Number Four.

[67L36Driver]

Purchased our fourth Mopar minivan Monday. Eleven month old former rental car from Las Vegas area. Got our first in '84, a four banger and short body. Sarah was 4 and Michael 1. Noticed right away it came with a diaper changing table next to the sliding door. It did not like to run on 10% ethanol. Then came the '90, with a 3.3 six, back seat air and longer. One four banger was enough. Soccer, softball, T-ball and vacation trips was the justification. Same identical color as the first, blue. Friends and neighbors thought it was still the '84 we were driving. Next the 2000, gold in color. A 'program' van. Much the same equipment as the '90 plus the information center in the ceiling. Outside temp at a glance and most important "Distance 'till Empty" info. Wife retired and kids pretty much grown up but with a van we could haul our aging friends along with us. It had built in child rstraints in the center seat so we could haul our grandkid. Put 195,000 miles on that pup at an aggregrate 21.2 mpg. Back three spark plugs were inaccessable for a DIY plug change. Two sliding doors. Handy. The 2007 is Red and a tad more spartan than the 2000. Lacks the information center in the ceiling. On the way home I looked at the ceiling six or eight times looking for the outside temp out of habit. Sole excuse for getting another minivan was the center seat with the little kid seatbelts. Carlee (3) and her 'on the way' baby brother can ride with Me-Mo and Pop-O. I checked and now the rear three sparkplugs are within reach again. You'll find us in the right lane at 5 mph below the speed limit so honk and wave as you pass. I wanted a program Impala but nnnnooooooooooooooooo.

[MidLifeinMI]

Just got rid of a high-MPG Vibe and got an '06 GC minivan with 29K miles. I know, but the wife needed the room for her craft bidness, and the mileage advantage of the Vibe was negated by the need to take two vehicles to her craft shows. It's our second Mopar, but I can't judge by the first one (a '97) since we bought it with 97K on the clock & sold it with 117K. Stow'N'Go is the shiznit, though..

[67L36Driver]

Stow'N'Go don't have the fold down booster/child seatbelts, only the two person bench which is hard to find.

We do have the holes/bins in the floor where we can hide Grandma's junk.

The spare is now under the middle of the front floor. Hope I never need to get it out.

MidLifeinMI:
Only put 20K on it? It would have gone another 80K easy.

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by 67L36Driver

Only put 20K on it? It would have gone another 80K easy.

I pretty much give any used car a couple of chances when it comes to stranding my wife on the side of the road. We had some early hard-to-diagnose problems with a cam position sensor which caused the engine to quit every once in a while when it was halfway warmed up. It could always be restarted, but it was annoying at best. When the front upper control arm broke and the wheel fell off in a parking lot 40 miles from home, I figured it had used up its allotted "stranding" points, so we got rid of it. This new one's only got 30K miles on it, so I figure I've got a while before those kind of problems surface.

[67L36Driver]

Worst it got with any of them was both power window regulators in the front doors of the 2000 went at the same time. $800 to fix. Ouch! Gonna get me a Chiltons and do the next one myself.