As I mentioned above, you can get a basically equipped Caravan brand new with front/rear AC, 7 seats, and power locks with key fobs for arond $21,500. That’s nutty cheap and IMO a better deal than a year old Caravan Crew (deluxe) version for the same price. Yeah, you give up the roll down middle windows, power door motors and other fancy stuff, but these days ALL the Caravans come with a modern, outstanding powertrain (unlike previous years where the cheapies came only with four cylinder engines that lacked adequate power).
I’m not terribly partial to low mileage used cars. IMO you still have to pay too much. Late model used cars were rentals, leases, cars that got sold because their owners hated them or the cars of rich people who can afford to lose their shirts every other year. The first three of those aren’t cars I really want. Nobody drives a 2 year lease the way they would a car that needs to last them 200k miles. They beat them like rentals.
If I’m buying used, I actually PREFER a car with 80k to 100k miles that shows evidence of having been taken care of well (see above posts). These cars still have lots of life left and it’s easier to tell if the previous owner was a good one or not vs a late model low mile used car. Plus they’re usually dirt cheap. It helps that I can DIY most easy fixes myself. If you’re paying somebody $90/hour to fix every little thing, this route might not be as rosy for you as it is for me. I tend to forget how much time I spend in the garage.
Try this strategy: If you drive a lot of miles a year, buy a new, but low trim Caravan. You should be able to get 250k miles (unless it takes you more than 12 years to do this) out of it with primo maintenance. A good overall cost per mile.
If you don’t drive many miles per year, a used Caravan 3.3 V6 with 80-100k miles is probably your cheapest cost per mile choice as the initial cost will be low and it’s fewer remaining miles will still get you a good number of years of service. This route is also probably your best bet if you just don’t have the budget to do the new one even if you do drive a lot of miles. I hate loans for cars…
Again, your local market will actually determine the best bet. If you find another brand van in good condition at a good price that checks out mechanically, GO for it. Brand differences in longevity don’t mean as much as they once did. We actually bought a new Honda recently to replace the one we put 200k on (kept the old one in reserve for when my 40mpg 1995 Saturn commuter is down for repairs, which is getting more frequent). I wanted to go Dodge. Wife hated the dashboard of all things, so I got outvoted. Thousands more dollars for a better dashboard. But it’s her car after all…
We bought a Town and Country with a lot of add ons. I liked it because it had more power that the Chevy we had before. My daughter’s wheelchair weighs about 300 lbs. and that poor Chevy was killing itself to get up hills of any size. Maybe we’ll get lucky with this Chrysler.