Who has a mini van?

[EddieWalker]

My wife and I have been looking at SUV's to haul the dogs around to shows, pick up horse and chicken sacks of feed and just going back and forth to town. We've come to the realization that the full sized SUV's are too much money, and the small ones are too small. Her dog show friends all drive Chrysler Town and Country mini vans. They are the most common at the dog shows because of the stow away seats and a flat floor for multiple dog kennels.

I've been reading tons of reviews and comparing Honda, Toyota and Chrysler. Honda is probably the best, but I'm not familiar with Chrysler. Does anybody have one? What are the pros and cons? What should I run away from?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[MossRoad]

Someone's gonna tell you to turn in your man card... jeepers. :laughing: We had a full sized short wheelbase van conversion for about 10 years. Loved it. But it rusted out. Moved to a Suburban, which tows better. Anyhow, to your question...

My wife's parents have a 10 year old Toyota Sienna mini van that I drive frequently on trips that we take with them. Its got a tad over 100k on it now. The far back seats stow flat into the floor. When not stowed, that leaves a very nice, deep well to put stuff in. The middle seats do not stow. But they remove easily for you or me, but they are too hard for the old folks to get out on their own. The performance is surprisingly zippy. Kinda pleasant, actually. Merging onto the highway is a piece of cake. The longest trip we took it on, I drove it with 7 people, a car top luggage carrier and enough luggage for all of us for a week, from Indiana to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and back, and it was fine.

The only complaints I have about it are the driver's seat does not drop down far enough for me and does not move back far enough for me. The tilt wheel doesn't go up far enough either. But that's the only two complaints I have about it, and its 10 years old, so those issues may have been addressed over the years.

They've had it 10 years and I can't recall any repairs, ever. Just tires and brake pads.

I'd give it a serious look if I was in the market for a mini van. I give it about an 8.5 out of 10 and two thumbs up. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Oh yeah, what breed dogs? Large, medium or small?

 

[EddieWalker]

They are Akita's. Two are show quality puppies. The oldest is 4 years old and pet quality. The boy show dog is 20 months old and 104 pounds. The female show dog is just 3 months old and gaining about half a pound a day for the last month. Her feet are massive and we expect her to get close to 100 pounds. The boy should hit 110 pounds by the time he's full grown, but he is already bigger then his dad who is 100 pounds even. We feel we feed them better then most with everything made in the crock pot.

 

[MossRoad]

Beautiful animals!

My mom was very fond of Akitas.

 

[kf4uda]

Eddie,

We were in the market for the same vehicle a little over 3 years back and posted here for information. We ended up with the Dodge Grand Caravan Crew as you will see in the thread. We still have it. We have close to 70K miles now (Wife drives it on her job) and the only issue that we have had is a recall on the rear power vent window switch.

The van has the stow n go seating that allows the seats to fold below the floor leaving you with a flat cargo area which would be great for your dogs. It has plenty of power, handles well and will get the advertised 25 mpg on the highway. The only negative that I have found is the not so great resale value.

Here is a link to my thread http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...dge-grand-caravan-experiences.html?highlight=

 

[davrow]

We've been Toyota people for a long time. 2005 Sienna has just over 190,000. Wife wanted a new car so that 2005 is now mine. She got a 2016 Sienna. Our friends Honda Odyssey gets slightly better mileage and has lane change cameras, but my wife thinks it is less comfortable. We also looked at the Kia Sedona, but not at the Chrysler/Dodge.

 

[jeff9366]

I have been shopping too.

At the top of my list is the 'next generation' Chrysler/Fiat City Van. I want the capacity to transport full pallets of soil amendments.
I am shopping two seat variant.

$27,000

VIDEO: 2016 RAM ProMaster City SLT Wagon Test Drive Video Review - YouTube

 

[dieselcrawler]

Eddie, you cant go wrong with the Chrysler products. My parents still have a 1993 Plymouth Grand Caravan with a replacement motor cause mom ran it out if oil but well over 100k on the replacement motor, and over 200k on the chassis.

Buddy of mine (the Beeman) has had one or two in his fleet ay any given time for 20+ years, for his wife to use. They maintain them well but run them hard, delivering honey products all over the state, hauling people and stuff daily. Reasonably good fuel economy, good acceleration for what it is... They normally buy a used vehicle in the 50k to 80k range and put about 100k on it, then get another. The old one often gets passed on to their oldest son and teenage granddaughters.

Good vehicle with good track record.

 

[ScottyChip]

Hi Eddie, I agree you will be well served by the Chrysler van. Myself and my wife had 2, a Grand Caravan and a regular Caravan, the Grand is certainly more comfortable, No issues with either, other than regular maintenance, it got used for everything, 2 kids, friends and musical instruments, horse feed. It was my wife's driver, she found it easy to get the large bags of horse feed out because it was a easy drop to the barn cart. When the kids got to teenagers, we moved on to a Dodge Journey, very similar to the van but more of a car. Reminds me of the old woody wagons years ago.
As far as I know the newer models have a built in vacuum might come in handy for your great looking dogs.
There are a lot of them on the road.