2012 Dodge Grand Caravan
Starting MSRP $20,995–$29,995
By Cars.com Staff
Cars.com National October 4, 2011Vehicle Overview
Dodge overhauled its Grand Caravan minivan last year, giving it a vastly nicer interior, improvements to its Stow 'n Go seating and a new V-6 engine. With room for seven in three rows of seats, the Grand Caravan competes against the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna, and it's related to the Chrysler Town & Country.
New for 2012
The Grand Caravan gets a price drop for the 2012 model year with the introduction of an American Value Package model that starts at $3,000 less than last year's base passenger van. Sapphire Blue interior lighting is also new.
Exterior
You have to hand it to Dodge for making a minivan look aggressive. The 2012 Grand Caravan features Dodge's trademark crosshair grille, and the minivan's face gives it quite a bit of road presence. The Grand Caravan R/T sports a unique monochromatic exterior with its own 17-inch aluminum wheels. Other exterior features include:
- Standard 16-inch steel wheels with covers; 16- or 17-inch aluminum rims optional
- Standard dual manual-sliding side doors; power-sliding doors optional
- Standard heated side mirrors
- Optional fog lights
- Optional power liftgate
- Optional rain-sensing windshield wipers
Interior
The Grand Caravan's dashboard wouldn't be out of place in a luxury car. It features premium, low-gloss materials and mostly good fit-and-finish. Apart from a few things, like the airplane-style map lights that Dodge insists on using, the Grand Caravan has a top-rate minivan interior.
The standard Stow 'n Go second-row bucket seats have a one-touch folding feature. Lift a lever, and the seat articulates forward and into a bin in the floor. You do have to move the front seats forward quite a bit to give the middle seats the clearance to tumble into the floor, but when you do, the one-touch lever makes the operation simple. R/T minivans have black leather seats with red stitching. Other interior features include:
- Standard cloth upholstery; leather optional
- Standard dual-zone manual air conditioning; tri-zone automatic air conditioning optional
- Standard cruise control
- Standard CD stereo with MP3 jack
- Standard tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls
- Standard 60/40-split folding third row with tailgate-seating mode
- Optional heated front seats and steering wheel
- Optional heated second-row seats
- Optional remote start
- Optional second-row power windows
- Optional second- and third-row retractable sunshades
- Optional touch-screen navigation system
- Optional backseat entertainment system with 9-inch screen
Under the Hood
All trim levels of the 2012 Grand Caravan are powered by a 283-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6 that teams with a six-speed automatic transmission. Mechanical features include:
- Runs on regular gas
- Front-wheel drive
- Sport suspension on R/T models
Safety
Safety features include:
- Standard all-disc antilock brakes
- Standard electronic stability system
- Standard side-impact airbags for the front seats
- Standard side curtain airbags for all three rows
- Standard active front head restraints
- Optional power-adjustable pedals
- Optional blind spot monitoring system
- Optional rear cross path detection system
- Optional rear parking sensors
- Optional backup camera
Additional Reviews
Cars.com Expert Reviews
| Kristin Varela | Cars.com National | April 20, 2012 |
| David Thomas | Cars.com National | October 15, 2011 |
| Cars.com Staff | Cars.com National | October 4, 2011 |
Affiliate Reviews
| Courtney Messenbaugh | Mother Proof | July 18, 2012 |
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