Nobody has mentioned the repeated safety recalls on the Chrysler minivans for
the rear door latches and seat mounting problems.  My brother, bless his poor
confused soul, went minivan shopping found several sources that indicated the
Chrysler trannys bite the dust at 100k miles regardless of service.  He
bought a (Nissan) Mercury Villager -- what a cramped little thing that is!

I'll keep my Vanagon -- it rattles less, drives better, and I can stand up in
it.  Besides, what are you gonna name a minivan?  Bob, Norman, Wayne,...?

Chuck
'85 Westy Weekender 'Roland'
In a message dated 2/24/00 1:44:43 AM, jrasite@EONI.COM writes:

<< Jennifer,

As additional point;

I subscribe to a professional automotive technicians list.  This list is a
forum for the 'pros' to ask for advise from other 'pros'.  Because I have an
AMC Eagle as a winter beater, I get the Chrysler postings as well as the
European postings.  The majority of these Chrysler postings are problems with
various permutations of the "minivan".

I've been subscribed to this list for about four years now, and I wouldn't
purchase a Chrysler minivan based only on the number of posts concerning them.
For example: in this evening's postings, of the five Chrysler posts, three are
regarding  Voyagers.  '96, Transmission, no lockup, '89, Engine, poor idle,
'91, steering.  Below is a typical post.

> 1991 Plymouth Voyager 3.0 L
>
> Trans:         Automatic
> Mileage:       150,343 miles
> VIN:           2P4GH253XMR236491
>
> Affected Item: steering
> Condition:     noise/loud growling
>
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> Hello All
>
> I have this Voyager that is really being a pain in my butt.
> When taking left turns under a load (only when
> accelerating) a very loud growling sound comes from the
> right side. The wheel bearings,struts,tierods,bushings,etc
> have been check by 3 different techs. I am suspecting the
> upper strut mounts but I am not seeing any play or noise
> when on a lift. The other thing that I saw was that the
> motor mounts have some play. When I try to duplicate the
> noise on a life it will not happen but when the vehical is
> on the ground the noise is there. You start hearing is at
> 10mph and up, as speed increase the noise does also. Please
> help.
>
  We know where the problem areas in the Vanagon are.  With the
Daimler-Chrysler product, it appears that ALL areas are potential problem
areas. And as with the Vanagon, the 'factory/dealer techs' haven't a clue.

Jim >>