What will fit in a new Grand Caravan

I need to move some stuff long distance so gas mileage is a concern. No one has any cargo vans to rent so my options are a 10' moving van or a passenger Grand Caravan that hopefully has Stow N Go. The last time I rented one of these it was huge inside once you folded down the seats.

The big thing I'm moving is a rolling tool chest, it's been in storage for a while so I don't remember exactly how big it is. I'm guessing it is 50" long with six full width drawers and maybe 48" high. Would this fit inside the GC? Worst case is that I'd have to remove the casters which would give another 4-5" of clearance right?

Motor trend says the GC is 46" tall by 49" wide inside. I'm pretty sure the rental company would like to have a headliner in it when they get it back. I'd just hate to rent a 10' truck and drive it 400 miles 2/3rds empty.

Check with local courier companies to see if they have a truck already running that route?

David

Is the chest empty? When I bought my tool chest at Harbor Freight I brought it home in my Volvo 740 wagon. It fit perfectly laid on its side.

It better be empty or it will probably punch right through those crappy stow and go panels.

I move my small matco box in my old short wheelbase caravan. I think what you are trying to do will 'work' but is probably not a great idea. I borrowed a truck to put 450 miles on it today so i could pick up bulky objects in another city. Do you have any friends with trucks?

You would probably do better with a rental truck or big van. I moved my Mac Tech 1000 with my fullsize GMC van with no rear seats and it fit great with plenty of space to tie it down. I don't think I would have wanted to do the same in a GC.

Seats would need to be removed.

Does nobody rent Transit Connect vans yet?

buy an older full size 3/4 ton Chevy, Ford, or Dodge van for $500...

move all your stuff...

sell van for $500..

it's a bit of cash up front, but when you were done you'd only be out the cost of registering and insuring it...

Alternatively, do you have any friends with a tow hitch? You can rent a decent small all metal trailer pretty cheap.

Is the issue that once you drive there, you're not coming back? That must be it or the problem just seems like lack of friends who own vehicles.

Thank you for mentioning the relative fragility of the Stow N Go seat backs. I'm going to be unloading all the tools and taking the wheels off the tool chest if necessary to spread out the load.

I thought about borrowing a trailer and towing with my Jeep but you're talking about going 800 miles round trip and I don't have the time. The van was $36 a day so I rented it for two days considering unloading. I'll post back as to how it goes.

I used National since Enterprise won't rent interstate.

49" wide - slap down a sheet of 1/2" plywood on the floor first. 1/2 a sheet even - the big orange store and the big blue store both sell 1/2 and 1/4 sheets. Then use the plywood for a cheap blasting cabinet after - or something.

What about a one way uhaul trailer rental to go with your jeep? Too bad about enterprise because that nissan van sounded perfect.

Sorry, I just saw this... do you still need the info? I can measure a 2010 tonight if you want rough dimensions...

Email me at (username)@gmail.com to remind me if you do

The Grand Caravan worked out great! The cabinet turned out to be shorter than I remembered at about 40" high without the countertop on it. It is 61" long and I thought about putting it through the sliding glass doors across the cabin behind the front seats. In the end I removed the casters, put it along the passenger's side, and strapped it down using the seat anchors in the floor. To get it in by myself I removed the drawers and used a rubber mat to protect the cargo area. Once inside I reinstalled the bottom two drawers for space reasons as it was a little tippy with all four installed.

In total I think I hauled 1000lbs worth of stuff and was able to squeak out 25mpg. This van certainly feels faster than it should be and I appreciate all of the versatility over our Mazda5. The Mazda will be hard to give up though for what it lacks in utility (it would have never hauled this load) it almost makes up for it in better gas mileage (+5mpg city and highway).

I like that plywood idea, if I wouldn't have been so far along in loading I might have done that. If I end up getting one of these or an Odyssey I might make something up to ease the wear and tear on the interior when using it like this.

Man, here I thought this thread was gonna be about a Hemi-swapped Grand Caravan...

Someone on here has thought of that or some kind of LS swap. I will admit wondering what this thing would be like with a supercharger strapped to it.

I admit I've lusted over the DeDion rear axle in the back of a Grand Caravan AWD as the easy button for putting a FWD drivetrain in the back of something.

The Mazda will be hard to give up though for what it lacks in utility (it would have never hauled this load) it almost makes up for it in better gas mileage (+5mpg city and highway

How are you getting that mpg number?

Man, here I thought this thread was gonna be about a Hemi-swapped Grand Caravan...

Why bother? Caravan already has almost 300 hp, just put a turbo on it.

I am getting that mpg number for the Mazda5 by hand calculation over the past 100k miles we've put on the van. Highest mpg was 31 on a highway trip and lowest was 23 with a lot of summer idling to keep our infant asleep. Average mixed driving is 25mpg and it'll average 29-30 highway.

Im asking where you got your mpg number for the van. You seem to be getting over EPA in your mazda5, and then comparing that to straight EPA in the caravan (apples to oranges). Did you monitor your hwy mpg?

I drove my Mazda5 on the same trip except it was both ways with two adults, two kids, & the back full of kid stuff. The same route, same time of year. Mazda5 averaged 30 mpg for the return leg based on miles divided by gallons, according to GPS my speedo is within 1 mph due to slightly larger tires. The only "mods" to the van are the timing and slightly taller 215/50R17 tires. Other than that I've just done semi-synthetic oil changes, trans fluid changes, and the regular maintenance schedule.

The Grand Caravan averaged 25.1mpg based on the trip computer. I drove 470 miles on 20 gallons so it may have been a little less but the fill isn't always accurate either. I had the GC for an extra day and we drove it on our usual routes with the kids. Around town the computer showed 19-20mpg but I didn't do a hand calculation.

Driving style has a lot to do with it, I'm generally more efficient than my wife and stay within 5mph of the speed limit on the interstate. For some reason she's able to get 2mpg less than I do in my Jeep but generally pretty even in the van.

My wife would love to have the larger vehicle but the Mazda is good for now. With regular maintenance it feels like it'll go another 70k before we have to replace it and since she drives 25-30k a year it won't be too long.

Sounds like you attained reasonable numbers from the Caravan. I was just making sure you werent comparing your facts to assumptions. All is well.