Roomy

There are plenty...ABS problems, engine oil leak at 65,000 mi, suspension front and rear is insufficient for a seven passenger vehicle, electrical problems cause door locks and interior lights to go crazy in cold weather, air conditioner works intermittently

Chrysler has definitely succeeded in designing a car that disintegrates immediately after the warranty runs out.

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GM

Attractive features for a van and plenty of interior space for a family of seven. The ride of Chrysler/Dodge vans is another positive attribute.

The 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport transmission is slipping. In addition, the horn will not blow, the right air vent blows cold air when the heat is on, replaced the stereo system and other problems such as, body alignment.

As a 46-year old consumer who has purchased Chrysler/Dodge automobiles for 24 years, I became discontent with the quality of Chrysler/Dodge products. The first new Dodge purchased was a 1978 Magnum. There were several problems with the magnum, but it was driven for five hard years and logged over 120,000 miles. The car was sold to a family member who literally drove the magnum until the wheels fell off. After the magnum, several other Chrysler/Dodge automobiles were purchased and provided good transportation and low maintenance. The last two Chrysler/Dodge products were purchased new, (i.e., 1995 Plymouth Voyager and 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport). Because of our family discontent with inferior quality, we paid the MSR price for the Honda Odyssey EX over saving thousands of dollars on a comparable Chrysler/Dodge van.

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1995 Plymouth Voyager -- Replaced transmission at approx 50K mi.

None

Too many to name.

This is our second van (should have learned the first time!). 50,000 spark plugs, wires etc. burnt to a crisp. Have replaced constantly. Transmission gone at 87,000 miles. Head Gasket when at 35,000 had to fight dealer to pay for this. Windshield wipers went on by themselves. Replaced 4 times. at 100,000 catalytic converter shut, oil pan & gasket need replacing, transmission pan leak, and rear main seal leak. I agree 100% that the company does not back up their vehicle. The manager at the dealership implied that I was crazy to think a car could go over 100,000 miles? Refuse to by another caravan again!

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1989 Dodge Caravan

Interior Size

Transmission, ABS system, Steering Column

(If this is a repeat, I apologize; I really, really hate this car)

After we placed our order for a new, 1993 Dodge Caravan, my wife and I had to wait for months for the vehicle to finally show up at our local dealership. Because of the company I worked for at that time, I was actually more aware of where the vehicle was (on the assembly line, en route, etc.) than was the dealer! Finally, the Caravan came in. I took my family to the dealership to pick up the vehicle; we had the bank check in hand.

Now, my wife and I had been warned by the dealer that they would not accept a check "with any writing on the back." We thought this odd, but told the dealer that the check would be whatever our bank wanted it to be. In fact, the bank check did have writing on the back; it said something like this:

"Dealer guarantees that he has not sold the car in question to any other buyers; Buyer guarantees that the check will be used to purchase the agreed upon car." (etc., etc.)

In other words, the dealer is not trying to sell the same car five or six times at once, and I am not using the money tagged for a Caravan to buy a Ford Pinto and pocket the change. Well, the dealer balked! The dealer started to argue with us right there on the showroom floor. They asked us to take the argument into one of the side offices, and we did. The door closed (and locked) and the dealer started cursing at me and my wife! Our children (in a stroller at the time) started crying. Finally, we got the dealership to agree to accept the check. The Manager, who we were told was not there that morning--and couldn't be reached--miraculously showed up, and he accepted the check.

When we tried to leave the office, we learned that the door was broken and we were locked in! The mechanics could not open the door for us: the doorknob and hinges were mounted from the inside. After repeated admonitions from me to get the mechanics away from the door, I used my pocket "Multi-Tool" and removed the doorknob. We were free.

We should have listened to the omens. The omens were out and out YELLING at us to leave the dealership at once. We ignored them. Things proceeded to get worse.

We are now at 75,000 miles with the van. Normally, we run up 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year on a vehicle. We are hesitant to use the van for any long trips; we use my 1991 Toyota Corolla wagon, instead. Here's why we hate the van.

Number of transmissions: FIVE. Luckily, all were replaced under the extended 7 year/70,000 mile powertrain warranty. We had problems in a number of areas. First, we noticed a long hesitation, followed by a sudden engagement (with a loud CLUNK) when we applied the gas. Then we noticed that the transmission refused to engage in DRIVE. Then it refused to engage in REVERSE. Later, on transmission 3 (I think), it even refused to engage in PARK, and allowed the vehicle to roll along a gentle slope. Typically, turning the engine off completely (ignition key in its "off" position) allowed the transmission's computer to re-boot, and the tranny would then work okay for a while.

Transmission 1: (a) Hesitation and sudden engagement of the transmission (that metallic CLUNK) when accelerating from a slow speed. Belts and torque converter were replaced to attempt to solve this problem before we finally had the entire transmission replaced. (b)Failure to engage in DRIVE and REVERSE unless engine is restarted (transmission computer rebooted).

Transmission 2: Same problems as Transmission #1.

Transmission 3: Transmission would not shift into "Idle" condition when van was brought to a full stop; instead, it would stall out the engine! Think of a manual shift car, and forgetting to step on the clutch when coming to a stop. I was told by the dealership that it is an "adaptive transmission" and was learning my driving habits. Sorry, having to restart the engine after pulling up to a stop sign is not one of my regular habits!

Transmission 4: Same as Transmission #1, except that no amount of "re-booting" would get the transmission going again.

Transmission 5: This is my current transmission. I'm starting to sense a repeat of the first problem in Transmission 1, but nothing repeatable enough to bring it back to the dealer yet. Also, I'm above 70,000 miles; I expect that Chrysler will refuse to do any more warranty work on the vehicle.

Oh, and at some point in all of this (going into Tranny 3, I think), I berated Chrysler America for having such a bad transmission, and I demanded that they provide me with a rental car. You refused. I told Chrysler that I would go onto the Internet and tell people my story. Your office told me that they didn't like to be threatened, called up my dealer and told him that I had been a "bad customer", and asked him to please make it difficult for me to get my vehicle repaired there. Thankfully, he ignored your office too. For the installation of Transmission 5, Chrysler America did provide for a rental car, for which I was grateful.

Number of ABS systems: TWO. Chrysler admitted (publicly) that there is a problem with the BENDIX system. Apparently, the servo spool valve which regulates the brake fluid flow (and pressure) to the brakes wears out prematurely. Because of the premature wear, the system cannot maintain proper pressure in the brake fluid, and the brake fluid pump starts running more, and more, and more...Eventually, the valve wear becomes so severe that the pump cannot keep up with the pressure losses. The ABS fluid loses pressure, and the ABS system fails.

Chrysler created a test for the ABS system. The test was supposed to determine if your brake system was bad, or if it was about to go bad. If either case was true, then (and only then) would the dealership be instructed to fix your ABS system. I had that test performed on my Caravan. I was told that the Caravan passed the test with no problems at all. Two weeks later, while pulling out of my driveway (a downhill slope onto a busy street) with my wife and son, the ABS system completely failed. I physically had to stand on the brake pedal to get any sort of braking out of the vehicle. I stopped about 3 feet short of going into 45 mph traffic. At that point, it was pretty easy to convince the dealership to fix my brakes.

Other problems with my vehicle include:

1) Rear Liftgate Latch Recall. I'm sure you’re familiar with the Rear Liftgate Latch recall, so I won't go into any more detail here.

2) Rear Liftgate Weather Seal. Only a few months after I received the vehicle, it started smelling really bad. The dealership checked it out, and after a few weeks realized that the rear hatch weather seal was misaligned by the factory. Water was getting in, and was mildewing the interior. Solution: adjust door, replace weather seal, replace carpet liner, replace carpet. My cost: $0. I was grateful for the dealership fixing the problem for free, but a dealership installed interior is just not as nice as the factory job. So, I have been driving around with a so-so interior since 1993.

3) Air conditioner expansion valve whining. A whistling from inside the engine compartment, right on the firewall, was coming from a bad expansion valve (another servo, now for the A/C). Through a tech report, this was fixed for free. By the way; it’s whining again.

4) Serpentine Belt Idler Pulley. Now on my FOURTH. I seen to recall that the earlier ones were replaced under the extended drivetrain warranty (and quite a lot of complaining on my part). However....(see #5)

5) Water pump failure due to Serpentine Belt Lock-up due to Serpentine Belt Idler Pulley Bearing Failure (about 40k miles on this idler). This one cost me about $340 to repair everything. Chrysler's response: "Parts fail." My response, "Not as often as with this car" I have a nine-year old Toyota Corolla Wagon, and have yet to replace a belt idler!

6) Air conditioner evaporator failure. It didn't matter to Chrysler that 3 or 4 other model cars from the same model year as my Caravan have had extended warranties placed on their evaporators, the Caravan wasn't included in that warranty extension. My cost: about $600.
Knock on wood, I have not had any paint problems with the vehicle, nor has my transmission locked up or been forced into 2nd gear at highway speeds (these are other consumer complaints I have read about on numerous web sites). I guess I should consider myself lucky!

7) Steering Column Weld Shear--The welds holding the steering column together have sheared, and the wheel is floppy in my hands. Dealer refuses to fix it (it's not covered under the OTHER Steering Wheel warrantee!), and claims that it's the tilt mechanism (It's not, I'm a PE, and have looke at it, and know what I saw)

As you can tell, I am not in the least bit happy with this car. In fact, although I must congratulate Chrysler on having some of the most gorgeous metal on the road today, I will never be buying a Chrysler product again.

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Toyota Corolla Wagon--My Corolla has 130k on it, the Caravan 80K; the Corolla is a great litle car, and I plan on keeping it for many more years. I would junk the Caravan in a minute, and will-the moment I can replace it.

I like the way it looks and the room for "hauling" stuff.

Poor mechanical integrity.

Well @*%$! Wish I'd known all this before. Looks like I've been one of the lucky(?) ones though. I haven't had to replace the transmission yet and there's no paint peeling, but I spent $1200 on it 3 weeks ago, took it in for an oil change and a/c service last week and they (Dodge dealer) told me it needs $900 worth of work on the a/c -- evaporator coil(?) leaking and 1 lb. low on freon (thought they didn't use that any more) and $300 for new belt/tensioner, which I've already replaced once. I bought my van used with 26,000 miles on it in January 1999. Now it has 62,000. Tried to trade it this weekend and was told that I owe more on it than it's worth, and basically, I'll have to pay them $500 just to take it off my hands. Other problems that owners seem to share -- intermittent wipers work only sometimes. Tape player hasn't worked since shortly after I got it. Rear view mirror fell off. Replaced water pump.

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Haven't had a van before; no comparison with Olds 98 I was driving before I traded.

You're kidding, right?

Dodge is Different! They do not stand behind their product!

Overall impression is not suitable to post.
Have experienced numerous problems with absolutely no support or assistance from Dodge. The latest issue is the fact that the transmission is completely shot after 65000 miles ($1933.00)My mechanic consulted Dodge on the problem. The dealer admitted that the transmission problem is the result of poor engineering and that Dodge is aware of the problem BUT is not supporting the customer in any way. Has anyone had success in dealing with Dodge on this issue??

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None

A lot of room and features even with older body style.

Transmission
Body flexing and noise

After almost 6 years of use our 1995 Dodge Caravan's transmission gave out at 93,000 miles. Cost to us $1,900. They will put a remanufactured transmission from Chrysler in our vehicle and give us a warranty on it for 3 years or 36,000 miles. I guess I am just one more statistic to add into the Caravan transmission saga. I should think positively since some have not gotten this many miles out of their Caravan before the transmission went. The vehicle otherwise has been good to us. While under warrantly the rear window motors went out. The air bag light is currently lit and I am having this checked out. Rear wiper motor is shot and will have to pay for this. I had new struts and shocks put on the vehicle but it still rides pretty rough. I liked the utility it afforded when our children were small and we had alot of baggage to carry around but with them being older I would not buy another van. SUV is the way to go with older kids.

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I still believe the Dodge Caravan is probably the best minivan on market even with the transmission problem.

Interior appointments are great
Handling
Fuel economy

Mechanically unfit
transmission
brakes
belt tensioner
ABS braking system

While we enjoy driving the Caravan it is so expensive to maintain that we have to sell it. $4500 worth of transmission work in a year, belt tensioners, ABS. We cannot trust this vehicle.
When our transmission exploded I discovered 5 other vehicles were at the dealership for the same problem. Daimler Chrysler refused to cover the repair, they have made a bitter enemy. Im suing them. Visit my web site for further assistance if you have a claim too.
www.dodge-caravan.com

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I drove an Astro van for 3 years and it was like a truck, the Dodge Caravan handles much better but is an engineering disaster.

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Working on the third tranmision , fisrt one went at 63,000 km. second one at 119,000km (56,000) later. Wipers have a mind of their own. Dealership made us pay $600 for labour to repair tranny. Hard on brakes. Will NEVER BUY a CHRYSTLER AGAIN.

Can not recommend GARBAGE to anyone.

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Nissan Quest loved it.

It is a real workhorse. Bulletproof!

Early Head Gasket failure, however, they are still the original and it has 295,000kms. I drove to florida and back (7000kms round trip). Air Conditioning failed, however, i think that it was the belt that was only broken but garage sold be a whole new compressor.

I don't know how the newest generation of caravans are but I am actually thinking about buying a 2000 in the very near future. If the still make them the way they did mine, I certainly do recommend it!

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1990 Ford Tempo. CRAP!!!!!