New Chrysler Town & Country - opinions

[GOTTSPD]

Hi.

Okay, so my wife is no longer interested in a SUV (see my post re: the Mitsu Endeavor) and now wants a miniature van. Funny, 1 year ago (note, my daughter will be 1 year old on Thursday), my wife swore up and down that she'd never drive/own a minivan and now she wants one.

I'm perfectly okay with her getting one. They are big, slow, safe and super comfy to drive. Moreover, if you get a loaded up one, you can get tons o' toys inside. That said, I'm pretty set on getting the Chrysler Town & Country Limited. Consumer Reports said reliability was good, JD Power said it was the highest ranked in initial quality. The T&C Ltd. comes loaded. We're actually looking at a 2005 pre-owned one that has nav, sunroof, leather/suede heated, power, memory seats, rear dvd player, stow and go seating (middle and rear seats flip flop into the floor to turn the T&C into a plushly carpeted cargo van, the back seats can flip over for tailgating, power sliding doors, power rear door/hatch, 3 zone automatic climate control; cd/dvd changer, etc.......

I think we all know that Chrysler products were wildly unreliable in the 90's, but does anyone have any FIRST HAND experience with their new mini-vans?

I can get this thing (again a 2005) w/ 26K miles (it's in perfect cosmetic condition - checked it out last night, but couldn't drive it as dealership was closed) and it'd be under $23K (sticker on it would have been $37K or so). I figure it'd be worth getting an extended warranty on it too.

I played with the stow and go seating before and it's pretty slick.

Thanks for your thoughts.

-Michael

 

[Blackend]

Hi.

Okay, so my wife is no longer interested in a SUV (see my post re: the Mitsu Endeavor) and now wants a miniature van. Funny, 1 year ago (note, my daughter will be 1 year old on Thursday), my wife swore up and down that she'd never drive/own a minivan and now she wants one.

I'm perfectly okay with her getting one. They are big, slow, safe and super comfy to drive. Moreover, if you get a loaded up one, you can get tons o' toys inside. That said, I'm pretty set on getting the Chrysler Town & Country Limited. Consumer Reports said reliability was good, JD Power said it was the highest ranked in initial quality. The T&C Ltd. comes loaded. We're actually looking at a 2005 pre-owned one that has nav, sunroof, leather/suede heated, power, memory seats, rear dvd player, stow and go seating (middle and rear seats flip flop into the floor to turn the T&C into a plushly carpeted cargo van, the back seats can flip over for tailgating, power sliding doors, power rear door/hatch, 3 zone automatic climate control; cd/dvd changer, etc.......

I think we all know that Chrysler products were wildly unreliable in the 90's, but does anyone have any FIRST HAND experience with their new mini-vans?

I can get this thing (again a 2005) w/ 26K miles (it's in perfect cosmetic condition - checked it out last night, but couldn't drive it as dealership was closed) and it'd be under $23K (sticker on it would have been $37K or so). I figure it'd be worth getting an extended warranty on it too.

I played with the stow and go seating before and it's pretty slick.

Thanks for your thoughts.

-Michael

I had an 03 (year before stow n go) and now own an 06. Both Dodge Grand Caravans and I've never had a problem with either. The 06 is the Touring edition which is the Dodge equivelant of the Chrysler T&C - leather, DVD changer, etc. and I love it. The ride is better in that van than any other car I've owned. I drove from Dallas to Huntsville, AL (~10 hours) and stopped twice without problem. The seats are supportive, and I don't remember getting "seat-tired" for the whole trip. I hated trading my 4WD Dakota for the first one, but I'm a true minivan-phile now! The loaded Chrysler should have the 3.8L engine as well, which will surprise you at how quickly it pulls that big load along.

$23K is a very good price for that model as well.

Good luck!

 

[JonBoy]

Any reason why you wouldn't consider a Honda Odyssey instead? It'll be more expensive but it's generally superior for longevity, fuel economy, and performance. T&C tend to run into tranny problems, based on what I've seen and heard (two people I know own them).

 

[GOTTSPD]

The Odyssey is too much $ to get it the way I'd want it.

 

[Blackend]

I looked at the Honda's too, but the price difference for the extra things you get is not worth it. The biggest difference to me, was the side door windows roll down on the Honda. The Honda salesman tried to tell me how much better his van was after I just came from a Dodge dealership and all the points he made (save the roll down windows) were the same features as the Dodge.

The tranny on mine hasn't had any problems to speak of. I towed my Legend with it about 500 miles and still no problems. I think MB has finally gotten involved in all of Chrysler's manufaturing processes and helped the reliability a lot. The older models definitely had problems though.

 

[matteni]

Although I think the Odyssey has better resale value I wouldn't argue that it has less transmission problems. Go to www.odyclub.com or do a google and you will see what I am talking about.

We know, have ridden in, and have driven quite a few vans. The new Odys are very nice, Euro ride, and stylish. The resale should be significantly higher. They handle much better then the T&C and pull better as well. We have rented the T&C and it is quiter, more then acceptable in all driving situations most people will toss at it. It will depreciate much faster (but you are the beneficiary of that so it is a plus in your case).

The stow and go seats we have used on many occasions and are marginal at best. The Ody 3rd row stows and the second rows are as easy to remove as the stow and go are to store. Really the safe compartments were the seats stow are a much better feature then the actual seat mechanism. I always laugh at the commercials showing how easy they are to operate and wonder how many takes it took!

Anyway - I think you are getting a great deal on a safe and relatively reliable car that you obviously like and are smart enough to take advantage of the depreciation and cover your risk with an extended warranty.

Good luck with your new ride.

 

[rjp]

In case you didn't know (I didn't) that Odysseys can be purchased with a decent discount brand new - here goes.... We just took the plunge and took deliv of new '06 Odyssey EX/leather/DVD a few days ago. I paid over $1k under invoice ($28,700 to be exact) which incl wheel locks, cargo tray and mud flaps. 28mpg hwy with the 3cyls cutting out (std on the EX-L & above). Without the DVD, you could subtract $1500 or so. I didn't even bother looking at competitors. The Ody is hands-down the best minivan out there. I'd highly recommend you reconsider the Ody. Good luck!

 

[GOTTSPD]

I hear ya, but to compare apples to apples, I'd be looking at a Ody Touring w/ Nav and that's got an invoice of over $34K. The Touring adds the backup camera and voice recognition, which the T&C Ltd. doesn't have, but otherwise they are apples to apples (because of the nav). If I could get an Ody Touring for 23K, I would, but there's no chance of that.

 

[steveny]

My sister has the Odyssey. I had her look into buying one after I took an Odyssey on a trip from LA to Vega$. It really is one of the best vans on the market. The dodge is worth close to nothing after two years and the Honda still has lots of value. My mother's boyfriend of ~30 years buys a new caravan every year because they really do wear out that fast.

 

[GOTTSPD]

Well, we bought the T&C tonight. Got a good deal and added a warranty for bumper to bumper for 7/70. It drives very well, has incredible features and is laid out well. I'm hopeful that it'll prove to be reliable for us. I'm happy about the whole scene. It was kinda fun to hop back into my 410HP CTS-V after driving a 4000+lb 205HP van!

 

[JonBoy]

Well, we bought the T&C tonight. Got a good deal and added a warranty for bumper to bumper for 7/70. It drives very well, has incredible features and is laid out well. I'm hopeful that it'll prove to be reliable for us. I'm happy about the whole scene. It was kinda fun to hop back into my 410HP CTS-V after driving a 4000+lb 205HP van!

I thought they came standard with a 7/70 bumper to bumper warranty....or is that only for the powertrain?

 

[Ko-nsx]

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