Opinion on Dodge - Specifically 2012 Caravan

• May 11, 2012

• #1

Request Dust Off

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

26   0   0

Feb 11, 2007

2,329

38

Westbank N.O.

Any experience with the Caravan? If not what about Dodge in general?

The 2012 has the 3.6 Pentastar engine.

I am mainly doing some preliminary research before possibly buying a new vehicle. I hear some praise & some horror stories in doing some web searching. Other brands & models will make up a short list.

I like the "Sto-N-Go" but that is the main draw in my case.

Thanks in advance.

 

• May 11, 2012

• #2

Russo

*Banned*

Rating - 100%

5   0   0

Jun 9, 2008

2,283

36

Raceland,LA

i would only get the RT with Navi.. the Pentastar engine is good, light years from the standard 3.6-3.9 crap v6s, but should be over 300 hp with respect to GM and Ford's v6s.. 6 speed auto is good for fuel mileage too... are you on a budget and need the room?

 

Last edited: May 11, 2012

• May 11, 2012

• #3

RyanW

Koch-head

Rating - 100%

8   0   0

Nov 5, 2010

2,377

36

Baton Rouge

I would avoid any Chrysler products all together. Having earned a living off of their failures, I'd never own one. If you're looking for a minivan, it's pretty tough to beat the Honda Odyssey

 

• May 11, 2012

• #4

M

Muddy45

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

10   0   0

Feb 9, 2009

178

16

Covington

I rented one for a vacation last year. The van had approx 5000 miles on it when we got it and the 3000 miles that we put on it the transmission was slipping and slamming into gears the whole time. Check out consumer reports for how the caravan does compared to other models. After a lot of research we bought a used Toyota Sienna.

 

• May 11, 2012

• #5

Request Dust Off

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

26   0   0

Feb 11, 2007

2,329

38

Westbank N.O.

Russo said:

i would only get the RT with Navi.. the Pentastar engine is good, light years from the standard 3.6-3.9 crap v6s, but should be over 300 hp with respect to GM and Ford's v6s.. 6 speed auto is good for fuel mileage too... are you on a budget and need the room?

Click to expand...

Russo,
RE: On a budget & need the room.
What attracted me to the Caravan was price & room. Price on the APV trim level is low. Of course you need to bump up about $6K to get some of the more attractive features. I have been riding in & driving vans since '68.
I am not in a hurry to spend money. I can probably get by for another year or two. Putting a little effort into finding good mechanics pays off.
Waiting should open me up to more options of vehicle choice.
I am starting to pay attention to what is a problem and what has good reliability.

Ryan & Muddy,
appreciate the info. might save me some expensive headaches

 

• May 11, 2012

• #6

Russo

*Banned*

Rating - 100%

5   0   0

Jun 9, 2008

2,283

36

Raceland,LA

in that case, i would look at an Explorer with the Ecoboost engine, if you could spend more money, look at the Flex.. Chrysler is doing better since Fiat ownes them, but vans aren't the best at resale value.. the Honda Odyssey is good, but the engine is aging and you can only get the six speed auto with higher trim, which is $10k more expensive than the Grand Caravan...

 

• May 11, 2012

• #7

justsomeguy

deranged.......

Rating - 100%

5   0   0

Jul 26, 2011

427

16

Gretna

American made cars - barrell of trash
Chrysler product - bottom of barrell

 

• May 12, 2012

• #8

mineralman55

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

2   0   0

Aug 10, 2009

349

16

Northshore

The Caravan is a POS. I bought one at the insistence of my wife several years ago. 30000 mile powertrain warranty and 70000 miles on everything else. At 32000 miles major engine failure. At 73000 miles major A/C failure followed shortly by complete front end failure. Chrysler products were always bottom of the barrel, and are worse now than ever. Don't waste your money.

We have great luck with Toyota Sierras since then.

 

• May 12, 2012

• #9

charliepapa

Clandestine Sciuridae

Rating - 100%

130   0   0

Jul 12, 2009

6,155

38

Prairieville

I have owned three of them; a 92, a 98 and currently an 06 with the stow-n-go seating. they have been my wife's cars (we have three kids) and other than normal wear and tear items, I haven't had any major failures of any kind, so IMO, they are a value that is hard to beat. The first two were slightly used when I bought them and were driven to approx 130K miles each. I bought the 06 new and paid $20,500 + TTL for it. It currently has 106K miles. You may get more miles out of the Hondas and the Toyotas in the long run, but I've never been able to justify the original cost for what I'm getting out of mine.

 

• May 12, 2012

• #10

A

Akajun

Go away,Batin...

Rating - 100%

43   0   0

Apr 10, 2008

1,920

48

Brusly

RyanW said:

I would avoid any Chrysler products all together. Having earned a living off of their failures, I'd never own one. If you're looking for a minivan, it's pretty tough to beat the Honda Odyssey

Click to expand...

This, we looked at Minivans pretty thoroughly a few years ago when we had the twins. When you add up all the features, the reliability, and especially the price, The Honda Oddessy won out. They also had the most smooth and silent ride of all we testdrove.

 

• May 12, 2012

• #11

FTRrookie

Freedom Not Free Stuff

Rating - 98.6%

68   1   0

Apr 25, 2009

1,483

36

Houma, la

I have a 2011 Caravan and love it. No problems what so ever. My boss has had three of them and is looking to get another one. He usually trades them in at 150,000 miles and his 2009 is getting close.

Don't listen to ppl who have never owned one. They are great little vans and a lot cheaper than the honda.

 

• May 12, 2012

• #12

E

edman87k5

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

35   0   0

Oct 22, 2007

2,625

38

Ventress, LA

A friend of mine has a '12 caravan with every otion available and his wife loves it. Only complaint is that the engine is noisy.
My wife has a '12 wrangler with the 3.6 pentastar and 5 speed, and it is definitely ages ahead of the prior offerings (except the unstoppable 4.0).
However, chrysler minivans have AKWAYs been known for transmission failures. Maybe the new setup is different?

 

• Jun 29, 2012

• #13

Request Dust Off

Well-Known Member

Rating - 100%

26   0   0

Feb 11, 2007

2,329

38

Westbank N.O.

Thanks for the replies.
I ended up with a Honda Pilot.