Can I get an opinion used american minivans? Specifically Montana..Uplander....venture...
I see them for sale with high miles so obviously they either are reliable or someone dumped a bunch of money to keep it on the road.
trying to pick up a van or minivan for around $2550-$3500 for daily driver use.
Thanks
Opinions please
They've built the Odyssey in Alabama for quite a while.
Dank, have you ever worked on one of those berkeleyers? If not you will be in for a real treat. I would look at the Chrysler/ Dodge NS and RS vans as they are MUCH easier repair.
Didn't know that. What years had the transmission problems?
Not bad looking.
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/d/2003-dodge-grand-caravan/6477095597.html
Better pics but more miles
https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/ctd/d/2003-dodge-grand-caravan-good/6481774184.html
This might be a good buy if the trans was rebuilt, correctly.
https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/d/2005-dodge-grand-caravan/6472811148.html
I think those GM minivans were similar to other GMs of the era...they'll run forever...poorly.
All minivans have trans issues. As for the Chrysler s the early ones were the worst, most have been rebuilt by now.
FYI: You can replace the Chrysler trans in the parking lot in a few hours, the GM van requires Zen level meditation and two full days to replace the trans. Band-Aids, don't forget the band-aids.
Paul B
From a driving perspective, the Grand Caravan is worlds better than Venture/Uplander/Windstar and the like. Especially the newer ones. My 2011 turned me from a minivan hater to a proud minivan mom almost overnight, and it's not terrible to work on. It's not wide-open and roomy, but I don't have to drop the engine to change the sparkplugs like I did in my Outback, either.
My daughters mom had a chrysler minivan (not sure what year). Even with a rebuilt trans it had problems. I don't need the van to be american I just see a ton of those vans and they are all cheaper than the japanese/korean vans.
Is the chrysler on par with the honda and kia vans?
dankspeed said:Can I get an opinion used american minivans? Specifically Montana..Uplander....venture...
I see them for sale with high miles so obviously they either are reliable or someone dumped a bunch of money to keep it on the road.
trying to pick up a van or minivan for around $2550-$3500 for daily driver use.
Thanks
Opinions please
Most of the stuff on newer GM vehicles has "Made in China" stamped on it.
I have a 98 Chrysler T&C lxi that has a failed transmission. It just sits in the storage yard because everyone I have talked to wants $3k-$5k to rebuild it. 
dankspeed said:My daughters mom had a chrysler minivan (not sure what year). Even with a rebuilt trans it had problems. I don't need the van to be american I just see a ton of those vans and they are all cheaper than the japanese/korean vans.
Is the chrysler on par with the honda and kia vans?
Short answer is no. Chrysler minivans have always had good interior features but mechanically they've always spelled trouble. All of the people I know who had Chrysler T&Cs replaced their vans with Odysseys and Siennas after a few years.
Like mazdeuce said, if you want something decent that's designed and built in the US, your best bets tend to have a Japanese company's badge on them. The last two generations of Toyota Sienna have been designed and built in Princeton, Indiana and it's a great car with reliable internals and interior trim that can take a pounding. The price of entry is higher but it's worth it.
At 100,000 miles you can Buy A Chrysler for the same as a Tranny replacment Cost. the Constant Velocity Trans is Junk and cost 3-5 grand and they won't warrenty it if it isn't BRAND New.
In reply to Sine_Qua_Non : $1300 and a Saturday you could be back on the road.
RozCougarMorbidcamp said:From a driving perspective, the Grand Caravan is worlds better than Venture/Uplander/Windstar and the like. Especially the newer ones. My 2011 turned me from a minivan hater to a proud minivan mom almost overnight, and it's not terrible to work on. It's not wide-open and roomy, but I don't have to drop the engine to change the sparkplugs like I did in my Outback, either.
I feel this way about ours. We now have a 2015 we bought new and it’s fantastic. We’ve owned a Chrysler/Dodge minivan since 2003 I believe.
My wife’s uncle owns a garage and his wife drove a Montana and he HATED working on it. Like twice to four times the labor as most any other minivan.
The montana's seem too always need intake gaskets. Having worked on an 03 montana and an 05 caravan fairly often id buy the caravan. Trans rebuild for it did cost the lady 1300 dollars though. Just about everything on the montana takes about twice as long as the caravan. Even changing the radiator was a pain in the ass.
In that price range, I don't think I'd consider anything other than a Chrysler. They made a ton of them, so parts and service are cheap. My 2008 has been a pretty solid driver for the past 4+ years and 120K+ miles (currently at 200K). Whenever something does break, I just take it to my local garage and it's fixed the next day for reasonable cost. Reasonable enough that it's not worth the aggravation to fix it myself.
Thanks everyone. Transmission problems are my big fear. I don't want to blow my budget on the van only to have the trans go out and be stuck with no vehicle and no money.
I like the honda and toyota vans but in my price range they all have really high miles.
I have a 98 Chrysler T&C lxi that has a failed transmission. It just sits in the storage yard because everyone I have talked to wants $3k-$5k to rebuild it.
That's insane. That should be roughly ~$1600 on the low end for an installed rebuilt trans. If you were local i'd do it for about that.
I actually have one sitting in the back of my 626 (?) that i rebuilt with lower gears and then never installed. lol
If you want cheap to buy and cheap to own, stick with the chrysler vans. They're the cheapest in both regards. Not to say that they wont have issues, but the ones they will have will be cheap.
GM minivans begin to rapidly deteriorate at about 100k, and turn into money pits. Wife and I got rid of a 2005 Montana with 120k on it and bought an ‘04 Quest with 171k on it. The quest has been far cheaper to own...
We’ve had 5 Mopar minivans in the family, and the only one that ever had transmission issues was dad’s ‘90 GC with the early 41TE. And that wasn’t until it had 150,000 miles or more out of the 300,000 it went before it rusted out.
Recon1342 said:GM minivans begin to rapidly deteriorate at about 100k, and turn into money pits. Wife and I got rid of a 2005 Montana with 120k on it and bought an ‘04 Quest with 171k on it. The quest has been far cheaper to own...
Hey Recon,
Can you talk more about your experience with the Quest? There's one here locally with 148,000 at a fair price.
Thanks
Duke said:We’ve had 5 Mopar minivans in the family, and the only one that ever had transmission issues was dad’s ‘90 GC with the early 41TE. And that wasn’t until it had 150,000 miles or more out of the 300,000 it went before it rusted out.
200K on my current GC and while it's not the smoothest automatic transmission in the world, it seems to still work well enough. If it goes tomorrow I'd probably get one of those eBay transmissions listed above and DIY the R&R, although I'd get an estimate from my mechanic first. I doubt you'll get a rebuilt trans with a warranty for that price for a Honda, Nissan or Toyota. The simple quantities of scale don't favor them. Chrysler usually sells more minivans in a month than many manufacturers sell for an entire year.
In reply to dankspeed :
It’s been remarkably reliable. I’ve replaced the alternator and the shift lock solenoid, and it’s currently due for new ball joints, but other than that, it’s been a peach. I’d be far less scared of high mileage Japanese vans than I would domestics. Provided the maintenance has been kept up, it’ll go forever.
You'll need to log in to post.
