2006 Dodge Caravan from North America - Comments

The fuel pump overheated causing engine shutdown with 450 miles on the car. The first time it happened we were told we had bad gas. Second time we got angry. The dealer drove the car for over 80 miles before finally deciding the fuel pump was overheating. Replaced the fuel pump under warranty and no further problems.

This is a great little car for the money. Lots of room and fun to drive.

But, we got the 2.4 L engine and it makes a loud "growling" noise when accelerating. The dealer says this is normal with the smaller engine. It only makes the noise when the engine is under load, in other words, while driving. It sounds nice and quiet if the engine is revved while the transmission is in neutral or park. Any ideas from anyone on how to muffle this noise would be greatly appreciated. Would undercoating help? Or maybe some sound deadening material on the engine side of the firewall. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Please respond to Sojournerdanjan@hotmail.com.

A 2006 Caravan with 2.4L engine? Are you sure?

Yeah, the caravan still has the 2.4 4 cyl. option, I've driven one and it's hard to believe that dodge would still put a 4 cyl. in a van, not much power at all, good luck on hills.

Great van.

The 2.4 is noisy little engine. It is the same in every Chrysler vehicle they put it in. It also vibrates terribly. Would not recommend this engine choice in the Caravan at all.

Licensed tech for 20 years.

The remaining door lockers were working OK. They put a new door locker to make it open and close when riding in the caravan 2006.

I had a 2006 caravan for just over 1 year. It was a SE trim package I believe (if that means base model) It had the 2.4L in line 4 with 4 speed automatic. power windows, locks, and A/C was the only options that came with it.

It was a good car never had to go to the shop for more than the oil change and tire rotation. The fit and finish was clean and solid in my opinion. Nothing felt cheap and flimsy it was worth the $16,000 I paid for it brand new.

But after a year I found the 4 cylinder to be underpowered especially on the highway not really to much in the city stop and go traffic.

So I just traded it in for the Grand Caravan SXT with a 3.8L V6. It's longer and has more options, but the price for mine was $32,000.

So I think the 2.4L is just to small for this car from a performance point of view the 3.8 is a better engine, but the 2.4 will get the job done if you need to move a family of five or six and money is tight.

I got my caravan brand new from my company, it's a great van, very smooth round. Yes engine does growl, it makes sounds as if the van is just gonna take off, but doesn't go nowhere. But once again, hey it's a minivan not a sports car. If you are looking for 0 to 60, should you even be checking this? Shouldn't you be in the market for a sports car?

The only problem I have had so far with the van was to change the brakes and rotors at 12K km; that's the only sad thing with the van; other than that it rocks.

I have 45k miles on my 2006 SE with 2.4L. Yes the engine does growl a bit under load when the throttle is first opened. I love the way everyone bashes the 2.4L. It seemed underpowered at first but after about 15k miles the engine seems to have loosened up and is quite peppy now. I doubt the 3.3L V6 is much faster. Now that gas is almost $4 bucks I am glad I got the 2.4L, 22-24 MPG city now and 24-16MPG highway.

We took a large family group on a ski trip to Colorado last year, and rented 2 Caravans in Denver for the 100+ mile trip up into the mountains. They both had the 4, and although they weren't sports cars, I was impressed. They were smooth, great handling in snow (we got caught in a blizzard in the higher elevations) and very easy on gas. We had no trouble keeping up speed going up the mountains. I'd opt for the 4 if I were buying one for the excellent fuel economy.