dustin92
Well-known member
Update! Did some car shopping today with my Dad, who worked for Chrysler for years, and does 99% of the repairs on our vehicles- so he knows his stuff. I looked at several, but narrowed down to a couple that just stood out. The first was a 2002 Chevy Venture- this one was marked $3995 but we had a talk with the salesman and I can get it for $3500 with no trade, or $2500 with my car, so a trade of $1000, which I feel is fair. It has 129,000 miles and was a southern car so not a speck of rust, although there is a spot on both bumpers where the paint is beginning to peel. No real dents though, and it still looks nice. However, the interior is a bit rough. The drivers seat has some wear and a small rip, and the other seats are dirty so will need to be shampooed. We found a couple issues that the dealer agreed to fix if we decided to buy it, but nothing horrible. Has everything I wanted except a CD player. Not a deal breaker. My Dad is concerned about the engine's reputation for leaking intake gaskets and head gaskets- which don't seem to be leaking yet, but it does have the same engine as my Impala, which has had the intake gaskets done twice and the head gaskets once since I've owned it. The second vehicle, which I actually perferred, was a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan. It was in overall excellent condition inside and out, and we didn't find any issues, but it was owned by a delivery service for the first 3 years of it's life, so it has high miles, 250,000. The first 200,000 were put on by the delivery service, then it was bought by the dealer for his family. They no longer need the extra seating, so it is for sale. My Dad said it has an excellent engine so should run for many more miles if I maintain it- which I have done religiously with every vehicle I've owned. He figured it could go 400-500,000. The mileage is my only concern, but what eases that somewhat is that it is still new enough to put a new engine or transmission in if it fails. The asking price on that one is $4995, but my Dad figures we could get it for $4000-4500, because it's been there for a while. I didn't ask at that dealer about a trade in, but I don't have a problem selling mine privately for around $1500. We didn't drive either of them, but started the engines and both sounded really smooth, no ticks or rattles, the Dodge actually sounded a bit better than the Chevy, which sounded as if there could be a minor exhaust leak somewhere. I think I'd be happy with either of them, but if I had to make a decision not based on price, I'd go for the Dodge, even with it's quarter of a million miles. I'm going to sleep on it tonight, then I think go apply for a loan tomorrow. We will see what the outcome is.