I’ve owned 3 minivans — 2 Dodge Caravans — a stubby ‘65 4-cyl and an ‘89 6-cyl — and my current ‘02 Honda Odyssey. They’ve been workhorses and I really don’t care what anyone thinks about their coolness.
Quality-wise, the Dodges don’t compare to the Honda and therein lies one big reason for Chrysler’s faiure in that catagory — something that nobody seems to want to talk about, including the Post. My ‘65 Caravan died when the head cracked at 90,000 miles on its 4-cylinder engine, ironically made in Japan. My ’89s tranmission went out at 90,000 and when I sold it with 130,000 on the odometer, the engine was burning old like gas and leaking oil from every place it could.
The Odyssey? I bought it used at 78,000 because I know it will probably get to 200,000 without major problems. Why do I believe that? Because my son’s 1990 Accord — assembled in Marysville, Ohio — just hit 230,000, and my 1996 Acura RL just turned 150,000, both with no major repairs. It’s not the fault of the guys and gals on the assembly lines. Chrysler’s ownership, management, and engineering have been asleep for years. Example: when it became known that buyers were drifting toward the Odyssey because its 3rd row seats could be stowed into the floor — a feature that the Chrysler products didn’t have at the time — Chrysler management responded with, “Yea, but our gas tank is therefore 2 gallons larger.” Now, Chryslers 3rd row seats stow in the floor — on a vehicle that will soon be lost to automotive history — while Honda and Toyota continue to crank out minivans. Good minivans.
Carlos
P.S. True, the Volkswagen Microbus was the first true minivan. The second? It was a Chevrolet Corvair Van.

Just posted comment with major error. It wasn’t a ‘64 Caravan, of course. It was an ‘85.
Carlos

“They ride like trucks” Huh? No driving excitement, maybe, but I dispute that, at least with our Sienna. A crappy Caravan, maybe.

I disagree about the quality of the Dodge/Chrysler products. My original minivan (Plymouth Grand Voyager) was over 10 years old and was pushing 150,000 miles. I would probably still be driving it if I hadn’t been rear-ended and the van totaled. I now have a Dodge Grand Caravan, and I love it. It gets 21 mpg in the city. I don’t consider that a gas hog. The only downside that I can see is we ALWAYS have to drive when a large group of friends want to go somewhere because we can hold the most people.

OK. I’m jumping back in here. One objection is that the minivan rides like a truck? Honey, I used to have one of those roller-skate cars that rode like a truck…with bad shocks…on a very bad stretch of road. Damn thing gave me a headache and backache combined. My minivan rides just swell, thank you. Of course, it isn’t my 1973 Ford LTD. Same color as the old blue Bi-State bus, and almost as big. You could be driving that LTD over a washboard and not feel a thing. Peppy? That thing was a born-again state highway patrol interceptor. Tromp on the pedal and you could overtake anything on the road. Cargo space? The trunk of that LTD had about the same floor space as a van with the seats down (or out) and almost the heighth. SIGH! Can you tell that I loved that car??? Of course, it only got about 12 MPG, which would be somewhat of a negative these days.

Another observation. If the minivan replaced the station wagon, and then the SUV replaced the van, why are we going back to station wagons? Oh yes, I know some SUV owners become upset when you refer to their SUVs as station wagons. But I’m sorry. Call the vehicle what you want, whatever makes you feel good about yourself. I grew up in the era of station wagons and I know what a station wagon looks like. That ain’t an SUV, sweetie. It’s a gussied up station wagon.

Our 2002 dodge minivan is the best all around family vehicle we’ve ever had. We’ve got 3 kids. We’ve also driven import vans, SUV’s, and sedans. The minivan is better all around to us. I guess we are in the minority.

My minivan is much more practical than my wife’s cross over. It is a mistake to discontinue the van. If you have more than 2 kids the crossover is not very useful and the gas milage is nothing to be proud of. I do think the Chrysler design could get back to smoother lines. This new look is too boxy.

I have an ‘05 Dodge Grand Caravan and dearly love it. I’m 57, which is too old to care what people think of what I drive. My minivan averages about 23 mpg (highway and town driving) with the big engine (if the trip computer is to be believed). I like that I can haul 6 other people if I want, or put the seats down and carry a sheet of plywood without having to rent a truck.

Sure as other bloggers say, you can’t see around them too well and they take up a lot of room in a parking lot, but that’s true with school buses, dump trucks, big SUVs, and pickup trucks with camper shells. Nobody disses THOSE vehicles!

It’s comfortable, roomy, and sits up high enough to reduce fears of getting squashed by a semi.

I love driving my wife’s minivan. We paid much less for it than for a comparable SUV, get better gas mileage, and it drives just like a luxury car.

I haven’t seen too many mentions of the Mazda MPV, which is what we have. It’s one of the smaller mini-vans, but still seats 7 fairly comfortably. We can fold the back seat down and remove the second row seats too if needed for cargo room, so it fits our lifestyle.

I think too many people with SUVs don’t really need all of that cargo room, etc; so they’re just buying it for the image. Real men don’t care what people think of their cars - they drive them because they like them or because they’re practical. A minivan is usually a more practical car than an SUV for most families.

I bought a 1992 Dodge Grand Caravan SE as I thought it would be a good choice over a mid-sized station wagon. The wife and kids were the main reason for the purchase.

I had problems with it after the first 12K miles! I had been talked into the 7/70 warranty when I bought it with only 6 miles on the clock. What a big waste of money that was! Everything that failed was either not covered or was only covered under “Fleet Service” only!

Well after the third transmission died, I hauled it off to the junk yard and good riddance! The warranty issues and the problems with the van have turned me off of Chrysler products made after 1972! I am still a firm believer that Chrysler built some very dependable engines way back then but have gone down hill ever since. The only redeeming engine they have now is the Cummins diesel and Chrysler did not design it.

We have moved back to a station wagon that gets quite a bit better fuel economy than the van! We went from 18/24 city/hwy to 36/42 city/hwy back in Sept. 2002 when we bought a 2003 VW Jetta TDI wagon. The wife has stated that she will never drive another gas car/van again. At first she thought that diesels were all noisy and smelly but the Jetta changed her mind.

Of all the vehicles I have owned it is the only one that I would not recommend to anyone. I still own the following vehicles and I don’t need any more:

70 Olds Ralley 350 (auto, for car shows)
71 Olds 442 W-30 (auto, Drag racing only)
78 Dodge D200 (auto, tow vehicle)
81 504 Peugeot Diesel wagon (auto, good hauler)
86 505 Peugeot sti (5sp, way too much fun driving on winding roads)
86 505 Peugeot Turbo wagon (auto, best long distance driver)
03 VW Jetta TDI wagon (auto, wife’s everyday car)
03 VW Jetta TDI sedan (5sp, my everyday driver)

bill mabie: “How about a 2 liter turbo diesel stick shift Minivan? Slow absolutely, but 50+mpg and would run forever, then you could say the rules have changed!”

Bill, you will have to leave North America for one of those as the rest of the world has them and we don’t. They are not as slow as one might think. Check the UK automotive web sites for more information. You will find that Ford & GM both have small Turbo diesels that have respectable performance and fuel economy.

Bring back the family station wagon!