New Caravan, Town & Country — mobile family rooms
CARLSBAD, CA. — New engines and transmissions, improved driving dynamics that approach sports-car maneuverability, and creature-features that offer a family room on wheels — complete with swivel seats around a card table and ambient lighting, plus enough media alternatives to offer enough cable TV, DVD and music outlets to keep the rowdiest riders mesmerized — are among ingredients intended to make the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country take the minivan market to new heights.
Minivans? Yes, minivans. The introduction of the fifth-generation models for 2008 was truly a family affair, as Chrysler assured that auto journalists wouldn’t bypass the minivan reintroduction by inviting their entire families — as many as could stand to live in the same room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Carlsbad. The whole family went on road tests, and each family got a minivan for a free extra day of touring the San Diego area. Those with small children had a great time, and it was a chance for my two adult sons to join my wife, Joan, and me for an interesting reunion.
Every eligible driver was asked to take a turn driving on the freeways and through the mountains near San Diego, and we intended to do that, to fully appreciate the 35 new features on the longer, wider and roomier vehicles. Joan drove her share, but Jeff only got a short bit, and Jack, who is often my assistant, never drove. Joan explained it best: “They would have driven, but they got in the back seats, and every time we went anywhere, they immediately fell asleep. Funny, but that is exactly what they did when they were little. At least they proved the rear seats must be comfortable.”
I had a good time driving various models of both vehicles, and I particularly liked the Dodge Caravan Sport, which has the 4.0-liter V6 that is the largest of three engines, a six-speed automatic, and not only firmed up suspension, but revised steering to add resistance and eliminate the too-light feeling of many power-boosted front-wheel-drive vehicles. Both versions come with a 3.3-liter overhead-cam V6 with 175 horsepower/205 foot-pounds of torque; a 3.8-liter pushrod V6 with 197/230 figures; or the 4.0 overhead-cam V6 251/259 power/torque numbers. The 3.3 was adequate, although it comes only with the four-speed automatic, while the two larger displacements get the six-speed automatic.
Even the base models have good handling, but the Sport package on the Caravan tempted me to push it on one steep and curving downhill four-lane. Traffic was spotty, and I slalomed right, left, and back right to easily filter through. I could tell it was handling well when I felt as though I hadn’t gotten near the limit, but the rest of the family chirped aboI should be aware that this was no BMW I was driving. No, but it sure handled well, and when Joan got her turn behind the wheel, she saw what I meant.
“When I first drove it on the highway through the mountains, I was afraid to go too fast, because I thought it might be a little tippy,” she said. “But after I got used to it, I couldn’t believe how well it handled, and I drove it a lot harder. The only problems were other cars that weren’t going as fast.”
The Dodge Grand Caravan comes in base SE form starting at $22,470 with the 3.3 engine and a second-row bench seat, and with three equipment levels and six option packages. Moving up to the Caravan SXT, starting price is $27,535, with the 3.8 engine, “stow and go” second-row seating, four standard equipment levels and six option packages. One of those standard equipment levels is the Sport package with the 4.0 and firmer suspension.
The Town & Country has three models, with the LX starting at $23,190 with the 3.3 and the bench; the Touring starts at $28,430 with the 3.8; and the Limited starts at $36,400 and has the 4.0 and loads of luxury touches. Three standard equipement packages and four option packages. The top-dog Limited has enough standard stuff that it offers only one option package, and it offers eight stand-alone options.
We can deal with the driving dynamics, suspension improvements, and increased safety from higher-strength steel and improved body stiffness after later test-drive weeks, but for the introduction, the appearance and features are foremost. More interior room was attained by lengthening the vans by 2 inches, and widening the roof by 6 inches. One of the primary features the last time Chrysler updated the minivans was the addition of “Stow and Go” seating for 2004, where quite-large storage bins were built into the floor, and the seats could actually fold and disappear down into them to create a large, flat floor. Folding down all the seats reduce the vans from seven passenger to two, but allows hauling 4×8 sheets of plywood.
The biggest new feature for both 2008 models is “Swivel and Go,” a new plan with captain’s chairs in the second row that spin 180 degrees to face the rear bench seat, and a table installs to fit perfectly. We didn’t have the chance to play a family scrabble game, or a picnic, and we decided to hit the famous “In and Out” burger joint, but we ate inside. However, the potential for a traveling family is expanded greatly by the table and swivel chairs, which have seat-anchored shoulder belts that still work when the seats swivel.
Available ambient halo lighting gives occupants family-room atmosphere at night without bothering the driver. Movable pinpoint LED reading lights, similar to airplane reading lights, let passengers read, play games, or be aimed anywhere, without interfering with the driver’s vision. The front console is large enough to hold something as large as a purse, and it slides 21 inches rearward in two different segments to serve either first or second row seats, or both.
The entertainment system is truly over the top. A dual-DVD system plays different things on separate screens for second and third row occupants, and wireless headphones keep the sound isolated from the front row, where the driver can be listening to a ballgame or to Sirius satellite radio. Dual audio-video jacks, a 115-volt inverter, and a 12-volt power outlet in the C-pillar eliminate the need for auxiliary converters, as gaming systems can plug in directly. Aside from playing a video game on one screen and watching a DVD moving on another, a passenger can choose to watch a unique live television broadcast, as the minivans are first in the industry to offer Sirius backseat satellite television, with the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network Mobile, and Nickelodeon Mobile all arranged for viewing. Those are definite kid-aimed channels — which also can be viewed on the front seat navigation screen if the vehicle is parked — but how far can we be from ESPN, Showtime, or a local network telecast is available?
For the discriminating family that wants still more, the MyGIG system has AM-FM-CD-DVD-MP3-satellite radio-navigation capabilities on a 20-gigabyte hard drive, which has voice commands and touch-screen use, a USB port, and a jukebox feature for personalization. The device can rip files directly from an MP3 and store more than 1,200 songs. All of that plays through a premium 7.1 digital surround sound system available with a 506-watt amplifier, 11 channels and 46 watts per channel, and an 8-inch, 2-channel, dual-voice coil subwoofer.
Incidentally, the new Dodge minivan is the Grand Caravan, because the previous standard issue Caravan has disappeared, with only the longer version available. My suggestion is that since the Grand Caravan is all that remains, can’t we be allowed to just call it the Caravan — as every buyer will, anyway? Probably not. Meanwhile, you might say “Town and Country,” but the official vehicle is the Chrysler “Town & Country,” with the ampersand instead of the word “and.” Ah, well…
Chrysler claims to have invented the minivan segment in 1983. We can quibble about Volkswagen’s flower-child-powered Microbus beating the Caravan/Voyager vans by more than a couple of decades, but they were bit players, and there is no question that the segment became a full-blown phenomenon once the Chrysler minivans made their debut. The Caravan and Voyager were so successful that Chrysler added the more luxurious Town and Country for the 1990 model year, and since the Voyager vanished with the demise of Plymouth, the remaining continued owning the marketplace.
Competitors came and went. Ford and General Motors tried rear-engine, front-engine, captive-import, and bizarre-looking minivans in hopes of cutting into Caravan country, but they not only failed, they have faded from the scene. Tough new competitors include the Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest, Toyota Sienna, and Kia Sedona, all of which offer serious alternatives. But Chrysler has sold 12 million minivans through the first four generations, led by the Dodge Caravan segment leader for 23 consecutive years, with a 22-percent share of all minivans sold.
As for the look, Chrysler design manager Jeff Gale explained the task to create two distinct personalities. The Town and Country aims for luxury treatment, although while officials stressed the new grille resembles the 300 sedan’s look, it more resembles the more horizontal Pacifica and Sebring. The Dodge Grand Caravan has a distinct Dodge flair, with the narrower side glass and more-planted stance remindful of the Charger. Gale, incidentally, has a 3-year-old, and 9-month-old twins, so his family embodies the minivan target.
“The Dodge has a bold, powerful, capable look, with a large chrome grille and the large Ram emblem,” Gale said. “It’s at home wth the Avenger in style, and has a little bit of the Charger’s sinister eyebrow over the headlights. With the Chrysler, there is a little 300C in the headlights and details, and the chrome detail in the moldings, underlining the windows, and on the moldings and door handles. The idea was strong for the Dodge and luxury for the Chrysler.”
{IMG2}
With front-wheel drive refined with the new suspension, the attractive look of the new vans and the increased versatility reinforced my steadfast theory on minivans: About 90 percent of the people who buy or have bought SUVs would have been better served by buying minivans, but the averted their most logical choice because of image. Still, minivans may be stodgy enough that owners don’t stand around the water cooler boasting about owning one, but minivans keep selling at the rate of about 1.1 million units a year, and projections are for an increase as baby-boomers start acquiring grandchildren they’d like to haul around.
Recollections of wonderful family-trip stories and about getting 200,000 miles and then giving the minivan to their kid, who is still driving it, became legend, and it seems unfair that minivans, which are better than ever, must overload with features to attract otherwise-rational buyers who might overlook them. It’s to the point that I quite frequently get calls and emails that include virtually identical content:
Caller: “We have three kids so we need something bigger than a car, and I’m wondering which SUV you would recommend.”
After finding out that their trips include youth sports, car-pooling, and day-to-day grocery store, shopping center and work commuting, I say: “Have you considered a minivan?”
Caller (who might be male or female), says: “A minivan? No way.”
So I ask: “Why not?”
The caller says: “They’re too trendy. Everybody always had a minivan, and they’re ‘soccer mom’ things.”
I pause a bit, and then say: “So you don’t want to consider a minivan because it’s trendy, yet you are considering an SUV, which is the trendiest vehicle ever built — and, it costs more, has less room, less versatility, and gets considerably less fuel economy?”
They take that in, then they agree with my assessment. Most may have gone out and bought an SUV in recent years, but high fuel prices have curtailed sales of oversized SUVs. Many have downsized to crossover SUVs. If they ultimately decide to check out minivans, the new 2008 Grand Caravan and Town & Country could revive the idea that minivans not only can survive, they remain the most logical family hauler.
As for those family trips that might seem endless to youngsters, all the new audio-video features causes Larry Lyons, Chrysler’s project manager, to predict: “The kids will change from ‘Are we there yet?’ to ‘Oh, we’re here already.’ ”
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports