The minivans have changed
I was surprised when the fleet people said, “We have a minivan for you to drive.” It was a Town & Country Limited, and I thought it was unlikely to hold any surprises, since we drove a similarly configured one over a year ago.
I was wrong.
The interior pieces I complained about – the sharp-edged, cheap-feeling center console, for example – have been fixed. New features have been added to the stereo/navigation system, not just live traffic updates (nicely integrated into the display as green, yellow, and red stripes) but also new menu preferences and navigation aids. I was able to navigate the insane number of satellite radio channels by voice – calling out the name or number of the station – and while the system is a bit slow, it works. What’s more, you can now lock out stations with a virtual child lock — just the thing to keep your kids away from voice radio or explicit punk.
Throughout the van, there were small, hard-to-notice touches that nevertheless would make a big difference in an owner’s life. I was, in short, impressed.
You can read more about it in a week or so. We’ll have new pictures, too. But it’s another example of how Chrysler is moving forward to overcome nine years of terrible management.
Well thats good to hear. Unfortunately its just as my parents are getting out of that market.
When the our Caravan gets old and cranky I’d love to have a new one. Janet no longer likes riding in anything smaller now and we’ve really been happy with the 2004 we have now. It’s good to see Chrysler acting like they want customers. The changes are going into the Dodge GCs also, right?
Yes. That said, I personally prefer the 2004.
Would building the R/T model van that was shown last year improve dodge van sales? I thought that was pretty good looking concept, and totaly doable. If I had a large family I would own a minivan, I think they are great every day vehicle. That being said, I really like the Journey and Pacifica as well. I have seen the interior improvments as well, its good to see that they are really trying to put the diamler cost cutting ways behind them. What I would like to see for myself is if a Volkswagen Routan has a better interior than the Grand Caravan.
I just hope they got the paint cancer problem fixed that plagued the second-gen (AS) minivans…we’ve got a 94 GV approaching 200K miles, and if not for the paint problem, it would still be a good family ride.
Yes, all the manufacturers had that problem and all of them fixed it sometime in the 1990s.
Here’s hoping that they push these improvements in advertising. Nothing beats improving a vehicle and then telling no one about it!
So far they really haven’t advertised the improvements at all – or even made them especially public. In the good ol’ days of Lutz control, every year journos got a huge book of all the great things Chrysler had done in the past year. We went from bare-bones writeups in the 1980s-early 1990s to huge books around 1993 back to bare-bones again under Daimler.
What I probably miss most is the big “Tech” section we used to get. If the journalists don’t know what’s going on, they can’t report it, and Chrysler has done nothing to tell the public themselves.
‘Course it’d also be nice if they’d do two Google ad campaigns – one sending people there and one to allpar ;)
The interior improvements on the new minivans are noticeable and appreciated. The Grand Caravan deserved the upgrades as the 2008′s had more stark-looking hard plastic than my 2005 GC SXT, which is to say way too much. I was thinking that if I had the opportunity to buy another, I’d have to go with the T&C instead. The 2009 GC’s I looked at recently changed my mind.
Your experience with the Bridgestone tires on the tester reminds me of the Bridgestones that came with mine. They squealed even during moderate braking and cornering despite being correctly inflated. I couldn’t wait for them to wear out so I could justify making a change. The bad (good?) news is they lasted 47,000 miles and I probably could’ve squeezed another 5,000 out of them, but I had had enough. I replaced them with Michelins, and now at 103,000 miles, couldn’t be happier. Ride and handling improved over the Bridgestones dramatically….and no squealing.
Too bad Chrysler didn’t choose to use the 6-speed automatic across the board on this generation. Perhaps the 4-speed will disappear for good once the new engines show up. My 2005 has the 3.8 with the 4-speed and it could definitely use an extra gear or two to improve performance if not fuel mileage. I average between 20-22 MPG which isn’t bad for a vehicle this size, but more is always better.
Not sure if I’ll ever buy another minivan (I’m on my third), but if I do, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Chrysler/Dodge. Mine stills looks and runs like new. People find it hard to believe it has over 100K on the odometer. Stow’n'Go is the best innovation yet and nobody else has it!
I hope they improved the new minivan. I have a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT and I hate it!! I am a lifetime Dodge/Chrysler man. I am so dissappointed in this van. The brakes failed at 22k miles. Just like Motor Trend’s long term test van and just like two other owners I have talked to. The keys were recalled, then the new ones failed within a week. The a/c just quit and the parts needed to fix it are on nationwide back order because they have all failed!! I will definitely never buy another van from Dodge.
Tony, makes you wonder if all the cost cutting and beating suppliers up that Daimler did ended up hurting quality. One thing Chrysler HAS to get control of is quality and then stick with it if they ever hope to shed the “poor quality” image that seems to plague them. This oscilating back and forth of having a few good years and them slumping back with a few years of junk is a mistake. I know it’s not easy when they’re trying to keep costs down, but if the quality slips scare customers away, then you don’t have a company at all. There’s got to be a balance.
“I know it’s not easy when they’re trying to keep costs down, but if the quality slips scare customers away, then you don’t have a company at all.”
This is what the detractors have always said. I actually agree with this. Either be serious or get out of the business.
I’ve had my share of poorly built junk, mostly Ford and GM. They, like Chrysler have built some real winners and losers over the years. All I can say now is that the wolf is at the door and either do right or die. Toyota will survive no matter how much money they lose since business and the government are tied at the hip much more there than in the US. The US economy will eventually recover. If they kill their business with bad cars there will be no more customers.
Chrysler, in their commercials, seems to fail showing the public the whole picture just what their vehicles have to offer n the way of performance and comfort. Show the public what they need to see, the vehicles, inside and out using a slow movement with the camera and stop with the inane adverts with all the cars in a showroom. Chrysler has the best looking and least troublesome cars on the road today. Maybe they fell short several years ago, but so did the other brands, but not today.