NeonLX

I was amazed at how cheap our 2006 Caravan SXT was. We had been looking at "downsizing" into a smaller wagon or sedan, but we wound up with the well-equipped Caravan for less than most of the Vibes, Focus wagons & other smaller vehicles we looked at. They are really aggressive about moving these things right now and you wind up with a lot of vehicle for the money. Yeah, it's a minivan, but when you get to be my age, you no longer worry much about "image".

Interior is great. Exterior looks like some kind of 1950s cabover truck seen through the eyes of an LSD user (or what I imagine that would look like anyway).

I think I like this vehicle. From what I've seen, the pricing is going to be good as well. We got one heckuva deal on our '06 Caravan SXT but there's a small part of me that wishes we'd have waited to try out the Caliber before signing on the bottom line.

I was kinda hungover when this was taken so I didn't look my "best".

Why was the A604/41TE such a turd, when the Torquflite was so darned good? I never could figure that out. That being said, the 41TE in our '06 Caravan is a HUGE improvement over previous versions of this tranny. Most noticeably, there is NO bump shift down into low as the vehicle comes to a halt as there was in our earlier minivans. Even our '02, which was pretty decent, still exhibited the dreaded "ultradrive palsy" coming into low on occasion. But the '06 shifts as smoothly as can be, and more responsively than any other vehicle I've driven with this tranny. Wish I could say the same for my '04 Neon... :rolleyes:

I like the wood trim around the interior. Seems like the trend is towards that metal trim, which doesn't do anything for me. I much prefer wood. From the pix, it looks like your weather is similar to ours. It was -6F this morning as I headed off to work. Cheer up, it's almost winter!

Heh. And the banging sound they make as things fly apart inside the case is musical in its quality; unlike the sound of an exploding tranny in a "domestic" vehicle. :lol:

Me three. It could be newer than a '54 though because they hung onto the '54 body shell for a few more years. I remember reading about them awhile back and was surprised that the '54 body was still in use a couple years later.

The 3.3L engine is a good torquer. In many ways, it's similar to GM's 3800 V6 (though it's a 60-degree V rather than the 90-degree V of the 3800). It's not a true high RPM engine but it does have a nice, flat torque curve. It's also very durable with no real mechanical issues. The Mitsu 3.0L engine is also good on power. I had this engine in a '94 Dodge Spirit and that made for a quick ride (and it didn't do too bad in my '89 Caravan or '96 Voyager, either). But it's also known to be a leaker--the cam seals almost always let go after a few years, and the valve guide seals actually disintegrate and fall down into the valve guides, allowing oil to leak down into the combustion chamber. That's why so many late 1980s/early 1990s minivans have turned into mosquito foggers.

Have they yet to mention Honda's grenading automatic transmissions? The Odyssey minivan is especially prone to this. My neighbor's Accord is on its 3rd automatic tranny. But that's just a routine maintenance item, eh?

The 300C is a fast, comfortable car that handles darned well. It's one helluva lot of bang for the buck. Too bad it's so butt-ugly (in this old codger's opinion, anyway). The CTS-V is pure dynamite, and it looks great in the process. Too bad I'll never be able to afford one.

Sorry, can't help it. Can you tell I'm bored at work? :) I've had a number of these minivans over the years, all powered by either the 3.0L or 3.3L V6. Both are good, powerful mills and the 3.3L is very reliable. The 3.0L has a good bottom end but tends to develop oil leaks (both internal and external). Our current van has the 3.3L V6 that's rated at 180 HP and 210 lbs/ft of torque. I've never honestly run one through the quarter mile, even informally. They seem to have enough power to get all that mass up to freeway speeds without me having to grow old in the process, so I'm happy with 'em... :) On edit: Now this guy Gus, he knows how to get a minivan through the quarter mile in style: http://www.gusmahon.org/html/Mini.htm Wow, 13.1 seconds at over 103 MPH! This guy knows how to have fun. Unfortunately, Gus was killed by some careless driver in an accident a few years back. Damn.

The only modding I've done to the Caravan is yanking two spark plug wires (one on each bank of the "V" engine) to increase fuel economy. The engine is now effectively a 2.2L V4. For some reason, it runs kinda rough and I always detect the odor of unburnt gasoline whenever I've driven for more than a few seconds. I think it's someone else's car making the smell though. On edit: I can still rev it up to the limiter (6000 RPM) in neutral and drop it into drive go get the tires to squak though. But lately, there's been an ominous clunking sound coming from somewhere up by the floorboard whenever I do it. Maybe a squirrel built a nest up on top of the tranny or something?

Let's load my daughter's figure skating hooligan friends (and the coach; a big old Russian woman) into your Caravan and THEN let's see who's bragging about 18-second quarter mile times...

26.3 seconds @ 57 MPH--2002 Dodge Caravan Sport with my daughter's figure skating club on board (including the coach). I even did a "neutral drop" to get things moving. Next time I should maybe turn off the defroster because that engages the A/C compressor?

My tastes ain't exactly "mainstream"... :)

New vehicles: Small 2-seater? Sky Coupe? (Any size) Jeez, I dunno--maybe a Mustang GT Sedan? (Any size) Caddy DTS Wagon/Hatchback? Malibu Maxx SUV? Jeep Wrangler (until the 4.0L inline six is discontinued) Van? Caravan or Town & Country Truck? Silverado HD w/ 8.1L V8 Old timers: Small 2-seater? '56-'57 Corvette Coupe? (Any size) '59 Chrysler 300E or '61 Chevy Impala "bubbletop" or '71-'72 Buick Riviera Sedan? (Any size) '69 Imperial "pillared" sedan Wagon/Hatchback? 1979 AMC Pacer D/L SUV? 1966 Jeep Wagoneer w/ AMC 327 V8 Van? 1995 Plymouth Voyager "Rallye" Truck? 1970 Chevy K20 CST w/292 inline six

I want our troops home safe & sound.

I dunno. That big 2.7L four they used in the Nissan pickups was pretty darned torquey, as is the 2.5L four in the Altima. The Detroit Series 50 4-cyl. diesels we have in some of our medium duty vehicles at work are pretty darned torquey too. Or the HUGE 4-cyl. diesel engine we had in our old International TD-14A crawler tractor on the farm had loads of torque--it topped out at 1300 RPM! 4-cyl. engines can be torquey, if they have enough displacement. But 4s also get kinda shaky if the displacement is too large (hence the balance shafts). I've been around some really gutless sixes with minimal torque too--that dinky little 1.8L V6 in the Mazda MX-3 comes to mind...or the Mitsu 2.5L V6 used in Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Cirrus in the 1990s...again, it eventually comes down to displacement. I think there are good displacement ranges for different cylinder configurations in automotive applications. Four cylinders seem to do their best in the 1.5L-2.5L range, while sixes seem to do their best in the 3.0L-4.0L range. Of course, some of the old big sixes like Ford's 300 (4.9L) and Chevy's 292 (4.8L) were great for pickups, so there's no hard & fast rule...

Dig this:

They shoulda called it the "Invicta". My daughter and I phonetically refer to that ungainly-looking Buick crossover vehicle as the "Ren-dez-vouz" (pronouncing the Zs). But just so youse knows, we're equal opportunity offenders; the old Dodge Dynasty was the "Die-NASTY", Phord's LTD is sounded out as "ul-tud", the Cadillac DTS refers to the dee-tees (like the dudes in the drunk tank encounter), etc. etc. Hey, maybe we have too much time on our hands?

I'm a big fan of C. S. Lewis. My hope is that they didn't take too much "artistic license" when makin this film. I think we're going to see it this weekend.

I'm jealous. You got yourself one nice car!

The Impala is a great car. Too bad all the lemmings go straight to the Honda & Toyota dealers and throw their money at Accords and Camrys. Nothing wrong with Accords & Camrys, mind you, but the Impala is a much better buy--and vanilla styling or not, the Impala looks better than either one.

Man, this was a tough poll. There are cars from every era that I like. The current cars are certainly the best from a technological and reliability standpoint--I mean, it wasn't that long ago that you'd expect to be overhauling your engine at 60,000 miles (or at least it doesn't seem that long ago to me). I started thinking about what cars I'd want in a collection (if I could afford to have one). Most of them fell into the 1950s or early- to mid-1960s. Some of my favorites include: 1951-'54 Hudson Hornet 1956 DeSoto Adventurer 1957 Plymouth Fury (instead of the '58 "Christine") 1952-'54 "Mexican road race" Lincolns 1949-'52, or 1955-'56 Chevy 1957 Rambler Rebel 1963-'65 Buick Riviera 1966-'67 Plymouth Satellite 1955 Imperial 1965 Olds Starfire 1961-'62 Chevy "bubble top" 2-door hardtops 1931-'33 Chrysler Imperial 1975-1980 AMC Pacer (no, I'm not kidding!) 1978 AMC Gremlin GT (again, I'm not kidding!) 1969-'70 Pontiac Grand Prix 1956 Mercury Montclair hardtop On edit: forgot the 1971-'73 boattail Riviera! And the list goes on and on... Needless to say, my tastes ain't exactly mainstream.