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

[pete c]

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.

[pete c]

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

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

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...

[ksa8907]

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