December, 04 2007

Test Driving a Caravan

by MommyBlogger, RMOMROX

It arrived!

Nov 22, 2007 5:34 am

So yesterday evening my Caravan arrived, you should have seen the looks of excitement on my children's faces. They were in awe of all the features that this car has. It even has a place to bring game systems or a lap top. Very cool!

We decided to run a few errands right after I had my crash course in how to use the van. Three of the kids piled in and immediately were arguing about where to sit and which televsion to watch. I had to laugh! Once the tears stopped and everyone was situated, we started setting up the Entertainment System. Wow! A huge project, that despite my crash course was almost impossible to figure out. Thank goodness for the teenager, who just kept at it until she got everything working! YEAH!

We decided to program the Navigation System to get us to the grocery store. Very cool feature indeed. We didn't even have to know the address, you just plug in information and it sets your course. Now, if only every road around here wasn't under construction, it might just have plotted the course correctly. I decided it best to turn it off and save it for a farther away trip where I don't know where I am going.

I have to say that the automatic doors, hatch and stow away seats were a nice change from all the manual lifting, closing and moving I normally have to do. With the push of a button....it does it all by itself. Loved it!

I am hoping to get to enjoy it more over the next week.

I'll keep you posted.

11-23-07

I drove around a few of the family members that came over yesterday for Thanksgiving. The teenager came with us and had the stereo turned up and was rocking out! It was even funnier to see my mother-in-law dancing around in her seat! LOL!

The Caravan is a very comfortable ride. I really like the front end, which more resembles a truck or an SUV than an actual mini-van. The automatic doors and back hatch are extremely nice and a welcome change to all that manual opening. I must apologize to the elderly man whom I almost hit with the back lift gate. I was playing with the buttons and didn't even see him back there. He survived, but I did get quite a dirty look. I'll know better next time.

Today, I will be taking the car to work and tomorrow I have plans to take all of the children out and about and try out the table. I am wondering how comfortable it will be for two of my children to sit facing backwards.....I guess we will see tomorrow.

Until then.....

Nov 26, 2007

We all have been enjoying the Caravan. I am finding that it is extremely functional, but has so many features that I certainly need more than just one week to figure everything out.

The televisions have been the source of my greatest frustration. Not only getting them to work, but getting all of my children to agree to only watch 2 things at one time while sharing the 2 headsets. I am not technology savvy, but I did love the heated seats and the automatic doors. Those are two things that my current vehicle doesn't have.

We were unable to utilize the table in the back. My children are just too big and there was no leg room.

I found that the Navigation System did not work well for our part of town, but when we traveled to my sister-in-law's house which is a more established area, it worked great!

The Rear Sensors and Camera....AWESOME! I have rear sensors on my current vehicle, but not the camera. Nice touch.

Overall, I think this is a very great family car. There were several things that we all really enjoyed. The Entertainment System was by far the kid's favorite, I liked the heated seats and automatic doors, and hubby really enjoyed playing around with the Navigational System.

One of a few downfalls was the cup holders, although the van has 13, it didn't fit my Sonic drink very well or my travel coffee mug. The younger kids that were in the back of the car had a hard time actually reaching the cup holders that were in their doors once they were seat belted into their seats.

This vehicle also doesn't have keyless entry....it has a remote, but not access on the door like the car I currently have. This is a feature of my car that I really use everyday. Something I wouldn't want my next vehicle to be without.

The only other thing that I would consider a down fall, was the poor view that I had out of the rear view mirror while the televisions were down. It made it difficult to see. I think screens installed in the headrests would be a better option.

Overall...we had GREAT fun! It was enjoyable to drive around a car that I would otherwise have given very little thought to purchasing. This van has all the bells and whistles that make driving a mini-van fun while still being extremely functional.

Kudos to Dodge! They did a great job on this all new Grand Caravan and a BIG "Thank You" to MommyTalk for bringing me this great opportunity.

:0)

Click here to comment