Hello everyone -
I'd like to start by stating that I never thought I would own a minivan, but.... After researching a suitable replacement for my 15 year old Dodge Dakota pickup, I concluded that the minivan has to be the most versatile and practical vehicle out there! We have no kids and basically need something to haul stuff - lots of stuff. The Dakota has a high cap and 6.5' bed, so that worked nicely for years, but I almost never took the cap off, so I started looking at SUVs and minivans. The SUVs are pricey! I looked at the Sienna (boasts 150 CU FT cargo space) and Caravan (143 CU FT) and went with the Grand Caravan because I couldn't argue with the better price and the ease of using the sto-n-go seats to quickly make the seats disappear!
I decided to go used and purchased a 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT with about 32,000 miles. It has power sliding doors, fancy radio with Nav & Sirus XM trial, and backup camera - way more technology than my 15 yr old truck! Yes, it was a prior rental which worried me a little, but again, the price was just great. It seems pretty clean except for some door dings and minor scratches outside. I have bought new and used in the past, but this is the first I purchased a prior rental so I hope it works out ok. I only had it about two weeks and so far everything seems fine, except for an awful smell from the air conditioner. I'll post separately in the 5th gen van forum later about that - I'm still troubleshooting the smell.
Anyway, one question comes to mind - since this is a Chrysler forum, do you mostly talk about the Town & Country, or are there lots of Grand Caravan owners on here as well? I know they are very similar vehicles and probably mostly everything applies to both vehicles.
...John
I'd like to start by stating that I never thought I would own a minivan, but.... After researching a suitable replacement for my 15 year old Dodge Dakota pickup, I concluded that the minivan has to be the most versatile and practical vehicle out there! We have no kids and basically need something to haul stuff - lots of stuff. The Dakota has a high cap and 6.5' bed, so that worked nicely for years, but I almost never took the cap off, so I started looking at SUVs and minivans. The SUVs are pricey! I looked at the Sienna (boasts 150 CU FT cargo space) and Caravan (143 CU FT) and went with the Grand Caravan because I couldn't argue with the better price and the ease of using the sto-n-go seats to quickly make the seats disappear!
I decided to go used and purchased a 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT with about 32,000 miles. It has power sliding doors, fancy radio with Nav & Sirus XM trial, and backup camera - way more technology than my 15 yr old truck! Yes, it was a prior rental which worried me a little, but again, the price was just great. It seems pretty clean except for some door dings and minor scratches outside. I have bought new and used in the past, but this is the first I purchased a prior rental so I hope it works out ok. I only had it about two weeks and so far everything seems fine, except for an awful smell from the air conditioner. I'll post separately in the 5th gen van forum later about that - I'm still troubleshooting the smell.
Anyway, one question comes to mind - since this is a Chrysler forum, do you mostly talk about the Town & Country, or are there lots of Grand Caravan owners on here as well? I know they are very similar vehicles and probably mostly everything applies to both vehicles.
...John
