Need Help Choosing a New Minivan! Dodge or Mazda?

My family is trying to decide which minivan to buy. We are looking at Dodge Caravans and Mazda MPVs. My dad doesn't like chrystlers or toyotas.

We are buying used, but we would still be looking for certain things:
1. newer than 1999
2. front wheel drive
3. carseat compatable (Securekid 400, Mysize 65,and probably a Frontier 90 in the future)
4. good gas mileage

Our budget is $7,000 so we want to get something that will last for a long time. In our price range, it looks like our van will already have 70,000+ miles on it. It wil be my mom's primary car and we will take it up to the campground (2 hours away) every weekend during the summer.

We would like to know which years are better and what to expect with either of them:
good and bad
pros and cons

How much do they chang from year to year?

Thanks for your help!

I know that you said dodge or mpv but you might want to give the kia sedona minivan a try.

rosey2007 said:

I know that you said dodge or mpv but you might want to give the kia sedona minivan a try.

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I'd probably skip a Kia Sedona from before 2006 or so.

Chrysler and Dodge are the same company, so if he doesn't like Chrysler, I'd skip the caravan.

On a totally personal opinion, I'd probably go for a Mazda. They seem to hold up well and last a long time. The MPV is smaller than a traditional minivan though, so take that into consideration. It will likely only have 3 tethers and may not actually fit 7 people when car seats are in the mix.

How about a Honda? Not sure what you could get in your price range but they last a long time and are pretty sweet for car seats. Just skip 2005- there were only 3 tether anchors available for that year and it can't be retrofitted like the other years.

I know you said your dad doesn't like Toyota but the Sienna is a pretty tried and true minivan with a lot of car seat friendly features. You'll get at least 4 tethers with it.

As said above, the Chrysler is the same as Dodge. I have had a Dodge and a Toyota and I personally would buy an older Toyota any day over a Dodge (can't comment on Mazda). Our Dodge started having issues as 70,000 and it was one thing after another. I know some people with Dodge vans have great luck, but I have talked to many people with experiences like ours. We put 1200+ into our van in the 2 months before we traded it. There was even another issue that we were going to have to fix, and couldn't afford to with our payments. We traded it for a Sienna. The only thing I regret about it is the payments.

We love our Toyota van. It really has been a great van and we are planning on keeping it for a very long time. It is a 2006 with over 96,000 miles on it. As for seating there is no way we could have gotten any combination of 3 car seats and adults in the back row of our dodge. Even with boosters. Ours was a 2002 and my dad would have to sit kind of sideways between whoever was back there, and he is not a large person. With the toyota we have an adult between a car seat and a booster and it is comfortable. A 2 hour trip would be just fine for the person in the middle. With the right combo of seats we have even gotten 2 boosters and a convertible in the third row, freeing up the middle for the grown ups.

If you can get your dad to open up his mind just a bit you will have many more workable options for your situation.

Becca

In that price range, you could also check out Ford Freestar/Windstars. I'm thinking that any Hondas or Toyotas in that price range would either be quite old (and therefore less likely to have the safety features of a newer model) or have tons of miles.

Kia Sedona/Hyundai Entourage is a good thought but only if you can get 2006 or newer, which is probably a stretch for $7k.

Other than that, I don't have much to add. Good luck with your search.

At most we'll only have two car seats at a time. We also have a black lab that comes with us everywhere. My mom was wondering if any vans have second row windows that roll down. Bella likes to stick her head out the window.

For safety reasons, the dog would ideally be in a crate in the cargo area or occupying a seat with a pet harness and the vehicle belt. Dogs shouldn't put their heads out car windows, it's dangerous for the dog and a distraction for the driver.

I have a yellow lab. When I had a van, he rode in a crate in the cargo area and I cranked the AC and angled the vents towards him. Now he rides in the crate in the bed of DHs truck because he can't get up into my SUV (geriatric dog).