Plymouth Grand Voyager - Family convenience

This review focuses on the daily use of a family with two young children (2 and 5).

Introduction
When my company transferred us from the Swiss headquarters into the middle of North Carolina we were very much looking foward to explore this huge country. Having about 4-6 hours to the beach (depending on traffic and place) and 2 hours to the mountains it would be stupid not to take flexibility and comfort for the kids into account when shopping for a car.
Since a relocation like this is not necessarily the cheapest undertaking we thought of a used car but not too old.
So we decided for a 97 Grand Voyager SE.
The van was is incedibly good condition and with almost 16,000 miles we were sure it has not been standing to death but driven and well "warmed-up".
But, before you get too excited you always want to know some details, right? Especially when you have a family of four and the children are young to get easily bored. On the other hand you want to make sure that loading/unloading, reconfiguration and comfort are at high standard and convenience. Safety has been a big issue of course.
So, here are the facts that have actually supported the decision quite heavily:

Daily use & convenience
Two sliding doors make loading easy and we always loved the speed you can put the kids in from both sides at the save time without holding a door. Unloading is convenient as well as is removing the middle seat when you can just go through from both sides.
The back door handle is conveniently low and opens easily and it holds in the upper open position firmly.

In the Grand SE model is enough space behind the back seats for shopping bags and the stroller at the same time. You don't even have to fold the stroller together. We liked that, especially as it saves time when one child would have to be put into the stroller asleep. On the other hand you always want to be quick unloading the van with the kids when parking on a busy street. Just take out the stroller as is, put the child in and off you go.

You can do almost everything with one hand on this car which is pretty important for others driving with children.
The rear bench can be folded down at a flash. Just in case you decide to buy the new bicycle today, on top of a new TV in the big box.

Seating
We liked to have the kids sitting together as supposed to have them separated as in the Chrysler model with the pilots seats. The middle bench is long enough to hold two kids seats and can be adjusted (as the back bench) in three positions. You can always give them a hand from the front seat then (and who doesn't know the big thurst or the little hunger while driving on the highway at 60mph).

Although you can not remove the bench all by yourself (very heavy) they are very easy unsnapped and unloaded when someone gives you a hand. The two sliding doors are very practical for that.
Having visitors from Europe makes it very nice to have a ride together in one car when we all want to stick together every moment during their visit.

For very long distances we simply remove the middle bench (1 minute), have the kids seats installed at the back bench and put the TV/VCR combo in between the front seats. An inverter for about $70 is connected to the cigarrette lighter and there would be no boring second anymore for our children while driving to the beach.

Comfort
Cupholders in the middle console (front, adjustable for size of cups or bottles) and in the sliding doors as well as underneath the windows at the back are easy accessible (very easy to clean). There is even some more space for toys and books there. An additional cigarrette lighter behind the back bench is a very nice feature for an extra CD player or any device to be used with that while camping. If you don't have a child seat available, there are two built-in in the middle bench. Very welcome feature when you have to transport some children more unexpected. Side impact door beams. Fuel system accident shut-off.

Safety
Driver and front-passenger airbags. Adjustable for front-passenger, intermediate-seat passengers and driver. Child protection rear door locks.

Engine, Driving
3liter, V6, very powerful. Steering weel very easy going, not too easy for a good control. Even in narrow curves the Voyager holds line very nicely. Good controls and elements. Steering weel adjustable.

Misc.
Pretty noisy at the back seats when the back windows are open. Plus: while driving with open side windows (front) it is never to windy for the middle bench passengers. AC is very weak. Doesn't cool enough in summer or heat very fast in winter. Town & Country is better equipped here.

We like this van. Everything goes easy and quick, kids are never bothered by bending them into any corner or down under anything while being seated. Camping is fun because you can leave stuff in the car while still having enough doors and space to unload others and get in/out. Cleaning is very easy because you can reach everything inside nicely and conveniently.
Often it is the difference between simply getting where you want to or getting there more relaxed!