2011 Dodge Grand Caravan CVP Driven

You didn't grow up aspiring to own a Dodge Grand Caravan. I didn't grow up aspiring to review the Dodge Grand Caravan.

Yet here we are: some of us requiring a minivan, some of us reviewing the automobiles which are made available. There's nothing wrong with needing a van. It means you've grown up, settled down, made babies, acquired stuff. There's certainly nothing wrong with reviewing cars, either, though GoodCarBadCar.net's Sales Stats section certainly takes priority.

I can't help but say I don't want a Dodge Grand Caravan. I'm a young urbanite. I love to drive. Generally, small vehicles are favoured in the GCBC Towers parking lot spot. The Grand Caravan weighs in excess of 4300 pounds and stretches more than 5.1 metres from bumper to bumper. And I'll laud best-selling vehicles for succeeding, but actually owning a supremely popular model would be like fading into the poorly-constructed woodwork of a cookie cutter home in a fast-growing subdivision.

Don't take this as anything but a Grand Caravan recommendation for Canadian buyers who need acres of space and can't afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a new car. Chrysler Canada has priced the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan at $19,995. That's the sort of bargain basement pricing schemes you expect to find on dated MP3 players on Boxing Day at discount retailers.

So yeah, go ahead and buy a Dodge Grand Caravan. 39,790 Canadians already have this year. 75,627 others have done so south of the border. Stuff your kids inside. Their friends will fit, too. You'll cram in six months worth of groceries behind the third row, on top of which (don't crush the eggs) you'll have space to load prematurely purchased Christmas gifts.

Just don't tell me you love your new Grand Caravan. I get it, you love the things you can do with and do in your new 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan. But this is not the pinnacle of vehicular development. Not even close. Grand Caravans with the Canada Value Package are not lovable. 

The real review of the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan CVP starts after the jump. Check the specs elsewhere. 

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - August 2011

Not since February has any car other than the Ford Fiesta been the best-selling car in the United Kingdom. February's top seller, the Volkswagen Golf, trails the Fiesta by more than 22,000 sales through the first two-thirds of 2011. Fiesta sales rose 20.8% in August; Golf sales jumped 32%.

Volkswagen may not be at the top of the leaderboard, but no other automaker has more car models on the Top 10 Best-Selling Cars list. August 2011 was a good month for Volkswagen as sales improved 28.2%. The Volkswagen Group grabbed approximately one out of every five sales available last month. 

Then again, in terms of improvements, Vauxhall is looking pretty good with the Corsa's 78.1% jump. Then again... again, Vauxhall Astra sales slid 15.4%, not the best news when compared with the overall market's 7.3% improvement.

August represents 12.8% of the days available for selling cars in the first two-thirds of 2011 but the volumes achieved in last month accounted for just 4.8% of year-to-date sales. Barely more than 5% of all Fiestas sold in the United Kingdom so far this year were sold in August. Sales figures should be wholly different in September, the SMMT says. Though their numbers were low, these are nonetheless the UK's Top 10 Best-Selling Cars for August 2011.

Rank	Car	Status	August 2011	August 2010	Year-To-Date
#1	Ford Fiesta	↔	3213	2660	61,551
#2	Vauxhall Corsa	↑	2901	1629	46,620
#3	Ford Focus	↓	2858	1926	52,918
#4	Volkswagen Golf	↑	1995	1511	39,385
#5	BMW 3-Series	↔	1739	1600	27,298
#6	Vauxhall Astra	↓	1613	1906	38,580
#7	Volkswagen Passat	↑	1526	n/a	n/a
#8	Volkswagen Polo	↑	1467	1193	28,048
#9	Nissan Qashqai	↓	1312	1456	24,695
#10	Audi A3	↔	1125	1037	n/a

Source: MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - September 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - July 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - June 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011 & Year-To-Date
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - August 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - August 2011

New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - August 2011

Ford improved its UK market share by half a percentage point from July to August as year-over-year sales at UK Blue Oval stores jumped 18%. General Motors, via Vauxhall and Chevrolet, saw market share slide half a percentage point over the summer.

Collectively, Volkswagen's parcel of brands owned more than a fifth of the United Kingdom's car market in August 2011. No other group, not Ford or GM or PSA, can come close to what Volkswagen does with Audi, Bentley, SEAT, Skoda, and Porsche.

The chart is fairly self-explanatory, and a look back at July's edition will provide some context. Before you scan, however, there's one slice that's very deserving of your attention. Though Renault/Nissan fell back a whole percentage point and Daimler AG slid nearly that much, the thin white slice representing Jaguar and Land Rover is notably thinner this month than last. 

The Tata-owned Brits were running at a 2.3% clip in July. One month later, more than half their market share disappeared as Land Rover sales fell 27.2% and Jaguar was down 32.6%. With just 569 sales between them, there are other brands more deserving of a place in this chart. Volvo's August market was 1.1%. Mazda market share stood at 1.6%.

CLICK CHART FOR LARGER VIEW

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales By Brand - September 2011 - With Market Share Chart
UK New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - July 2011
UK New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - June 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - August 2011

UK Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011

21 out of 43 car companies competing for sales in the United Kingdom suffered declining sales in August 2011. The overall market, however, was up 7.3% as the five most popular automakers found more buyers this August than last. Ford led the way with 8552 sales (+18%). BMW was the UK's best-selling premium brand with 3873 sales, just 99 ahead of Audi. 

Apart from drastic declines and great gains made by brands which sell fewer than 100 vehicles per month in the United Kingdom, the best improvements in August were put up by Chevrolet, Mini, Alfa Romeo, and Porsche. On the flip side, Dodge and Daihatsu sales fell from 18 and 3, respectively, to zero. Ssangyong sales very nearly went poof. Lotus was down 55%. Renault, for a reason hopefully not related to the disappearance of desirability, slid 44%. That was enough to take the French brand back to 14th spot, behind three automakers which it leads in year-to-date terms. 

Half of all Nissan UK sales in August were Qashqais. The Focus and Fiesta accounted for 71% of all Ford sales. 65% of Vauxhall's volume can be found by looking at Corsa and Astra sales. Outside of the Golf, Passat, and Polo there were only 1250 Volkswagen sales left for the Beetle, Eos, Fox, Jetta, Phaeton, Scirocco, Sharan, Tiguan,Touran, and Touareg to share.

In other words, residents of the United Kingdom have a group of favourite cars and they stick with'em. Precisely one-third of all new vehicles acquired in the UK last month were from the list of Top 10 Best-Selling Cars. That list will be published momentarily. For now, August 2011's UK Auto Sales By Brand report can be viewed in the table below.

Rank	Automaker	August 2011	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	8552	+18.0	171,278	-6.9
#2	Vauxhall	6980	+11.8	150,641	-3.7
#3	Volkswagen	6238	+28.2	114,209	+0.6
#4	BMW	3873	+1.3	72,543	+14.5
#5	Audi	3774	+18.9	73,736	+12.0
#6	Peugeot	3149	-9.4	60,998	-14.0
#7	Citroen	2904	-5.5	43,429	-6.3
#8	Nissan	2651	-0.6	58,611	+5.8
#9	Toyota	2201	-1.0	45,099	-21.3
#10	Mercedes-Benz	2147	+13.8	49,789	+11.2
#11	Hyundai	2016	+34.1	37,529	-13.5
#12	Kia	1777	+21.4	33,524	-14.6
#13	Skoda	1742	+35.6	29,347	+8.4
#14	Renault	1657	-44.0	42,096	-31.6
#15	Fiat	1402	+34.3	27,167	-21.2
#16	Mini	1399	+85.8	28,457	+12.7
#17	SEAT	1022	+14.8	22,250	+7.1
#18	Honda	985	-31.2	29,874	-25.5
#19	Mazda	930	-38.5	19,962	-31.6
#20	Volvo	650	-2.6	20,672	-17.1
#21	Suzuki	630	+4.7	12,401	-5.7
#22	Chevrolet	489	+115.4	8429	-5.8
#23	Land Rover	381	-27.2	22,454	-10.2
#24	Alfa Romeo	334	+81.5	7516	+65.7
#25	Porsche	197	+57.6	3653	-16.0
#26	Mitsubishi	191	-23.6	6789	-4.6
#27	Jaguar	188	-32.6	8042	-21.2
#28	smart	150	-38.5	3263	-34.1
#29	Lexus	133	+17.7	4561	+11.1
#30	Saab	92	level	3774	+27.3
#31	Chrysler	78	+178.6	444	-50.4
#32	Aston Martin	45	-19.6	710	-1.5
#33	Jeep	40	+25.0	1227	-0.3
#34	Abarth	38	-25.5	818	-10.1
#35	Bentley	36	+44.0	716	+7.7
#36	Subaru	34	-27.7	1601	-34.1
#37	Perodua	31	-8.8	378	-30.1
#38	Proton	22	-38.9	333	-39.5
#39	MG	21	+133.3	184	-15.6
#40	Infiniti	13	-25.5	202	+112.6
#41	Maserati	13	-31.6	270	-14.8
#42	Lotus	9	-55.0	272	-24.0
#43	Ssangyong	1	-80.0	11	-94.7

Source: Automakers, MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales By Brand - September 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - July 2011
UK Auto Sales By Brand - June 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - August 2011
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - August 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011

The Nissan LEAF Out-Sold A Lot Of Cars In August 2011

It may not be a popular opinion, but the Nissan LEAF was placed in 2011's The Bad 8 for purely personal reasons. After all, The Bad 8 has a selection committee of one. And when that one individual, The Good Car Guy, has no personal desire to own a Nissan LEAF - the vast majority of drives away from and to GCBC Towers would require far more than the LEAF's range permits - the LEAF is inevitably going to be harshly criticized by the selection committee.

However, the LEAF may be the ideal vehicle for certain individuals, certainly a decent second car for many new car buyers. And the sales success enjoyed by Nissan LEAF in the United States speaks to that fact. Its volume has been small in comparison with the Toyota Camry (30,185 August sales to the LEAF's 1362) but the LEAF has crushed the Chevrolet Volt, a car The Good Car Guy would suggest you maybe should at least consider considering before you determine the LEAF makes sense and cents for your family. 

Just yesterday Autoblog covered the Volt's inventory problems. There are Volts at dealers... but you can't buy them. Chevrolet sold 302 Volts in August; 3172 through the first eight months of 2011.

More to the point of this article, the Nissan LEAF's relatively small sales totals still stand up higher than the totals put up by cars you wouldn't have labelled unpopular. The Audi A5 is a sought after coupe, but the LEAF beat the A5 in August 2011. The Land Rover Range Rover Sport was America's 29th-best-selling luxury vehicle last month and 12th-best-selling luxury SUV. The LEAF beat the Range Rover Sport in August. The LEAF also crushed the currently-undergoing-renovations Toyota Yaris, fought off the perfect-for-family-hauling Mazda 5, whipped the failure-on-all-levels Honda Insight, and nipped the completely-opposite-to-the-LEAF Nissan Armada. 

The Good Car Guy compiled this table to show you 19 vehicles the LEAF beat and five the LEAF couldn't catch. There are many others the LEAF beat (and many others by which the LEAF was beaten) but these are the five closest it couldn't measure up to and the 19 next-closest models. The table reveals an impressive monthly showing for the Nissan electric vehicle, although it's important to note that on year-to-date terms, all but one of these models have out-sold the LEAF in 2011. 

As for the LEAF's importance to Nissan, it isn't. At least not on volume terms. As an image assistant, as a marketing tool, as a home for research and development, the Nissan LEAF is vital. But Nissan's sales figures would hardly be impacted by the LEAF's disappearance. It made up just 1.0% of all Nissan USA sales through the first two-thirds of 2011. Oh, and the Volt? Chevy's plug-in hybrid accounted for 0.3% of all Chevrolet sales so far this year.

Vehicle	August 2011	August 2010	2011 YTD	2010 YTD	% Of Brand's 2011 Sales
Volvo S60	1544	175	14,176	175	30.1
Lincoln MKS	1498	1111	7770	9729	13.4
Volkswagen Routan	1484	1560	9254	11,333	4.4
Buick Lucerne	1392	2656	15,905	18,571	12.6
Mazda 2	1387	469	9899	507	6.0
Nissan LEAF	1362	-----	6168	-----	1.0
Nissan Armada	1357	1638	11,565	12,442	1.9
Mazda 5	1326	1146	14,293	11,756	8.6
Audi A5	1322	1424	10,455	11,424	13.9
Land Rover Range Rover Sport	1199	860	9328	7650	40.7
Lincoln Town Car	1196	825	7882	7728	13.6
Nissan Quest	1182	4	7800	173	1.3
Suzuki SX4	1181	855	8481	7497	46.1
Infiniti QX56	1148	1249	7797	7003	12.2
Toyota FJ Cruiser	1146	1434	9276	9926	1.0
Honda Element	1144	1440	10,369	9746	1.5
Acura RDX	1139	1226	9326	9542	11.8
Scion tC	1114	1092	15,589	8848	46.2
Toyota Yaris	1112	2900	14,192	28,958	1.5
Mitsubishi Galant	1078	757	12,974	7023	21.6
Infiniti M	1072	1251	7244	9130	11.4
Audi A6	989	725	5580	5424	7.4
Mercedes-Benz S-Class	981	832	7430	8016	4.7
Honda Insight	961	2030	13,106	14,145	1.9
Lexus GX460	958	1227	7424	10,468	6.2

Source: Manufacturers

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - August 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - August 2011
Market Share Of America's 20 Best-Selling Vehicles - August 2011
2011's The Bad 8 v4.0 Part 7 - Nissan LEAF