Watch the Caravan Part 1 episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmjcmd8BH6s
In this episode I provide the history of the third and later generations of the Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager, and Chrysler Town & Country minivans, which were Chrysler’s most expensive project up to that point. Gone was the old Chrysler boxy design, replaced by a very-90’s aerodynamic look that continued Chrysler’s new styling direction. This trend continued with a similar looking 4th gen, and then an all-new 5th gen that returned somewhat to Chrysler’s boxy past. The last Caravan was supposed to die off by 2016, but managed to live on until 2020.
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Honda CRX please!
Fun fact- nither odyssey or sienna outsold the combined chrysler minivan nameplates. Just like the f150 never outsold chevy + gmc sales.
I remember that commercial from the beginning, ahh the 90's 🥲
I had an 04 sienna, that thing got good mileage and was torque-ey enough to do towing with ease. Minivans have a place for sure, just gotta make sure to clean up the cheerios in the seat cracks constantly lmao
Hey there brother just to let you know I own a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3 🚐 And I must admit that I enjoy driving it I find it very comfortable of course got to service it, for it to last u.
Love my Caravans !!.. did my research first .. must service chysler/dodge minivans transmissions with dealer trans fluid only and change it frequently
I got 373k miles out of my 99 Grand Caravan Sport Loaded!!… just fyi
Currently i have a plymouth voyager turbo 1990 and a 2015 town and country…. Love Them!!!
This was a weird episode down memory lane … I was a foreign exchange student in the US in 2004/2005 and remember that stow’n’go commercial with the motorcycle. Also, three people I was in close contact with at the time all drove either a third or fourth Gen and riding in them was fun. Lastly I would later work at Volkswagen in both Mexico, where I drove a Routan to Acapulco once, and the US, where years later I still saw the Routan on the “Retail” sheets (2 a month) in its stock clearance 😂
Seems to me like I should own any one of those some time in my life 😅
Thanks for the great episode, as usual!
My parents have owned a 3rd, 4th, and now a 5th gen Caravan. Driven them all myself before, to this day I still say the 3rd gen vans were the best to drive, and drove the most car like.
You talk about transmission problems honda odyssey 99 to 01 had one hell of a big problem with there transmission as well due to add the 3.0 accord transmission to the 3.5 odyssey 99 to 01 line one of the stupidest thing that they could have ever done in my book
My family had a 1991 Plymouth Grand Voyager with the 3.3L V-6. Great vehicle, even after 275,000 miles. After my dad managed to take on two deer at once, it was replaced by a 1993 Dodge Grand Caravan, also with the 3.3L. While that one didn’t have the fake wood panels, it did have some sort of “gold appearance package” that was equal to them on the cringe scale. Transmission failed at 250,000 miles. By then we had added a 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager to the fleet, and it was an oddly-optioned van to say the least. Had cruise control and power mirrors, but manual windows. Had the driver’s side sliding door (extra cost option according to the window sticker), but bench seats in both rear rows. So the driver’s side door really wasn’t all that beneficial. But at least it had the built-in child seats that I guess theoretically made up for the lack of third row access. After college that one became my daily driver until I went to boot camp. I sold it with 200,000 on the odometer and was almost sorry to see it leave the driveway. The Mitsubishi 3.0L was by no means a powerhouse, but it could still get the van into triple digit speeds well in excess of any posted limit. My last experience with the third gens came from our 1998 Chrysler Town and Country that was passed down from my grandmother. She bought it new and gave it to my dad at 100,000. He put another 100,000 on it and donated it to me. Short wheelbase, but with 3.3L Flex Fuel variant. (She had no idea what she was ordering). I put another 75,000 on it before I sold it to a local guy and bought a truck. I still see it on the road; has a little over 300,000 on it now. The buyer repaired a few things like the sagging headliner and instrument cluster lights and tells me it’s never caused him any issues. Great vehicle. All three were, to be honest.
I always wanted to get a SWB 3 door Caravan, and SRT4 Manual swap it. That idea always lingered with me.
I owned a 2006 Caravan and it was the biggest POS I've ever had. We got rid of it after a year of ownership. My Odyssey was a very good running van for the years we had it and I finally retired it this year since all my kids are now grown and we didn't need it anymore. It still had plenty of life in it. I will never buy any product of dodge after that van as they build nothing but cheap garbage.
I worked in a transmission shop in 2000-2003, and by the end I could remove a Caravan transmission with my eyes closed. They failed so often it was ridiculous…at one stage, we were doing two or three each week. The problem was two-fold: The same drivetrain as in a car, but much heavier, and the average driver's perception of it as a "truck". I saw them loaded to the roof, pulling huge trailers, and being used by trades people who would load them as much as a full size van. But when I asked some of these people (the trailer pulling ones in particular) if they would do the same thing with a Plymouth Acclaim, they'd say, "Of course not! That's a car!" Well, got news for you, bud, your "truck" has the same drivetrain…
My mother had an '89 caravan she bought brand new. Had the 2.5 and I want to say it was the three speed automatic. She got barely 20 MPG. Wouldn't you know it, transmission went out on that one at about 90K. Well after that got totaled out 25 years later she bought a 96 Grand caravan all the bells and whistles. Had the 3.3 with the four-speed automatic. I think it had like 60,000 mi on it when she bought it. Well it got up to 80,000 mi and the transmission went out on that one as well… She had it rebuilt and it went out after another 50,000 mi. She finally gave up after that and bought a Scion xB. She always used to say she loved her Chrysler van if they transmission was worth a shit
My parents got an 02 Honda Odyssey in 2007 with $11,000 and some price tag used. 2nd gen Honda Odyssey was the most sold van on the market it was close to 1,000,000 unit sold. But now they are getting rare due to age and they were know for transmission issues too. Our was blessed with same engine and transmission from the factory. You should do a my old car with Honda production of the Odyssey line up.
I totally remember these growing up!!! I know the Honda Odyssey’s and Toyota Sienna were the more popular choices in current times !! I have to say my sister has the Honda Odyssey , wow what a fancy van !!! Far different than the mini vans I knew as a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s
Hey my old car can you do a episode on the Ford contour and mercury mystique
I have a 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager, I inherited it when my dad died. It has 436,000 miles, I currently have a 4.0L dodge charger engine in it with a whipple supercharger, AWD, a 2" drop, and a bunch of other stuff.
I still see lots of third gen Caravans/Voyagers/Town & Countries on the roads and highways in my area. They're much more common than the Ford and GM minivans. I also see lots of last gen Caravans and current gen Pacificas. The only other minivans that I see many of are the Sienna and Odyssey.
I like this but the 1st and 2nd gen are my fav. The VW Routan is so weird, I saw one in Switzerland (I think this is the only one here) one time. Iz's just a Caravan with a 1st gen Tiguan front.
The new Dodge… this changes everything and it did. I fell in love with the jellybean shape, I really loved the 2001-2007 vans because they took this to the next level. Unfortunately I don't love the rust and these tend to do that. Ironically the 3rd gens seem to hold up slightly better here in the salt belt. When you see them at the junkyard it's usually the rust or transmissions that killed them as the engines had been pretty solid. I've owned no less than four of them. A 2nd gen, 4th and 5th gen. We would still have the 5th gen but two transmissions was enough.
The author should cover the Chevy Uplander, the Venture update the truly wasn't much. While Ford amd Chevy both updated their platforms to catch up with Chrysler and their stow and go system, the Uplander clearly wasn't much of an update compared to the Ford. Sure both got new names and sister models, but even the Ford got a reworked fold down back seat that folded in to the floor and a new interior. The Uplander could hardly muster the new interior part let alone anything remotely innovative like fold down in the floor seating. The name plate might have came out in 2005 model year but easily could have passed as a late 90's model. They tried dressing it up in 17 inch wheels like the Plymouth concept van and called it a CUV, but it was still clearly just a dressed up Chevy Venture with a tall stature and annoyingly narrow cabin. The front driver and passenger even lost cup holders. Imagine that? But it was proof to me GM didn't understand that market and wouldn't sell many and they didnt. In many ways it was GM at it's worst, just before collapse and yet despite my negative comments, it wasn't a bad van. Just GM could have easily done just a little more and really had something. Typical for GM. So close, yet so very far away.
Chevy Monte Carlo
We were shopping for minivans in 1999 to upsize from our Taurus wagon. And my wife, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, was at an auto show raising and lowering the rear seat of a new Honda Odyssey…and that was the van she wanted. Of course, demand was high and we were going to have to order one and wait a few months until a sales rep called with a cancelled order and we picked up a 99 Odyssey LX. We were hoping for the EX model but decided to try out the LX. And since then….we have been driving the Odyssey…other than a few years where we bought a lease return Acura MDX. We returned to the Odyssey because you can't beat it for space efficiency. Our Odyssey experiences haven't been totally trouble free….one of them had a failed transmission which Honda fixed for free….and our 2009 had several issues, including oil consumption and a piston ring upgrade thanks to the VCM system. Our latest is a 2017 Odyssey Touring Elite which so far has been trouble free.
We have a 4th gen with the 3.3l. we bought it when we were expecting child #4. Today it has 308K miles and still has the original engine and transmission, but the 3rd headliner is going to be installed shortly. 😁