Need some car buyer guidance

[Taylortractornut]

I need to ask yet another favor from the brain trust of TBN. Amy is 7 weeks along and her little 02 Ranger isnt gonna cut it with 3 of us. So as I move on from the pick up and convertible stage in my life Its minivan time. Im fond of Chrysler Minivans dad and alot of my family have all had them. Most are still in the family and some have been handed down and abused but still truck along.

We have all bought them from one dealer that brings them from Illinois and havent gotten a rusty one yet. We went out today and the best one on the lot was an 01 Town and Country AWD. with a 3.8 v6. nice ride and new tires all the way around. and 2 small scratches. He said low dollar on it was 3800. Its got 160k on it now.

THeres several in our family with over 250k on them. Does this sound like an alright price and has anyone had an AWD unit before? Its been several years since I bought a car lol. We plan on keeping the ranger as a back up car.

 

[kenmac]

For a start. I would check out autotrader.com / kbb.com and check the prices on the mod you are considering

 

[roygage]

We have all bought them from one dealer that brings them from Illinois and havent gotten a rusty one yet. We went out today and the best one on the lot was an 01 Town and Country AWD. with a 3.8 v6. nice ride and new tires all the way around. and 2 small scratches. He said low dollar on it was 3800. Its got 160k on it now.

THeres several in our family with over 250k on them. Does this sound like an alright price and has anyone had an AWD unit before? Its been several years since I bought a car lol. We plan on keeping the ranger as a back up car.

I run an auto repair shop. 3.8 is a good motor. One thing that can occur, doesn't mean it is going to, is the cam bearings going out cutting off the supply of oil to the rocker arms.

Oil does go up the pushrods but only to oil the tip there is no hole in the rocker arm to allow the oil to flow to the rocker pivot . There is a seperate oil passage which feeds oil up one of the rocker stands to feed the pivots. Cam bearing goes out or turns this passage is blocked. Pretty much new engine time then.

The AWD is just one more thing to go wrong although to be honest we have never had to work on the AWD portion of one of these.

I would put on a lift and inspect brake lines closly for heavy rust, inspect rear steel heater lines under passengers feet area for heavy rust, common problem. Also check to be sure AC works, most common problem is the rear AC lines and or evaporator and expansion valve leaking. This is not a cheap fix.

I would also check ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends before putting on the road. If you hear a clunking noise everytime you hit a tar strip or little bump look at your frt. stabilizer bar bushings, the ones that attach the bar to the frame. They get loose. Pretty cheap to replace, just a couple of rubber bushings that are clamped around the bar where it hooks to the frame.


If you have to replace the steel heater line set under the passnegers feet area it is not as bad as it looks. You can remove the complete wiper unit and housing under it to gain good access to the rear of motor.


What is it worth? Not my business but I always try to get my intial costs down to a dime mile. Not easy to do. Drive a twenty thousand dollar car 100,000 miles, and then sell it for ten grand and your costs are a dime a mile.

At 3800$ you need to drive it to 198K to reach a dime a mile, certainly possible. I would give you better odds at making it then the fellow buys a 40 K car, he has to drive it to 400,000 miles. (-:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

while I have never owned 1, I know many who have. My old boss would buy a new T & C about every 3 years or 50K miles. He tried to sell me one back around 2002 for around $14K. I didn't want a minivan and some other friends said to shy away from the chrysler. They told me something that has seemed to hold true more times than not. They said "Next time your at a stop light in traffic and you see a vehicle blow out a puff of smoke, its often a chrysler minivan." After that, I would think about it when I saw a puff of blue smoke and don't you know it would be 1. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure the engines are much better but my buddy at work has a '99 model and its pretty much a piece of crap. Engine, tranny, and A/C have major problems.

Glad your family has faired better with them.

What is your price range? Do you need something small for fuel mileage or does she just drive a little and you need the room?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

oh ya, almost forgot, WATCH OUT FOR FLOOD VICTIM CARS!!!

Check underneath the seats with a mirror and look for stains and or rusty spring wires.

 

[roygage]

. They told me something that has seemed to hold true more times than not. They said "Next time your at a stop light in traffic and you see a vehicle blow out a puff of smoke, its often a chrysler minivan." After that, I would think about it when I saw a puff of blue smoke and don't you know it would be 1. ?

The smokers were the early 3.0 engines, the valve guides would drop and the valve seals would get pushed off. Those old dogs are all gone.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Amy really needs a bigger car. The ranger is fine and tip top but when we go some where its a pain with a regular cab. It has a bed cover but its heck putting groceries in the back. Amy's comute is about 45 miles round trip. I would go with a car but She has owned a truck most of her driving life and is more comfortable with it plus I cant get out of a car with my leg. Ive just had alot of luck with the Chrysler vans. I think the biggest thing in an engine is a good regular oil change with good oil.

It did have the little rattle like you described at the tack strips. On thing that did concern me the AC was low of refrigerant. THe brake lines looked real good just minor surface rust. I took a mirror to look around roughly under neath it.

The dealer said he will recharge the ac and see if it leaks any more. Thats really the only thing AIm worried about.

I wouldnt own the 4 cylinder version they were turds.

THeres been 7 in my family and brothers that came from this dealer pls a couple other trucks that were all good cars. Hes a reputable dealer

IF the was a class 7 vocational truck or a peice of equipment It would fall in my range lol.

 

[Combustix]

Have an 04 Odeyssy, as the wife wanted the mv instead of the suv I tried to convince her she wanted. I think we're around 75k and have yet to have a problem with it. It hauls everything, we've asked of it from loading it up with wood for projects to hauling around goats, geese, and kids, Bought it as it had the highest safety rating air bags even in the cup holders:laughing: Plan is to drive this car until the wheels fall off, so I am looking well into late 2020's. I hate car notes and buying new cars, and since the wife is more practical than I am this is definetly doable. So far just oil changes and tires. I'm hoping to get cost to a nickel a mile:laughing: Parents had one of LEE's original caravans and it was a nice little vehicle, with minor stuff here and there. Like I mentioned the safety factor was a big selling point as I got hit once from behind in my Bronco by a caravan, doing about 40, pax went to the hospital driver was beat up pretty bad front of mv was completly destroyed, Bronco had a dented bumper. If I had to get another I would stay with the Honda.

 

[QueBota]

If I HAD to own a minvan it would be the Honda Odessey. No personal experience but several parents on my son's baseball team own them. No problems, good ride, nice features, high safety rating, acceptable performance and fuel mileage.

Only downside is they are somewhat scarce on the used vehicle market and are priced accordingly. New, Honda sells as many as they can produce; therefore, financing rates and incentives are limited.

Dave

 

[dmccarty]

Be careful of AWD.

Get the manual and read what it says about tires and AWD. We had a Volvo with AWD. What a PITA. You had to keep the same size tires on at all times. If you got a flat you could use the spare to drive a short distance but if the flat tire was ruined then you had to but four new tires or risk messing up the AWD system.

Of course right after buying the Volvo, some dumb a.... went through town dropping nails and screws all over the place. Dozens of cars got flats. Including ours. We had to buy a new set of tires.

Not all AWD systems are built as badly as the one in the Volvo we had so read the manual.

Later,
Dan