2002 Dodge Caravan - Consumer Guide Automotive

Category	SE, 4 cyl Rating (See All Ratings)	Minivan Average Rating

Acceleration	2	3.8

Fuel Economy	4	3.9

Ride Quality	5	5.2

Steering/Handling/Braking	4	4.3

Quietness	4	4.9

Controls	7	6

Room/Comfort/Driver Seating (front)	7	6

Room/Comfort (rear)	6	6.7

Cargo Room	9	9.3

Value within Class	7	5.5

Total Score:	55	55.6

Ratings: Maximum 10 points per category

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2002 Dodge Caravan Review

Newly available for 2002 on America's best-selling minivan are power-adjustable brake and accelerator pedals, a DVD rear-seat entertainment system, and a tire-pressure monitor. Caravan offers regular-length models and extended-length Grand versions. All seat seven and have two sliding side doors. Caravan shares its design with the Chrysler Town & Country and Voyager.

Front-wheel drive is standard. All-wheel drive is available on Grand Caravans. Regular-length models use a 4-cyl engine or a 180-hp 3.3-liter V6. Grands get the 3.3 V6 or a 215-hp 3.8 V6. All use automatic transmission. On the front-drive Grand ES model, the automatic is available with Chrysler's AutoStick feature, which facilitates manual shifting. ABS is standard on all but the base regular-length Caravan. Front side airbags are optional.

Grands offer power operation for both side doors, regular-length models for the right door only. A minivan exclusive shared with Voyager and Town & Country allows the side doors to be closed or opened by hand during the powered phase. The Grand's optional power liftgate is also a minivan exclusive and is shared with Town & Country. The center console with internal power outlet can be placed between front or 2nd-row seats. And a rear parcel shelf has floor and midheight-mounting positions and pop-up storage dividers. The 3rd-row seats don't fold into the floor, but there's a 50-50 split 3rd-row bench available. Each portion weighs 55 lb and can be removed, reclined, or folded flat. The DVD system is a dealer-installed option with a suggested retail of $1650 plus about $150 installation. A VCR-based system is similarly available for around $1400. Dodge positions its Caravan eC as a high-value entry-level minivan, with Grand Caravan eL and eX models equipped to compete directly with corresponding Honda Odyssey models, but to sell for less.

Competition

Though the competition has heated up, we feel that the new Dodge Caravan is still one of the best minivans you can buy. It offers all of the creature comforts in a pleasing package at a fair price. Our other Best Buy is the Honda Odyssey. It's a little bit smaller than the Dodge, but more sporty to drive, and it has a super-convenient flip-and-fold-away rear seat.

Trailing at a close second are the Recommended Chevy Venture and Toyota Sienna. Though these vans are comparably priced and offer loads of neat features, we feel they can't match the road manners of our two Best Buys. Also garnering Recommended ratings are the Chrysler Town & Country and Chrysler Voyager. Though they are mechanically similar to the class-leading Caravan, they don't offer the breadth of model choices.

News

Minivans are vital to Chrysler Group's health, but rebates, special deals and low-interest financing are financial poison for any automaker. Chrysler has been swallowing such incentives to prop up sales of its latest minivans, which have suffered from higher sticker prices, overly cautious styling, more and tougher class competition, and the uncertain post-9/11 economic climate. But while the pump-priming lifted Chrysler Voyager/Town & Country sales by 10.8 percent in calendar 2001, the Caravan line was off 15.3 percent year-to-year. And that loss is more serious than it may seem, as Caravan had been generating almost twice as many sales as the Chrysler models, with profits to match.

What to do? There's not much Chrysler can do except try to reduce costs in ways that customers won't notice but that will improve the bottom line. A first step is the recent addition of lower-priced "eC" models with fewer standard features, but it's too early to tell how well that ploy is working.

In any case, Chrysler must stick with its 2001 minivan design for the forseeable future. A cosmetic freshening is rumored for 2005, and some sources see an optional navigation system for certain 2003 models.

2002 Dodge Caravan Road Test >

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