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| 1996 Dodge Caravan Review, Thomas Holsinger, From Turlock
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Dodge Grand Caravan ES
| | Model of the car: | Dodge Grand Caravan ES | | | General comments: | We loved this van, bought it new for $30,000 in July 1995 when the 1996 model first came out, and it is now 5 years 10 months old with 88,000 miles. Our only significant service issue with it in this time was a clearly defective air conditioner design which was fixed multiple times and replaced twice on warranty. The second whole system replacement worked. We've had only one air conditioner problem in the past 3 and a half years.The options we ordered were a V6 engine, the tow package (to obtain the heavy duty engine cooling system -we didn't intend to tow anything), rear heater | | | What things have gone wrong with the car: | High repair bills from minor collisions which is largely a defect of the ES model's lack of protective cladding. Additionally the whole front bumper comes off like it was unzipped in a low speed collision, with a $1,000 repair bill for the ES model due to the way the ES model's front lights are wired.Air conditioning initially unreliable. Windshield wipers don't age well - the usual problem but ours appears only on the intermittent setting.Low milage (19.2 mpg over 88,000 miles) but this should be expected given its size, engine power, San Joaquin Valley heat causing us to have the air conditioning on a lot, and the general load from carting a large family & all our childrens' friends around. 25 mpg on the highway. | | | Previous car: | I have no comparable experience. |
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