mini van discussion (used)

[ktgrok]

My mini van is getting up there. It's a 2006, but driven hard, I think we are around 160,000 miles. Lots of city driving, lots of highway driving. Most of those miles are in the last 3 years. It's a Dodge Caravan, not the Grand version. So very little cargo/grocery room. None of the cool features, no stow and go seating, not even air conditioning anywhere but the front, and in Florida that gets pretty miserable. And it has been needing more and more repairs. Today was a new fuel pump/sensor/whatever.  I ran out of gas despite it reading a quarter tank. Luckily, I was pulling in to get gas when it happened, so only had to be pushed a few feet by the very nice men at the gas station. But it has other issues and DH worries about me driving it. A lot. 

 

Money is VERY much an issue. We have 10K in savings, but don't want to spend it all. And we don't want a giant payment. Probably going to spend some of the savings and a loan for the rest. Our credit isn't great due to some medical bills that went into collection and our "credit utilization score", meaning we have very low balance cards so that any balance dings us as using a significant portion of our available credit. So not sure what kind of rate we will get. But, he wants something reliable for me, and is no longer able to spare the time to work on cars himself. Income is going up, and he took a part time instructor job at the community college to pay off those few credit cards, but time is going way down. We'll keep his beat up old truck that he drives, and he feels confident he can keep that running, but we need ONE car that we can count on. Mini Van, because we are going to have 4 kids soon, 3 will be in car seats or boosters. (6 yr old is still using the 5 point harness on her Radian). 

 

Husband is leaning towards a Grand Caravan for the features/price ratio. I'm reading that Kia might be just as good or safer, and priced about the same or less. We want low milage, and low milage Honda and Toyotas are out of our price range, from what I've seen. 

 

Any thoughts?

[TranquilMind]

Dodge Caravan is considered a very good vehicle, and easy to handle. 

A Kia Sedona has better seating but less power and is a bit harder to maneuver.  

 

I would check out any vehicle you hope to buy on edmunds.com "What's my car worth" section to make sure you are getting a fair price.

 

EBay has a car and truck section so you can say what people will pay for cars like the one you want.  Also follow craigslist in your area.  You might find a gem though you have to sift through a lot of undesirable vehicles.  I found our last two vehicles that way. 

[dirty ethel rackham]

Since Toyota and Honda are out, my next choice would be a Kia. I have several friends who have them and love them. Good safety rating and fewer trips to the shop.

 

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[BrittanyM]

If you can't do a Toyota or a Honda I would stick with the Kia as well.

 

 

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[Random]

I really like this website for specific reviews:

 

http://www.carcomplaints.com/

 

Sorry you are having car troubles.  I hope you find the right vehicle quickly!

 

 

[Carrie12345]

I love my Grand Caravan.

I did just get a letter telling me my warranty for the HVAC system has been extended due to a known issue in the 2014-2015 models. So I guess I have that problem to look forward to.

[catz]

We have 2 Kia Sedonas now.  One is probably 5 and the other is 2.  They have both been great vehicles and we haven't done anything other than normal maintenance.  I do think it is a little riskier buying a used vehicle.  Sometimes they see more abuse and then need unusual maintenance.  But I think that's a risk with any used vehicle.

Edited July 1, 2016 by WoolySocks

[mommyoffive]

I had a Grand Caravan and it was good for a few years and then lots of problems.   I wouldn't ever buy one again.  We bought it because we got a brand new one for 18k.

 

 

We bought brand new Honda Minivan and it just is so much better than a Dodge.  I do miss some things about the Dodge and there are things I would change inside the Honda.

 

What I have heard though is that Hondas hold their value so much.  We basically got a new one for what a used one with 35k would be.   

 

I am amazed you have one with only front AC.   We were going to do that years ago and thought the kids would be so hot in the back.  

 

I would not spend your savings for your car.  Unless you have an emergency fund that is not included in this savings.   Plus you are having another baby which will be $$.

[ktgrok]

I had a Grand Caravan and it was good for a few years and then lots of problems.   I wouldn't ever buy one again.  We bought it because we got a brand new one for 18k.

 

 

We bought brand new Honda Minivan and it just is so much better than a Dodge.  I do miss some things about the Dodge and there are things I would change inside the Honda.

 

What I have heard though is that Hondas hold their value so much.  We basically got a new one for what a used one with 35k would be.   

 

I am amazed you have one with only front AC.   We were going to do that years ago and thought the kids would be so hot in the back.  

 

I would not spend your savings for your car.  Unless you have an emergency fund that is not included in this savings.   Plus you are having another baby which will be $$.

 

Resale doesn't matter as we keep them until they aren't worth anything, for the most part. 

 

We do have investments, which we can liquidate if we ever need to, on top of our retirement accounts. So we do have an emergency fund, although it takes about a week to get that money if need be. 

[Entropymama]

We went car shopping last week and saw two Honda Odysseys that were later model (2009-2010, I can't remember exactly) and had about 70,000-85,000 miles. Nice, with leather and all the upgrades for about $8,000 each. 

 

We loved our Grand Caravan - lots and lots of storage space. We replaced it with a VW Routan, and I would advise staying away from them. Repairs are ridiculous because of the way it's put together. 

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

We have loved our Grand Caravans. We bought the first one, a 2004, used with 130,000 miles on it for $4000. We purchased it from the original owners who had regular maintenance done on it and kept all the paper work. It ran great and we never had any major work done to it, just routine stuff (brakes, etc.). We had it for 4 years and got it to 195,000 miles. It was still driving great but we're taking a cross country trip this summer and were a bit nervous about taking it with that many miles. We decided to go ahead and replace it before our trip. (If we hadn't found something else in our budget we would have just made the trip in it. It really wasn't having any issues.)

 

We replaced it with an immaculate 2002 Chrysler Town and Country - essentially the same van as a Grand Caravan. This one had only 100,000 miles on it. Also purchased from the original owner who was meticulous about the up keep and keeping all paperwork. We just had it checked out by our mechanic and he said it's in really great shape. We only spent $2,200 on it. There's no reason to think it won't go another 100,000 miles like the other one.

 

We spent less than half of our $5000 budget, even after paying the taxes and registering it. And we sold the other one for $750, leaving us extra money for our vacation. :-)

 

Buying used, older cars can work out fine if you're patient and particular about what you buy. My DH is great at this and has found us some really great used cars at low cost that have met our needs and then some.