the kids were in an accident in the family Mini van , no one was injured more than some bruises but the Insurance company totaled the 2012 dodge caravan.

when all the air bags go off it is apparently 5k in repair just in air bags so on a 9 year old mini van that was it.

it was paid for and I just put new tires on it.

can't afford a car payment right now so I have to work with what I am getting for the pay out on this one

I have a mechanic that also sells cars and I will probably go through him he can go to any of the area actions and get me what I want.

so what do I want ?

not another Dodge.

needs to last.

is there a good long lasting mini van?

was looking at a 2008 GMC 1500 extended cab that me mechanic has it is a retired electric company truck 2wd about 110K-miles that is in my price range interior is very clean it had one little rust spot on the cab corner they had fixed I am thinking it should run to 250K or better with mostly brakes , tires and plugs and it has good tires now.

not sure I want another mini van it is handy when we all go to holidays or such but the wifes SUV will hold everyone my oldest starts college in the fall so all of use riding together is already occasional and likely to get less frequent

a full size van would also be nice had a 2000 E350 liked it but at 19 years it was worn out lot of miles and getting to need a lot of work.

what are your thoughts on good vehicles to look at ?

Its not full size, but the Sienna's seem to run couple hundred thousand miles with proper service.

If a Subaru outback is big enough, they are supposed to be very dependable. The family on a dairy farm near me has had Subarus since the early 80s. They have gotten over 400K miles on some. MY wife got an outback about a year ago. We only have about 16k on it so far. Not trouble so far, but that should be expected.

I will say that the AWD goes great, probably better than any 4wheel drive we have owned. And we average 28 to 32 mile/gallon with the 2.5l engine.

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I know three people who owned new jeeps in the last five year or so and have nothing but trouble with them, especially transmission problems. I think the were all Cherokees or Grand Cherokees.

As dark as it may be to say, (and I've owned and supported GM, Ford, and Chrysler over the years) we drive Nissan's now. I have an AWD Murano and the wife has a Rouge. They've been extremely dependable vehicles for us.

We get about all brands in the shop.

The best ones, meaning seeing a lot of miles on them and not needing a lot of repairs in our shop are.

Toyota, Dodge and Chevy, in no particular order. Hardest to work on goes to windstars, hands down.

cant beat a Toyota sienna I have an 09 and its a great vehicle

When our three boys were small we had a Nissan Quest. We loved that thing.

I never wanted a mini van but within a week of owning it I thought; "This is why there are so many mini vans on the road". For a family with kids there is no vehicle that is designed as well. And they make it so easy to see all that is around you.

Although you are not sure you want another van, the Chrysler product Vans are plentiful, reliable and safe. Because there are so many they are normally a better price than any truck or SUV. If you are looking for bang for the buck that is it. I have had several caravans since 1998 and all went over 250,000 without any major repairs.

why I said no dodge , meaning no chrisler . Plymouth, jeep, VW mini van , ram or anything else that they made .

had a 1998 Dodge caravan and the 2012 caravan I bought thinking hey 30 years they should have gotten this figured out , I was wrong the recalls , the hole new top end on the engine I am just done with all that is dodge/chrysler

there may be good ones out there but the ones I have had left a bad taste.

I know Honda's last a long time.

sound like good mini vans in no particular order

Nissan Quest
Toyota sienna
Honda Oddesy

friends have a 2004 Honda with well over 200K
my uncle has a had a few Honda's but he never really keeps them that long either 5-6 years

my parents and brother have Sienna's they like but it is also very new I will say it is comfortable

thanks

Once you narrowed it down, ask your mechanic if he'll work on that model.

(Example; there are certain engines that require special tools to do a common problem on them and he may not want to invest.)

Many vehicles have poor upkeep on them find a good one and go through it and hope for the best, that little voice in the back of my head is always saying they are selling it for a reason what is that reason?

I've always ran Toyotas and Gm with good luck

Pete,

At least everyone was OK...that's the main thing! One thing you might want to consider when dealing with the insurance company...Typically when they total a vehicle, they don't care what it has for tires on it as long as they hold air. Since the tires are new, you could ask to keep them and put junk tires on it. Then sell the good tires. That's what I did when they totaled my car as I was in the same situation. My tires had less than 1K miles and I had the receipts yet. I sold them for half of new and made an extra $350 above insurance settlement.

Just a thought....

taking the wife over to look at a Honda SUV with 3rd row seating the mechanic has.

it doesn't get me a newer truck but if it puts the wife in a decent suv that the kids will fit in when needed I can work with that.

Every brand of vehicle has something which will go out in it. You are not going to get something dependable which will last in a computer age. What you want to look at is a minimum of a 6 cylinder. engine. GM makes very good 6 cylinders. Just remember the more gadgets like GM has in it switching to less cylinders in a V 8 is going to go out in 20 below weather or when you are fleeing a pandemic. Keep it simple.
I would stay away from full size vans. Gas is a factor. The GM extended is good. I have one, am upset in it only being a two wheel drive, but it gets through a great deal of snow. Other one I have spins in place on grass. For your price that is about all you are going to get. If you could find one, I would go with any 4 door pickup. All have their failings, but most should go 300,000 now with maintaining them.

I am not being smart in this last part, but kids can't wreck the vehicle if they are home reading a book. My neighbor's girl decided last year she could drive to the city and not listen to her old man in telling her that she should be going back to college early as it was winter. So she takes off late, hits black ice and totals the Jeep. Just banged her up, but kids have a knack for wrecking things.

I have a 2006 Chevy 2500 that's been great and I also have a 2006 GMC 2500 that's been a great reliable truck as well. Both have the 6.0 liter gas. Before these I had a 2002 GMC 2500 and when I sold it , it had 298,000 miles and still going strong. And I had a 2001 Chevy 1500 with the 327 motor that had over 300k when I sold it, I had to replace the transmission at 200k but that's about it