Three days. 1,561 miles.
We like a good quiche as much as anyone, so when Editor in Chief, Scott Oldham told us that the Coco Palms restaurant in Wendover, Nevada makes a mean quiche, we had to go; the we being Video Production Specialist, John Adolph and myself.< /p>
We loaded our Long Term Dodge Caravan to the hilt with camera equipment, clothes, tools, spare wheels and tires for some other car (you can never be too cautious) and hit the road. Here are some of our impressions of the Caravan.
The Ride:
Fully loaded it rides much better than it does when empty. The endless rear end porpoising goes away but is replaced by a noticeable nose-up attitude when driving down the highway. I should mention that we probably added 600 plus pounds of weight (including the two of us) to the Caravan. Load leveling suspension would be nice.
The Motor:
Sounds decent but it couldn't push the Caravan past 110 mph. We attributed that to one of the sliding doors being open. Fear not, with the door closed we tapped the limiter at 114 mph. What would a long term blog be without one of these...
The Body:
The tailgate is now unable to open under its own power thanks to deformed rear bumper cover. More on that later. The hood flutters at speeds over 100 mph.
The Interior:
Front seat backs are thin and allow the magazine holder clasp on the back side of the seat to poke you in the small of the back. This is annoying around town and almost warranted a 'modification' after 500 miles of continuous driving. The Swivel and Go seats seem like a good idea until you have to remove them. So Men, not only do you have to look forward to detesticularization from owning a minivan, but two of your vertebrae will be turned to dust trying to remove the 95 pound captain's chairs from the Caravan. They are insanely awkward and very difficult to leverage out of the Caravan.
The Handling:
It handles like a ladder. The tires are terrible. We suspect they might be bias-plys. Triple digit cornering is not advised.
The Brakes:
Massive stopping distances when partially loaded. Tons of dive. It has to look entertaining from the outside.
The Gizmos:
The nav system works well enough. But it seemed to calculate travel time over any distance at the rate of 45 mph even when posted speed limits exceed 70 mph. See the image below.
The Practicality:
With the rear seats stowed away and the lead lined captain's chairs out of the way, there's a lot of space behind the front seats. We used all that space to comfortably photograph some car in some location.
Shortly after this photo was taken, I was chased back into the Caravan by wild peacocks. Seriously.
Kurt Niebuhr, Photo Editor @ 11,407 miles
phinneas519 says:
07:11 PM, 07/14/08
Someone explain to me how the Carvan's ability, or lack thereof, to maintain triple digit speed with good composure is important. I suppose if someone was really late for their soccer practice or a big tournament it would be a plus... Minivans and 100+ speeds should never be combined, ever, nor is there a reason for it.
With all due respect, I know you guys are the photography crew, but statements on body flutter or an inability to sustain mach speed should serve no real purpose to most sane people. Maybe California is like a whole other country in and of itself, because some of the comments I read in the blogs seem to make sense the closer I get to the San Andreas fault.
On the plus side, the rest of the comments are totally relevant.
billt9 says:
07:29 PM, 07/14/08
lololololol
If an archeologist were to discover a Dodge Grand Caravan in the distant future, he would date it to 1980... China.
altimadude00 says:
08:00 PM, 07/14/08
Doesn't the stainless steel guide/plug for the rear seat table stick up? I'm sure this is a pain trying to slide cargo across the floor. I spotted that at the last auto show and asked the Dodge guy if there was a plug for it...so junk won't fall into it or gouge cargo, etc. He said there is no plug. That turned me off immediately to Swivel-n-Go. Give me the hideaway seats instead. Sure they might be thinly padded and flimsy, but you don't have to remove them and you have a flat floor.
firstwagon says:
10:09 PM, 07/14/08
"Men, not only do you have to look forward to detesticularization from owning a minivan"
Anyone over the age of 16 who actually thinks that way really needs therapy.
jaguar36 says:
05:16 AM, 07/15/08
Haha, this post was most awesome. I particularly love the driving 100+ in a minivan.... with the door open. What great jobs you guys have. Ohh and the MS Paint car drawing is also awesome.
dougtheeng says:
06:15 AM, 07/15/08
"If an archeologist were to discover a Dodge Grand Caravan in the distant future, he would date it to 1980... China."
This is the funniest comment I've seen posted in sometime.
I agree that 100+ mph in a Caravan is pretty irrelevant. I have no doubt its fun, though.
vvk says:
06:52 AM, 07/15/08
I couple of years ago I was on my way to Alaska and somewhere in Iowa got passed by a VW Sharan 1.8T minivan with German plates. This guy was doing well over 100 mph. I was going pretty fast in my Volvo 240 station wagon (loaded with 3 people, camping gear and supplies). No matter what I could not catch up to the Sharan, especially on the uphill sections.
That was way cool!
ahightower says:
08:14 AM, 07/15/08
Sagging in the rear end with just 600 lbs payload including people and cargo? Remember that's MINUS 200 lbs of seats! That's pathetic. And that's why full-size SUVs are reasonable for families, even when they don't tow anything. Minivans and CUV's get what, about 2-3 mpg better in the real world? But they're down about 75 hp, and can't even handle what is a fairly common load of 4-5 people and a week's worth of luggage. Hell, a week's worth of *groceries* would be a burden to this sorry Caravan. The more I load up our Yukon XL, the smoother the ride. The rear levels off with a heavy load, but I've never seen it sag, not even when towing within its capacity. Sure it's a bit overqualified for a trip to the dry cleaner's, but I'd rather have a little extra capacity than be whipping some poor minivan to death just to go to Grandma's for the weekend.
ahightower says:
08:17 AM, 07/15/08
Also, dang, what size tires are those? I'm dying to know what you were chasing out there!
ahightower says:
08:27 AM, 07/15/08
One last comment. See the most recent post about the Tundra for further proof that trucks
(and by extension, truck-based SUV's) are better. They got over 17 mpg. Acceleration and passing were effortless. Four adults plus a bunch of stuff.
skierx420 says:
08:53 AM, 07/15/08
I love the camera guys blogs, they are always trying to me funny in their reviews but they are difficult to take seriously. But they do have one good point. In an effort to make the ride apeal to a bunch of different people they made way to many compromises. The previous generation had a more communicative ride. But here in lies the difference between models. If you had gone with a Town and Country you would have had load leveling shocks. Or if you had gotten the towing package you would have faired much better. Yes the swivel seats are very heavy. The new stow and go seats have a lot more padding than the old ones. As for the hood fluttering at over 100 mph, MOPAR makes a special hood pin with 4 inch rings just for this! Also quit whining about the deformed tailgate guard and get it replaced for crying out loud.
wobbly_ears says:
10:41 AM, 07/15/08
What the HELL is that bump on the rear bumper? I have seen it in other new Dodge minivans. Looks as if either someone has rear-eneded it or the part didn't fit correctly & the UAW goons hit it with a hammer to make it fit.
Did Chrysler run out of budget when designing this pig? Or, did they think that people who buy Dodges wouldn't notice it?
wobbly_ears says:
10:44 AM, 07/15/08
...and what'd the deal with those Greenish backlit TIMEX gauges? Even Dodge Caliber has them & they are absolutely atrocious in night driving. Looks as if someone printed the gauges on a white paper on home printer & stuck them on.
Very cheap looking & I can't believe it costs 40k!
crowb says:
11:08 AM, 07/15/08
Kurt, this was awesome. Thanks for the entertainment. You, Sir, are an audacious champion of silliness. A well written post with excellent photo content to back it up. I especially liked the "Some car in some location" phote. Keep it up!
rascal99 says:
09:53 AM, 07/16/08
"If an archeologist were to discover a Dodge Grand Caravan in the distant future, he would date it to 1980... China."
Thanks, I just spit coffee all over my keyboard :0)
hondacura4 says:
06:38 PM, 07/16/08
"The tailgate is now unable to open under its own power thanks to deformed rear bumper cover. More on that later."
Thats just unacceptable for any vehicle let alone a $40K one. Ill keep my Odyssey.
mopar424 says:
07:05 AM, 07/17/08
A minivan can hold WAYYY more stuff than a full size truck based suv, or even wimpy car based suvs.
xoquixxoqafxo says:
08:28 AM, 07/22/08
I WONDER HOW MUCH TROUBLE WHOEVER WAS DRIVING OVER 100 WOULD BE IF THE COPS PULLED HIM/HER OVER?????
sammin says:
10:01 AM, 07/22/08
Law enforcement will be in touch....this was very irresponsible of you and Edmunds driving at such speeds, with visual proof to boot!