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Vans & Minivans Minivans - Domestic or Foreign
3643 messages, Last post on May 20, 2009 at 6:32 AM
You are in the Vans & Minivans Forum. Your Host is Karens
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My family and I have a 2000 Chrysler Town & Country LX 3.3L van. The whole family loves this vehicle after 34k miles of trouble-free service. Our Town & Country still runs just like it did the day we drove it off the lot and I would highly reccommend a 2002 model to anyone shopping for a minivan. If you want the ultimate mininvan in terms of comfort, luxury, and convienience, you cannot beat a Chrysler Town & Country Limited. Just sit inside a 2001 or 2002 Town & Countr y Limited and you will understand. As for GM vans, we rented a 1999 Oldsmobile Shilouette (spelling?) when on a family trip in Hawaii and were very dissapointed in the interior quality of the car. Keep in mind, we had a rather base 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan SE at the time, which was still alot better than the Oldsmobile in terms of quality and refinement. The interior cloth and trim was very cheap and there were plenty of rattles in the doors. In my opinion, Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota do a much better job of making a minivan than GM. As for Chrysler reliability, it has improved greatly over the years. I have many friends with DC minivans and they all are very satisfied with their vans. One neighbor that just moved to Chicago actually had two 1999 Dodge Caravan SE models and they did not have a problem with either. Another neighbor down the street has a 1997 Town & Country LXi with 70k miles and no-problems. Lastly, our 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan SE was traded in for our new Town & Country with 70k trouble-free miles of service. I hope this helps! -Adam
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| Am now the very happy owner of a Sienna XLE. Had owned 2 Chrysler vans for a total of 8.5 years prior to. Was fed up with the problems and lack of quality. Was able to build a nice personal relationship with a Service Manager, though. That's about all the good I can say about my Chrysler experience. Should you buy one, get a pre-owned one. There a many, many around, even current models (2001/02). The depreciation is also atrocious, again because there are so many around. That should help you get into one for a very good deal, if that's a big factor. Keep in mind, though, you get what you pay for. As the old addage goes, if it's got to be Big 3, buy used, if it's Japanese/German, buy new. | |
| Kia (Now owned by Hyundai)needed to address reliability issues in a big way. They had to make a targeted move which would begin the trail of redemption concerning reliabilty. They made a tactical, gutsy move. Duke it out in the highly competive, brutal, minivan sector. And why not. Minivan buyers are ultra picky and uncompromising. They had to make a heck of a statement. They did their homework and did it well, and the end result is the Sedona. This Sedona is a winner, hands down. "Charter" buyers are reaping the rewards of a well conceieved vehicle, incredible value, warranty! | |
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Unfortunately, this thread will probably degrade into people flaming the mini vans they didn't buy. Spend some time in the all of the discussions, especially the discussions about the problems that vans have. I think you'll see all vans have had their share of problems and alot of owners of all vans say they've had no problems. I'd pretty much ignore people who subjectively flame one manufacturer like has happened to GM already. I think it is interesting that no one has had to start a GM Van Problem forum but they seem to get beat on regularly by those who chose a different van. |
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I bought a minivan last year and here are my thought as objective as I can make them: Dodge/Chrysler minivans have great features for the price and most people agree they have the best styling of all the minivans out there. Reliability was a concern but everything I've read indicates most of the transmission problems have improved starting with the 2000 model year. Honda makes a very reliable minivan with a powerful engine. Features were a lot fewer on Odyssey than GC but it still has everything you need. At the time I was shopping, dealers were still selling them above MSRP but I don't think that's the case any longer. I did not even drive a GM minivan because of horrible crash test ratings. The Mazda MPV is a great little van but the V6 at the time wasn't very powerful. I've read that it has a larger V6 for 2002 so maybe that's no longer a concern. I viewed the MPV as a 7/8 scale Honda Odyssey with the added benefit of roll down windows for the middle row. I've never been a Toyota or Ford fan so I can't give you any input on the Sienna or Windstar. In the end, I ended up buying a used 2000 Grand Caravan with 14,000 miles. The price was more than $10,000 less than the sticker on a new GC and I have not had any problems yet. |
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"I did not even drive a GM minivan because of horrible crash test ratings." ...and I bought a GM minivan in part because of the superior real world accident data available at http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ictl/ictl_wagon.htm which puts the Montana and the Silhouette in first & second place. |
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| I just did. It sure gives an interesting perspective on minivan safety. In a nutshell you are safer in any minivan regardless of IIHS crash test scores, than the vast majority of other vehicles. Goes back to the duh philosophy, the bigger one wins. My $0.02 is that you should look at the whole package when buying any vehicle, just going off one stat is equivalent to a totally uninformed decision. | |
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Crash tests are a direct measure of crashworthiness for specific types of crashes.
Real world statistics may also have an element of crashworthiness in them, but they also have a very large element of driver profile. Thus the discrepancy between vehicles like Venture and Montana, Quest and Villager or Town & Country and Grand Caravan. These pairs of vehicles are all essentially identical twins, yet have markedly diferent injury scores in some cases. Death statistics are similar in variations among twin vehicles.
It's easy to be a booster or detractor of any particular model by clinging to one statistic. On the other hand, if you are looking for an overall evaluation of minivan safety, you should look at all the crash tests and other relevant safety information. Also see:
http://www.car-safety.org/minivan.html |
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You state, "Real world statistics may also have an element of crashworthiness in them, but they also have a very large element of driver profile." Exactly what is the difference in driver profile between the driver of a Ford Winstar Vs. a Toyota Sienna or any other minivan for that matter. I would think the driver profile for these drivers would be as similar as it can get, "young to middle aged adult parent of more than one child, probably married and working full time" All minivans are targeted by the auto makers to the same audience. How exactly do you buy a vehicle if you eliminate those Significantly worse performers. The Quest was the worst performer listed as far as injuries, yet it was the best performer in death rates. By using the criteria you have purported you could easily eliminate any and all minivans and have evidence to support they are unsafe. In the end, like I said earlier, a new Minivan of any make, is probably one of the safest vehicles on the road, and to discount any soley on any one safety test is stupid. Look at the whole package, and buy what best fits your needs, budget and taste. |
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