Hello all,
A few months ago my wife and I found out that our family is going to be growing by another member and the realization set in that we had outgrown our station wagon. We have been slowly going through the paces of purchasing a vehicle and I have just about driven my wife crazy so I think we will be making our purchase soon.
We started out exploring the 08-09 Dodge/Chrysler Vans since there are such great deals out there right now. We test drove a low optioned 09 SXT with the 3.8/6-spd and loved the powertrain but ultimately decided we wanted a heavilly optioned model which put the price up higher than we were comfortable with. We then set our sites on the used market and quickly narrowed in on the 06/07 Dodge/Chrysler models.
So after searching the surrounding areas, many dealer visits and a lengthy spreadsheet to keep track of it all we have eliminated all but two vans both of which are in our own small town of ~4000 people believe it or not.
The local Chrysler dealer has a very nice 06 Limited with 28k mi which both my wife and I think is a extreamly nice van. The only criticisms I have about it is a little corosion around the lips of the polished rims and some paint damage from rocks being kicked up off the rear tires. It was a program vehicle which was bought at auction but it appears to have been treated well. It is priced at the upper limits of our cash reserves and is just out of warranty so we would need to stretch the 90 day dealer warranty in order to regain the cash necessary to make an additional warranty purchase.
The Ford dealership (not as nice of an establishment or as trustworthy of place) has a 06 Touring with 27k mi which is optioned very well, has a $2000 price advantage over the Limited and has 6 months of factory warranty left. The condition of the van leaves a little to be desired a fair amount of paint blemishes, needs a new trunk carpet (spilled bleach) and a little bit of a funny smell (hopefully just the bleach). The other advantage it has over the limited is being equipt with the factory tow prep group. I don't plan on towing anything but I have overloaded my vehicles in the past and probably will again plus I buy into the extra cooling helping to extend the life of the powertrain.
We drove the limited today and will be driving the touring tomorrow. I would suspect that we will make a purchase in the next couple of days. I would appreciate any suggestions any of you have on trying to negotiate the prices down, or things to watch out for on the vehicles.
I should also note that my only previous experience with Dodge/Chrysler vans was with the 84 Caravan my parents owned when I was a kid and I learned how to drive in. Some memorial vacations in that van with a cargo carier on top and getting passed by everything else on the road in the Colorado mountain region. My parents bought that vehicle new and traded it in 8 years later at the dealership which has the limited.
A few months ago my wife and I found out that our family is going to be growing by another member and the realization set in that we had outgrown our station wagon. We have been slowly going through the paces of purchasing a vehicle and I have just about driven my wife crazy so I think we will be making our purchase soon.
We started out exploring the 08-09 Dodge/Chrysler Vans since there are such great deals out there right now. We test drove a low optioned 09 SXT with the 3.8/6-spd and loved the powertrain but ultimately decided we wanted a heavilly optioned model which put the price up higher than we were comfortable with. We then set our sites on the used market and quickly narrowed in on the 06/07 Dodge/Chrysler models.
So after searching the surrounding areas, many dealer visits and a lengthy spreadsheet to keep track of it all we have eliminated all but two vans both of which are in our own small town of ~4000 people believe it or not.
The local Chrysler dealer has a very nice 06 Limited with 28k mi which both my wife and I think is a extreamly nice van. The only criticisms I have about it is a little corosion around the lips of the polished rims and some paint damage from rocks being kicked up off the rear tires. It was a program vehicle which was bought at auction but it appears to have been treated well. It is priced at the upper limits of our cash reserves and is just out of warranty so we would need to stretch the 90 day dealer warranty in order to regain the cash necessary to make an additional warranty purchase.
The Ford dealership (not as nice of an establishment or as trustworthy of place) has a 06 Touring with 27k mi which is optioned very well, has a $2000 price advantage over the Limited and has 6 months of factory warranty left. The condition of the van leaves a little to be desired a fair amount of paint blemishes, needs a new trunk carpet (spilled bleach) and a little bit of a funny smell (hopefully just the bleach). The other advantage it has over the limited is being equipt with the factory tow prep group. I don't plan on towing anything but I have overloaded my vehicles in the past and probably will again plus I buy into the extra cooling helping to extend the life of the powertrain.
We drove the limited today and will be driving the touring tomorrow. I would suspect that we will make a purchase in the next couple of days. I would appreciate any suggestions any of you have on trying to negotiate the prices down, or things to watch out for on the vehicles.
I should also note that my only previous experience with Dodge/Chrysler vans was with the 84 Caravan my parents owned when I was a kid and I learned how to drive in. Some memorial vacations in that van with a cargo carier on top and getting passed by everything else on the road in the Colorado mountain region. My parents bought that vehicle new and traded it in 8 years later at the dealership which has the limited.