Calling all owners of Dodge Grand Caravan SXT, review/opinions wanted

[beccarae1]

Originally Posted by iheartmykiddos I'm not going to tell you how many things I've backed into in this thing Good thing we have paintless dent repair LOL. I think a camera would be great!

LOL! Last winter I started backing up before the garage door was fully up and ran the top of the van into the door- BOOM! Oops A camera might not help me in that situation but it would be helpful.

I know I want a minivan, but am so torn now; the mechanic just called. The van has been at the shop for the past month with a terminal diagnosis (transmission), they have been holding on to it until they had time to pull the stereo/CD changer. He says they started looking closer and it is not the transmission, but a broken CV rod and that he can fix it for a couple of hundred, so we could still use it for cash for clunkers. To go Dodge, we would need to go up about $5000 on our price, but we would get a 4.0L, fully loaded minivan. I don't know if we want to spend that much more, but then we would have the lifetime powertrain warranty too. Oh, my head is starting to hurt.

[meems]

I have an '04 (maybe it's an '05? prob, it's paid off in May, so that makes more sense) reg caravan, I opted out of the grand as I really didn't want to give up that extra 6 inches of space in the garage for seating that I would rarely use. No road noise..no problems whatsoever (knocking on wood)...I do wish the auto doors were on both sides & the back (as it is with a grand) instead of just one side especially when I'm having tendon issues...but that's my only complaint, if you can call it one.

[Mothernature]

Personally, I would drive any car into the ground before purchasing another (even with this cash for clunkers deal). I expect our 2001 to easily last another 2 years (we drive it so infrequently and not far).

What many people forget is cars are a deprecating asset but still an asset. You expect your gym shoes to last as long as possible so why is it different with your car (excluding repair close or more than the current KBB of the car)?

My Caravan trans has not slipped. It is very common in this model though.

[beccarae1]

Originally Posted by Mothernature Personally, I would drive any car into the ground before purchasing another (even with this cash for clunkers deal). I expect our 2001 to easily last another 2 years (we drive it so infrequently and not far). What many people forget is cars are a deprecating asset but still an asset. You expect your gym shoes to last as long as possible so why is it different with your car (excluding repair close or more than the current KBB of the car)? My Caravan trans has not slipped. It is very common in this model though.

LOL! My Grand Voyager is a '96 and has 212,000 miles on it, we consider it about as close to driving it into the ground as we are willing to go (I use it to transport our 3 kids, all under 6 years old, so we need some reliability).

The transmission is the allure to buying new if we can afford it, then we would have the lifetime powertrain warranty...

[beccarae1]

Grrr! Car sales people make me so mad, so many are always telling half truths and generally being high pressure (I know there are some good ones out there, but I haven't found many). I was getting so frustrated, then I saw this on a dealer website...
New Chrysler Dodge Jeep Inventory

Buy a Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chrysler 300, Dodge Aspen, Jeep Patriot, or Jeep Wrangler in the St. Paul, and Minnesapolis Area

Check out how they spelled Minneapolis I do think they think of me as a sap, this particular dealership has told me so many lies but this made my day!

I am about ready to fix the old van and just keep driving it!