Had to take 7 people somewhere, so rented a 2019 Grand Caravan. My first time in one of these things. My wife and kids didn't seem too impressed. Me on the other hand - having all that room was great. Also, this thing has some power - little pentastar v6 gets it. I put on around 300 miles so far, and the dash is showing the average mpg is 25.2, and I was driving normal, not babying it at all.

Anyway, now having conflicting thoughts on owning one in the future.
Anyone else own one over time? pros - cons

 

Nope...family hauler is the Honda Odyssey (or Toyota Sienna in the past). Nothing like a mini-van for moving people comfortably because of all the space. Not so awesome for bringing home a load of mulch, though.

 

That's kinda what I figured. The Dakota is our "family hauler". I no longer tow anything, sold my boat. I do the mulch and lumber every now and then. That's FWD, no good for towing or much weight in the rear - but good MPG. The Grand Caravan is good for 3600 lbs towing though. My boat was 2500lbs. Might be a good setup with a utility trailer. Something for me to keep in mind anyway.

 

My Odyssey is rated for about 3000lbs towing. But, I don't plan to ever put a receiver on it. Once you load it with people you lose a lot of towing capacity. That and the suspension is soft enough that you'll get a sizeable squat in the rear as soon as you hitch something to the van.

my 2 dinar...

 

I bought a 1996 Grand Caravan in December of 1995, it was the introduction of the modern version, and mine was a dealer demo. I loved the seating, and the car like driving but, I had a tendency to take the seats all out and load the **** out of it, so it got a tad messed up inside. I had 25 sheets of 3/4 plywood in it once. Had to put the seats all the way ahead for that and I'm not small. It wasn't an easy drive even for the half mile I took the load.
i took it moose hunting once, busted the side window out of it on a tree branch. Can you tell yet that a van is not for me?

The other thing, Never, ever by an introductory model FFS I got every recall going!

In the end I missed my old Cherokee too much and traded for one of those in 1998.