Comments on: VW Routan review: The true inventor of the minivan

By: Bryan Laviolette

Bryan Laviolette — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:48:34 +0000

ugh.

By: Steve Morton

Steve Morton — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:48:43 +0000

I wasn’t going to mention it but you may want to correct that you said it had a 6 speed manual transmission. Feel free to delete my comments.

By: Bryan Laviolette

Bryan Laviolette — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:50:20 +0000

Ack! You caught me in a mistake. I looked at the wrong number for curb weight. That was the “EPA curb weight” which must be with fuel and fluids, etc. The correct curb weight is on there now, but your point is still valid. The Routan — and thus the Grand Caravan and Town & Country — are porkers, far heavier than a Toyota Sienna.
I just hope they get a chance to make the next generation. They need an infusion of new models and fast. They are giving their dealers nothing new this year other than some better interiors in some vehicles. Fiat’s help cannot come too soon.

By: Steve Morton

Steve Morton — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:16:32 +0000

Is that curb weight right? That’s 300 pounds more than my Dodge Ram with a V-8 (body on frame with a full size spare). It’s got 3 more gears and 4 more seats. The styling looks better inside and out to me but for a higher listed price I think. Chrysler could learn from their execution on their next version.

By: Bryan Laviolette

Bryan Laviolette — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:37:53 +0000

I’m glad it works for you. We actually have a Stow ‘n’ Go Grand Caravan and we find ourselves folding the seats down frequently. A lot of it is an age-and-stage thing and has a lot to do with lifestyle. I will say this, one of the best parts of the Stow ‘n’ Go is the stow part because there is a ton of extra space in that bucket, something Honda and Toyota (not to mention Hyundai, Kia and Nissan) just don’t have.

As for the door panel, all I can say is that it was an issue for me and it’s not in my Caravan.

Calling the styling of the Sienna 10 years old is a reach. The Sienna came out in 2004 (we had one of those too, but when my wife tried out the Stow ‘n’ Go seats on the Grand Caravan, she said that our next van would have that feature) and is far different than the previous generations. I’d agree with you that the Odyssey’s styling has changed little. My problem with the Routan/Grand Caravan/Town & Country is they want from the best-looking minivan on the market to an unstylish box with little visual interest, particularly on the sides.

On value, I think it’s virtually impossible for a reviewer to comment on that because it changes so much and is so dependent on the particular dealer. We also did very well on our Grand Caravan, with something like 40 percent off the sticker price.

By: willida

willida — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:48:56 +0000

We want VW and Chrysler. VW kept some Chrysler, but opted for more comfortable middle seats rather than stow-n-go. I bought the Routan knowing this. I owned a Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Grand Caravan (pre-Stow-n-Go) before this. The middle seats were easy to remove, but they stayed in place almost always. At most, I removed them for 1 trip in each vehicle. So, practically, I’ll use the storage space way more than I’ll need the middle seats to go away. In that rare case when I want the space, you can fold the seats vertically once you remove the headrests–just a few inches less space than removing/stowing them.

I can comfortably rest my arm on top of the door panel. The door lock never gets in the way. I guess each driver will have to test this for themselves.

I think any new min-van buyer who is considering a Dodge/Chrysler should test drive a Routan. I found it had more features per dollar than its cousins, and the VW dealer was more aggressive in making a deal work (1.5% interest for 72 months in my case). For that matter, if you’re considering 10 year old styling of Sienna or Odyssey, you should at least look at the Routan.