Minivans have better gas mileage than SUVs? (luxury, FWD, Chrysler)

[MustangEater82]

Originally Posted by luzianne

My Dodge Caravan with 7 seats got much better gas mileage than my Jeep Grand Cherokee with 5 seats or my Jeep Wrangler with 4 seats.

Is this a joke? Or are you still comparing not equal vehicles.


How does a Dodge Caravan compare to a 3rd row seat Dodge Journey?


To get to the Minivan/Escape comparison, how doed your Caravan compare to the Jeep patriot? Jeep Compass, Jeep liberty. Or whatever other small crossovers are availible now.

[dkf747]

My 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan gets great gas mileage on the highway (upper 20s quite often). In the city it only gets around 17.

[PokerMunkee]

An AWD Minivan (Sienna is the only one now) doesn't get much better MPG than an AWD/4x4 SUV.

The sliding doors are very nice. That's about the only thing a minivan offers that I miss on a large SUV. Someone needs to offer rear doors that both slide and open. That would be the bomb!

[rh71]

Originally Posted by Malloric

Escape is not an SUV, it is a crossover. Car based crossovers do make more sense for people that do not need a lot of space. The extra mass and power of a minivan over an escape you cannot get around. Bigger, more powerful vehicles tend to get worse mileage than smaller, less powerful ones. And why have more vehicle than you need? I mean, good luck putting a dog in the trunk of a sedan, so those are out. You really would need either a wagon or crossover... and there are not many midsize wagons made.

agree but don't forget the one big bonus a minivan has - sliding doors. I've had to back my SUV out of parking spots just so I can fit the infant carrier in the back because the spots were tight. Easily do that with a minivan without moving the car first.

[robrobrob]

The Escape is not comparable to a minivan. Try making the closest comparison possible. A Pilot to an Odyssey. Basically they get the same gas milage with the Pilot getting slightly worse gas milage.

I think the myth was when SUVs were SUVs and not crossovers. Like the old Durango, the old Explorer, etc. Now they pretty much use the same engine as the crossovers. Now, if you are comparing an Odyssey to a Tahoe. The Odyssey gets about 20% better gas mileage.

And yes, sliding doors are awesome. One thing that a lot of SUVs have is the power tailgate. We wish our minivan had that feature.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Me007gold

The 4.0 I6 was an incredible engine(one of the best of our time I would argue), it just wanst efficient at all. That's the nature of big Inline motors though.

Huh? How does an engine get to be incredible if it is thirsty?

An engine achieves incredible engine status if it is powerful, reliable, and efficient.

The 4.0 I6 has never been on Ward's list of best engines. Why is it so good?

[Me007gold]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Huh? How does an engine get to be incredible if it is thirsty?

An engine achieves incredible engine status if it is powerful, reliable, and efficient.

The 4.0 I6 has never been on Ward's list of best engines. Why is it so good?

Good power, produce a ton of trq, acceptable mpg, and it will run forever(There are many that are 300k+).

[MustangEater82]

Originally Posted by Me007gold

Good power, produce a ton of trq, acceptable mpg, and it will run forever(There are many that are 300k+).

I agree with this guy.



Dont care if its on the wards best engine list or not. It did its job, and did it above and beyond anyones expectations of it. Its a good engine.

[RandyWatson13]

no hybrid minivans

[Jesse69]

I asked a Chrysler guy in a 2008 Auto Show why they don't make a hybrid minivan and he had no answer. But if they did make one probably it couldn't tow much.