I owned my Caravan in Ohio, and that thing did a darn good AWD imitation in snowy weather,
Just IMAGINE what the AWD ones are like! 
If my Caravan could manage 30-ish MPG, I would easily keep it as my daily driver.
The death of the 5spd option in the US market in 94 was truly tragic from where im sitting. They also offered diesel/manual caravans in other markets. My old 5spd caravan would touch 30mpg if you did 60mph. I usually did 75 and got 27.
EvanR wrote: I miss my Plymouth Voyager sometimes. Unfortunately, Plymouth is long gone, and so are stick shift minivans. (Don't tell me the Mazda5 is a minivan. It's a 5-door hatchback that happens to have sliding rear doors.)
Tr00f! Tried to sell the wife on an MPV over the 5. But styling won. Oh well. The 5 is a big Honda Fit with sliding doors...and heated leather seats.
Teh E36 M3 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: Those aren't *real* mountains, but that is pretty astounding (west coaster by birth here).
Yeah, I know, but those are the closest we get to real mountains. I was shocked with 21 mpg, our around town average is only 18 or 19 depending on winter/summer. I was expecting to get 16-18.
Last time my very financially limited cousin needed a car i found him a 94 3.8L town and country for $400 which i fixed up. I've driven it quite a bit including a 500+ mile trip towing 2 different cars (one there, another one back). It CAN get 26mpg on the highway. It REGULARLY gets 25mpg highway. You have to be conscious of your driving, but it's not hard at all. If you choose not to pay attention it gets 22-23. If you drive it mostly in town, it will get 17-19. If you tow a car with it, it gets 17-19. Overall i think it delivers excellent mpg for how old it is. It's still incredibly useful. For a while i was borrowing it every time i needed to tow something because my tow vehicles were taken apart. When we all get together on the weekends, the rest of us show up in much newer, better condition vehicles, and then immediately pile into the old van to go out to eat or whatever and we're pretty damn content in there. The minivan form has such inherent goodness that even old, relatively small ones are still great.
In reply to ProDarwin:
These days, mini-vans are LOADED. I hate it. The biggest car OMG WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL moment I've had recently is when I saw an Odyssey stickered at $50k.
That was one of the most frustrating things when we bought our new van. Take the Odyssey for example. They put a lot into advertising the built in vacuum. What a great, simple idea. But you can only get it on the top of the line van that starts in the high 40's? On my Sienna, it would have been nice to have had the navigation and a DVD player. Why do automakers think it's still the early '90's, and electronics are rare and expensive? It would have cost over $5k to add those features to my already expensive van! It would be cheaper to buy new I-Pads for all 8 seats, so I passed.
If you shop Dodge's there are low option models out there. Mine has essentially zero options. Was the center stow-n-go an option in '08? If so, that's the only option it has. Everything else is as plain and bare-bones as you can get for a modern car: manual sliding doors, fixed rear door windows, manual pop-out rear windows, base stereo (which sucks), cloth seating, base 3.3L V6.
How's it holding up? I think that's the equivalent of the American Value Package now, and it is pretty bare bones, and well priced. Enough that it shouldn't even be compared to other brands - AVP caravan starts at $20k and odyssey starts high 20's/low 30's.
This Valentine's Day I'm going to show my MPV how much I love her!
In reply to 1988RedT2:
Pics? Um, wait... Will this involve lingerie?
So how many of you would recommend one as a daily?
I dread going out with the kids in my truck due to it being such a chore getting in and getting buckled up.
Total nonissue with the Caravan.
Will you have something else fun to drive when you don't have to haul the kids? If so, nothing wrong with a minivan, unless you really need better mileage, or have to maneuver through extremely tight places.
Teh E36 M3 wrote: How's it holding up?
So far, so good. I bought it at the end of Nov with ~78K miles. It now has a bit over 84K. Hopefully I'll get the TDI back on the road soon and I can start using it for the once-a-week-or-so driving it was intended. I'm single, so most of the time the rear seats are in the "stow" position.
My wife and I are both lifelong car people; when we met, she had a Midget and I had a street Sprite and a racing Sprite. But our Caravan is so handy, we drive it more miles every year than all the other vehicles (two Porsches, the MG and a pickup truck) combined. I realize nobody wants to be seen in one these days, but I think a minivan makes a great daily driver! Caravan Dan the Minivan Man
ebonyandivory wrote: So how many of you would recommend one as a daily? I dread going out with the kids in my truck due to it being such a chore getting in and getting buckled up. Total nonissue with the Caravan.
I DD my MPV. Only downside is low-20's mpg. Handling is very sedan-like. Size is a non-issue. MPV fits anywhere a car will. Never feels "big" but fits the kids and whatever else I need to carry. Obviously not ideal for one person to commute to work in, but as a family hauler/grocery-getter, it is without equal.
What is the GRM van to get in the $2014 price range? Brother Has a Oddy, I won't touch those due to tranny issues. Dodge? Any engine to avoid or try and look for specifically? Enlighten me van people...
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps:
Powertrain-wise we've had good luck (no breakdowns) with the 4 we've owned.
Edit: 2000 through 2009 Caravans
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps:
I would say Chrysler (,Dodge & Plymouth). Due to the sheer number built compared to the rest (more than all others combined), you're more likely to get a good one in that price range and maintenance/repair bits will generally be cheaper (again - due to the quantity of scale).
Oh, and I suppose I should add the the low 20's MPG my van gets is painful mainly due to the amount I drive every day (~100 miles).
Toyota Previas are pretty old, but their reliability is legendary, so they might be a good budget choice.
I can't really say that I enjoy the vans in the sense that you all do, but give me a boogie van or 4x4 conversion any day of the week.
Toyotas are also about 25% as common as the Mopar triplets. I would, without question, get the nicest Plymouth/Dodge/Chrysler you can find in the area. You should have a bazillion to chose from and as stated above, with such a giant motorpool to choose from, your chances of finding a really nice one are much greater.
I really liked my GMC Safari when I had it... Very useful van.
I keep renting this one:
I hate to admit how much I love it.
Toyotas are also about 25% as common as the Mopar triplets.
Where i'm at it's more like 4%.
On the low end of the price range (like challenge budget) the chrysler vans are just the best value for the money. Honestly, you can get a REALLY NICE chrysler van for 2k if you're willing to shop pre-2001. The only 'nice' odyssey you can get for 2k isnt even technically a minivan, and i have some fairly major issues with the other options, whether it be too small, too unreliable, too ergonomically retarded (im looking at you, Astro), too hard to work on, etc. The Chrysler van is the jack of all trades among minivans. In stock form they are probably not the best at anything, but they have the least glaring compromises, imo.
Ya know, I had this exact same conversation with the (now ex) wife circa 2009. We had 3 kids at the time (2 in car seats). Our family hauler was a 2004 Explorer 4x4. It was thirsty (4.6L) and only had 2 rows of seats. We needed a bigger vehicle. I was totally for a minivan. The wife was vehemently opposed to a minivan. She wanted an SUV because OMG 4wd. I wanted a Caravan with Stow-N-Go, which was about $23k OTT. We ended up with a brand new 2010 Expedition for $37k. It only took a few months for her to start bitching about the 13mpg. Do you know how many times we used 4wd? TWICE. And I got it stuck in the driveway. To be fair, it was a 2 foot high berm of plowed snow the city nicely left, but I digress.
She ended up trading it in about 6 months later, after we separated. She couldn't swing the $739 payment on her own 
I won't lie. If you can deal with 20 combined mpg, a $19,000 Caravan AVP ($20k-rebate) is an absolute crap-ton of vehicle for the money. Look at the current new-car market - $19k really doesn't buy you much, now does it?
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