if you had to choose

cadensmommy

Senior Community Member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #1

Between a 2005 nissan quest and a 2006 town and country what one would you get?

Thanks!

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Jul 15, 2011

• #2

I would say "Ew, can't I have a third option?"

I'm not familiar enough with the Nissan to say for sure, but my BFF had a T&C that was okay. It wasn't a great van, but it worked with no major complaints.

 

B

bnsnyde

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #3

The Quest b/c when we looked at vans the TandC had reliability problems. And on the test drive it drove like a truck. Whereas the Honda drove like a car, more or less.

I liked the Quest.
Not sure it had enough seats for us as we wanted 8.

 

cookie123

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #4

Doesn't the Quest have some kind of seat belt issue with car seats? I remember reading something.....

 

sunnymw

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #5

MIL uses to have a 2006? Quest. No issues with any of the seats I put in there. Including a rf radian.

Typed with fat fingers on a tiny touchscreen keyboard, please excuse typos and autocorrects...

 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician

• Jul 15, 2011

• #6

I had a 2005 Quest ( totaled in a 50 mph T-bone crash to the passenger door) I loved it when it was whole, and I loved it more when I saw how it handled the crash. The impact snapped the axle, sheered the engine in half, and put a 3 inch wide crack in the firewall. The driver's seatbelt buckle actually BENT.

There was less than 2 inches of intrusion into the passenger seat.

MIL's medical condition has deteriorated to the point she can no longer climb up into theSuburban and I'm looking for a 2005-6 Quest.

I've never crashed a Chrysler, but I've driven them and had to pay to replace tranny after tranny. The drive in the nissans are so much smoother and the handling is much better.

 

skipspin

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #7

I test drove several Quests in 04 (mystery shops) and I hated them. The weird seats, the "center" controls, pretty much everything. So, I'd go with the T&C. I don't love them, but my DH is handy, there are tons of parts available because there are so many T&Cs and Caravans out there.

I actually sort of like the bench seats in the T&C and caravans too. Nice for 2 RFing and back seat access, but I know most people prefer the captains chairs.

 

littleangelfire

Well-known member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #8

I can't attest for either of those specific models, but I can say that just going off brand - Nissan or Chrysler, I'd choose Nissan, hands down. Can't beat the reliability and resale value. And they tend to just be better made. I am not head over heels over my new car, a Nissan Versa, but I chose it over a Mazda, Ford, or GM b/c of the reliability factor.

 

M

Mysweethoneybee

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #9

The Town and Country isn't great for carseats and we had problems with our doors not locking or unlocking (have to unhook battery for 5 minutes and hook up again and the problem is solved) and now my windows won't go down because the rubber got too hot and stuck to the glass so if I want to roll my window down I have to get out and use a credit card to unstick the rubber from the window which I thought was a freak thing but seems to be a real problem on that year chrysler minivans when I looked it up.

 

R&J'sMom

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #10

The 2006 Town & Country. We have the Touring Edition. We bought it new and it has 83,000 miles with no major problems. Brakes & tires are the only thing we've spent money on. I love the Stow & Go feature and the power sliders.

 

Mom2FiveGirls

Active member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #11

I have an 07 grand caravan that we got in March and haven't had any major issues with it. The headrest in the captains chair (one of them...can't remember which since we have both removed at the moment) is broken...well the plastic piece that it goes in. I called and the recommended replacing them on both seats and said they've been redesigned. I think its around $20. I need to do that, but I'm not using them right now so I'm not really in a huge hurry. And when we bought it the doors wouldn't lock and unlock with the key thingy or the thing on the door (you had to do it manually) but I took it in and it took them all of 10 minutes to fix it. No clue what they had to do though and it was covered under the 30 day warranty. Other than that, I have no complaints. I love my van. Of course I was driving DH's Ford Excursion and hated it (too big for my liking) and so this is my only van experience. If I had it all to do over again, I'd get something that seats 8 for sure.

 

luckyclov

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #12

I'd go with the T&C - but only the '06 generation.

I actually witnessed that generation Caravan get hit, slide, and tip to its side years ago. There was a family with 2 small children and a dog inside. Everyone came out alive, relatively uninjured. I bought a brand new '05/'06 (it was in Oct and I can never remember which model year it was) Caravan a few months later to replace my Nissan Altima. I never had problems with it and I never had child seat issues, either. I LOVED loved LOVED the 2nd row bench.

The only reason I got rid of it was because we were pretty certain I'd never get pregnant (and stay pregnant) again and downsized to a Mazda5. 36,000 miles and all we did was change the oil and replace the brakes...and I vaguely remember a fluid leak, but it wasn't major. Joke was on us b/c I got pregnant (and stayed pregnant) less than a year later. We traded the 5 in for another Grand Caravan, but, unfortunately, the redesigned vans (2008 and after) aren't as child friendly and now I drive a Sienna.

I know absolutely nothing about the Quests of that generation, other than one year had some issues due to unqualified plant workers.

 

J

jmm3

New member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #13

I have a 2005 Quest and have been very happy! We have not had any problems with it. We have been able to install all our seats easily. You can also tilt the captain's chairs forward even with an ff seat on it. We have about 90000 miles on it now.

 

super_grape

Active member

• Jul 15, 2011

• #14

quest!

one of my bff's has an 05 quest and while i think it's very nice in many ways the things i like most about it are that the third row is definately more car seat friendly than my 05/06 grand caravan and, iirc, it scores a bit better in safety tests. i have fit my dd's marathon in the center of her back row with room for boosters on each side...can't do that in my caravan. her quest also feels more roomy to me.

 

G

Guest

New member

• Jul 17, 2011

• #15

2005 Quest? Definitely the T&C then.

The plant that made the Quest was a brand new plant. To say they were inexperienced and a bit clueless about how to properly make a car is an understatement. There were growing pains to say the least. Not all were lemons, but you as a whole, you've got a pretty decent shot to encounter some problems from a car built there. They finally figured things out somewhere around the 06 model year. More like 07 to really be sure.

 

ericarizo

New member

• Jul 22, 2011

• #16

T&C. I have 2 Grand Caravan's now (99 & 05) and have not had any problems what so ever and can get a good 3 across in the 3rd row of the 05.