Mileage vs age (used Caravan: go older, low miles or newer high miles?)
 

May be in the market for a "new" minivan in the next year or so. I'm way too cheap to hand over 25-35K for a new one. Probably like to keep it in the 5-6K range.

My question is, is it better to go older, low miles or newer high miles?

Probably looking at Caravans. I had an 02 GC that was a pretty damn good vehicle for awhile. Sold it because having a small economy car fit our needs better at the time, but, the wife is bugging me about getting another. I will likely give my son my ranger in a year or two, inherit the wife's sonata and she'll drive the minivan. I really like the Odyssey and Sienna, however, I just don't see paying the premium they typically bring. And I don't think they have a thing on the Caravans in the reliability area. In fact, I think post 2000 caravans are more reliable than Odysseys as honda had their own tranny issues during that period.


I am kind of leaning towards newer, higher miles as chrysler seems to have figured out how to build a long lasting tranny now and the 3.3 V-6 is quite bulletproof and long lasting. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one in the 100-120K range with expectations of getting that much or more out of it.

I am kind of leaning towards an '06-07. These are the last two years of that body style. the '08s seem to bring a more money and could potentially have first year issues, although, that might not be a problem as I believe the changes are largely cosmetic.

Thanks for moving this. I knew it didn't really belong in EC, but wasn't sure where to put it.

Mileage is not so important as structural integrity if you're looking for a family commuter. Well, it's not so hard to eventually overhaul the V6 and tune it for fuel savings at the same time...

If its really high miles, they're likely all highway, so really nothing to worry about.