Faults:

My 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan SE loves to throw the serpentine belts.

General Comments:

This van was reasonably reliable until the Serpentine belt fell off and left me and my one year old child stranded in the freezing cold.

It was snowing out and I turned a corner to realize my power steering went out.

At first I thought the pump blew, but once I raised the hood I realized the entire belt just fell off.

I ended up having to buy a new one and it was a major pain putting it back on.

I will not ever buy another vehicle made by Chrysler.

Faults:

Only one breakdown. Happened summer of 2006 on vacation. Fuel pump failed and of course the car stopped. Local dealer replaced the fuel pump which promptly failed 60 miles down the road. Second dealer replaced that fuel pump for free. Finally got back on the road for good 20 hours later.

Things that have gone bad in the last month. Cruse control is on and off. Airbag light came on after driving on some ice rutted streets.

Taking these items as future maintenance issues. Plan to sell.

General Comments:

80 Percent of the miles on this car was put on 5 miles at a time. I consider myself lucky that it has run as well as it has. It did get regular service by the dealer. I consider that to be one reason for the good performance.

The ride is very smooth and the car would run at 80 MPH for hours when we took it on vacations. Handling was confident. We were able to get all six of us into the car with luggage, if we were careful about how much we packed.

Faults:

Alternator replaced at 125000 miles ($280) leaving me out of commission while on a trip about 100 miles away from home. Luckily, it "died" across the street from an auto parts store. It took about 6 hours (frequent breaks) in the hot sun, w/no cover, to replace. What a pain in the butt to get out. Since then I have replaced the tensioner assembly which, required removal of the alternator, and did it in about 3 hours in my garage.

A/c Condenser replaced at 130000 miles. I started smelling a weird odor and then nothing but warm air. Replaced by auto shop...$800.

Water pump replaced at 131000 miles...$200.

135000 miles. After a faulty replacement alternator was replaced (bad bearing) the belt started making a squealing noise. I noticed that the tensioner pulley looked out of alignment, just slightly, maybe a millimeter. After reading posts on this site, I decided to replace the assembly w/a Dayco ($43) which has a superior design (ie...closed back/flat spring/alignment correction) to the OE tensioner. I am not sure what kind of S-belt is on it, but the squealing went away immediately after the tensioner was replaced. Fortunately, I have not had any problems w/the belt coming off.

General Comments:

Very well designed, comfortable, powerful (3.3L Flex Fuel) I just need to figure out how to get some gasohol for it.