Caravan, Sedona or santa fe

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ram_man

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So we had thought we had our vehicle situation all hammered out but it would appear that I was wrong. The plan was to fix my old Dodge ram and when we needed a 6 seater vehicle for local use we would have it . We would only need it 4 days a month because my daughter lives with her mom the majority of the time.
However my fiance and her ex husband finally got a parenting plan ironed out. He lives in Indiana and we have to drive her son half way to meet him every other weekend. The weekends we have my daughter are also weekends we have to meet him so once our baby arrives in may we will need a 6 seater a lot more often. But even when we only have the 5 of us those long drives will be miserable in the Dodge dart.
Sorry for the extra info I knew it would be asked so I figured I'd explain why up front.
I still owe on the dart but will trade it in for the new vehicle.
My choices I'm considering are
1. Grand caravan
2. Kia Sedona
3. Hyundai Santa Fe
We are looking to spend no more than 13,000
They all seem to offer bang for your buck. What would you buy? Any common issues with any of them? Any concerns? Look forward to all the information you guys can give me.
 
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We absolutely LOVE our Grand Caravan. It is an excellent highway cruiser, and it's got plenty of power, gets decent fuel economy (she averages 21-22 driving around town), and the stereo is surprisingly good. The interior felt far far better than the Toyota Sienna we looked at as well. If you have any questions about the Caravan I'll try to answer them for you.
 
In your situation, I would go for the Caravan every time. Don't get me wrong, I love the Korean cars, but the Caravan is my choice out of that list. The Santa Fe is a good choice, but the 3rd row is going to be cramped compared to the Sedona or Caravan. Sedona's are nice, but they're relatively low-volume and can be quirky in my experience.

The Caravan is the best of all worlds. My personal choice would be to get a 3.6 van with the 62te transmission. Solid drivetrain combo, even though the early ones had some head cracking issues. It's pretty rare to see, however.

One thing on the Caravan to watch out for: they are notorious for burning out the fuel pump relay. Unfortunately, that relay is built in to the TIPM (underhood fuse box), and it not only requires complete fuse box replacement, but as of last month it also requires de-pinning and re-pinning one connector as they changed the internal circuitry of the box. That, and although it's supposed to "self learn" upon installation, I've had several that crash during that download and require reprogramming by the dealer or a mobile programmer.

For that money, I would focus on getting the Town & Country. Granted, you can option up a Caravan just about the same, but you get just a little better quality out of a T&C. Take a look at this one, loaded to the hilt with 50k on it for $13k:

2011 Chrysler Town & Country
 
A minivan will have more room than an SUV, and Chrysler minivans are known for their transmission problems. So out of the three cars you listed, that leaves the Sedona.

You might also like the Transit Connect
 
In no way is a three row SUV (the Santa Fe) a replacement for a minivan if you want space. The only thing better is a suburban.

Ill go back to when we were minivan shopping in 2015, we had narrowed it down to the Caravan and Odyssey. We had driven a sienna extensively (as a rental car), and our friends had a brand new one that had already been at the dealer multiple times. The Sedona we checked out at the auto show, and while nice and somewhat gimmicky, we didnt like it as much as the caravan or odyssey.

A great odyssey deal kind of fell into our lap - brand new (8 miles IIRC), NOS, window display model from 2014 that they wanted to get rid of in July of 2015. But I would have been equally as happy with a caravan. I cant count how many times we have had them as rental cars, for both work and private use. If you book a compact and the rental agency is out of compact cars... Theyll often give you a minivan...

And there are fleets of them. The two minivans Ive had multiple times as rentals are the sienna and the caravan. And the caravan probably 10x as many times as the sienna. The Pentastar 3.6L V6 is widely recognized as a great engine. No idea of the truth if their ATs are problematic - seems that any AT from any manufacturer can be a ticking time bomb after around 160k miles.

Id shop the rental car companies' used car deals. No idea if they are truly deals or not, but its probably a good opportunity to see a bunch all in one place. I know that not too far from me, Enterprise has a "car sales" lot, for example...
 
I own Hyundais and like them a lot. But in your case I would choose the Caravan. SantaFe does not have good third row seating and is difficult to get into that seat.
 
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I would probably choose a 3.6 Caravan. The drivetrain is decently reliable, with plenty of power, if only a bit unrefined. The most common problem that I have to fix on the 3.6 is a leaking oil cooler. It is below the intake, and a bit of a poor design.
 
Dodge Caravan - we sell a lot of these used out of our Dodge store, many with 80,000 - 100,000 miles on them, and they don't come back with problems.
Engine and transmission are solid.
Funny about the stereo comment - my young lot guy has been driving a 2011 GC for his "runner" and commented on how good the stereo was, I gave him a look as in "what" ???

Example of what I would look for SE + is a nice trim level, Bluetooth is important
(it needs a good detail job by the selling dealer)

https://tinyurl.com/sebp5m5

And the window sticker

https://www.dodge.com/hostd/windowsticker/getWindowStickerPdf.do?vin=2C4RDGBG0GR400588
 
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Rarely would I suggest the FCA product but based on those options, the budget and the space needed I'd agree it's the most reliable option. There were some revisions to the 3.6 Pentastar, early ones had valve-train issues do to faulty the rocker arms. I believe it was all sorted by 13 or 14 but am not sure maybe one of the FCA guys could be more specific. I'd skip the Honda Odyssey. It was aptly named, as the out of warranty ownership of one will be a heroic journey fraught with peril and costly unplanned stopovers for the stupidest of reasons.
 
I agree with the others that a minivan is more practical for your usage than an SUV.

Older Carvans (Gen 1 - 4, up through about 2007) can be problematic, but the newer ones (5th Gen) seem to hold up very well. (On older Chrysler vans, the 2.6 and 3.0 litre Mitsu engines were problematic, and the 4-speed automatic was disastrous.) I would be comfortable buying a 2014 or newer Grand Caravan with the 3.6 and 6-speed automatic. Two friends have them, and both vehicles have been good. They turn in incredible mileage on the highway. They are really practical too - they gobble up 4 x 8 sheets of drywall and plywood easily.

Having said that, we bought a used a 2009 Sedona in 2016, and it's been excellent. We passed it on to the kids a year ago. For the 3-1/2 years it's been in the family it's been almost flawless. So, I wouldn't shy away from a Sedona either.
 
Another vote for a GC/T&C. We owned an '05 T&C for quite a few years, and it was good to us. A year ago we updated to a '15 GC with about 71k miles. Since then we've put over 10k miles on it and had no issues. As mentioned, some years had cyl head issues...do some research to find out exactly which years.

Originally Posted by 14Accent

One thing on the Caravan to watch out for: they are notorious for burning out the fuel pump relay. Unfortunately, that relay is built in to the TIPM (underhood fuse box), and it not only requires complete fuse box replacement, but as of last month it also requires de-pinning and re-pinning one connector as they changed the internal circuitry of the box. That, and although it's supposed to "self learn" upon installation, I've had several that crash during that download and require reprogramming by the dealer or a mobile programmer.


14Accent (or anyone else interested)...here are some other options: https://www.verticalvisions.com/tipm-fuel-relay-solutions.html
 
Grand Caravan for sure. 2014+ are the best, big brakes, no head issues.

Put your search terms in AutoTrader and see what's out there.

Here's a 14' Grand Caravan with 49k miles: LINK

And a 15' with 64k miles: LINK
 
As noted above the early 3.6 Pentastar's had some upper head issues for improperly heat treated parts. Easy fix but taken care of by the time of the '14 model. The leaking oil sender another cheap easy fix if you are handy. The transmission issues from the early 2000's seem to always pop up from the ignorant and uninformed. The 62te has been and continues to be the equal or better than any other transmission within this segment. There is also a problem with the rear A.C. evaporator springing leaks. I have had it occur on three different minivans dating back to the early 2000's. I ended up just capping off the rear lines, evacuating and recharging the front system. This will work well unless you are in a hot humid area in which case you will probably want to replace the rear evaporator. The best bang for your buck will be a '14 and later model SXT Caravan with stow and go and a roof rack. Not all the SE models have the stow and go and it's a major selling point for me.
 
My gf's dad has a 2012 Toyota Sienna minivan. It's smooth. Fast. Nimble. Handles like a car. The shifts are really smooth and the V6 engine is powerful. It gets good gas mileage. And no problems up to 130k so far. Just brakes and fluids. I was really surprised how it rides and how reliable it is. And it takes a heavy load. I fill it up with dirt plywood all kinds of stuff I can't fit in other vehicles. I would keep it in mind it's a really good vehicle
 
Grand Caravan is a solid choice. No regrets on getting my 15. Hauls everything I throw at it and is a comfortable family hauler and long trip cruiser.
The Odyssey and Sienna are also good, but will be more expensive at similar age and mileage. They also have their own problems.
 
also recommend the Toyota sienna . my neighbor has had 3 caravans over the years. the latest a 2016 has had trans fail and the engine ate its camshaft at 100k. its fleet maintained .
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Caravan. Will be the cheapest to get into and will be inexpensive to own and operate.


Maybe bad luck but BIL picked one (2014?)up for $9k with 89k miles. Great deal but......Within two months ownership the alternator/battery failed and starter. The suspension rattles now.

His previous 2012 with 190k blew head gasket and required a series of repairs >140k.

The acquisition price is definitely cheap and but trips to shop I think are inclusive.
 
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