I've reviewed a number of small vans in recent years, even owned one - a 1987 Mitsubishi that was my worst auto ownership experience ever.
Put another way, the Mitsy, as my kids called it, ranks 33rd among the 33 vehicles, foreign and domestic, that have carried my name on their titles over the past 37 years. Its title was mine for all of six months before I traded it in, took a bath in the process and called it a learning experience (I've had a ton of those.)To paraphrase that TV commercial hyping tomato juice, I coulda hadda Plymouth Voyager (or Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town and Country), and if I had, maybe I would still be a minivan minion.
Chrysler Corp. "invented" the minivan concept in 1984 (if you don't count the VW microbus, and I won't). Four million minivan sales later, it still dominates the segment - almost one of every two minivans sold is made by Chrysler - despite the efforts of some of the world's largest manufacturers to field worthy competitors.
I have often wondered, only a bit facetiously, why Chrysler's competitors just don't give up the chase and go ahead and build Voyagers and Caravans and then slap their own logos on them.
Chrysler obviously got it right the first time and has been improving on it ever since. Minivan buyers - formerly station wagon buyers; Chrysler has pretty much buried that market segment - want a vehicle that looks nice (and conservative) is low enough to easily enter and exit, rides like a Buick, holds two grownups and five kids and can be converted into a cargo van when necessary.
In other words, they want a Voyager/Caravan, or better yet a Grand Voyager or Caravan - the stretched version of the regular Voyager/Caravan twins that has more space behind the rear seat.
The "Dark Quartz Gray" Plymouth Grand Voyager LE AWD I've been driving this past week is just that van and it is hard to imagine how Chrysler is going to top itself in 1996 when its next generation of minivans will bow. Chrysler can make it different but it's hard to see how it will be able to make it much better.
But they probably will. Chrysler has been hitting one home run after another recently - the LH sedans, LHS luxury sedans and Jeep Grand Cherokee are all big winners and its new Neon small car, due out next month, has already been declared a four-bagger by the automotive press. There's no reason to think the big C will allow its dominance of the minivan market to get away.
But even with an all new Chrysler minivan set to gallop over the hill in two years, there's no reason not to buy a '94 if you're in the market. Even with a total redo in the wings, Chrysler made some 30 changes - albeit small ones - on the '94 Voyager. These include:
Increased power and torque for its 3.3 liter V6, a 3.8 liter V6 added as an option on the Grand Voyager, antilock brakes standard on Grand Voyagers with All-Wheel Drive, dual driver/passenger airbagsstandard - the first automaker to offer them standard in minivans - conformance to all U.S. passenger car safety standards through 1998, remote key entry, upgraded stereo, and a couple of new colors, Emerald Green Pearl Coat and Poppy Red (available only in the "regular" Voyager).
My test van had most of the new goodies listed above - but not CNG capability, more about that in a moment - and I must say it makes an impressive package. For sheer versatility, carrying capacity and creature comforts, there really isn't a lot of competition. No wonder people who drive Voyagers and Caravans (Town and Country vans are relatively scarce) have a hard time finding their car in the parking lot at the mall - there are so many of them and they all look pretty much alike.
Fuel mileage for the Grand Voyager is EPA rated at 15 city, 20 highway, not anything to get excited about until you consider the Voyager's passenger/cargo carrying capacity. Just tell yourself that it holds one more person and a lot more stuff than the last of the Brobdingnagian American sedans, the Cadillac Fleetwood, and we won't even discuss that car's gas mileage.
Even the price of the Grand Voyager seems reasonable when viewed in the context of what you get in the van vs. what you get in a comparably priced sedan. Base price for the Grand Voyager LE with All-Wheel Drive is $25,460.
That price gets you a pretty well-equipped van as it is, but my test vehicle had the "Customer Preferred Options" group that, for an additional $1,306, added power driver's seat and windows, upgraded stereo and "sunscreen" (tinted) glass. For another $466 it had separate heating and AC for the rear seat. An extra $302 got the larger 3.8 liter engine. Destination charges were $560.
After subtracting the "Plymouth Discount" of $1,000, total price for my test car was $27,094.
As noted above, perhaps the most significant change for '94 Chrysler vans will be the availability of the 3.3 liter V6 equipped to run on compressed natural gas or CNG. Production is scheduled to begin in January.
I have driven several CNG-powered cars (but not a minivan) and I can attest that motorists will be hard-pressed to tell them apart from gasoline-powered vehicles.
But Chrysler expects only about 500 to be sold in '94, and most of them are expected to be snapped up by utility companies, such as Utah's Questar, out to prove the viability of natural gas as a motor fuel.
Compared with the problems associated with electric cars, CNG is a simple conversion. True, gassing up will be a problem for awhile, but earlier this week I noticed, for the first time, a Salt Lake service station with a sign advertising the price of its CNG right alongside the unleaded regular.
At the Parade of Homes last August, one of the display homes had a CNG pumping station in its garage - a unit about the size of a central air conditioner. The wave of the future? Maybe.
Chrysler says you can expect to travel 120 to 150 miles before refueling from the four tanks under the rear floor of the new CNG van, where they rest flat and inconspicuous. I'm told that you learn the CNG van's secret only when you open the door to the fuel tank and find a natural gas connector rod instead of a gasoline filler spout.
Chrysler says its CNG tanks will hold the equivalent of 8.2 to 9.4 gallons of fuel and provide a driving range of 141 to 256 miles. That equates to roughly 17 mpg city and 27 highway.
The company has not released the price of its natural-gas vans but assures they will carry a premium over the gasoline version.