Minivan Questions

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bsaeagle64

bsaeagle64

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My son needs a new vehicle and is considering the following minivans:

1) Toyota Sienna
2) Honda Odyssey
3) Chrysler Town and Country

We are doing research to find out what users think of each one. He's not sure if he will buy new or used. His total purchase price will depend on the final monthly payment. He has 2 children, a 1 year old and an almost 5 year old.

Anyone who owns any of the three could you please answer the following questions:
1) Which one do you own?
2) Name one thing you love about it.
3) Name one thing you hate about it.
4) Any other pertinent information he should know.

Thanks.
 
I drove a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan for 9 years. It's still running with over 180,000 miles on it. The Town and Country is souped up version. Stow and go storage of seats is amazing. Not sure how the new ones stack up.

My father in law has a 2014 Sienna. It's a nice ride. Very quiet. Seats fold down but not under like the Chrysler. The Sienna does come with an AWD feature. Not sure if any other minivan has that available.

MPG is about the same in both. Toyota might be a bit pricier than the Chrysler.

Good luck to your son.
 
I've been kicking around the idea of a van as well and have done some preliminary research on all of these.

To me, it depends how long he plans to keep it. The Town & Country is great for the life of it's warranty. I would not recommend buying one used as I don't trust Chrysler products as a long-term investment.

The Honda and Toyota are both great. If you're talking new, he can probably get the Toyota for a few thousand less than the Honda.
 
I've been kicking around the idea of a van as well and have done some preliminary research on all of these.

To me, it depends how long he plans to keep it. The Town & Country is great for the life of it's warranty. I would not recommend buying one used as I don't trust Chrysler products as a long-term investment.

The Honda and Toyota are both great. If you're talking new, he can probably get the Toyota for a few thousand less than the Honda.
 
Toyota Sienna owner here - had one for over 14 years. Purchased brand new and only thing we've had to replace are the brakes and alternator. We got the LE with the captain's chairs for the 2nd row because we had 2 in car seats and a sullen teenager so she got the 3rd row seat all to herself ;)

Pro: they last for forever with very little maintenance if you take care of it and they drive like a car.. nice and smooth.

Con: they are pricier however, refer back to the Pro above.. it will last
 
patfan64 said:
I drove a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan for 9 years. It's still running with over 180,000 miles on it. The Town and Country is souped up version. Stow and go storage of seats is amazing. Not sure how the new ones stack up.

My father in law has a 2014 Sienna. It's a nice ride. Very quiet. Seats fold down but not under like the Chrysler. The Sienna does come with an AWD feature. Not sure if any other minivan has that available.

MPG is about the same in both. Toyota might be a bit pricier than the Chrysler.

Good luck to your son.
Click to expand...

Taking a cursory glance at resell value, the Toyota is also better at keeping value than its American competition.
 
Had the grand caravan, after multiple accidents (sideswiped by 18 wheeler, rear ended into car infront og us....) only the passenger sliding door was original but it was a great car mechanically to be honest.
 
We have a 2011 Town and Country that we bought two years ago. I really love the power that it has. When we first started looking I was envisioning myself putting around because of the lack of power. That isn't even close to the case. That thing gets up and goes and handles like a car. You really wouldn't know you were driving a van if not for the fact that you were...well...driving a van. I also love the stereo in it. It has a built in hard drive that you can load music into so we were able to take some of our favorite CDs and load them on there. I really tried to think of something that I don't like about it and I just really can't think of anything. I'm sure the Honda and Toyota are slightly better but they were both out of our price range and the resale is of no importance to us since we basically drive the wheels off of our vehicles.
 
We purchased a 2009 Chrysler T&C in February 2009 (3.8L). Sold it last weekend for $5000.00 with 189K miles on the odometer. This is the single best vehicle we have ever owned.

Reliable.
Comfortable.
Enjoyable to drive.
Hauled a family of 5 all over the country loaded to the hilt with vacation wear, hockey gear, camping gear. 7 fully loaded trips from Michigan to Florida. 2 fully loaded trips from Michigan to Myrtle Beach and 4 fully loaded trips from Michigan to Cape Cod. Countless hockey tournaments all over the midwest in the winter conditions here (can be BAD).

This van NEVER let us down. Never failed to start. Brakes, Tires and fluid changes. Recently Chrysler replaced the key fobs (needed batteries replaced) with brand new ones at no charge.

Ours had the 3 tv screens and AC power outlet in the rear. Kids could watch movies and play xBox simultaneously.

After much research we went to the dealer to buy a new Dodge Journey last weekend. Wife loved it. Price was right and they had the color she wanted in stock.....

We left with another T&C. Not kidding. In the end, the wife just wanted the same experience and utility the T&C offers - AGAIN. Hard to argue right now as there is a $3000 rebate available and 1.49%.

Here is a tip: Find someone you know that works for FCA (Fiat Chrysler) and ask them to give you a "friends" number. This will save you an additional $1200 or so at the dealership over and above all other discounts and your own dickering. Present the number LAST after the final negotiating is done. It costs the dealer nothing regardless of what they may say and their profit stays the same while your price goes down. It isn't hard to find someone that works at FCA here in Michigan. Might be harder in NE but search Chrysler Minivan forums and ask around in different areas. FCA employees are able to give out this number multiple times. I bet you get a friends number pretty easily.

Are the Toyota and the Honda good vans? Yes.

The best car I ever owned is the T&C and right now it is also the best value.
 
We have a 2004 Toyota Sienna. Bought it new. Still drives fine. Never had a problem with the engine or anything major. Overall very happy. Looking to drive it a few more years before replacing it. We got the automatic sliding doors and have had to have both fixed within the last few years - stopped working - just age/wear really. Biggest con: we got the all wheel drive version, which came with specially designed tires called "run flats" which means after they get punctured, etc., instead of going flat they will deflate some, but can still be driven for quite a while (something like 50 miles or so, I forget the exact milage). The idea is to replace the need of having to put on those silly termporary donut tires that are also only good for short milage, and give you enough driving to get to a service station to get your tire replaced. 2 problems with this: (1) the tires are more expensive than normal tires and wear out really quickly (like 2 years) and don't come with milage warranties/ratings like normal tires, so have to be replaced often, and (2) because the idea is that you no longer need to change a tire to get yourself to a service station, they provided no place in or on the van for a spare tire of any kind, so if you wanted to replace the run flats with regular tires, you 'd have to buy a spare and just have it floating around in your back storage area. I would buy a Sienna again but would not get a version that had run flats.
 
We bought a one year old 2008 Chrysler T&C. Still have it, 170, 000 on the odometer and very few major repairs. I would tell you that Chrysler has proved itself to me. I thought the Drive of the T&C was better(More like a car) to the other vans we looked at.
 
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