Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

Associate Editor Warren Clarke drove the minivan home one evening and, while out running errands, noticed that the left rear tire was looking pretty low. Warren scurried over to the local service station and added the necessary amount of air to bring the tire up to proper spec, and then continued on with his task list in hand. After leaving the grocery store an hour later, the tire again appeared to be low. Rather than have it fall completely flat at his house overnight, Warren brought it back to the office parking garage and headed home with his own wheels instead.

The following morning, the tire was indeed flat. Photo Editor (and all-around good guy) Scott Jacobs offered to help Road Test Coordinator Kelly Stennick put the spare tire on the Grand Caravan, so she could take the minivan and the damaged tire to the local tire shop for repair.

Having the foresight to grab the owner's manual from the glovebox, Scott gave it a quick read before he and Kelly went to work pulling up plastic trim bits in the rear cargo area. Minutes later, they unearthed the jack and tire iron, plus the little nut that you hook the iron into in order to winch down the spare tire located underneath the rear of the vehicle. Scott easily lowered the tire, then scooted under the rear bumper just far enough to free the cable that was still attached to the full-size spare. Once the tire was released, they were in business. Scott placed the jack in front of the left rear tire and jacked up the back of the Dodge Grand Caravan just enough to remove the flat tire and mount the spare. While inspecting the damaged tire, Scott and Kelly easily spotted the nail that punctured the tread, then tossed the airless rubber donut into the rear cargo area and headed off to Stokes Tire Pros in Santa Monica, Calif.

The shop couldn't repair the tire, and instead mounted and balanced a new Michelin MX4, size 215/60R17. They charged $205.71 for the new tire and their services. In reviewing the shop's invoice, we noticed a line that said, "Rear brakes have approximately 10 percent remaining." We'll pay close attention to our braking action in the upcoming weeks to see if we agree with their observation.

Back on the road again, Kelly headed south down the 405 freeway to begin her commute home. "These seat heaters work fabulously," she exclaimed, as the back pain from all of her hard tire-changing labor faded away into warm oblivion.

The Grand Caravan spent the remainder of its month primarily as a rolling storage unit for Christmas gifts that, due to little prying eyes, couldn't be kept at home. With Christmas carols blasting from the in-dash CD changer, Kelly found herself annoyed with the volume control on the stereo. "Every time I hear Madonna start to sing that whiny sounding 'Santa Baby,' I reach for the volume knob to turn it down, but find I have to give it a few spins just to lower the volume a notch or two. I recently drove a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, and noticed the same level of volume 'understeer.' Is this just a Chrysler thing?"

Next month should find our Grand Caravan ready for its scheduled 37,500-mile regular service. We'll see if the rear brakes take us another 550 miles.

Current Odometer: 36,950
Best Fuel Economy: 20.4 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.6 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 17.9 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: $205.71
Problems: None