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Road Test: Comparison Test
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Minivan Comparison Test
Another One Bites the Dust
By
Christian Wardlaw
Date posted: 12-05-2000
Buy American. Support the good old U.S. of A. Prove your patriotism.
This kind of propaganda kept domestic automakers on top of the heap for a long
time, despite less-than-inspiring design and often atrocious build quality.
It saved Chrysler in the early '80s when all the company had to peddle was the
dumpy, three-box K-Car sedan. It, along with heavy incentives and massive fleet
sales, kept the Ford Taurus in the winner's circle during the early '90s, until
the company went overboard with the ovals and conceded the sales crown to the
Kentucky-built Toyota Camry. As much as we'd like to buy American, American
carmakers generally don't make the cars we want to buy. Therefore, we drive
hundreds of thousands of domestically produced Camrys, Accords and Civics home
each year, while Hertz, Avis and National get all the Ford Tauruses, Buick Centurys
and Chevy Cavaliers.
But it's easy to buy an American light truck. Whether you're selecting
a pickup truck, a sport-utility vehicle, or a van, domestic automakers have
a lock on sales in each segment. Historically, the sales leaders have been the
best of their kind. Ford's modern F-150 is finally battling stiff competition
from the likes of a redesigned Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The mega-selling
Ford Ranger is our favorite compact pickup for many reasons, while the Ranger-based
Ford Explorer provides consumers with a nearly perfect balance of user-friendly
utility and rugged off-roadability. The GM triplets Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban get
our nod for best full-size, domestic SUV, while Ford's aging but excellent Econoline
van sells in bigger numbers than more recently engineered models from Chevrolet
and GMC.
Chrysler Corporation, which took Volkswagen's revolutionary small-van
concept and made it marketable in 1984, has been the minivan sales champ for
15 years. Not only has Chrysler commanded nearly 40 percent of the market with
the Town & Country, Caravan and Voyager (and derivatives), but it has almost
always been regarded as the top-rated design in the segment as well. The company
hit the bulls-eye with original-recipe flavor, and was wise enough to keep from
fixing something that wasn't broken.
Well, figuratively, at least. Chrysler's
minis have a well-known reputation for breaking down and requiring premature
repair. Build-quality issues didn't keep buyers from gambling on them, however,
with hundreds of thousands of consumers rolling the dice each year because nothing
else came close to providing the proper mix of user-friendly design, urban driveability
and thoughtful amenities. Chrysler had a lock on the segment. Chalk another
one up for the red, white and blue.
Times change, and quickly. Nowadays, a minivan
is considered a car, not a light truck, and we know how well domestic automakers
have fared lately in traditional passenger-vehicle sales. Additionally, Chrysler
is now partnered with German automaker Daimler (the parent company of Mercedes-Benz),
so the Stars and Stripes are fading from the brand. No longer are you "buying
American" when you select a Dodge Grand Caravan. What does it mean to buy American,
anyway? The Dodge is assembled in Canada and Missouri, the Ford Windstar is
made in Canada, the Honda Odyssey is built in Canada, and the Nissan Quest rolls
down an Ohio line in a Ford assembly plant. Furthermore, other auto manufacturers
have had plenty of time to study the DaimlerChrysler formula for minivan success,
and are now whipping up new-and-improved batches of vehicles for consumers to
sample.
Last spring, we gathered four minivans for a comparison test. Our staff
selected the Dodge Grand Caravan ES as the winner, beating the aging Ford Windstar
GL and fresh designs from General Motors and Toyota, the Pontiac Trans Sport
Montana and the Toyota Sienna LE. We found the Dodge to be the most car-like
to drive, the most intelligently engineered, and best looking of the group.
This spring, we rounded up three newcomers to join the party, and pitted them
against the Grand Caravan, which has been carried over basically unchanged for
1999. Our contestants this time included the heavily revised Ford Windstar in
SE trim, the completely redesigned Honda Odyssey in EX trim, and the all-new
Nissan Quest in GLE trim, competing against a Dodge Grand Caravan SE.
The manufacturers supplied three of the vehicles. DaimlerChrysler was unable
to issue a Grand Caravan for the test, so we turned to our friends at Event
Vehicles Incorporated for help. Through Budget Rent-A-Car of Beverly Hills,
we managed to acquire a 1999 Grand Caravan SE, equipped with typical rental
van equipment. You can contact them for decidedly more upmarket wheels by calling
310/822-1700, ext. 163, or visit their Web site at www.budgetbeverlyhills.com
for more information.
We conducted our testing northwest of Los Angeles, in the area between Ventura
and Thousand Oaks. Our 90-mile test loop included city driving, four-lane highway,
twisting two-lane road, and interstate travel. A day of track testing at Camarillo
Airport generated performance data for each van, and we undertook a thorough
evaluation that included reconfiguring passenger seating and playing with gadgets
and gewgaws to see how everything worked. Finally, we loaded them full of luggage
and people and took a short drive around West Hollywood to see how each model
performed under duress.
For a close look at vehicle specifications and feature comparisons, please click
the links below to view detailed data on each van we tested.
Vehicle
Specifications
Feature
Comparison
"Creating
the Perfect Minivan"
Once all evaluations had been
performed, numbers crunched, and opinions gathered, we were able to discern
a winner. The result: another American market leader bites the dust.
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