Cheap quality, poor handling and fuel economy

I had the opportunity to drive the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan for about 1 week while my VW Jetta was in the body shop. While I was in the hospital, the contractor who was building a new wing to the hospital was spraying concrete and got overspray all over my car. Well, instead of the workers simply rinsing the overspray off, they took rags and scrapers to the car which destroyed the clear coat and every piece of glass! Go figure…

My insurance company rented me the 2008 Dodge from Enterprise. The vehicle was almost brand new with less than 3,000 miles on it. It was a base model with no extra frills on it. After a week, I must say that I was not impressed and would never consider this vehicle if I needed a mini-van.

EXTERIOR APPEARANCE : After Chrysler Corporation was sold to Daimler, I found the new designs of their vehicles to be retro 40’s. The Grand Caravan seems to be the exception to the rule. It has relatively traditional lines of the minivan and a bit more “squared” from the 2007 model. There is plenty of glass for complete visibility from all sides. The rear glass is ample in size unlike some competitor vehicles. For example, the Nissan Murano has a smaller rear glass and has a terrible blind spot in the right-rear of the vehicle. This is not the case for the 2008 Grand Caravan.

The front hood is relatively short, but it is sloped with just enough so that the driver is able to judge the distance to the front bumper with fair accuracy. There are sliding doors on both sides for easy access. They can be manually opened or electrically by buttons above the rear-view mirror or on the key fob. I found it unusual that the radio antenna was the traditional bobbing wire instead of being incorporated into the windshield. It is probably a cost-cutting measure, but not only old-fashioned, but also has the potential of being bent or broken in a car wash.

INTERIOR APPEARANCE I am sure that there is an upgraded package complete with leather seats. I was appalled at the amount of plastic, however on the interior of this base model. The cloth seats were firm and supportive. The fabric seems that it will hold up to considerable punishment. But, the dash, interior panels and most of the remainder of the inside is made of hard, cheap-looking plastic. Because of this, there is noticeable rattling of various panels despite the fact that this vehicle had less than 3,000 miles on it. I dread to think how much noise will be present when the van is 4 or 5 years old and joints have loosened. Again, I think that this was probably to cut production costs, but could be a major annoyance if you are sensitive to noise.

The instrument panel is relatively well designed. All controls are within easy reach and are easily viewed by the driver without having to be distracted from concentrating on the road. It would have been nice to have the radio/CD controls on the steering column. The steering wheel does tilt, but it does NOT telescope which I found inconvenient. The shift knob is a bizarre stick placed to the right of the instrument panel. It looks completely out of place. Another minus is that the headlights are not automatic. Some of the controls are not intuitive…for example, the fog light switch is a strange-looking button near the headlight switch. Another little annoyance is that there is no trip on the odometer (as far as I could tell). When pressing the button, you receive the outside temp and compass direction, then average mileage, distance to empty and elapsed time.

The A/C controls are fairly straightforward. There are dual temp controls for the driver and passenger as well as a separate temp control for the rear of the vehicle. One huge improvement over the 2007 model is that the temp control has been changed to round knobs instead of sliders. The air conditioner cools the entire vehicle down very quickly – I live in South Florida, so I was able to test this on the hottest of days (mid to upper 80’s).

The electric window controls are located in the driver’s side door. The driver’s window has auto down, but not auto up (my 2006 Jetta has auto up and down on all 4 windows). It may sound picky, but it’s a nice convenience if it were available. The buttons are clearly marked, so you don’t risk opening or closing the wrong window. Both side doors have windows which open fully.

The CD/Radio controls are easy to figure out without using the owner’s manual. This model came with a single CD player which I assume is the basic radio system. The sound is acceptable but I am an audiophile and would demand an upgraded sound system.

The Cruise Control is a separate lever incorporated into the steering column. The controls are pretty much standard to most every car that I’ve driven.

CABIN NOISE As I mentioned before, I am really sensitive to noise and I found that this vehicle is quite annoying. Besides the inordinate amount of hard plastic that I mentioned before, the vehicle is not quiet while driving on the expressway. While it is relatively quiet (road noise) on stop and go city streets, the level of noise from the road and wind rises quickly when driving at speeds of 60MPH and above.

POWER/HANDLING/FUEL ECONOMY My model came with a 3.8L V6 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission. The transmission can be shifted manually (why, I have NO idea), but with the gear lever in such a bizarre place, it is possible to accidentally hit it and place the transmission in manual mode. Also, first gear is a press to the left and the remaining 2nd through 6th gears are single presses to the right. It’s a very clumsy design.

I was appalled at the fuel economy. Since I only had the vehicle for a week, I am basing this on the economy readings that have been tracked with all other drivers with a mix of city and highway driving. This vehicle’s computer showed 14.5MPG. In order to be fair, I really would encourage potential buyers to read other reviews by those who have owned this vehicle for a longer period of time.

The engine is severely underpowered for the vehicle. When entering the expressway, the engine roared but was painfully slow accelerating to highway speeds. My 2004 Murano has a smaller engine with a CVT transmission, but far outperforms this van for power and speed.

Road Handling is very clumsy and sluggish. Attempting quick maneuvers is an exercise in futility. The steering is slow to respond and cornering feels something like driving a tank. I would shudder at the prospect of an emergency maneuver, even with Electronic Stabilization.

I hope that I have given a fair review for this vehicle. In conclusion, if I needed a minivan for the family, the Dodge Grand Caravan would not be my vehicle of choice. I feel that Dodge has attempted to cut too many corners to have competitive pricing to the sacrifice of quality. Some controls are not intuitive in design, and it is a noisy, clumsy, gas-guzzler.

FINAL NOTE: I had to give an average reliability for this vehicle since it was a rental for only a week. I based this on past performance on similar models.