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Is this a good deal? Or is it a deal too good to be true. I can live with it being basic, but are there other problems
You may want to ask them to show you the service records too.
Steve
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29u, traction control, side airbags, heated seats, 3.8 Liter engine, power liftgate, roof rack, 4 disc CD changer and full size spare
Price dealer giving me is $28,853. With all the rebates for vans these days is this a reasonable price or is it too high?? Any feedback from 01 or current 02 owners would be much appreciated.
Steve
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That illusion passed quickly after we purchased our new 2002 T&C eL and became even more obvious after driving my brother-in-law's 2001 Honda Odyssey EX where the seat was VERY comfortable.
Has anyone discovered a cure for the uncomfortable driver's seat in 1996-2002 DC minivans? It is a big disappointment since the driver's seat of our daughter's 1988 Voyager LE and the 1986 Caravan driver's seat owned by a different brother-in-law were VERY comfortable.
Why did DC replace the comfortable seat design of pre-1996 DC minivans with the current poorly designed driver's seat? Has anyone been able to replace the seat with one that is more comfortable such as one from a less expensive PT Cruiser?
Monty
The current 2001-2002 Mazda MPV also has the feature BUT the earlier Mazda MPV which was an SUV (and considerably smaller than the current MPV)did NOT have the feature.
Many GM Front Wheel Drive minivans had modular seating with 3 separate seats in the middle row. By taking out the right side modular seat, you could almost duplicate the feature you desire.
THe feature you desire is unfortunately one that Chrysler has never chosen to include.
My stepfather (at the time) bought a Passport and was so proud of his new Honda SUV. I went into the garage and said "Nice Rodeo." My mom said "It's a Honda Passport." I tried to explain that the Passport was a Rodeo, but they would not listen. So, I said to pop the hood. After showing them the plate that said "Manufactured by Isuzu Motor Corp" their hearts sank in disbelief that their new Honda SUV that they were so proud of was actually an Isuzu. It was pretty funny, to me anyway. I knew a woman with a Passport. She wanted a 4Runner Limited, but could not afford one. So, instead of a cheaper 4Runner, she bought a well equipped Passport. Even though she knew it was built by Isuzu, she said "The badge says Honda, so it's a Honda." Whatever.
What does this have to do with Voyagers and Caravans, anyway? FWIW, I have no problem with the driver's seat in my 2001 Voyager.
Monty
Caravan SE w/ 2.4L 4cyl 21 City/27 Highway
GC SE w/3.3L V6......19 City/ 26 Highway
GC SE w/3.8L V6......18 City/ 25 Highway
Will be interesting to see if the GM troika with 3.4L V6 went up or stayed the same as the 19/26 MPG of the earlier GM FWD minivans.
The 2003 EPA rating of GC SE with 3.3L V6 are more in line with the mileage we have received on trips with our 1999 GC SE and our 2002 T&C eL.
I have a 2001 Grand Caravan ES. We bought the van last summer (June '01) and it has made the noise from day one. I was amazed to see that this problem has existed for 19 months with no resolution. I was told that I was the first person to experience the problem so began digging on the old internet. Since my first report to my dealer they have told me that headquarters knows about it and they are going to try and figure out a fix. That's fine but my biggest question is what else will this problem break.
Any info would be appreciated.
BTW, my tech guy said that the problem was extremely bad when he put the van up on the stand.
'02 ES all options except side airbags,rear audio, power pedals, and load leveling. Demo. with 6200 miles dealer wants 28995 plus T&T Jerry's Dodge Springfield VA
'02 ES all options except load leveling and power pedals. new dealer wants 29997 plus TT DARCARS Dodge Marlow Heights MD
'99 ES all options except heated seats 50k miles $10700 private owner
I am leaning towards the used one but will probably get a new one if I cannot find a used one I want ('99 or newer ES with leather). Both dealers listed above gave me the runaround about the others dealer's deal so I'm fed up at this point. Does anyone know of a good dodge dealer in the DC metro area (excluding the two mentioned and Lustine Dodge in woodbridge)?
Steve
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I am hoping someone out there can give us some insight into what the problem is with this minivan. It's my husband's work vehicle, so thankfully, we don't own this lemon.
Last month, the car started having ignition problems. It wouldn't start, then it would. Off and on with no rhyme or reason. It even shut off as my husband was driving down the highway! We have had it to two different Dodge dealers. They cannot duplicate the problem,therefore they say they can't diagnose and repair the problem. The last dealer removed the problematic alarm system installed by Circuit City and put in a factory alarm. They said the car should be fine. My husband brought it home on Friday and on Saturday it wouldn't start. It wouldn't start all weekend. When did it start? When the tow truck came to take it to Dealer #2!
They just called and said that they can't get the car to act up, so there is nothing they can do.
My husband thinks it's a computer glitch and wants them to start replacing parts. The freaking service guys are so dependent on these copmputer diagnostics that they can't seem to think outside the box! We are at our wits end! He has to have a dependable car to drive, as he frequently drives 6-8 hours at a time. It's too darn hot to have this thing quit on him when he's on the road somewhere.
His company is paying for weeks of rental cars and is considering legal action against the leasing company or the dealer. Please HELP!!!!
Thanks for the imput guys! I will pass it along.
Dee
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Steve
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also I bought this van because my 1998 voyager still gets 30 mpg. I am lucky if I get 24 on the 2002, most averages are about 22 mpg.
Kids - gotta love 'em :-)
Steve
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we rented a 2002 dodge grand caravan sport about a month ago during the labor day weekend. dark blue exterior and dark blue interior, rear air, the usual power windows and doors, etc. 5 passengers and stuff for the weekend.
my parents own a '97 dodge caravan so it was a chance to compare the vans. i agree somewhat with "maw1982" post #1590. the ride & feel of both vans are very similar...except of course the difference in length.
the rental van had bigger front seats but the middle seats seemed smaller and not as comfortable as the previous generation. the 3.3l engine at 180h.p. was ok but i think the 3.8l at 215 h.p. is better for the grand caravan.
i did not like the performance of the transmission though. climbing up the grapevine on hwy 5, it couldn't find gears properly. i remember the traffic was somewhat heavy going up the mountain. when i tried to accelerate 40-45 mph, the van shifted to what i think was 3rd gear but the van wasn't gaining any speed. when i pressed the accelerator harder, the tranny went to 2nd gear (engine screaming of course) and we finally started gaining speed again. it's as if i had no 3rd gear...or at least a useless 3rd gear.
was there something wrong with the tranny? or is it just the way the tranny is made/programmed?
anyway, i wouldn't buy another dodge caravan either. it drives too much like the previous generation.
There's nothing wrong with the trans. If you look at the reviews of most cars one of the complaints is the automatic transmission performance.
I've noticed in my caravan that the tranmission sometimes doesn't shift the way I want it to. However, I have the autostick feature so I can go into maual mode and shift the van the way I want to.
considering adding the rear defroster. Is it feasible 'cause the dealer says it is not?
Buying experience:
We shopped the greater New Orleans area hitting all of the Dodge dealerships in town (once we had decided on a caravan. It was a near run thing with the Mazda MPV, but, my wife was turned off by the stiff ride). It soon became obvious that all of the dodge dealerships (and I mean all of them) had decided that they wanted lots of markup on these guys. All the minivans (including the eCs) had second window stickers detailing dealer "paint treatments", undercoating, environmental fees, etc. that were not part of the DC window sticker. You'd start trying to deal and they would begin by throwing this $1000 plus second sticker on top of the MSRP and then working very little from there.
We eventually realized that we needed to get out of the city. We went up to Salsbury Dodge City in Baton Rouge and, armed with a printout of the two inventory items that we were interested in (which we got from the dodge website) and our knowledge of what the TMV and invoice pricing of those vehicles were, we were ready to deal. They first offer price was actually where we wanted to be, but, they wanted to get their money on the backend through low balling my trade-in and eating us alive in the loan agreement. After getting up and walking to the door in the lending officer's room twice, with the manager on hand, we worked a deal agreeable to all sides. Those hefty rebates helped, giving us a substantial downpayment when coupled with the trade and a little cash(on paper at least).
Power: The 3.3L v-6 is no race-car engine. It will not make the van feel light or even press you into the seat very firmly. That being said, I have to admit that the engine has performed admirably. It always has sufficient power for our needs, and, it did a great job of toting around 5 grown (and a little overweight) adults, one baby, a weekend worth of luggage and an outlet mall worth of shopping. You could tell that the van was very heavy and it did require a lot of pedal to get moving from stop lights and to climb bridges, but, there was always more power available with normal driving and the engine never seemed overly taxed or noisey.
Having test driven the 4 cyl, I can say that it felt about as out of place in this van as it does in the base model Dakota. It just doesn't have the torque and it sounds like you are abusing it every time you need to take off from a stop light with more than two people in the van.
Economy: The van is still not up to its sticker rating for economy. City mileage is around 13.5 to 14. Highway is much better with a completely loaded van cruising at 78 Mph on flat land with a readout of 20.2 Mpg and 20Mpg at the pump. We have achieved 22mpg at slower speeds and lighter loads.
Fit and finish: We have no major fit and finish complaints. There are some spots on the edges of the doors that are starting to rust a bit, perhaps these were incompletely covered with paint at the factory. They will be brought to the dealers attention at the second oil change. We've had a couple of rubber sliding door bumpers fall off, but, they are easy to put back on and a little glue keeps them there. The paint is eager to chip and you can already see evidence of finger-nail scrapes under the door handles. The front brakes generate lots of brake dust and require lots of cleaning. Still no unusual rattles or squeaks. The van is still amazingly quiet and the tranny is a smooth shifter.
General: Given the opportunity to go back and do everything again, we would probably get a grand caravan sport to get better AC for the back seats and more room in the third row when carrying luggage. The regular caravan really needs some a/c ducts that empty into the main cabin behind the front seats. The second row seats (we have the captain's chairs) should be able to slide for and aft as well. The rear bench needs to be a littl lighter so that one person can safely remove it unless they revise the rear suspension and make the seat fold flat into the floor. Personally, I would prefer a little more power from the v-6, but, that's just wishful thinking.
All in all, its been a good buy. I'll check back in in another 6 months.
Steve
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I'm looking to trade-in my '99 GC ES on a leftover '02 GC ES. I went to look at the '03 Es models after seeing the commercial with the free video system offer. Although the '03 models now ofer a sunroof (about time DC you promised a sunroof in your minivans 7 years ago), They have deleted what I feel to be two keys features that made the GC ES unique from the others models:
Autostick
17" rims and lower-profile tires
I found an '02 with desired options at a dealer about 200 miles from my home. I'm trying to deal over the phone to save trips (hopefully there will be only one). They said off the bat that i would get at least 2k below invoice of about 33100. How far should I haggle down. I'd really like the price without trade to be under 30k. On top of that, this is the only '02 ES with my desired options between Raleigh NC and Chery Hill NJ that is new and not a demo or manager's car.
Steve, Host