Dodge Grand Caravan - 2004 Review

I bought my 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan used in 2005, with 15,000 miles on it.  I bought it because it had all the features I wanted, and very few that I didn't care about.  I now have 92,000 miles on it, and I've been very happy with it.  It has been very dependable (always starts, even in our cold Michigan winters), and very inexpensive to own and maintain.  I have a wife, a 13-year-old son, and 2 dogs, and we all fit in it very comfortably when we drive to our cottage for a long weekend, even when my son brings a friend or two along.  Our van has the 2 "captain's chairs" in the middle row, and we really like that arrangement.  We got the more substantial seats, not the "stow-and-go" seats, and they're much more comfortable than the thinner, lighter seats, especially for 3-4 hour rides across the state.

So far, we've gotten decent gas mileage from our Grand Caravan.  I have a short (5 mile) commute for work, with all backroads and no freeways, so I'm not surprised when I get about 20 miles/gallon.  When we go to our cottage, which is all freeway driving, we get about 25 miles/gallon, depending on our speed.  At 70 mph, we get 25 mpg.  At 75 mph, it drops to 22 mpg.

All in all, it's been an excellent vehicle for us.  It can haul a lot of people and cargo, it's very comfortable, and it's been inexpensive to maintain.  My only complaint is that it looks like a mini-van, which is just not very stylish.