My wife wants me to buy proper snowtires for her celica but I figure why spend $600-800 on a good set of tires when I can buy a whole car!
I would prefer a subaru or something fun but I plan on only driving it in the winter and not caring about it the rest of the year.
This caravan caught my eye and it's AWD
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/1197387448.html
I've never owned a caravan, anything I should look out for?
Well I own one quite similar to that one, basically mine has treated me pretty well, mine is an es model like that one except its a 94 and a short body and fwd, but the 3.0 v6's from my experience are fairly reliable usually burn oil tho, but its pretty easy to work on, the 3.0 is a sohc mitsubishi motor, the 3.3 and 3.8's are a chrysler design and are a pushrod design i don't have really any knowledge on those, they did have a 4 cyl but it's highly unlikley it would have it but overall not too bad of a car
I suggest to buy the snow tires for the Celica. AWD or not, good tires are the key to winter driving.
Transmission issues. They're picky about trans fluid, and whatever you do, don't try to run the transmission on Dextron. They need a Chrysler-specific transmission fluid. Like Fit said, the 3.0 can burn oil from valve stem seals, more annoying than anything.
fastbmw wrote:My wife wants me to buy proper snowtires for her celica but I figure why spend $600-800 on a good set of tires when I can buy a whole car!
Well, far be it for me to criticize someone else for rationalizing a car purchase, but jrw is right, tires are king. Besides, another vehicle means more maintenance, insurance, registration fees, etc. The tires will be cheaper. My 330i on Blizzaks was a snowmobile last winter in Michigan.
Having said that, my family and I have had many minivans, including a Caravan back in the 80s, and they are usually pretty good in the snow, being fairly heavy and FWD.
I hated my minivan. Hauled the family & dog around just fine and rode real solid but I sure hated it. Trans. was on it's way out so I sold it cheap. I'd wait for a early '90's Subaru. I've seen several here on the Michigan CL for a few hundred dollars. Rusted w/high miles FTW!
Mine is a 2002 and I do not love it... but the wife likes it and that is all that matters.
my moms driven one in NH winters since 2001. Have a set of blizztaks for it. No problems with that paticular one, but at the shop i worked at every winter like clock work with the first snow/ice we had a whole flock of cavaran needing transmissions. Basicaly people would get stuck (most had bald or low tread) and would spin the tires like crazy trying to get unstuck and the weak tranny would eat itself.
So if she drives nice, it could be alright, but id recommend something else and/or winter tires.
From what i have looked into, the AWD in the older(ie, boxy) caravans was not very reliable. IIRC, vacume acuatted(sp?)
Thats just my $.02
Other than that tires, tires, tires.
Having grown up in PA and ONT, I don't really subscribe to the whole AWD/4WD hoopla. My winter car in PA all through college was an Impala SS with summer-only Pirelli rubber. If the snow/ice was bad enough that I shouldn't drive, everything was closed anyway... but I still drove.
A good 2wd vehicle with winter tires is just as good as an AWD vehicle with all-season tires for street use. That fringe time that happens twice a year when you really NEED the extra traction from a multi-axle drive doesn't seem to offset the extra cost, maintenance and lower MPG for me.
Having said that, I currently own a 4wd truck in Texas. Smart.
