1997 Dodge Grand Caravan SE review from North America

I bought the van in May 2002--had traded in my dinky Festiva because our son was 5 months old at the time and I wanted a safer vehicle.

In 2003-2004 it was starting to shred or throw off serpentine belts... went through probably 3 or 4 of them. I got the tensioner replaced on it, haven't had a problem since.

Last month the power steering pump was leaking, so that's been replaced.

My transmission was leaking fluid last year and over a period of some months we got all the gaskets replaced, no problem with it now. I was in an accident with it (not my fault) in January 2006, while it was being repaired it was discovered that the valve cover gasket needed replaced--not accident-related so it came out of our pockets.

The clockspring started to go last year or the year before, but since it was on recall I got it replaced for free.

Also last year I needed the sway bar (or was it the links) replaced. A few months ago we replaced the fuel filter.

Now the muffler needs replaced... expected out of a vehicle that old.

I do like my minivan... but like a lot of cars nowadays, once you've paid it off and it gets to be a certain age, you have to pay to keep it running.