Used minivans

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Oh, one additional piece of advice: For any used vehicle you buy, get it checked out by a mechanic who you trust, before you decide to buy. And if you can buy one where the previous owner can provide you with the maintenance records, that’s a plus as well.
 
PaulGH said:
Oh, one additional piece of advice: For any used vehicle you buy, get it checked out by a mechanic who you trust, before you decide to buy. And if you can buy one where the previous owner can provide you with the maintenance records, that’s a plus as well.
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I’ve heard this. How does that work? Are you allowed to take it off the lot? We have a shop that we trust, but they are at least 30 min. away from anywhere we’re likely to buy. I don’t know how that would work.
 
Blenderx said:
I’ve heard this. How does that work? Are you allowed to take it off the lot? We have a shop that we trust, but they are at least 30 min. away from anywhere we’re likely to buy. I don’t know how that would work.
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Well, it tends to work better if you buy from a private party – i.e., person to person, without going through a dealer. If you buy from a dealer, I’m not sure. It might not hurt to ask several used car dealers and see what they say.
 
PaulGH said:
Well, it tends to work better if you buy from a private party – i.e., person to person, without going through a dealer. If you buy from a dealer, I’m not sure. It might not hurt to ask several used car dealers and see what they say.
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We’ll need financing so I don’t think we can buy from an individual. I will have my husband ask at the dealerships when he goes (I’m on bedrest).
 
My FIL wants my husband to go look at his neighbor’s 2003 ford windstar tonight. It has 140,000 miles on it. :confused:
 
Blenderx said:
My FIL wants my husband to go look at his neighbor’s 2003 ford windstar tonight. It has 140,000 miles on it. :confused:
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It could be a good deal, if you can manage it without needing financing. (For that matter, you might want to investigate whether it is possible to get a small car loan from your local bank or credit union.)

I don’t know anything at all about Ford Windstars, but if you do some research and if you find that they usually last to 200,000 miles or more without major problems, and if you can document that the owner has done the necessary standard maintenance but hasn’t had major problems with the vehicle, then it might be a good opportunity.
 
PaulGH said:
It could be a good deal, if you can manage it without needing financing. (For that matter, you might want to investigate whether it is possible to get a small car loan from your local bank or credit union.)

I don’t know anything at all about Ford Windstars, but if you do some research and if you find that they usually last to 200,000 miles or more without major problems, and if you can document that the owner has done the necessary standard maintenance but hasn’t had major problems with the vehicle, then it might be a good opportunity.
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Well, we decided against this one. Transmission and electrical issues with the windstars. My in-laws have offered to pay as much as $3000 on a vehicle, with the title in their name until we pay it off. This would be much more manageable for us, so I’m grateful they’ve offered.
 
Blenderx said:
My mom just had to call hers a loss. Definitely staying away from these.
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I, too have a 2005 Grand Caravan and I love it! No problems at all. Well… one problem… my hubby ran into the side(s) with the skid loader. One year the left, one year the right side. But at least they match! LOL I do like the stow-n-go seating

Steph
 
OK…I have a 2002 chevy venture and God strike me if I am lying, i have NEVER HAD ANY ISSUES AT ALL. no transmission problems, engine, etc problems. It currently has 200,000 miles on it, and I drive 65 miles every day during the school year, then 20 each day during the summer. We’ve taken it all over the midwest. I could not give you ONE negative comment about it. My mechanic (private, owns a small shop in a small town) has told me that chevy mini’s will generally get about 300,000 miles on them before any major problems hit. a good friend of mine has a 96 venture with well over that and still has no issues either. my brothers both have a chevy Uplander. one had to replace the starter, the other had some other minor issue.

our dad worked for GM for 34 years, so now that chevy no longer makes a minivan, it’s gonna be tough when we have to replace them! good to know about the Caravans and Town and countrys! thanks for the reviews everyone- i was leaning towards a caravan next. think i’ll keep my options open.
 
I think if you talk to a bank or credit union ahead of time, you could get prequalified - even if you decide to buy from an individual. (I haven’t done this, but it’s worth checking out).

We have both a 2005 Honda Odyssey and a 2009 Toyota Sienna. The cars are comparable - they’ve been reliable. I don’t know if it is the changes in the model year or not, but the Sienna has a far easier method of getting in to the third row - for bucking kids in car seats.

With 4 car seats, it is a huge challege. With the Odyssey, i would open the hatch in the back and secure them from behind. The Sienna has a better method of the middle row seats folding up to give you access.

The only issue we’ve ever had with either is that when using the odyssey on a hot summer day - with the air conditioning on - when the car is turned off - there is a huge sound that reminds us some kind of whale mating ritual. It lasts for a couple minutes and is a big disconcerting - and they can’t fix it. (I’ve looked online and there are others with this issue). Well, if that’s our worst issue - I’ll take it!

good luck
 
twk001 said:
OK…I have a 2002 chevy venture and God strike me if I am lying, i have NEVER HAD ANY ISSUES AT ALL. no transmission problems, engine, etc problems. It currently has 200,000 miles on it, and I drive 65 miles every day during the school year, then 20 each day during the summer. We’ve taken it all over the midwest. I could not give you ONE negative comment about it. My mechanic (private, owns a small shop in a small town) has told me that chevy mini’s will generally get about 300,000 miles on them before any major problems hit. a good friend of mine has a 96 venture with well over that and still has no issues either. my brothers both have a chevy Uplander. one had to replace the starter, the other had some other minor issue.

our dad worked for GM for 34 years, so now that chevy no longer makes a minivan, it’s gonna be tough when we have to replace them! good to know about the Caravans and Town and countrys! thanks for the reviews everyone- i was leaning towards a caravan next. think i’ll keep my options open.
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There are a few ventures on craigslist in our price range, I’ll have to look at these ones, thanks!

Oh, and I was wrong about which car my mom had to call a loss- its was a ford windstar! Go figure.
 
my only ‘real’ piece of advice is this…please get a good certified mechanic to take a look at it before you sign on the dotted line. just because “I” haven’t had issues, doesn’t mean others haven’t, i’m sure. i just really love my van. i dread the day i have to part with it! i’ve also (like others) heard good things about the honda model, and my brother’s work car is a honda accord with almost 400k miles on it. i’ve heard that ALL their models can go that far! WOW…
 
and let me clarify- i haven’t had one problem outside of small, routine stuff that all cars have: new tires, brakes, rotor replacement, a leak in the radiator, and a belt so far. all stuff most cars with the milage would have. all said, i’ve had my van in the shop 2 times in 9 years (other than oil changes and tire rotations). just to clarify so my van doesn’t sound like a holy grail of vehicles!
 
twk001 said:
and let me clarify- i haven’t had one problem outside of small, routine stuff that all cars have: new tires, brakes, rotor replacement, a leak in the radiator, and a belt so far. all stuff most cars with the milage would have. all said, i’ve had my van in the shop 2 times in 9 years (other than oil changes and tire rotations). just to clarify so my van doesn’t sound like a holy grail of vehicles!
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Thanks, I figured, yeah, routine stuff. It still sounds like the best deal within my price range unless I want to get something really old that probably wouldn’t pass emissions tests.
 
MyCatholicHeart said:
This x2!
We have a 2005 Grand Caravan & it’s given us a lot of problems too. I had my previous car for over 6 years & never had anything done to it other than routine maintenance & it had over 100,000 miles on it. (It was a Chevy Malibu FWIW) The Caravan we’ve only owned for about 4 years & it has just less than100,000 miles on it & it would take me half a page to list everything we’ve had to replace, fix, or are just just living with. Some of the big ones that stand out in my memory are 2 new master cylinders, 2 new window regulators, a new piston for the rear door (and it’s giving us problems again, we just can’t afford to replace it again), and currently the automatic door doesn’t always work correctly on the passenger side (again, too expensive to fix so we live with it.) I will never buy a Dodge minivan again…
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Add to this a new window motor on the passenger side & either a battery terminal or a whole new cable. Got in it this morning & it wouldn’t start, hubby messed with it enough to get it started but said the cable might be too short because it’s pulling on the connection so it can’t make contact correctly. I’ve had issues with it starting for a while now, so hopefully he’s able to fix it this time. Then when I got home the window wouldn’t roll down…I’m so tired of putting money into this thing!
 
Blenderx said:
Well, we decided against this one. Transmission and electrical issues with the windstars. My in-laws have offered to pay as much as $3000 on a vehicle, with the title in their name until we pay it off. This would be much more manageable for us, so I’m grateful they’ve offered.
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Great! I take it you would combine this with the financing you would get? You can get a better van the higher up you can go.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
Great! I take it you would combine this with the financing you would get? You can get a better van the higher up you can go.
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Unfortunately, that will be our entire budget. We don’t have any wiggle room in our budget as it is for car payments (and we live very frugally).

I’m hoping we can just get something that will last at least a year or two with minimal trouble, and hopefully we will be in a better position to get something better. It won’t be an everyday vehicle, as I don’t drive. It will be for errands and outings on hubby’s days off. We’ll keep the sedan for getting him to and fro work.

I love this baby, but this pregnancy has been very very difficult to accept. Its presented nothing but near-insurmountable difficulties for our family. We are still struggling to recover from a year’s joblessness. God, help us!
 
i am VERY grateful to the responses here, even thought it’s not my thread! as you will read in my responses,i love my venture, but we know that there are probably only a few years left on it before we DO start having some issues, and it’s solely based on the mileage I put on it.

while i was leaning toward a dodge for the next one, the responses here have made me second guess that. i’m happy to get real-world opinions, and not just a website recommendations or my dealer’s recommendations.

thanks to all! ANY reviews of the Kia minivan? a friend of mine drives one but i don’t know much about it, that may also be an option…
 
We have a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan and it has really served our purposes well. We have a stripped down model which kinda stinks, but in a way I wonder if less stuff goes wrong on those because there is less to go wrong. :hmmm: We purchased it in 2010, with 60,000 miles on it. We have not had any major problems with it. We did have to replace some hoses and stuff right after we got it (as well as the lock on the back hatch). And we will have to do brakes this year, maybe tires next year.

The gas mileage is ok (not great but not terrible). I love the stow and go seating. And I just love the minivan for getting kids in their carseats.

We too needed financing, but we decided to pay a little more for a stop gap measure, which means that if the car gets totaled and the insurance pays less than what is left on the loan, we do not have to make up the difference (more or less we do not have to pay on the loan if the car gets totaled. (a necessary measure since we were/are very poor and you need that money for a new car loan not paying on a car we no longer could drive).
 
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