I rented a minivan for vacation once, and when I went to pick it up they gave me the keys to a Transit. Nice enough vehicle, but not in the same size class as a minivan at all. No room behind the third row, and no way to put three kids across the third row. (I made a fuss and got the Grand Caravan I expected.) If you want a minivan, get a minivan. If you want to go camping in a minivan, you may also want to consider some had AWD.
Chrysler also made a crossover version of the Pacifica that had a 4.0 V6 and AWD in its final years. Not as much interior volume as a minivan, but an interesting option. I guess you could sleep in there.
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:
Nice enough vehicle, but not in the same size class as a minivan at all. No room behind the third row, and no way to put three kids across the third row.
Those are not necessarily downsides for me. The potential upside of a Transit Connect is that it should drive better (smaller) than a Caravan. When I did my week long van-camping trip last year I had a van that was definitely not US minivan sized and it was fine (aside from horrible to drive).
An older Pacifica does not interest me as there is a huge difference between seats folding flat/into floor/removing and what you have pictured. A smaller camper is a possibility, but that basically opens up any vehicle with >72" behind the front seats as an option for me.
Chiming in since I own a 2017 grand Caravan. I did the oil filter housing myself and it could be a two hour job, easy. I took longer because I don't often takeoff my intake manifold and so I got a little scared looking inside the cylinders so I was super super careful. Chrysler has an updated part number for the new housing, but if you do not buy it all as a kit, you have to be careful about getting the right sensors to plug in there.
I hear that the transmissions are not so good on these, but I am up to 170,000 miles and so far so good, YMMV. and I do use the economy mode. Gas mileage is only about 20 miles per gallon no matter what I do. The other issue that others have touched on is that the AC lines into the rear evap can leak, leaving your AC inop. The real fix isn't horrible to get to (inside the rear passenger panel) since the seats get out of the way. I am in the middle of this one, myself. The most common fix is to short circuit the lines halfway underneath the vehicle. you lose rear air, but people say it is livable.
in addition to John's links, I will see if I can dig up my own from when I bought this car back in 2021. I looked at all the competition and for the price, nothing could compare.
EDIT: Found the link - I will echo that newer is better on these
I don't drive mine too crazy since there is a lot of stuff for the kids to keep busy in the back, but it is a peppy enough vehicle and I do not mind it at all. We had a 2008 that for some reason made me feel like it would tip on highway curves, but this one does not have that issue.
I would recommend trying out the other options. I cannot own an Odyssey or a sienna because I have bad knees and neither of those have enough footwell room to let me stretch or move my legs enough.
also, we have a GT and the only purpose of this trim level is to slightly embarrass those of us who care about what a GT trim level usually signifies.
Did they ever make an option to be able to seat 8 people in this generation of minivan
Duke
MegaDork
5/3/24 11:07 a.m.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
There was a second-row bench seat option on lower-spec models, but that didn't come with stow-n-go, so I assume there was a pretty low take rate.
Also, it may have only been a 2-person bench, to allow access to the third row.
Interestingly, our 2014 is still using its original oil filter housing with zero issues. Weird how these things can be. Guess we've been lucky.
We have a 2014 T&C at about 140k, had it since 35k and have done a bunch of little things but it's all mostly wear and tear....rear wheel bearings, brakes, a caliper, oil filter housing, alternator, belt tensioner and I've had it ten years. We bought it from enterprise where it racked up the first 35k in eight months or so and I've done everything since. So useful; so reasonable, so easy to maintain.
Indy - Guy said:
Did they ever make an option to be able to seat 8 people in this generation of minivan
No, but the aftermarket came through.
Amazon version
Duke, my in-laws have the bench and it's only for 2
Peabody said:
In reply to prodarwin :
I didn't see the number of coils listed so I'm not sure how you'd calculate that, and that's assuming that they're wound the same. It's not out of the ordinary for manufacturers to play around with coil diameter, number of coils and coil wind to get different results that aren't necessarily stiffer. One of them could be progressive and the other not.
There were different suspension packages. The vans with manual stow and go and no rear HVAC got one rate and once powered 3rd row stow and go and rear HVAC was added the higher rate was used. It wasn't just spring rate changes but if I recall there were two passenger van spring types with different dampers to further tune different trims and different rate foam stops then the Cargo Vans/specialty fleet vans got a third spring rate and suspension setup.
Well, interesting day. I test drove a 2016 Transit Connect LWB, a 2017 Grand Caravan GT, and the wildcard - a 2007 Mazda 5.
The Transit Connect wasnt bad to drive honestly. Car-like for sure. Good seating position, fairly responsive chassis. The trans does some weird things sometimes, but maybe its just high mileage stuff (165k)? Annoyingly, the interior is ~45" between the wheelwells... just below the sheet-of-plywood metric.
The Grand Caravan drove like a big floaty minivan piece of E36 M3. Seating position is not good. Everything is soft, wallowy, etc. Smooth engine and plenty of power though. Best interior, but also very much feels like something I would hate every minute I'm not using it for camping.
The Mazda5... drove like a car. Despite being 17 years old, it was definitely the best driver. It had some wear and tear and the 4 speed/2.3 combo just isn't great. Interior volume is lower for sure than the other two, but I took some measurements and I believe I can make it work if I remove the seats.
I think my next step is to look at a 2.5L/6spd auto Mazda 5 (Unless I come across a unicorn manual). I'm not sure if there are any gen 1 vs. gen 2 differences in the interior that change things, but my hope is it drives just a little bit better.
Ranger50 said:
Make sure the 3.6 oil filter assembly has been replaced. Decent idea with horrible execution like most mopars.
Doesn't matter, it will need to be replaced on a regular basis.
It needs to be replaced about as often as the spark plugs, so while you have the intake off to do the oil cooler, pop in new spark plugs.
A larger issue is that the finger followers and camshafts have issues with spalling. You start to notice it as an upper end tick. When they get really bad it turns into a misfire. We have two sets of the special tool to hold the timing chains in place for camshaft replacement because we have had to do multiple vehicles at a time.
To be fair, when Fiat bought Chrysler, they said "you have five different V6s, this is crazy. Pick one and use that in everything." So the 3.6 is in everything from Caravans to Wranglers to pickups to Chargers. There are a LOT of them out there.
All the same... change your oil! The camshaft issue vehicles always seem to be in vehicles where they believe you can go 7500+ on an oil change because that's what the dashboard says.
Ranger50 said:
Duke said:
Did the Routan have a Mopar drivetrain?
AFAIK, yes.
They are Mopar everything. It's funny because one of our scan tools will not even try to talk to it as a Volkswagen and flat out says "connect as the same year Grand Caravan" 
The parts are way cheaper from a Dodge dealership than VW.
In reply to prodarwin :
Yeah if you can make it work/fit, the 5 would be my choice for driving enjoyment. I haven't driven the second gen, but I liked the first gen I drove.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
Ranger50 said:
Duke said:
Did the Routan have a Mopar drivetrain?
AFAIK, yes.
They are Mopar everything. It's funny because one of our scan tools will not even try to talk to it as a Volkswagen and flat out says "connect as the same year Grand Caravan"
The parts are way cheaper from a Dodge dealership than VW.
Same with the 2dr coupe stratus. The diamond star was way cheaper for most things...
CyberEric said:
In reply to prodarwin :
Yeah if you can make it work/fit, the 5 would be my choice for driving enjoyment. I haven't driven the second gen, but I liked the first gen I drove.
I had a '12 with the 6spd that I enjoyed for 207k miles. It was a good little appliance. Bigger than a Mazda3 but not enough for a family of five and their various accoutrement. It didn't get good enough fuel economy to not have a larger vehicle; but I kept it because it was just big enough if it had to be and just good enough gas mileage for a commuter and just sporty enough with the manual to not be a penalty box; but it wasn't excellent at anything.
How did this ever turn out? What did you get?
I've been traveling for a few weeks and have another trip rapidly approaching, I don't think I'll make a purchase until after that one, likely July timeframe.
