2004 Dodge Grand Caravan Stow and Go 3.3 liter gasoline
Summary:
Reliable, low ownership cost, workhorse of a van
Faults:
It has never died, stopped running, or needed to be towed, which is great!
Windshield is cracked.
Driver's power window motor was replaced.
Keys were lost and had to be replaced from Dodge (expensive, $150 or so).
Exterior paint finish all scratched up.
Mechanic over-torqued lug nuts; stripped one while changing a flat tire, that was a hassle too, cheap crappy lug nuts.
Rear hatch glass shattered because a coworker backed into wall while the hatch was up and it was loaded with equipment.
This van is used hard every day and not maintained super well so I can't really fault the manufacturer for stuff like cracked windshield, paint, glass, etc.
General Comments:
Bought this van for $2000 a few years ago to serve as a company work truck for smaller jobs where a full size or cube truck not needed. This van is used almost every day and sometimes for long distances, it's been 100% reliable and can always be counted on to get the job done.
This is the Stow and Go Model, which is a really great design, seats hide away in the floors giving you tons of cargo space without having to move heavy seats around and store them somewhere like other vans. When you have passengers, just pop up the seats and you're good to go! Amazingly practical design.
The 3.3 engine is super reliable, I've seen many of these engines go well over 300/400k with little to no maintenance with low grade gasoline and infrequent oil changes. Very respectable fuel mileage for a van this size too.
These are great vans for a small business owner as they can be bought used for really cheap, have very reliable engines, and hold tons of cargo while getting decent fuel mileage. We have had this van loaded way past its weight capacity many times. It's nothing fancy but gets the job done. Seats are comfortable enough, but I'm used to driving Buicks and Lincolns as my personal non work cars, so I can't give it top marks for comfort.
Some people complain about the transmissions in these vans (and all minivans in general), but I suspect they are overloading them, driving them like race cars, and never changing transmission fluid. Besides, this is the wrong car to tow a 16 foot travel trailer with (which I have seen being done believe it or not).
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 2nd November, 2016
5th Sep 2006, 00:34
I agree with the previous person, but would like to add some stuff. It has tremendous road noise, and cabin noise. I even got earplugs to wear if I go out of town at all because it is really a bad design. I also have the 3.8L engine which is very underpowered. It only has 18K miles on it. It is loaded with sunroof, heated leather, power doors and gate, and dvd, but trade it and I'll only get $15000 from the dealer. very poor resale, borderline criminal really!