranty and I put too many miles on vehicles to not have one on an unreliable make.

Problem now is, Mrs.BurtonRW loves (emphasis on LOVES) the stow-n-go seating and the ability to stretch out (or even nap on the 3rd row bench seat) when we go on road trips.

I still won't buy one. They're easy enough to rent if we go on a really long trip somewhere.

-Rob

We've owned a 2012 Chrysler T&C Touring-L since new. Only significant repairs were oil pump (3 yrs ago) and rear blower unit fan (bad bearing this spring). Have 89K on it now. The wife's car and she loves it. She only drive 1.5 mi to work, so we only do about 11K/yr. So far no body rust from 8 years in NE PA winters. It has dual DVD players and dual screens, so 2 movies can play at same time when kids using headphones. Driver can still use radio/BT/XM

Only nagging issues: moonroof drains clog with dirt and tree pollen. Easy cleanout with air and long wire. Powered rear seats don't always close correctly after several years of use. Ours sometimes need a push down to finish closing. Second row Sto-N-Go latch wires may stretch and need to be replaced after 7-8 yrs. Either change the wires or pull the under-seat lock with your finger. I pull lock for now. Older aluminum hoods could bubble paint along the front edge, it's not corroding, but bad primer application. Ours did after warranty. You need to look for it on our van, so I left it alone.

It's also vacation/family car, so we've put 700 mi a day without issue and got 29 MPG @ 71 MPH on flat roads. Drive it easy and 550+ mi. range on highway is possible. Sto-N-Go seating is worth skipping other brands for.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
I have never been a fan of Chrysler/Fiat products



Check the Kia Sedona

Ditto for me. Their service records are my reason.

A 2017 Grand Caravan is a pretty good car. It has the 3.6L engine which is very good, and the older (more reliable) 5 (or six?) speed transmission.

I have the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica with the same engine but the terrible 9 or 10 speed transmission. I would have MUCH preferred the older 5 or 6 speed transmission. My transmission is clunky, shifts weird, just terrible.

It has a timing chain so you don't have to worry about timing belt replacement at 100K miles like you do on the Honda.

I tend to dump my Chrysler products by 110K to 120K miles due to oddball repairs that happen on a more frequent basis.

If the car is priced right and you like it, go for it.

Thumper, like others, I'm a little leery of Mopar stuff for personal use. They're fine in the rental car fleet.

I'm likely to receive news that my 2003 Odyssey will be totaled due to a minor fender bender (my van was parked while a neighbor hit it). I'm hoping to buy it back for a few bucks and put on used metal from the wrecker. With 265K miles on it, it's the devil I know and worth the risk.

I've been looking at Odysseys on FB Marketplace. There seems to be a fair amount of the 05-11 (?) and next body style available with not-so-crazy prices.

If I were you, I'd try to find an Ody or Sienna with 100K miles on it with decent history and go for it.

If you find one in the Roseville/north Sacramento area, I'd be happy to take a look for you.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Thumper, like others, I'm a little leery of Mopar stuff for personal use. They're fine in the rental car fleet.

I'm likely to receive news that my 2003 Odyssey will be totaled due to a minor fender bender (my van was parked while a neighbor hit it). I'm hoping to buy it back for a few bucks and put on used metal from the wrecker. With 265K miles on it, it's the devil I know and worth the risk.

I've been looking at Odysseys on FB Marketplace. There seems to be a fair amount of the 05-11 (?) and next body style available with not-so-crazy prices.

If I were you, I'd try to find an Ody or Sienna with 100K miles on it with decent history and go for it.

If you find one in the Roseville/north Sacramento area, I'd be happy to take a look for you.

At 100k miles, be sure the Ody has had the timing belt done, or factor that into your pricing negotiation. IIRC, it runs around $1k parts & labor.
We DIY'd my Acura TL & with a few other things done at the same time, I was out around $600 (with free labor).

We had a Sienna before, and it didn’t end well. I wouldn’t disqualify them based on that only, but it is a factor.

I think it will come down to a domestic van in the 60k-75k mile range or an import with 100k+.

I’d like this purchase to last about 6 years.