Posted on 03/02/2020 9:04:52 AM PST by Olog-hai
The Dodge Grand Caravan’s journey is finally ending this spring. The minivan is scheduled to end production on May 22, the automaker has confirmed.
The Caravan was introduced alongside the Plymouth Voyager in 1984 as a “garageable” van that helped kick off the minivan craze that continued through the 1990s, until family car buyers started making the shift to SUVs.
The stretched Grand Caravan was added to the lineup in 1987 and eventually became the only version offered.
The Caravan lived through five generations, with the current one dating back to 2008. U.S. sales topped 300,000 in 1996 and 1997, but have hovered in the 100,000 to 150,000 range for the past decade. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The Sto N Go seats were the best. ...
Yep. Great rental mini van for road trips. Sad to see it go.
95 Grand Voyager and 01 T&C for us. Traded in the T&C in 15 for a Santa Fe since the kids were grown and gone. They were nice and comfortable for road trips.
My wife has driven 5 minivans and has been very happy with all of them. Her first was a 1984 Dodge that we bought from a bank that was a repo. It was the short version and had the Mitsubishi 6 cylinder engine. This one was followed by 1990 Plymouth Grand Voyager, a 1994 Plymouth GV, a 2000 Chevy mini van, and a 2005 Pontiac Montana. She now has a 2015 Chrysler Town and Country. We never had any major maintenance issues with any of them, and had more nagging stuff with the Chevy than the others.
We always rejected the Japanese products because we felt they were over priced. I know that many feel that they are more reliable than the domestics, but the Japanese dealers have just as many service bays as the domestics. We always put so many miles on a vehicle that trade-in value was not an issue. Ours were never worth much by the time we got rid of them.
Today, I still never cease to be amazed at the number of people that pay what they do for a Suburban, Yukon XL, a Expedition when the have no need to tow anything. All they want to do is haul people. The minivan is the best option.
Yep. I did a cross country run and back in my 1997 Town and Country and plenty of other trips. It lasted about the same length of time as yours.
killing the station wagon gave birth to the minivan
https://jalopnik.com/here-are-some-of-the-worst-van-names-ever-1723976460
Stabbin Cabin is down in the post through the comments.
I don’t know how to post pictures or I would...
We were very loyal too.
Had 5 over 25 years. 1989, 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2013.
They were all very reliable. We bought then used a few years old and ran them to between 150 and 200k without any major issues. Brakes, tires, batteries, a few half axles and hubs on the high milers.
Only repairs were things I could do in the driveway.
They were great vehicles for cross country camping trips. We’d load up the “attic” (roof cargo box), the “basement” (underseat storage) and even the “back porch” (boat and trailer) and be good for two weeks with 5-6 people.
We’ll miss them. Not sure about the Pacifica—they look sleeker, more SUVish, but smaller.
I bought an ‘89 Grand Caravan used - had 20,000 miles on it.
Was the best thing for hauling a family around, but engine went caput at about 120,000 miles and smoked like crazy before that (we called it Smokey Joe).
I finally traded it in on a Nissan Quest and was far more satisfied - the Quest was still plugging along at 200,000 miles.
Did you trade in your wife with your minivan?
Sold the van and threw her out. Did right by my kids.
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