Who has a mini van?

[KennyG]

Perhaps a 10 year old Midwest or Northeast car would suffer from rust and exposure and on it's last legs?

With the advances in paints and coatings, undamaged vehicles last very well here in the Midwest. It's not unusual to see 20 years old daily driven cars in excellent condition. However, damage the paint or the factory undercoating and the clock starts ticking...

 

[ultrarunner]

Years ago back in the 60's and 70's a lot of military transfers to California and a lot of the cars suffered pretty bad from exposure... even cars from the Philippines like Subic had rust issues.

Japanese cars have always had a strong presence here... some of our friends that would get transfers took their Japanese cars with them and it didn't take long for the salt to get to them...

Good to know it is not the problem it once was... some of the new cars seem to have paper thin sheet metal...

 

[KubotainNH]

The salt used here takes a huge toll on the vehicles, some more than others. My sons 04 Ranger looks great walking by but you wouldn't know we had to replace the rear half of the frame with a frame from down South. It was Swiss cheese in the middle. I was amazed at how clean the Southern frame looked.

Both of our Hondas have done well with the salt, just some work around the wheel wells and corroded brake lines on the Accord in one section. My Jeep not so much, floors twice (found a factory issue that allowed water under the rug), rockers, frame patched in multiple places, lower fender rot, brake lines everywhere etc. Exhaust multiple times. All of this repaired a bit at a time as I found it over the last 5 years. The thing runs well though so I keep putting some labor into it to last another year. I can't replace it for the time & money I invest yearly. I also use it to plow my driveway so that does take a toll on it but it gets driven a lot less than the Hondas.

The best part of the Japanese cars are the fasteners don't seem to rust like the so called domestics.

 

[Garandman]

I imagine longevity varies as to environment...

The 10 year old Odyssey I mentioned has never seen snow or salted roads having existed in the mild weather of the SF Bay Area and mild weather has been very kind to vehicles...

Perhaps a 10 year old Midwest or Northeast car would suffer from rust and exposure and on it's last legs?

My 2006 Outback has 211,000 miles on it and has almost no discernible rust. Really quite impressive.

Cold starts are hard on cars, they seem to hold up to the environment well otherwise.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you to all of you for your advice. We went and looked at the Toyota's and Honda's, but at both dealerships, there where used Chrysler Town and Countries either right next to them, or close enough to easily compare them. Both Toyota and Honda where nice, but not luxurious in our price range. Cloth seats, basic interiors and no remote power rear doors. To get similar features in those brands to what the Chrysler has was about a $10,000 jump in price. Karen really loves the leather seats. They feel so much nicer, but she knows how much hair the dogs shed and what it will take to clean a cloth seat compared to leather. This became a very big deal to her.

The seating was really bad on the Toyota's and Honda's. You just can't do anything with those middle seats and have any room in there unless you remove them. While we agreed that she didn't need to be the one to haul her friends around, when they all have mini vans with stow and go seating, we didn't like the idea of finding a home for two seats in the shop. I did't care for the job of taking them in and out all the time either.

The Chrysler has a key fob that locks and unlocks the front doors just like most any other vehicle out there. But it also has a button for each side door and the back door. Just standing there and pushing those buttons, and then watching the doors close and open by themselves if fun!!!

So after a couple weekends of looking locally, we drove off to Dallas. Prices are always several grand cheaper there, then here in Tyler. I guess there are enough people willing to pay a grand or two more for the same vehicle locally, but since I don't make anywhere near a grand or two a day, I don't have any problems driving two hours to save that much money.

After going to six dealerships yesterday, we found this one. 216 Chrysler Town and Country Touring In Sachse TX - LAKESIDE MOTORS INC.

They had two of them for the exact same price. They where identical, except the other one, the one we bought, only had 18,354 miles on it. Of all the vans we test drove, they where all fantastic and none of them where any better then the others. What really amazed me is that amount of visibility you have when driving one. It's like being on the UTV, you can just see so much more!!!

I tried to get it for 20, but ended up at $21,000. They had recently reduced the price from $23,995 and where asking $21,890 for their Black Friday sales price. After my down payment and 3% interest, my payment is going to be $288 a month. For what we got, I think it's a really great deal for the money.

Of course, the big question is how well will it last? All the ladies at the dog shows drive them. Shows are anywhere from close to home, to a couple hundred miles each way. We don't know of any who have had issues, and all of our friends are driving vans older then this one with a lot more miles on them. Some take really good care of them, others treat their vans fairly rough. Karen is really good on maintenance, so that should help.

Best of all, she absolutely LOVES HER VAN!!! She keeps telling me over and over again how much she loves it. I'm also done Christmas shopping.

 

[k0ua]

Thank you to all of you for your advice. We went and looked at the Toyota's and Honda's, but at both dealerships, there where used Chrysler Town and Countries either right next to them, or close enough to easily compare them. Both Toyota and Honda where nice, but not luxurious in our price range. Cloth seats, basic interiors and no remote power rear doors. To get similar features in those brands to what the Chrysler has was about a $10,000 jump in price. Karen really loves the leather seats. They feel so much nicer, but she knows how much hair the dogs shed and what it will take to clean a cloth seat compared to leather. This became a very big deal to her.

The seating was really bad on the Toyota's and Honda's. You just can't do anything with those middle seats and have any room in there unless you remove them. While we agreed that she didn't need to be the one to haul her friends around, when they all have mini vans with stow and go seating, we didn't like the idea of finding a home for two seats in the shop. I did't care for the job of taking them in and out all the time either.

The Chrysler has a key fob that locks and unlocks the front doors just like most any other vehicle out there. But it also has a button for each side door and the back door. Just standing there and pushing those buttons, and then watching the doors close and open by themselves if fun!!!

So after a couple weekends of looking locally, we drove off to Dallas. Prices are always several grand cheaper there, then here in Tyler. I guess there are enough people willing to pay a grand or two more for the same vehicle locally, but since I don't make anywhere near a grand or two a day, I don't have any problems driving two hours to save that much money.

After going to six dealerships yesterday, we found this one. 216 Chrysler Town and Country Touring In Sachse TX - LAKESIDE MOTORS INC.

They had two of them for the exact same price. They where identical, except the other one, the one we bought, only had 18,354 miles on it. Of all the vans we test drove, they where all fantastic and none of them where any better then the others. What really amazed me is that amount of visibility you have when driving one. It's like being on the UTV, you can just see so much more!!!

I tried to get it for 20, but ended up at $21,000. They had recently reduced the price from $23,995 and where asking $21,890 for their Black Friday sales price. After my down payment and 3% interest, my payment is going to be $288 a month. For what we got, I think it's a really great deal for the money.

Of course, the big question is how well will it last? All the ladies at the dog shows drive them. Shows are anywhere from close to home, to a couple hundred miles each way. We don't know of any who have had issues, and all of our friends are driving vans older then this one with a lot more miles on them. Some take really good care of them, others treat their vans fairly rough. Karen is really good on maintenance, so that should help.

Best of all, she absolutely LOVES HER VAN!!! She keeps telling me over and over again how much she loves it. I'm also done Christmas shopping.

View attachment 488518

Can't beat that with a stick. If you are happy, and the wife is ecstatic, then what's not to like? Good luck with it, and I hope it serves you well. it looks just like ours, except ours is red. Yes I too enjoy the heck out of the remote controlled doors. especially when going to the grocery store in the rain. It is nice to be able to open that huge back hatch from across the parking lot and drive your cart under it for a ran canopy while you unload your groceries. We use the 2nd row seating wells as storage for our insurance sales supplies as we keep the 2nd row seats up all the time. There is enough storage under your feet for 3 dead bodies. :laughing: Well a bunch of rifles and ammunition anyway.

 

[ultrarunner]

Chrysler does seem to check all the boxes with it comes to mini-vans... they invented the segment.

Also see a lot of lower mileage late model rentals showing up on dealer lots... my guests from Europe really like to rent them for national park trips...

I think you will find the layout great and very easy to configure.

The warranty should keep you in good stead should something come up.

Toyota seems to be the most reliable and in California Honda is preferred... that is why my sister in law insisted... but it has had it's share of issues... A/C and Transmission...

I think you are going to enjoy it immensely... try to keep it out of the sun when you can...

 

[Diamondpilot]

Happy wife, happy life....

21K seems like a Exellent Deal!

 

[KubotainNH]

Congrats, with the age and mileage you should be good for quite awhile. Who knows what she'll be doing in 5 to 7 years, may no longer want or need a van by then. What did you get for a warranty on it?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The new Akitamobile!