Not sure whether this is something isolated to the 2013 dodge caravan that I bought.

Very poor performance. I have to press the pedal pretty hard for it to accelerate when I compare it with the Nissan Altima that I have. And also when accelerating, at around 50 I feel a jerk before it goes above speed of 50.

Overall, not satisfied. Do others who have a 2013 feel the same? Any suggestions on what could be done?

Thanks

 

The issues you see are quite common. They plague ALL large SUV's and Minivans weighing over 2 tons:

1) With respect to poor performance, you are comparing a lightweight sedan to a huge pedestrian minivan. The weight difference between these two vehicles is over 1/2 ton (1000lbs) and the frontal area and height of a minivan is about double. If you compared a nimble, light Dodge Dart to a huge Nissan Quest minivan, you would experience similar differences respect to performance. Let me give you a hint, the Nissan would not be the winner lol. However I noticed you are specifically concerned about the added pressure and greater distance you need to push the throttle pedal down in the minivan to accelerate briskly. This is a superficial assessment and a function of linkage design, throttle springs and mechanical advantage. It has nothing to do with engine power output, maximum acceleration or performance. A Mechanical Engineer can design the linkage to cause full throttle to be reached with little pressure and almost no travel. This would make it harder to drive smoothly and the van would accelerate hard with almost no pedal movement or pressure, but would add nothing to the actual performance. If, however, you have the throttle pedal mashed against the floor all the time, the van is defective and needs returned to the dealer for warranty work. My 2001 Grand Caravan has a smaller, older motor design with 100HP less and 220K mi, but it will still lay rubber upon demand (wreckless driving) and cruise at over 100MPH all day long (speeding tickets), if you like.

2) Your Altima likely had a continuously variable transmission (CVT). These designs offer no shifting sensation at all, so the van should feel NOTHING like your old car. The Altima feels like a continuous slip so both efficiency and performance suffers. The CVT technology is being obsoleted in favor of positive shift automatic transmission designs. The Grand Caravan has a 6 speed automatic with locking torque converter. Every time the converter locks you will feel a jerk sensation. This solid engagement with zero slip maximizes efficiency. If you want to witness even jerkier shifting, try driving a dual clutch transmission (DCT) which is basically a cross between a manual and automatic. These are found in more cars now such as BMW, VW and Mazda. They produce optimal economy and performance.

Summary: if you want your vehicle to feel nimble and responsive like a small sedan, you need to buy a small sedan. Steer clear of all minivans and especially avoid full size 4WD SUV's. My daughter's basic 4 cylinder Ford Focus can toast most SUV's with optional V8 engine and it'll beat up on any $40K Toyota, Nissan, Honda or VW minivan too. Your Altima had more performance than a base Focus.

What can be done about this is commonly known as "trade-in". I would suggest accepting your fate and embrace the cargo space. Life is full of pros and cons. It may seem obvious, but I'll warn you ahead of time that motorcycles accelerate quicker than an Altima but don't have air bags. The riders get wet when it rains, cargo room is limited and snow can be a bit scary. I have found the back seat a bit snug in my Corvette, in fact, I'm not sure if it's a seat at all. All kidding aside, thoroughly research purchases before buying or live and learn lol.

hope this sanity check helps

 

Shen,

I have just had my 2013 Caravan for a little over a week now. I came from a 2011 VW Hetta Sportwagen TDI. Surprisingly the TDI had a ton of torque for it's size. and was pretty quick off the line. You absolutely feel the weight differences between the two vehicles. Prior to the VW, I had 8 Dodge Caravans starting with a 1992 up to 2008. My 2013 van seems significantly faster than the other 8. If you want to get a taste for what the 2013 will do, try shifting it manually and taking it up to close to redline for each shift. It is surprisingly swift for its size.
I went back to the Caravan, cuz you can't beat the utility.

Just my 2 cents.

 

The 2 responses above cover this well. I also have a 2013 GC new last November. Previously I had a 2007 Chrysler 300 with the 3.5 L. V-6. While not a sludge the GC with the Pentastar 3.6 L. V-6 and roughly the same weight would run away from it. As mentioned, pedal travel will vary by vehicle and manufacturer. I've had several minivans over the years and this is easily the spunkiest of the bunch.

If you can floor it and not have good acceleration, Get it back to the dealer, something is awry.

 

Ditto to what the others said. You can't expect fighter jet performance out of a trash hauler. I have a 2012, and am quite happy with it. It does what I need it to do, and you can't beat the trunk space. If you want it to press down on the gas pedal a bit less, turn off the Economy mode if you haven't already done so. It will make it a bit peppier, but you will loose about 1-2MPG.

 

Have the dealer look at it. Contrary to what has been said, throttle responce is software controlled as in "drive by wire". There aren't any mechanical links.

These vans and all other chrysler products have adaptive learning which, in some cases will actually soften the software responce curves. Sometimes a simple reset can make quite a change.

 

I beg to differ on the presence of mechanical links. Please look under your dash and special close attention to the connection between the throttle pedal and the lever arm attaching it to the firewall. Push the pedal to the floor and release it. Repeat the test with the battery disconnected. The resistive force and travel come from a good old mechanical spring connected to a lever of a particular length, not a battery-powered solenoid driven by a computer lol.

Read my original post more closely because it does not mention any throttle cable to a throttle body. All drive by wire systems I've seen have a mechanical return spring and lever arm attached to the throttle pedal. This is what gives the pedal it's feel. The pedal travel can be long or short and this is a function of mechanical design, not software. Force required to push the pedal down and how far it moves is a function of the return spring rate, mechanical leverage (T=r x F) and overall design. Pedal travel and force are not electronically synthesized or modulated in any way thru feedback. That sort of thing may be used in video games. Throttle response curve is indeed a function of computer code and any rate may be dialed in at the discretion of the design engineers. I don't know if the Altima is drive by wire or not. It may be old or new. I've been working in Physics and Electrical Engrg fields for 25 yrs, so I'm familiar with this technology. Resetting the computer will not make the Caravan behave like an Altima. This appears to be the expectation. The pedal's mechanical feel can't be altered thru reprogramming or software.

If adaptive software has learned the driving behavior of the owner, resetting it will only temporarily change throttle bias to default. It will be short-lived, returning to the same old behaviors within days.

 

You can beg all you want. Throttle responce has nothing to do with pedal feel You need to carefully read the OP's post.

 

OK then, no more begging. It is clear you did not look under your dash to examine the throttle pedal lever, pivot and spring assembly because you would have learned some things about mechanical links. When you call out my post as erroneous, it may be helpful to have some facts to support it.

First of all, the OP said nothing whatsoever about throttle response. Those are your words, so what you thought you read is not what was posted. They were upset about having to "press the petal pretty hard". That comment is very subjective and sounds like an objection to having to push the pedal down farther and/or with greater force to achieve similar acceleration. Again, they also said nothing about power hesitation or delay (poor throttle response) as you purported. They said nothing about inadequate power at full throttle which makes me think this is about pedal feel, but one can only guess. Resetting the computer to default is very fruitless. If it has adapted to the driver, fuel, conditions and other factors, it will do so again within days. Lastly, drive-by-wire does, in fact, have mechanical links and springs which directly affect pedal travel and feel. Your contrary statements were not accurate.

 

It would be very interesting if the OP weighed in at this point. However, he has probably bypassed this pissing match in favor of a more informative forum.
Oh by the way, even though you have 25 years of experience, I hold patents on this stuff. Care to dance some more?