Hurricane Fay decided to crash my mini (small m) break here in alcohol-sodden Key West. Store keepers boarded-up their shops, tourists packed-up their rentals, polydactyl cats dove for cover and Starbucks kept everyone properly caffeinated. Watching the queue of cars on Highway 1 heading towards the mainland, Monica and I delayed our departure as long as possible. Sanity, and US Air Force safety policy, intervened with our procrastination. So we provisioned our rented Dodge Grand Caravan with extra water, Swedish Fish and coffee. Facing untold hours of driving, I had time to reflect on the evacuation-worthiness of our refrigerator white box on wheels. Fit 'n Finish are Chrysler Corp. standard (the panels don't fit and it's not finished). The van's lack of power complements the confused autostick four-speed tranny. The constant bands of rain have however produced some unseemly driving characteristics, such as constant accessory belt squeal and skittering tires, followed by abrupt traction control. The flat and unsupportive seats are not our friends. Stay tuned for updates on our progress from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale.
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Is this the one with the swivel captain chairs?
Swedish Fish, yum. Excellent travel companion, I just hope you bought a whole bucket full since you will be crawling for hours. One of the things I really miss after we cut corn syrup completely out of our diet.
I’m curious what the gas mileage is on the that Grand Caravan when you are done with your 150 mile island hop.
@ Redbarchetta: I was eagerly awaiting your comments on outrunning the police. (There’s actually a one lane bridge about 5k from my farm).
There acutally is a swedish connection here:
In 1958, Malaco, a Swedish confectionery manufacturer, expanded its business by exporting a few of their products to North America. Various licorice ribbon and licorice lace candies were the first products to be exported.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Fish
Drive safe!
eh_political umm yeah I decided to stay out of that discussion, pleading the 5th, since I may or maynot be guilty of successfully doing it twice in my very dumb youth. Grand Theft Auto is a lot more fun but no where near realistic, I killed 20 cops last night before I finally lost the cops, IN A MINIVAN.
“Sweedish Fish: The Dentist’s Friend”.
Also: “Trident (“three teeth”), recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists.”
Any “Go Away Fay!” spray-painted on plywood over windows?
Must be a Non Sequitur kind of day — hope Fay does “stay away”.
I want to like the Caravan.
For $20K Canadian (ten grand less than anything else) you get a vehicle with great space, good seats, a full complement of airbags and stability-control systems and a good set of features. About the only two vans priced atop it are the much-smaller Rondo (equipped similarly) and the Mazda5 (which, at the same price lacks air conditioning and an automatic transmission, never mind stability control).
And then you step inside it and you realize, very quickly, why it costs ten grand less than a Sienna. I thought my parents’ 76 Aspen was the last new car I’d see with fresh-from-the-factory panel warping, but no, the bumper on the poor thing was doing the wave in the dealer lot, sufficient to prevent the rear hatch from closing smoothly. I’ve heard rumours of brake rotors warping in the first few months, electronics failures from the get-go and an incredible amount of trim problems.
I shudder to think of what this means for the Routan. Chrysler design & build quality paired with Volkswagen warranty service, a match made in the seventh circle of Hell. What’s even worse is that Chrysler and it’s dealers don’t seem to care anymore; they’re just phoning in the Caravan sales (does anyone buy the T&C?)
Sad, really. It’s the spiritual descendant of the big, cheap family wagon and, if Chrysler wasn’t collectively running on fumes, it’d be a hit. If it was just cheap plastics and an anemic powertrain, it’d be ok, but it’s the relentless nonattention to detail that just leaves you wondering “how bad is this car going to be in five years”. How long will the transmission last? The engine? The accessory pumps and electronics? Will you, in all likelyhood, have sunk as much money in repairs as a Sienna would have cost?
Would be interesting to know if the VW version is any better or worse on the panel fits or the long term quality.
I own three VWs and all are good vehicles but they do require more attention than our 9 year old Honda.
On a side note we watched two 80s vintage minivans duke it in a demolition derby at our local fair. Both looked like pretty decent vehicles with good paint and no collision damage.
GM Astro van vs short wheelbase Caravan. The Astro would be the winner I predicted with it’s pickup truck derived engine and tranny. It’s driveline did last longer but the Caravan’s stronger chassis slaughtered the bodywork and ultimately was the cause of the Astro’s demise.
Eventually the Caravan’s FWD broke and the Astro barely limped off the field battered and torn.
I had a 2008 Grand Caravan as a rental a few months back. It was the absolute worst rental vehicle I’ve ever had, already disintegrating at only 11K miles. At the time I picked it up, the paperwork in the glove box showed it had only been in service for six months. Rentals aren’t exactly babied, but still…
Squeaks and rattles galore, the flimsy trim insert around the shifter was broken, the overhead storage cubbies had weak latches and fell open whenever a door closed too hard, seat fabric already showed visible wear (to the point you could see the foam padding through a couple of the seats), horribly inadequate brakes, etc. The sloppy workmanship clearly illustrated nobody involved in assembly actually gave a shit how the product turned out.
The creased rear bumper fascia also appears to be standard equipment – I could not open the lift gate without first stepping on the bumper to flatten the plastic so it would clear the gate. Previous customers had already dented the gate where it hit the fascia (which I ensured was documented before I left the rental lot).
I’m glad I didn’t have to spend too much time in that POS, such as enduring hurricane evacuation traffic snarls. I can’t understand the mindset of a ChryCo customer voluntarily purchasing one of these vans.
Why is it whenever I hear a squeeking, something-dragging-on-the-ground rattle-trap coming down the road it’s always a Chrysler product?
Mike,
I am sure your trip will interest us, but I don’t think that anything verifying the fact that Chrysler builds crappy cars is really “news”.
Just say’n.
The sloppy workmanship clearly illustrated nobody involved in assembly actually gave a shit how the product turned out
I don’t think it’s completely, or even mostly assembly’s fault, it’s design and procurement as well. You can blame the plant for the misaligned panels, but that rear bumper, seat material and warp-if-you-look-them rotors are accountant decisions.
It’s acceptable to have a mundane vehicle that’s reliable. The materials can be cheap, but if they’re screwed down well it’s tolerable. No one expects a $20K minivan to have a stitched leather dash and razor-thin panel gaps. Chrysler’s actual materials aren’t that bad for the price point.
It’s also okay (though much less so) for a car to be glitchy but beautiful and/or capable. You can forgive a Ferrari or Mercedes a lot. Heck, you can forgive a GTI a lot vis a vis the Toyota Corolla.
It’s definitely not okay for a car to be cheap and problematic.
The old Chrysler, towards the end, usually managed to be cheap, but somewhat well-screwed together and reasonably reliable. After Daimler drove them into a tree they lost whatever virtues they had.
psarhjinian:
The old Chrysler, towards the end, usually managed to be cheap, but somewhat well-screwed together and reasonably reliable.
You are correct. My 2000 Dakota fits that bill.
Hey, how about a Second-Gen Dakota used vehicle review, TTAC? You do need more trucks featured on here.
Sorry to hear you’re getting the boot from Key West. I can tell you I spent one hurricane (I forget which, we’ve been through so many in the past 4 years) in a beachside hotel bar in South Palm Beach.
Occasionally we’d have to grab something to keep it from flying by, but I’d won a weekend stay, and even though it was only 4 miles from my house and the hurricane was upon us, I was staying, damn it!
(And so was my bartender, thanks to my liberal tipping policy…)
Besides, this one isn’t going to be bad…you’re definitely getting the short end of the stick.
I can’t understand the mindset of a ChryCo customer voluntarily purchasing one of these vans.
After a recent trip to a Chrysler lot, I think I do. I saw Caravans on sale (new) for $11,988. That, coupled with a lifetime powertrain warranty, is going to be mighty tempting to a buyer with a limited income.