Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

DaimlerChrysler's worst nightmare came true at Edmunds.com this month. That's right, former minivan owners and critics Karl Brauer and Christian Wardlaw tag-teamed behind the wheel of our Grand Caravan ES and came away...well, you'll see.

Brauer used the DGC to move all of his worldly possessions from a condominium in the bustling metropolis of Los Angeles to a sprawling home in Camarillo, Calif. He reported that, fully loaded with approximately 600 pounds of belongings and 200 pounds of driver, the Grand Caravan's handling suffered on the twisty parts of Pacific Coast Highway. This, of course, came to nobody's surprise.

But he gave our Dodge a thumbs-up in the styling department, calling it "one fine-looking minivan." Brauer has decided he likes the power rear liftgate (it should be noted that it has already broken once under warranty), but thinks the power side doors could use improvement. Specifically, he'd like the power assist to actuate when the door handle is tugged upon, as on the Honda Odyssey. While removing the two rear rows of seats, he remarked that they were simple to roll out and store away, but still believes that the next-generation Chrysler minis should come with a fold-flat third-row seat and multi-adjustable second-row captain's chairs.

Summing up, Brauer called the Dodge Grand Caravan "a great minivan torpedoed by some substantial design and execution foul-ups that are exacerbated by poor reliability and resale factors."

Wardlaw, as regular readers might recall, is not a big fan of the current Chrysler minivans. Yet, like many of our staffers, he loves to drive our DGC, and not just because it's good for hauling the kids around. As he noted in the logbook this month, "The Grand Caravan ES is genuinely fun to drive, with fine road manners, decent handling and communicative steering. Seat comfort for short around-town errand-running is excellent, and the Infinity audio system produces rich sound. Where the van fails to impress, as I've noted countless time before, is in its ability to serve a family with simplicity and ease, like a couple of other minivans on the market."

To recap, Wardlaw thinks Dodge made a major error in judgment when it decided to omit automatic locking retractor (ALR) seatbelts for the second-row captain's chairs. Sure, newer child seats like Wardlaw's come with handy tethers that hook into anchors at the rear of the van's individual second-row buckets, but what if you're using an older restraint? The floppy seatbelt isn't going to hold the seat tightly in place, allowing for restraint base movement that could result in injury to a child. Vehicles with ALR seatbelts allow parents to cinch a child seat down tightly so that zero movement of the restraint base occurs, adding to peace of mind. Additionally, Wardlaw is bothered by the fact that those second-row captain's chairs offer no movement fore or aft, and there isn't a height adjuster for either of them. Finally, and this is a subject that causes a flurry of letters every time we mention it, why aren't those third-row seats folding into the floor like the Honda Odyssey, the Mazda MPV and the trio of GM vans from Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac?

People with children (and if you're not people with children, chances are slim you're reading this) are forewarned: Those trick power side doors and the beep-beep-beeping liftgate thrill the kiddies with delight for hours if you let them get their sticky little mitts on the key fob. This makes quickly loading the family up in a conflict-free manner an impossibility. Don't believe us? Wait until the day you're running late and it's pouring rain. You'll see.

The other issue that we find troubling is the reliability history of the Grand Caravan and its badge-engineered Chrysler and Plymouth siblings. They regularly find themselves on the Consumer Reports list of "Used Cars to Avoid," though models made in the past five years seem to be scoring average in terms of durability. Our van hasn't suffered any major mechanical failures, but it seems like we're always dealing with irksome little problems and build-quality issues.

This month, we received a recall notice asking us to get the van to the dealership as soon as possible to have the power controller for the rear climate system reprogrammed. An appointment was made with Buerge Chrysler-Jeep in Los Angeles, and we arrived at the proper hour right on time. Buerge swiftly and efficiently processed our recall and had the work done within hours. Upon arrival to retrieve the van, our paperwork was in order and the vehicle was delivered to the service drive post haste. All in all, this constituted an outstanding service visit to an extremely busy dealership.

After the recall was performed, Wardlaw noted a rattling front suspension part and a clicking steering column. Plus, he still contends that in low-speed stop-and-go traffic the transmission shift quality is slushy and delayed, which fails to inspire confidence in the longevity of the powertrain. We'll get the suspension and steering issues addressed next month when the van goes in for its 30,000-mile service. As for the transmission, we hope the next owner (after we turn the van in at lease end) will not have to deal with replacing the unit when the warranty has expired, like so many former Chrysler minivan owners.

Current Odometer: 28,678
Best Fuel Economy: 21.2 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 10.6 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 18.2 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: Recall to reprogram the power controller for the rear climate controls; rattling front left suspension component; clicking steering column