Grand Caravan SE - Would not consider buying
Written: Apr 05 '04 (Updated Apr 06 '04)
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Pros: Space, Outside appearance, Instrument panel design
Cons: Transmission, Steering, Handling
The Bottom Line: Grand Caravan is good except where it matters the most - driving.
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| alexaks's Full Review: 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan |
We took a week long trip to Orlando. Since it was six of us plus luggage, we decided to rent a minivan. The rental company was National. The minivan was a regular SE edition Grand Caravan manufactured Jan 2004 with 1100 miles on the odometer. I will rate all significant points rating them 1-10
OUTSIDE APPEARANCE - 7: I think Grand Caravan looks pretty nice. The outside is sleek and sporty. Sliding side doors tracks are hidden behind the rear windows, and the minivan looks like it has good aerodynamics. The steeply inclined rear window adds to the sleek sporty styling.
SPACE - 8: Right off the bet, we were able to utilize a somewhat better than average cargo capacity of the Grand Caravan. We loaded 2 big suitcases, 2 duffel bags and 1 small suitcase without folding the seats. Overall there was a lot of room both in the cargo as well as the seating area.
SEAT COMFORT - 6: Power adjustable driver seat was fairly comfortable, however lacks good support. Passenger seat was manual and the seating comfort and position was less than average. The seats in the back were bench seats with headrests, and even though the second bench is reclinable, I can not imagine being able to survive a long trip in those. The legroom is sufficient throughout the minivan.
GAUGES and CONTROLS - 6: The gauges have big round analog design with black numerals on grey faces. The gauges light up green at night. The lighting of the gauges is a little too dim to my taste and the electronic compass/thermometer unit mounted on the ceiling just behind the rear view mirror is too bright for the night highway driving distracting your attention off the road. The temperature controls are easy to operate without the owner’s manual, although the knobs and buttons are small, so you would have to take your eyes off the road to operate them. The radio/tape/CD Player controls are very well designed; however the radio sounds very cheap lacking clarity on both the high treble and low bass frequencies.
DOORS and REAR GATE – 3: The minivan we rented had 2 manually operated side doors and a manual rear lift gate. The doors open wide, making it fairly easy to get in and out from the rear seats, however the operation of the doors was not impressive to say the least: if the car is standing on anything but a perfectly level surface, you will need to apply a significant effort to open or close the doors and risk being hit hard by the door in case your are not quick enough to get out of the way. Operating the rear lift gate is not something you would want to do often. The door is heavy to open, and quite hard to push down.
Some final notes on the interior: Cup holders are conveniently located throughout the minivan, sun visors are very functional, the rear windows tint works well to keep the sun out and the car cool on those summer days.
ON THE ROAD
TRANSMISSION – 1: As I have mentioned, the minivan we rented had only 1100 miles on it, both the up and the downshift are very rough especially the downshift from the second to the first gear. A couple of times I thought someone has hit us from behind, while it was just a transmission downshift.
POWER – 3: With the V-6 3.3 liter engine I expected to have a lot more power. Grand Caravan lacks torque and the load of 6 people with luggage was enough to make the acceleration very sluggish.
HANDLING and STEERING– 3: Don’t try to make any emergency maneuvers on Grand Caravan – you would be risking a complete loss of control. I had to perform some sudden lane changes to avoid accidents, and I felt like I was driving an old VW minivan with a heavy sofa tied to a roof rack. Grand Caravan leans significantly on every turn. It also takes a while for Grand Caravan to recover from any maneuver. Steering is somewhat sluggish and not as responsive as the one of Japanese minivans. Even a slight curve feels as a big deal at 80 mph.
BRAKING – 8: Even though Grand Caravan “dives” while braking, the braking distance was shorter than I expected, even on wet surfaces.
GAS MILEAGE - 6 Most of our trip involved highway driving, and the mileage of Grand Caravan was around 20 mpg. For a vehicle of that size and weight, it is not bad, but with the automobile industry pushing towards more economic cars, I would like to see something around 25-27 mpg.
OVERALL - 4 Even though Grand Caravan is well designed throughout, has ample space in both the passenger cabin and the cargo area, it has a long way to go to catch up to the Japanese competition. Chrysler engineers have to drive Honda Odyssey for a while to get a feel of what can be done to improve the driving aspect of Grand Caravan. A lot of work has to go into improving handling and acceleration as well as passenger comfort. Until then Grand Caravan makes it into my “do not buy” list.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 270
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: SE
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Epinions.com ID:
alexaks
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Location: NYC, NY
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 0 members
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