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.

 

[KennyG]

I think there is a lot of value in the Chrysler mini-vans. I had a 1998, eventually sold it to my father in law. He still has it with well over 200K and no major problems. I recently rented a Dodge to move my daughter to college. The stow 'n go seats are very good and the van drove well.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Honda Odyssey is hard to beat. My sister has had 2. Chrysler seems to lead the pack with innovative products. With both be prepared for sticker shock! They can reach $50,000

If it were me I would look hard at the new fleet of small, medium, and large vans from for also.

 

[Lnk]

We just replaced our 2001 Ford Windstar with a 2014 Honda Odyssey. We went to Ford to get a new minivan, but they no longer made one. Just the Transit/Pizza delivery type. So off to Honda we went. Did not consider Chrysler due to personal reasons. After th 22 mpg highway we were getting with the Windstar, we are now getting 28 mpg highway on the same trip. (We travel back and forth 4 times a year to TN). Plenty of leg and head room in the Honda. The rear seats fold flat when stowed, the middle seats are removable fairly easily, but my wife could not lift them. (she weighs 105 lbs). The rear seats are actually comfortable and seat full size adults easily.

We got the base model, not sure what you could possibly need besides this, rear backup camera, power everything else. No built in NAV, or those lane change mirror light things I see when passing others. We have 45k miles on it already and have had no problems. Our neighbors have a Toyota Sienna that is 10+ years old and they too have had no issues. I believe the Honda gets slightly better mileage than the Toyota, but both are trouble free,

The Honda has a 3.5 liter Vtec engine with 248HP. Acceleration is very brisk if needed, but just don't feel like it needs as much power as it has. I don't think you could go wrong either way.

 

[ray66v]

I have had mini vans for 25 years. For me, it's the perfect vehicle.

After spending my entire life in the auto repair business, I have had just about every different vehicle apart, down to the lowest common denominator. Believe me, the $40,000 or $50,000+ most people are willing to spend on a vehicle today, is not in there anywhere.

While they are not in the same league with the Honda, and the Toyota, The only two affordable minivans are the Chrysler, and the Kia.

I would not own a Chrysler product, if you gave it to me. So, that only left me the Kia.

I always buy my personal vehicles, about a year old, with low mileage. It's the most cost effective way to get them.

For roughly the same amount as a Honda or a Toyota, with 100,000 miles, (I'm not ever doing that either), I bought a Kia Sedona with 12,000 miles on it, and 3 years of warranty left.

I have had it for as year and a half, and I am pleased with it.

I can't for the life of me, figure out why they put a 275 hp engine in it. But, it does get good mileage, so what the heck, I now have a 7 second mini van. :confused3:

 

[k0ua]

I have the 2013 Chrysler town and country with the stow and go seating. We like the ability to have the flat floor without wrestling with seats. and enjoy the tons of storage when the seats are up. It gets about 24 to 25 mpg, not great but OK for the fact you are driving basically a box down the road. It has a lot of nice amenities and it is a joy to go grocery shopping in with the large hatch over your head when you are unloading groceries in the rain. The electrically key fob operated side doors and hatch are really nice. I worry about them a bit if and when they break, but so far so good.

I became interested in them when I was driving a company car which was a 2000 Dodge Caravan, and it had over 180,000 miles on it when I got done with it and it never gave much trouble. Everyone always told me how junky they were, but my experience was quite different. Very pleasant to drive, and get in and out of, and it was quite reliable. So there you have one mans experience.

 

[om21braz]

A friend of mine works for a company that sells Bible based home school literature, probably the largest in US. They put all the minivans through the ringer over the last 10 years or so. They run them to 200k or so - approx. 5-6 years before replacing. Their present choice for least overall cost - Toyota Sienna. He said they seem to hold up the best, always with approx. 1000-1500 lbs. of materials on board.

 

[EddieWalker]

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

I didn't even know this existed. Thanks for the link. It's not going to work for us because we really have to have AC to the back where the dogs will be. They cannot be too cold. Our friends keep the AC on them at the very coldest they can in the back of their vans and about 15 degrees warmer where they sit. I know that ours will lay out on the porch most of the night where it's a lot colder then inside the house. They have a doggy door and come and go as they want.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you for all the great replies. We are looking at base models as I really haven't figured out what the more expensive ones have that we need. Things like navigation systems, DVD systems, fancy stereos and more electronics then we will ever take the time to even learn how to use are all useless to us.

Here in Tyler, we have all the different brands, but the prices are always a few grand more here then in the Dallas area. My truck was over $3,000 less at a dealer an hour away from here, and my local dealer refused to come down any lower. For $3,000, I'll drive several hours!!!!

Here are a few links showing prices and what's available.

Brand new 2016 Honda Odyssey LX for $27,128
Cars.com


Brand new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica LX for $26,585
Cars.com


Used Chrysler Town and Country Touring with 10,464 miles on it for $21,800
Cars.com


From what I'm reading, the 2017 Pacifica is an all new vehicle from the frame up, but it's a first year vehicle and those always seem to be the ones with the most issues. The used Town and Country is a proven platform for a very good price.

The Honda is priced right too, but those folding seats are a big issue for my wife. After they finish showing the dogs, they all like to jump in one of the vans and go out to eat together. She feels that she needs all the space possible getting to the Dog Show, but then wants that flexibility to have seating for her friends. The fact that they all have Town and Countries is also playing a part in what she wants.

They are all at the Tyler Kennel Club Dog Show right now in Canton TX. It's half an hour from our place, so there where 3 Town and Country vans here last night, and she says that there are dozens of them parked there now. It's the most common vehicle there!!!!

With our schedules right now, we only have time to look online. Hopefully things will slow down a bit and we can actually do some test driving. I think that's going to be when we make our decision. If the seats on the Honda disappeared like the Chrysler, that would be my first choice. If I had a vote in this.

 

[jeff9366]

I have had good luck buying used vehicle from Hertz Rent-a-Car. Hertz has vans. Car rental companies generally sell vehicles at 35,000 - 40,000 miles, after they have captured the major depreciation.

 

[om21braz]

I didn't even know this existed. Thanks for the link. It's not going to work for us because we really have to have AC to the back where the dogs will be. They cannot be too cold. Our friends keep the AC on them at the very coldest they can in the back of their vans and about 15 degrees warmer where they sit. I know that ours will lay out on the porch most of the night where it's a lot colder then inside the house. They have a doggy door and come and go as they want.

The Mercedes version has an additional A/C option for the rear, 4x4, additional heater and some other neat options nobody else has - but it also has Mercedes price tag.

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