I just got back from an 8 day trip to the Smokey Mountains with the wife and kids. Between the 3 year old and the 8 month old I knew all their stuff plus every article of clothing my wife owns would never fit comfortably in the FEH. So, I rented a Grand Caravan for the trip.

Driving that for the week almost makes me wish I hadn't bought the second FEH. Almost. It drove really well, had tons of storage and actually averaged over 27 mpg over the 3000 miles I put on it. I was really impressed.

Now I know it is unfair to compare the two but there are some things on that vehicle that I really wish the FEH had. The trip computer is much better than the Ford version for one. I really liked having it overhead while still having a dash trip odometer. Add to that all the storage cubbies, the foot emergency brake and the column shifter, I was able to keep a cooler between the seats and used that to hold my maps and handheld GPS. The only thing that really sucked is it took me a while to get the drivers seat adjusted comfortably. The Stow and Go seating they advertise is everything and more. They even put a drawer under the front passenger seat. Didn't find that until I was cleaning it out.

I don't do many long road trips anymore or I would own one of these in a second. I'd hate to have to feed one for city driving like I mainly do now.

Overall, I'd rather own the FEH and rent the mini for the vacations.

 

I have considered getting a used minivan-or something else biggish- to haul stuff on trips and evacuate.
The Dodge minivans-full length not the caravan) have low used prices(a 2003 with 60000 miles for $8000 or so), so that grabbed my attention. I know Dodge was famous for having terrible transmissions in their minivans; they would regularly die at 50,000-60,000 miles. I wonder if they have solved that problem?
What year was the rental-2005-?
It got 27mpg-?Pretty good.
I need something big, but cheap. I'm considering a Dodge Minivan, or a Suburban. You can buy 1999-2001 versions of either one-with 60000-80000 miles for $7000-$10000.The minivan would get much better mpg, but the Suburban holds a lot more "stuff". I'm not very concerned with the mpg since it would be a low miles per year vehicle-maybe 4000 per year max, and 33000 would be interstate miles(18 mpg Suburban-25 Minivan). The better minivans-Honda Toyota are too expensive for my purpose.
What is your impression of the reliability/QC (from you week or so living with it)? Thanks, Charlie

 

The Grand Caravan I rented is a 2006. It only had 3100 miles on it when I picked it up but from what I saw, it was well made and the "toys" in it seem to be pretty sturdy. I commented to my wife the other day that I would hate to own one that isn't under warranty though just because of all the stuff that could go wrong - all the motors in the seats, the sliding doors, etc. I think the stow and go seats (engineers are amazing sometimes) probably have 100 moving parts but they flip up under the floor in seconds. Depending on how many people you have to move, with all the seats folded under, that thing is like a cargo van.

I think (hope) Chrysler fixed the transmission issue by now. That wasn't just in the minivans - just about any vehicle that had that transmission needed a new one around 45000 miles or so. At least they were good enough to fail under warranty most of the time.

I was impressed with the gas mileage that it got. Except for one tank worth of running around the Smokies (22 mpg), all the driving was Interstate and I drive the speed limit which in some places was 70 mph.

If you could find a good used one for a decent price, especially if it still had some of the warranty left, I'd definitely consider one. I'll be renting one again for my next road trip. $500 well spent.

 

I got decent highway mileage on my Mazda minivan that I traded in on my FEH, but my city mileage stunk! So, overall, I got 18-19 mpg per tank. I'm now getting 34 mpg per tank on my FEH, the extra 14-16 mpg is a big deal to me. I traded in a Grand Caravan on the Mazda because it was a gas guzzler. Yes, I miss all the bells and whistles from my minivans, but I LOVE getting 500+ miles per tank of gas, via pushing the van to 275 miles and having to put 15 gallons.

 

I'm with you 100% on that. Most of my driving now is city/urban highway so it is ideal for the FEH. I went from driving the 2004 Escape V6 at it's worst efficiency to the Escape Hybrid at it's best efficiency. Dramatic difference. Even my 2.0 liter Focus only got 25 mpg on the commute I do now.

For the once a year I need/want the comfort of a big vehicle, I'll rent one and get the latest and greatest every time.

 

I had an 05 Chrysler Town & Country Touring Edition before I got my 05 FEH.

The T&C had every option known to man & I definitely miss some of them in the FEH, but I don't miss the vehicle one little bit. It irritates me that I had to add a Gentek mirror to get the outside temp & a bunch of other stuff I added that definitely should have been included in a $30,000 vehicle.

That being said, I hated the T&C & I absolutely LOVE the Escape. The T&C did get around 27 mpg on the open road if you kept the speed within reason, but around town the mpg was horrible. I never figured it out, but I was filling it 2-3 times a week(for $50 a crack). I now go almost two weeks on a tank of gas(& the tank is smaller in the Escape) The Escape is FAR more fun to drive(there is no comparison really)

~John

 

Thanks Nitramjr and folks. I need something big/huge occasionally , but I won't be able to rent when I need it.It needs to be able to haul 3 adults, 2 large dogs, 4 cats(very large crate) and lots of stuff. A minivan would be big enough-barely-but a huge-Suburban-SUV would be better.
Now, used Suburbans are a bit cheaper than the Dodge minivans, and might be a bit more reliable in respect the things that leave you on the side of the road. Thanks,
Charlie

 

I found it interesting that a discussion is going on here about a Dodge Caravan (and its sisters) in the FEH forum. So, I will add my 2 cents worth. We have had a Chrysler based minivan since their inception in 1984. Even though the kids are adults now I can't get my wife to give hers up. She likes the roominess and sitting up a little higher that most other cars.

Here is an extreme use for the stow and go seating. I had the task of moving my daughter from Virginia to Florida. I had no clue what it was going to cost to rent a small UHAUL truck to make a one way move. Almost $1 grand. Yikes!. So, I got creative. I rented a Caravan with stow and go, dropped all the seats in the rental and my Caravan and used every nook and cranny to pack it to the ceiling. The cost of the rental and the gas for it coupled with about half of the gas for the other Caravan (I would have used my FEH but it just was not enough space and I wanted everything inside as we had an overnight stay on the way down). Total cost for the one way move was about $250 bucks which included the gas. Course, if I had told the rental company that I was using their vehicle as a moving van they probably would have charged me triple the price!!. So, the Caravans do have their place....just wished it was also a hybrid!

 

I'm sure I'll get spanked once the mod sees this thread but since I am comparing the vehicle I rented to the FEH, then I think it is appropriate to this forum. If not, the post gets deleted and I get banned..... .

 

The FEH is the 1st real FE oriented "kinda big" people/stuff hauling vehicle. I'm not sure why Honda is implying/hinting that they have to use a diesel to get outstanding FE in their big people/stuff haulers. A diesel certainly will improve the FE, but the TCH- and the FEH -3700 lbs- sure seem to indicate that a biggish people hauler-minivan or SUV-should be able to get 25mpg+ in the city and 35+ hy.
If the TCH was "hatchbacked" (think giant Prius) and the roofline was raised 3-4 inches and the width increased maybe 2 it would be a 190" Prius weighing about 4100 lbs. I would guess it would get about 80% of the FE of the TCH-maybe 32mpg for forum members.It wouldn't be as roomy as the current minivans. but it would split the difference between a HH and a Sienna while getting better mpg than either one. It would still be a bit small and waaaay too expensive for my occasional use, but minivans took a big drop during the last gasoline runup, and that runup will return post election. We will once again be hearing about the "fear premium" and China and India increasing demand.
Ford needs to bite the bullet and build the 1st FE oriented people hauler.The HH is a bit too performance oriented(7.3 0-60) to get great FE #'s. The GM full hybrids will give good #'s, but they are huge people/stuff haulers with heavy tow capability-completely different animals for boat owners , motorcycle, ATV, MC etc.
Oh well,I'm wandering. Thanks Charlie