Just what I was looking for

Why And What I Needed In a New Ride
I was involved in a very serious automobile accident almost two years ago which left me with a severely broken leg and a pick-up truck that did not survive. With the loss of the truck I needed a replacement vehicle. Because of the difficulties I continue to have with my leg I required a vehicle that would ride smoothly, preventing me from feeling every little bump in the rode through my very sensitive “pain radar leg.” Also, because I still have not gotten permission from my doctor to drive, the new vehicle would be required to have plenty of passenger-side leg room to prevent cramping in my leg on longer rides.

The Choice
After test-driving many SUV's and vans, or in my case, test-riding as my wife drove, we choose the 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. It fit the above requirements and then some. I know it is an old cliché, but the ride in this vehicle compared to the others we tested, like the Dodge Charger, “ was like riding on a cloud.” and had the needed leg room to boot.

Other Considerations '
Deciding on the model was only the first of many decisions to be made. A major consideration, given the skyrocketing price of gas, was gas mileage. I suppose it is a personal choice, but I am only willing to sacrifice so much acceleration to improve miles per gallon. When I merge into Interstate, excuse me, when my wife merges into Interstate traffic, I do not want to be pressing the foot on my good leg into the floor, attempting to merge at a safe speed. For the model we chose, two sizes of 6 cylinder engines were available, the 2.4L and the 3.3L. We chose the 3.3L.

Though we will not win too many drag races with this engine, it does have enough “get-up-and go” when need and is even a bit impressive for the 3.3L engine. It provides plenty of power to merge into traffic, pass on the highway, and scoot through those rare, small openings we all wait for at intersections. Of course, the gas mileage varies according to my wife's driving habits (code for “moods”) and road conditions. Our van is rated at 19 mpg for city and 26mpg highway. Most of our driving consists of a combination of the two, I can only report our average gas mileage of 22 mpg. The Grand Caravan's fuel tank capacity is 20 gallons. Therefore our travel, starting on a full tank, until we absolutely must stop to refuel is 440 miles. Since my bladder will not last for 440 miles we never really get close to the bottom part of the “E” on the fuel gauge.

Roomy and Comfortable
The model we chose has an extended length wheelbase.of 189 inches This length is a full 70 inches longer than the standard Grand Caravan. This helps create the roomy interior we now enjoy.
Our Grand Caravan has a seating capacity of seven.. My wife often ferries co-workers to lunch which fills the van. Those who have ridden on these lunch excursions say they were comfortable and did not feel crowded
One of the items on our “must have list” when we set out on our vehicle quest was that our van must have the option to fold down at least a portion of the seating to allow for storage. The Grand Caravan has "Stow and Go Seating." The second and third row seats can be folded fold down into a compartment in the floor. Breaking down the seats and stowing the seats only takes a couple of minutes and is easy to accomplish. It is also easy to restore the seats from their stowage. I really like this feature. It provides extra room for hauling or we could even put a small air mattress down for a bit of relaxing on longer trips.
When the back seat of the Caravan is in the upright position there is a recess in the van's floor that can be accessed via the rear door. It provides a “trunk” of sorts, prevent groceries or other items stored there from being scattered during driving. The rear door is is equipped with a hydraulic assist to help with opening closing, making the rear door very easy to operate. The vans rear door opens upward rather than the to the side. I prefer this arrangement rather than the swinging-type door as the door does not have to cross to one side or the other and also provides a bit of cover for unloading the groceries in the rain.

Options
Our model is within the mid-range of all the options that are available on the Grand Caravan. Of course, on the high end, there are models with small televisions and DVD players and several other options that I just did not need or want. . In addition to the extra cost, the small amount they would be used, I feel they are breeding grounds for extra problems as the van ages.
Some of the accessories we did include are power windows and locks, an AM/FM/CD player, and one of my favorite features, separate temperature controls for the driver and passenger. My wife gets chilled more quickly. She set her temperature control on warm and I can keep mine on cool. There is also a separate temperature control for the rear seating area. Our van also came with anti-lock brakes as standard equipment along with a driver air bag and passenger air bag that can be deactivated. There is also a rear window wiper to make rear visibility better in rainy or foggy conditions.
The standard warranty for this vehicle is 3 years or 36000 miles and for a few dollars more can be expanded to 5 years and 70000 miles.
One option that my wife really wanted our new vehicle was a remote door lock feature. This item was not on the van we chose. I solved the issue by having an aftermarket remote lock added for$130.00.
Many more options are available on the Grand Caravan. However, my wife and I are happy with the option package we purchased.

Armed and Ready
As I always have tried to do when purchasing a new vehicle, we purchased our 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan at the end of the “model year” as the 2007 models were already arriving on our dealer's lot. Even though the vehicle is already considered a “model year” old and, thus, has dropped in value, the year end purchase savings and the fact that the value of all vehicles dip once they are driven off the lot made up for any “model year” loss. Also, if a vehicle is intended to be driven for a few years and not sold after one or two, the issue of the “model year” becomes negligible.
I suggest using all the resources available on the Internet to research and shop when purchasing a new or used vehicle. Prior to this purchase I researched through Edmunds.com, NADA.com, and KBB.com.
Through my own research, prior to purchasing, I found that, in our zip code area, the average selling price of the van with the options we chose was around $21,500. The MSRP on the window sticker was very close to $23,000. Our local Dodge dealership had the van marked down to $18,800. This mark-down included all the dealer/factory rebates and incentives available.
I, for one, hate the car buying “dance”...that of haggling down to the last penny, the sitting in the glass cubicle as the salesman confers with his manager...all those things that car dealers seem to thrive on. However, luckily for me, my wife is a very “hard sell” and has no qualms whatsoever doing battle with the most seasoned sales people and telling them what she thinks.
In acquiring the Grand Caravan we planned to trade in our 2006 Mazda Tribute with an odometer reading of less than 6000 miles. Even though we were satisfied with the price of the van, we were far from satisfied with the dealer's initial trade-in valuation of our Tribute. My wife went to work and it did not take long for the dealer to realize she was not going to budge on what she had announced as her own trade-in amount. Lo and behold, the “sales team” suddenly found another incentive that they "had completely forgotten about". Though this newly found price change did not quite meet the figure my wife stood so firmly behind, it closed the gap considerably and the deal was struck (besides my wife stuck to a trade-in value on the high side.)

The rest of the story
As previously mentioned, I did a lot of research before deciding to purchase the Dodge Grand Caravan. My wife and I armed ourselves with information and decided in advance what we were willing to pay for the vehicle. We also determined the minimum amount we would accept as trade in for our Mazda Tribute.. Here, I want to stress the great value of being armed with information and having unbending prior price and value decisions made prior to entering into the “dance” with the dealer. I still did not enjoy the actual purchase process. However, knowing we purchased the vehicle we wanted in the price-range we expected to pay and also received our desired trade-in value, made the always distasteful chore much easier.

I credit the information with which we were armed and my wife's bargaining savvy. Hey, I'm not ashamed of the fact that she's a better “dancer”than me. In fact I'm down right proud of her abilities. The folks down at the dealership knew early in the negotiations that she was not only willing, but would walk out the door if she had the slightest feeling they were trying to get one over on her. Heck, she wouldn't even let them pull the old :”let us drive your car to the back to be appraised so we can hold you hostage until we wear you down to our deal” trick! Nope...she insisted on getting our keys back before she would continue to deal with them. While this method may not be for everyone, it worked out very well for us.

The Bottom Line
Overall, my wife and I both are happy with the outcome. In the month we have owned our Grand Caravan, we have had one minor problem, the driver's side window would not raise properly. A quick adjustment in the dealer's and it works perfectly. In my opinion, the interior room, ride and performance is as good as all of the more expensive models we tested. Would I recommend it to anyone else.....you bet I would. The van is easy to drive and park and the visibility from the drivers seat is great. We love our new Dodge Grand Caravan and are happy with our purchase.

Thanks for reading!