The Dodge Grand Caravan is very reliable. Three rows of foldable seats. Seven passenger vehicles. With plenty of room in it. An excellent vehicle for vacation travel and more. We take great care of our vehicles. We detail clean up all our vehicles before each rental to our clients. Thank you so much for using our vehicles. INTRODUCTION Dodge Grand Caravan and the similar but more luxurious Chrysler Town & Country are the most popular minivans, accounting for nearly half the U.S. Market. Grand Caravan rides smoothly and does not wallow and float. It is a large vehicle, however, and it can be a beast to handle in tight quarters. Grand Caravan, Toyota Sienna, Nissan Quest, and Honda Odyssey are all roughly the same size: extra large. Power is provided by Chrysler's 3.6-liter V6 mated to a mediocre 6-speed automatic transmission, resulting in a combination that delivers barely adequate response. The interior is attractive, with soft-touch door tops, boldly contemporary gauges, and some nice bits of trim, but hard plastic dominates the dashboard as is typical for the class. The seats are comfortable. Super Stow ‘n Go second-row seats fold into the floor, offering useful cargo space with those seats up or down. Third-row seats fold into the well behind them. With all seats down, the Grand Caravan can accept a 4×8 sheet of plywood. LINEUP The 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan is offered in six models. All come with a 283-hp 3.6-liter V6 and 6-speed automatic transmission. Grand Caravan SE comes with cloth upholstery; tri-zone manual climate control; an interior air filter; tilt/telescoping steering wheel with cruise and audio controls; Super Stow ‘n Go second-row bucket seats, 60/40 split Stow ‘n Go third-row seat; power windows and locks; heated power mirrors; remote keyless entry; six-speaker stereo; trip computer; rear-window wiper, washer and defroster; removable floor console with four cupholders; deep-tint sunscreen glass; and P225/65R17 tires on steel wheels with covers. Safety features include dual front airbags, front side airbags, driver's knee airbag, all-row curtain side airbags, active front headrests, tire-pressure monitor, four-wheel-disc brakes with ABS and brake assist, electronic brake-force distribution, traction control, and electronic stability control. WALKAROUND Though dated, Dodge Grand Caravan looks crisp and tidy but not boxy. Up front is a curvy, almost car-like fascia with mesh inserts above and below the main bumper. Filling the upper grille are the trademark Dodge crosshairs, finished in matte black with a chrome outline. The rear-end styling is more clever than conspicuous. On each side, the rear roof pillar unites with the taillight cluster to form a single surface, which then bulges out just slightly to become the rear bumper and step plate before retreating back up to the roof via the taillight on the opposite side of the van. Recessed into this gentle U-shape is a subtly convex liftgate, integrating a body-color roof spoiler. Still, a minivan shape does not lend itself to artistic sculpture. A description of the overall shape of this current generation of the Dodge Grand Caravan wouldn't sound too much different from a description of the 1984 model, with some gentle curves added. There is a big box behind, where all the people and cargo fit, and a smaller box in front, for the engine. That very efficient outline defines every minivan on the road. All the leading minivans, including Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, Nissan Quest and Chrysler Town & Country, measure within an inch or two of the Grand Caravan in overall dimensions. They're all big, and with a 202.8-inch overall length and a 121.2-inch wheelbase, the Chrysler vans are the biggest of the bunch. These so-called minivans are quite large. However, they share their basic architecture with cars, using unit-body structures and front-wheel drive platforms, with the engine mounted transversely. Conversely, bigger-yet full-size vans, such as the Chevrolet Express, are built on truck platforms, with body-on-frame structures, rear-wheel-drive platforms and giant, longitudinally mounted V8 engines. Minivans are lighter, more fuel-efficient and offer more responsive handling than the full-size vans. INTERIOR Grand Caravan boasts a rich and inviting interior, characterized by strong, decisive lines and shapes and thankfully free of visual gimmicks. The dashboard is hard plastic, but that's the norm for this class. The look and feel is that of a flowing, one-piece design. Door tops are padded, adding a touch of comfort, and both the standard-level cloth upholstery. The instrumentation consists of black dials offset by blue-tinted graphics and chrome trim. Big divisions let you read each 5-mph increment on the speedometer. The shift lever sticks out just to the left of the center stack, an efficient location. The handsome, three-spoke steering wheel incorporates a trip computer, phone, audio, cruise control, and, when ordered. The sloped A-pillars allow good visibility, but the longer hood means the driver sits back a bit from the front bumper, so it's a little hard to gauge the distance when parking. Grand Caravan SE has a removable console with four cup holders. Grand Caravan is designed well for hauling youngsters, with some thoughtful features. Among them is the convex conversation mirror, which is handy for talking to those in the rear seats without having to turn around. We like this clever little feature, which has been around for some time. The second-row bucket seats are stationary, but the back folds forward and the seat tips up to allow access to the third row, all with the pull of a lever. Open the bins in the floor and you can then push the seats into them. This system, called Super Stow ‘n Go, works superbly well. For a fairly simple invention, it's a masterpiece. To test it, we hauled a couch. In just a minute or so, and without having to refer to the manual, we dropped the second- and third-row seats flat into the floor. We unloaded the kids, then went to the furniture store to pick up a long leather couch. We converted the Grand Caravan from soccer bus to cargo van in 60 seconds, and easily carted the couch home. Standard on all Grand Caravan models is a 60/40 split-folding third-row seat that also folds flat into the floor. This third-row seat will fit three kids or two adults. It's as useful and comfortable as most competitors'. While the overall interior volume in the Grand Caravan isn't class-leading, it's close, yielding a whopping 143.8 cubic feet of space with all the seats folded down. The competition offers more legroom, but all of these minivans are big inside and the Grand Caravan is comfortable for kids. The Grand Caravan leads the minivan field when it comes to interior convenience, capability and versatility. Chrysler has been working to give its minivans a competitive advantage in these areas for a long time, and those efforts show. DRIVING IMPRESSION Minivans tend to generate pages of notes on the interior, but little on driving impressions. The Dodge Grand Caravan is a transporting machine, not a driving one. That said, beginning with the 2011 model, Dodge made several changes to help rectify that deficiency. The basic layout hasn't changed: The rear end is still supported by coil springs and a twist-beam axle steadied by a track bar. In other words, it's not an independent rear suspension, so it's not as sophisticated as the setups in some rivals, particularly the sporty Honda Odyssey. (A Trailer Tow Package includes self-leveling rear shock absorbers.) As a result, the latest Grand Caravans are more controlled than the ones Dodge built just a few years ago. The van still leans a bit in turns, but acceptably so, and it gathers itself quicker to head back in the opposite direction. It no longer feels like you're at the helm of a ship. While drivers will feel road imperfections, the ride is still quite supple and a Grand Caravan won't jostle you or the kids over anything but the worst bumps. Better yet, the float and wallow that was too evident on earlier models is now long gone. So is the copious lean, so passengers' heads won't be tossed about with every flick of the steering wheel, the stab of the throttle or push on the brakes. The 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 delivers 283 horsepower. The fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 17/25 mpg City/Highway, or 20 mpg in Combined city and highway driving. With E85 fuel, efficiency falls off to an ethanol-guzzling 12/18 mpg, according to the federal government, which subsidizes and mandates this inefficient fuel. The 3.6-liter V6 is competitive with the other V6s in the class. It's smooth and quiet, offering decent punch from a stop and enough in reserve for passing. Add the towing package, and the V6 packs enough grunt to pull 3600 pounds. However, it doesn't feel as powerful as the 283-horsepower figure would suggest. This same engine feels stronger in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is based on rear-wheel drive. We were disappointed with the 6-speed automatic transmission, which doesn't seem to communicate well with the engine or react well to the driver's right foot. That may be because it's tuned for fuel economy and producing good EPA numbers, rather than responsiveness. We'd prefer a better balance of power and efficiency. There's also a button to push for an even more fuel-efficient operating mode. Obviously, that only exacerbates the situation. SUMMARY The Dodge Grand Caravan offers amazing versatility, with one of the most convenient cabins in its class. The flexible seating, abundance of storage space, and impressive entertainment options can make life easier for busy owners. Add to that ride and handling characteristics that have greatly improved in recent years, and it's no wonder that the Grand Caravan is America's favorite minivan.