2005 Dodge Grand Caravan ST review from North America

So far most things that have gone wrong were repaired under warranty.

One of the first problems was a bad glare in the front windshield from the defroster grille. It's large and in the center of the dash. It isn't noticeable with polarized lens and I ended up installing a dash pad that seems to squash 95% of the glare. Seems like that would have been found early during testing.

The rear speakers vibrated and after several trips to the dealer I pried off the plastic grille covers and applied cloth tape over the flat areas where the cover attaches. Solved the problem.

Rear door release is covered in rubber and has a tendency to wear. Dealer replaced.

The idler pulley started to make noise at 19k miles, took 2 trips to finally have repaired, but repaired.

At the same mileage (19K) the turn signal would not cancel after a turn was completed. Dealer also replaced.

At 22k miles the dealer under a recall changed the cooling hoses for rear heater/AC vans with the stow-n-go feature.

Rear disc brakes went out at 31k miles and the rotors were too thin to resurface. Seems premature.

Water pump went bad at 38k miles and threw red coolant onto the hood.

Tire wear is respectable for a heavy vehicle and mainly city driving having changed the tires at 47k miles.

At 52k the front brakes are worn, evidently the pads had been changed before we bought it at 12k. Again not terrible wear considering it's primarily stop-n-go traffic driven.

After previously owning a Plymouth Voyager minivan and having the worst experience of my car ownerships, I vowed not to own another Chrysler product. However my mechanic services high mileage vehicles such as taxi cabs and indicated the 3.3 liter engine will go 300k plus miles if serviced regularly. With a used Honda still commanding a rather high premium we stumbled on this nicely appointed Grand Caravan for under what a 4 year Honda commanded plus at 12k miles the Caravan was still under warranty with an extended powertrain warranty for Certified Used.

We've taken it on several long trips and it's performed flawlessly and is very comfortable to drive.

It is rather underpowered for it's weight on trips, but around town it's more than adequate.

For the money it was a GREAT BUY. The Chrysler transmissions are still their achilles heal and will probably have to be replaced at some point during my ownership, but after saving 8k off the sticker price it's something I'll live with.

The exterior and interior have both worn well with 4 kids and their sports. It still looks new when washed and clean. I am starting to hear a few squeaks here and there.

The stow-n-go feature is brilliant allowing split fold rear seats to toss in those long items like a surfboard or bicycle without having to disrupt the whole rear seat configuration. In a pinch it's great to be able to lower the rear seats into the well for large loads. I loaded a washer and dryer with plenty of room to spare. Another fantastic feature of the rear seat is it's ability to flip rearward allowing you to "tailgate" with rear door open and sit on the seat facing rearward. One last exceptional feature is the ability to recline the rear seat for greater comfort.

The storage cavity for the center seats are large and hold a lot of great stuff out of view.

An MP3 player plug-in is all it lacks which I'm sure the newer models will have.