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THE DODGE GRAND CARAVAN ES Reviewed by Colin Hefferon  Big minivan at home in big country I have a confession to make: I'm a minivan nut. I've owned three of them -- all Chrysler products. I really like minivans. I like a lot of cars but I think minivans are the ideal compromise for 95% of what most North Americans use cars for. When you're talking minivans, you're talking Chrysler, the folks who invented the category over 20 years ago and the folks who owned it until others got into the act. While several car makers are in there slugging, the five-millionth DaimlerChrysler minivan rolled off the line in Bramalea, Ontario -- a soul-less suburb of Toronto -- just two weeks ago. The Dodge Grand Caravan is offered in both a Sport version and a top-of-the-line ES version. Both come with dual-sliding side doors. Power-operated sliding side doors and a power-operated tailgate (an industry-first) are also available. Both the power side doors and the power tailgate come with safety detectors that detect anything blocking its path (like an arm or a low ceiling) and stop before any damage can be done. Tailgate hits water pipe and survives Being essentially gutless, I can't confirm whether the sliding door would actually stop if I stuck my hand or my head on the door track; but I can confirm the low-ceiling bit about the tailgate. I was moving some stuff last weekend and the tailgate touched a low-hanging water pipe in our underground garage. The tailgate stopped instantly; it's shaped so the tempered rear glass touches first, thus there was no damage to the tailgate. While the power function of the tailgate works well, it comes with an environmental cost in the form of an especially obnoxious form of noise pollution. When the power function is activated, four piercing beeps similar to what you hear when a city-owned dump truck backs up are emitted. If you're coming home late from an evening with the guys or if you're just trying to be a considerate neighbor, be especially wary about hitting the wrong button on the key fob. I found the beeping to be, frankly, a serious pain in the ear. The base engine in the Grand Caravan is a 3.3 liter V6 which produces 180 hp. This engine propels the Grand Caravan down the road nicely. It should also get fairly decent mileage for a large car: The EPA rating for mixed city and highway driving is 26mpg (9.1L/100km). Several other engine options are also offered, everything from a 150 hp 4-cylinder (not in Canada, however) to the 3.5 liter V-6 from the hot 300M sports sedan. Surprisingly good acceleration While supremacy from the stoplight or on the twisty back roads is not generally a priority to minivan owners, I found the Grand Caravan with the 3.3 liter engine a more-than-capable performer. The acceleration was surprisingly good for a vehicle of this type and the performance on the highway more than acceptable, although a colleague who had it for a day remarked he'd detected some side-to-side wander above 70mph. He had taken it out on a very open section of highway and there may have been some heavy crosswinds. Most minivans are used in urban-type driving; this demands a reasonably tight turning radius. Unlike, for example, Honda's Odyssey, the Grand Caravan will easily execute a 360-degree turn in a standard 33-foot-wide side street. Incidentally, about my only complaint with Honda's products concerns their excessive turning radius. I think a short turning radius should be labeled a safety feature today since it mitigates a potential hazard during those infrequent and unavoidable times when you simply have to make a U-turn on a busy street. The Grand Caravan ES is available with leather captain's chairs. My test vehicle had this feature with a power adjustment. I found the seats offered good support for trips of moderate duration; I also thought they were especially easy to get in and out of since the seat cushion is a bit higher off the floor than, say, a typical sedan. Finding both the driving position and seating comfort in the Grand Caravan pleasing may have been the result of two previous weeks in a pair of somewhat uncompromising sports cars -- the Honda S2000 and the Porsche Boxster S. Both of these little rockets look great to folks in the other cars but can be more than just a little tiring after a few hours running errands around the city -- especially when you have to listen to your passenger complaining about lack of space for parcels and other essentials. Both the exterior and interior dimensions of the Grand Caravan have changed slightly. I think the amount of usable space available in this year's van may actually be less than in the old design although I'm not entirely certain. A friend who rented the Sports (base) model a couple of weekends ago told me he thought his vehicle's rear bench seats were a bit cramped. He chauffeured five guys to a Sea Hawks game in Seattle. The four guys who sat back there complained of space constrictions in both the bench seats. One guy maintained the heating ducts took up too much headroom and the drink holders too much elbow room. It should be noted that none of those guys will ever see 200 lbs again. And, realistically, how many people haul around four 200-pounders regularly? I would suspect 95% or more of minivan owners just plan to haul young kids. For kids either seating configuration -- captains' chairs or bench -- will likely more than suffice. 
Speaking of hauling, I don't know how often most people have to transport long or awkward stuff but with the new Grand Caravan, you really have to plan ahead: You have to decide
before you leave home just how many people you need seats for and/or how much stuff you
intend to carry. A friend and I drove to IKEA to pick up some 700-lbs of hardwood flooring the other evening. To get the boxes
in I had to store both third-row captains' chairs on top of the second row captains' chairs.Each chair folded up into a very compact, relatively lightweight (45 lbs) package. Luckily, there were only two people in the vehicle; if there had been four of us plus that much cargo, the people riding in the second-row seats would have had to carry the third-row seats on their laps. Which prompts me to ask why DaimlerChrysler just doesn't steal a page from the Mazda or the Honda playbook and have the third row fold into the floor? Theft of the other guy's good ideas is not unknown in the auto biz, I'm told. Seats in the third row that fold easily into the floor would have made this very good vehicle outstanding. Hey, what about transferring the power lift device from the tailgate to the third row seats? Seats that automatically fold into the floor at the touch of a button: Now that's something I would pay extra for. Photos © DaimlerChrysler Vancouver-based Colin Hefferon regularly tests and reviews new vehicles. Though an automotive enthusiast by nature, Colin takes the perspective of the average car owner. Which, after all, is most of us! Colin Hefferon is the road test editor for About Cars where more of his car reviews may be found. |
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