Hi, I think I saw your video in my searches. Could you post a link to it?

 

clink the link its there

 

LOL. Thanks!

 

Nobody in this thread claimed Dodge quality was above average or even average. If you read my posts, you will notice I already acknowledged that Dodge was consistently below average over the last decade when compared against other marques. However my point is, so what? J.D. Powers ratings for owner reported problems and quality assessments are using what is called a normalized scale before they assign the silly stars. This is how they are able to show such huge contrast between the best and worst, even though the real difference these days is VERY SMALL, no more than 30% variation in the # of owner reported issues or complaints. That's from best to worst, not from average to worst. I can deal with 30% more problems to save $10K. Normalized scales used by J.D. Powers serve to magnify the smallest differential for effect. This is how you declare a clear winner when the difference between two products is small or even negligible. A rating of 2 stars out of 5 means nothing to me. Normalized scales judge a car that accelerates from 0 to 60 MPH in 6.0 seconds with 5 out of 5 stars while giving a car 2 out of 5 stars because takes 6.2 seconds. Yes it's slower, but not by much. A Camaro is not slow just because it can't quite accelerate like a Viper, but normalized scales tend to show that.

The point to my post was to dismiss the obsolete notion that foreign cars are far superior to domestics. This is completely false when Ford and GM are rated at or above average. Dodge is owned by Fiat (foreign). Fiat-Chrysler is a bottom-feeder, competing for last place with various popular Asian and European marques including VW & BMW of Germany and Mitsubishi & Mazda of Japan. People flock to BMW as if they are gold, but surveys don't indicate that. My low mile used BMW that sold new for $57K was not reliable. I bought it because I wanted a track-capable car with 4 doors. It's fun to drive but the worst car I ever owned from a reliability standpoint. Cut-throat completion has forced Chrysler to bring their quality waaaay up, but they still don't seem to be able to reach par. I'm OK with that, so long as they make Caravans, product pricing is lower and contain significant domestic content. My 13 year old Grand Caravan has 210K mi and never had a problem with the engine, A/C, electronics or tranny....PA salt rust issues will kill it in a year or two. It even has the original water pump and alternator.

 

My young family used our basic Caravan SE 2007 metallic gray for over 6 years and over 100K miles through snow and ice in Arkansas and through the heat of DFW. No issues. Since it is not a GC, shape was actually closer to an SUV, and we've always gotten good compliments about the minivan from those who see it. I'm not kidding. It also helps that even though we drive a minivan, our family is always well dressed and well behaved. We had all windows tinted and we took good care of it. Mileage was always above 20 mpg. No transmission fixes, no radiator fixes. Brake pad changes every 40K miles, and we had all four tires replaced at around 80K miles.

Hope that answers your question.

We traded it in for our current Durango RT AWD. The D is pure luxury to us right now. Hoping this one serves us well too, mileage and reliability.

 

Durango RT AWD is damn sexy SUV. Congrats.

Must be slightly thirstier than the GC

 

30K mi on the clock of my 2012. Had to have the rear ac/heat system fixed, tranny has hard downshifts in stop and go traffic (dealer says it's normal), and head was replaced at about 21K mi.

Over the last 1 1/2 yrs of driving my wife also put 30K miles on her Subaru Forester. Nothing but maintenance on it vs the van. Hers is a 2007. Her last 30K was the same as the first 90K mi on it. Maintenance only. Wish they made a minivan cause I'd buy it.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad luck because that isn't typical. I had fewer issues over 13 yrs with my 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan with 210K mi. No A/C trouble, transmission or head gasket issues or anything else significant of that sort. I did buy $20 ea rotors once, window motor for $35, $20 blower resistor and replaced the radiator which cost $125 after my kid tried to drive over a 3 foot ice pile. Everything else was routine service or parts like outside mirrors which my daughter tore off hitting mailboxes at 2AM. The mirror was $35 and the mailbox was $45. Check the price of a Subaru mirror lol.

Something tells me your Subaru will be sold long before you reach my mileage which continues to climb without any issues. Please be aware of the Subaru recall for brake lines rusting through in 5-7 yrs lol.

 

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-cars-...xhbmcDZW4tVVM-

 

Hi all,

Sorry I know this is an older thread at this point. I never did end up getting any GC, used or new...financing fell thru. At this point, (mid October) I'm already looking ahead to tax-time come January, and I really want a Caravan. ha-ha.

Just not sure if I can truly afford it, even though my wife and I have a 50% down payment, plus taxes, fees, insurance...may be out of my ballpark. (I work part time, poor credit, but am trying to rebuild)

What do you guys think about a used one? I would want one that's 2 years old or less, but I feel like that's a red flag, why would someone trade something so new in and take a loss?

If I can get the price down to $17 or $18k, I think the bank would be more willing to lend me less money, not more.

DGCaravan, what ever happened to your check engine light? Do you still own the van, and if so any new problems?

Thanks!