I thought I read somewhere that Toyota already has a Hybrid Minivan. From what I remember, it's being sold in Japan.

"The new redesigned Estima was just launched in Japan and its fuel consumption is impressive for a 7-seat vehicle: 5.0 l/100km (47 mpg US) in the ..."

here's the link ---> Toyota Launches New Hybrid Estima Minivan in Japan : TreeHugger

From my point of view, I will NEVER buy another Chrysler, Dodge, or Plymouth product. I have owned 6 in my lifetime. 3 were brand new. All 6 were maintenance nightmares. Very, very poor reliablitity. I don't care how good the warantee is, if you have to constantly take it back to the dealer for repairs it just not worth it. It's unfortunate that the average American doesn't factor in the cost of maintenance in the price when buying a new vehicle.

I see lots of the new Chrysler minivans on the road so I find that news unusual.

I have bought two Dodge minivans new, a 1996 and a 2002. Both are with family members now. Both were the short body v6 versions. The 1996 had a Mitsubishi motor and was obviously lighter and got great mpg. I reguarly clocked 24mpg combined city highway and beat the EPA ratings. Highway was 30mpg for me.

The 2002 seemed like a bargain. I paid almost the same price even thought it was six years later. The van had far more featured as well, dual sliding doors, power seats etc. Unfortunately the mpg was much worse. It was hard to get 20mpg average combined so I had trouble matching the EPA ratings.

Both vans lasted 5 years before any repairs other then the battery. The quality was great but the trend in mpg was bad.

Then the 2008's came out. BLOATED, no short body versions, and huge blocky front ends that resembled SUVS not minivans. The sales figures are terrible. They are not just loosing sales due to less overall minivan sales but a huge loss of market share as well.

Of course they have to close 1/2 of their production. I would never buy one of these new vans even though I had stellar quality impressions from previous years. The new van gets 17mpg city.

The only minivan that I know of on the market that is still mini is a Mazda5. That is what I would buy if I had to buy a minivan today.

Wow. I had to do no maintenance on my 2002 and only a battery on my 1996. Besides oil changes from 1996 to 2004 I had to pay $50 for maintenance. The 2002 did have a recall that was dealt with during an oil change. I have three other close friends that own the last version of the van (2007 and before) and have had no drivetrain problems with them though there have been some minor fit and finish issues.

The Kia Rondo is close, but no sliding door. :car:

This is not good news. I really don't want to hear about 2400 people losing their jobs. We should all hope that the big 3 rapidly turn things around so that in the future we'll see a news story about Chrysler adding 2400 jobs and restarting Fenton to keep up with demand (perhaps for some new line of EVs).

I wonder how this will affect the VW Routan. It was nice when I saw it at the auto show, although I expect very pricey. It wasn't listed, but the Town & Country was and it was $45k but loaded. Still, way too much money and way too low mpg now. The 4 year concept to showroom lead time is killing these makers after we've had a 6 month SUV/Truck to car mentality conversion.

VW is now stupid if they don't bring us the Touran. Well, I'm not siting here with piles of marketing research, so I can't call them stupid yet. I drove one all around the alps in 2005 with the 1.6l gas engine with fantastic mpg.
The Mazda5 is a great design - it would make for a real nice hybrid using Toyota's next gen Li-ion system.

When looking to buy a vehicle at beginning of 2008, the choices left me were Prius or Mazda 5.
At the time, if it wasn't for the gas mileage of the Prius, I would have chosen the Mazda 5, with tinted windows, a lowering kit, etc...

Now that I know more, lots more about my Prius, if I knew this info in January I would have chosen the Prius for more reasons than simple gas mileage. The Prius is helping teach me to be more ecologically responsible, well....so is PriusChat.

I'm very glad I chose the Prius, but am considering dumping my Silverado for another Prius or a Mazda 5. The car (van) will be used in business.

ZC1

are american car makers that stupid so that they wait until it is to late?

they should have started building hybrid cars, including minivans some time ago. as usual, they wait until it is too late to change anything.

imagine how many jobs would be created if they would put their efforts towards more efficient, more practical vehicles?

realistically, no one needs fat, oversized and polluting SUVs like hummers and escalades. no one.

if i need to haul something that can't fit in one of my normal cars i rent a truck, for $19.95 per 75 minutes.

that is sane, lugging 4000 extra pounds all the time with you is insane and lot more degrading to the environment and the wallet.

I have a 1999 Dodge Caravan with a 2.4 4 cylinder. Gets around twenty mpg in the city. It was given to our family by a sympathetic relative due to the problems we had with our two (yes I said two) 2006 Honda Odysseys.

Unlike the Hondas, this van has been trouble-free for the two years I've owned it. But then we don't drive it much nowadays; not with a Prius in the same garage.

When the new and improved Caravan became available, I went to look at them. They had discontinued the 4 cylinder SWB model. "No one wanted them," said the salesdude.

There were rumors abounding at the time that a MB 4 cylinder diesel would find its way into the Caravan, but it's been a no-show so far. They could have sold a bunch of them puppies.