1996 Plymouth Voyager Base 3.0L V6 from North America
Summary:
Good family hauler, but keep it serviced and treat it like a baby
Faults:
Nothing really has gone wrong with the vehicle, mostly wear and tear.
Amazingly at 180000 km's the ORIGINAL STOCK brakes were changed, I believe this is a world record. ($150 Canadian with labour).
At 228000 roughly, the power steering pump housing rusted away which meant a loss of fluid, resulting in a whinny pump, replace with a re-manufactured power steering pump ($180 Canadian).
At the same time the steering pump was changed, it had its first tune up. It was running rough and sometimes need a little bit of pedal encouragement in the morning to get moving.
Other than that, it has been fairly painless, just oil changes every 5000 Km's and a tank of premium per month since last year to keep it clean.
General Comments:
This is my parents van, bought originally in '96 because me and my sister were getting to big for our small sedans. It has never left us stranded and doesn't seem to want to die.
Due to me being a teenage driver fresh out of driver's ed, I like to push the limit of the vehicle I am driving, and amazingly, this family hauler takes it one pedal punch at a time. It coughs, grunts, and screams, but pulls through to live another day. It still squeals the tires when you want it, it still hauls a trailer with a little bit of hesitation, but that's understandable, and it still gets me home safely in the dead of night when it's -40 (celsius).
I have to be honest with you though, I HATE THIS THING. Sure it can haul all of my friends to wherever I want, but lately it has been absolutely chugging the gas. I mean, its pretty bad when your buddy's 2002 Ford F150 Harley Davidson Edition with a big V8 gets better gas mileage than a 3.0 L V6. People tell me it's my driving, but most of the time I'm driving like a Grandma cause I don't feel like killing my friends. If anyone can help me with this problem that would be great, but my conclusion is the beast is tired, and just wants to be let go. Since I end up paying for gas all of the time, It's a HUGE PAIN.
One last thing I do not like about this vehicle, I know it's a minivan, but honestly, they should handle a little bit better than this, I can't go around a corner at 80 without my friends yelling at me to "TAKE'R EASY". It might just be because the suspension is most likely shot, but me, I'm gonna complain anyway, 'cause I hate minivans.
All in all a good vehicle which should not give you problems as long as you baby it, and not drive it like an indy car, BECAUSE IT'S NOT!!! It should take what you throw at it, but don't push it to much, unless you intend to write it off and claim your insurance money.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 1st April, 2005
9th Aug 2010, 02:04
This car is amazing.
My dad has owned it since 98, and it’s still running. I mean this van saw me through my teenage years. I drove it like crazy, to the point where the van and I have earned infamy for ourselves around the neighborhood. It’d put it into a right turn at 80 and it goes. It handles better than 99% of the GM sports cars I drove. It’s a tank on snow.
And now at 14 years old, with 400000+km it still goes, with no major repairs, and quite poor maintenance.
The car has been so good to us, that we never wanted to get rid of it, it’s like a family member, and it’ll be sad when it has to go one day.
20th Jul 2010, 12:15
I have no complaints. My 96 Voyager is rusty and creaky, but it won't die. It has 345691 km on it and is still going strong. Other than the brakes last spring, a water pump last winter and the tune-up I'm about to give her, regular oil changes and bi-yearly tire changes and a quart of oil halfway between (because the valve cover gaskets leak a bit), she's been really good to me.