2008 Grand Caravan

The other day I had a brand new Dodge Grand Caravan for a few days. I'm not usually a mini-van driver but a strange set of circumstances led me to this one and I was able to try it out. As many of you may know, the Dodge lineup of mini-vans was completely redesigned for 2008. The Voyager/Caravan/Town&Country mini-vans are pretty much considered to be the vehicles that started the mini-van craze back in the 1980's. They were trendsetters and to this day still continue to be some of the most popular choices among families. It was easy to see why. The Grand Caravan has a LOT of room. Room not only for people but for storage as well. In my opinion, the number one feature of these mini-vans is still the stow-n-go seating in the rear. Some folks aren't familiar with it so I'll clarify. All of the rear seats (from the cockpit back) fold completely down into the floor, allowing a tremendous amount of open cargo space when necessary. It is a huge feature and I would not buy a mini-van that didn't have it! The van can comfortably seat 6 adults when the seats are in their upright position. Additionally, when the seats are out, you have the added storage space in the floor that the seats fold into. The van that I had was equipped with 2 captain's chairs for the middle seats and a bench seat for the rear. The cavity for the middle seats is covered and can be used as a trunk since anything stored in there cannot be seen. Although this model did not have the feature, one of the new features of this lineup is that the rear seats can turn to face each other and a table pops out of the floor between them! Now that's awesome! Other than the seating, the van was nicely outfitted with all of the usual power amenities. It did have blue-green LED lights that are very calming at night. In fact, the storage bin that stretches all the way to the rear seats on the roof, has a strip of these lights that shine dimly over the back seats at night....it looks very cool and would come in handy as a nightlight for children who may be sleeping back there on a trip or something. Of course, the optional DVD player that fits onto this strip in the rear is also a huge hit with the younger set! The fit and finish quality of the interior is not the best it could be but it is nice and I found no issues with it. I don't really care for the way that the gear shift is up on the dash, next to the steering wheel but I see that a lot of vans are going this way. It's not a problem, just weird. The van has a 3.3 litre V-6 which is more than sufficient for any power needs that one may have. The automatic transmission shifts smoothly and everthing ran flawlessly while I was driving it. I drove this van almost 500 miles, mostly highway driving. I averaged almost 21mpg for the whole trip. According to the gauges, on a trip, I would expect to get about 23mpg and in the city, 18-19mpg. Still, not too bad for a utility vehicle that can haul 6 adults or a lot of cargo. The other thing that impressed me the most about these new vans is that the rear windows in both of the sliding doors roll down!! I had never seen this in a mini-van before and I really liked it! The very back windows also open up as vent windows. Everything on this model was automatic. The sliding rear doors, the windows in those doors, and the rear vent windows too! All in all, I would definitley recommend taking a look at these vans if you need a family hauler. They are a little more efficient and easier to maneuver than a large SUV and have more storage space than most of the small and mid-size SUV's on the market today. One thing I did conclude with this drive, I don't think it's possible to look cool in a mini-van! It's kind of the ultimate statement that one has settled down and accepted logic and ration over performance and curb appeal! That's not to say that I didn't like the looks of this vehicle, I actually like the styling and new design but a mini-van can only look so awesome, right? I mean, how many ways are there to style a box and still have room inside?


My report card:

styling: B
comfort: A-
Ride: B
Economy: C
Drivetrain: B
Overall: B