2011 Dodge Caravan Crew
The Good:
Good value for the money
Plenty of power
Handles well - for a minivan
Unparalleled practicality
Good, functional design, inside and out
The Bad:
Transmission woes
Eats brakes
Awful resale value
Mediocre fuel economy
So first of all, why did we buy a Dodge minivan? Until 2011, I wouldn't even have thought about buying this product. In 2011, the Caravan got a major refresh inside and out. First of all, the well-engineered Pentastar 3.6 liter V6 with variable valve timing became the only available engine. In the Caravan, it puts out 282 horsepower, which, at the time, made it the most powerful minivan you could buy. They also worked on the chassis so it handled better, and completely refreshed the interior. I liked what I saw, was surprised how well it drove, and was thousands of dollars cheaper than comparably equipped Siennas and Odysseys (Although I found out the hard way you pay for that down the road).
Exterior styling: It's a van. A basic two-box design you can only do so much with. Honda tried to take some chances with the goofy lightning-bolt styling of the Odyssey, and the result is not pretty. That having been said, the Caravan is a clean, inoffensive design. The tracks for the sliding doors are wisely integrated into the bottom of the window so it doesn't cut into the middle of the van.
Interior styling and features: Before 2011, the Caravan's interior was a cheap, plasticky mess. This was when Fiat and Sr. Marchionne stepped in, said this was unacceptable, and revamped the interiors of several products, including the Caravan. The interior is not luxurious, but clean and inoffensive (see the theme here?). The surfaces have an upscale feel to them, and use decent-quality plastics. The fake-chrome metal inserts are a nice touch. The best design is in the steering wheel, which has controls for the trip computer and cruise control. There are also rocker switches on the back side of the wheel that let you control the volume and tuning for the radio. The display between the tach and speedometer showed trip information and fuel economy information (if you want to be depressed), and could even function as a digital speedometer if you so desired. There are speakers all over the car. The radio sounds clear, even at a loud volume, and is, frankly, one of the best OEM radios I have ever heard. The automatic climate controls were easy to use and worked well. The touch screen was an older unit, and wasn't the most user friendly system. For example, it had a built-in hard drive for music. In order to put music on the hard drive, you had to burn music from the computer on to a CD, and import the music from the CD on to the hard drive, a time-consuming process. There is a headphone jack and a USB jack. The USB jack was virtually useless, because it charged my iPhone so slowly, or not at all if it was in use. But, like any other infotainment system, it was fine when you got used to it. Power jacks, including a 110-volt plug, and cupholders are everywhere.
Performance: All Chrysler minivans (and their mechanical twin, the slow-selling Volkswagen Routan), regardless of trim level, come with the aforementioned Pentastar engine. This is a great engine with lots of power and flexibility. The van accelerates smoothly and briskly, and has plenty of passing power. The chassis also got a much-needed overhaul. The van handles like a much smaller vehicle, and the steering feel is great considering this is a van. Then there is the transmission. Although the engine is new, they kept the old 6-speed automatic transmission. From the beginning, shifts were rough. There was a voluntary recall for a quick fix for the transmission that seemed to work. During the van's time with us, we needed two major transmission repairs. One for the powertrain control module, and another for the torque converter. The second repair took more than a week, but the dealership went above and beyond and provided us with a really nice loaner car. Thank goodness the van had a 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. This is when I also vowed that I would not keep this vehicle past 100,000 miles. Major transmission breakdowns are unacceptable on a car with this few miles on it, so I am glad Chrysler backed its product with a good warranty. They have since shortened the warranty to 5 years/60,000 miles. I am not sure if that is a good idea, because Chrysler, especially their cars, are not selling well right now. The brakes were responsive and did their job, but here is the other major problem with this car. During the 75,000 miles we had it, we replaced the brakes three times. I am told we had to do this because they put the same brakes on the van as they put on their cars. In other words, this 4,300 pound vehicle has the same brakes as a tiny Dart. The van did well in the snow. It is front-wheel drive, and the vehicle's weight kept it stuck to the road.
Fuel economy: Mediocre, but I understand this is a heavy vehicle with a large V-6. We live in a rural area, and we got roughly 20-22 miles per gallon for typical driving. When we were on vacation racking up major highway miles, mileage increased to 25-26 mpg. This still pales in comparison to our other car, a 4-cylinder Subaru Legacy, which gets 28-30 mpg.
Safety: Has airbags everywhere, traction control and stability control. The car performed well in the standard crash tests. Where it suffered was the offset crash test. The driver's compartment was nearly crushed, and the dummy's leg was impaled on the foot-operated parking brake. Ouch!
Space/utility: Can carry 7 passengers and a ton of cargo comfortably. On our first trip down south, there were 4 of us, a stroller, a wagon, and a week's worth of clothes. The "super console" up front had two storage cubbies and a cupholder. There was also a large drawer that pulled out with lots of space and twin cupholders for the second row. Finally, the van has stow and go seating, meaning the third and second row of seats folded into the floor, so you could have a flat floor behind the first row without having to lug any seats out of the car. The stow and go was relatively easy to use, but you had to push the front seats all the way forward so you can fold up the floor and fold the seats. Another handy feature is the hidden cargo area under the second row when the seats are up, which I called the "Millenium Falcon Secret Storage Area." For the record, I never stored anything illegal or myself in those compartments. Even with all seats up, the cargo area had plenty of room for groceries and such. With the seats down, we were able to store all sorts of things ranging from couches, mattresses and my concert band's bass drum. One time, when the house was bring fumigated, we used the van as a temporary storage bin to hold all of our dishes and silverware. I am definitely going to miss the room and practicality this van offers.
Value: Very aggressively priced, and significantly cheaper than comparably equipped Honda and Toyota minivans. The base Caravan, which still has the Pentastar engine, power everything, and all safety features, starts at $23,595. We had the Crew, which was nicely equipped with color screen for infotainment and a backup camera, automatic 3-zone climate control, and second-row captain's chairs. This sold for about $28-30,000 new. However, you will pay for it down the road when you go to sell the vehicle, because the resale value is awful.
Would I recommend it to other people: Unfortunately, no. The van had tons of space, and I loved the way it van rode and drove, and it was a good value for the money. I would not recommend it because of the transmission problems. We had to get rid of it at 100,000 miles, because I didn't want to be stuck with a minivan with high mileage and in need of a $2,000 transmission repair. I would recommend purchasing an extended warranty to cover transmission repairs. Buy it from Chrysler, not the dealership when you are talking to the finance manager. The resale value was already bad enough with the car in good working order. The brakes were also a major headache, and got quite expensive.
The future: The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is already out there. It looks great for a van, with Chrysler styling cues, and a sloped windshield. The inside is equally as attractive. The engine carries over, but they switched to the 9-speed transmission. This is the transmission in the Jeep that was blamed for killing "Chekov," when he accidentally left his vehicle in neutral, but they seemed to have worked most of the bugs out of this tranny, and the Pacifica uses a rotary knob to select the gear instead of the hockey stick-like lever on the Grand Cherokee and the Charger. All-wheel drive is not available yet, but they designed the chassis so they can put in AWD down the road. Reviews are good so far, but we will have to see how it stacks up against the competition, including the redesigned Honda Odyssey. The Caravan with the current body style soldiers on, and, if you want to drive it, it is likely available at an Enterprise counter near you.
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