New 1:1 vehicle.
 

Well we just ordered our Xmas present for our family and they promised it would be in our hands in two weeks time coming from their overseas Asia stocks. We decided on a brand new 2010 Chrysler Town & Country "Touring Plus" minivan loaded with just about every luxiury avialable since we are about to move to Prague. We are figuring on doing some touring around Europe over the next two to three years and wanted to make sure we had good reliable transprtation to fit the bill. We figured it was about time for us to have an upgrade from our two beaters. The MSRP for this particular van was right at $39500. With the AAFES special adjustments and Manufacturers rebates we managed a nice final price of $31,200.00, and this thing is really loaded up with goodies including the DVD triple monitor system, GPS, Seius radio system, rear back up camera, 4.0 liter V-6 251 HP engine package, foldaway(in floor) middle and back row seating, electric adjust front row seats, and heated seats front and middle row, electric side doors(both), and electric liftgate, and a bunch more. Neither of us has had a new vehicle since 1999, so we felt it was long overdue. We are thrilled and the kids won't know anything until we take delivery around 01/December/2010. AND included in the price is a full seven year/70K miles bumper to bumper international warrenty package. No matter where we go with this thing, we are covered. They even took an added $1000 off the final price for a loyalty gift just because we presently own a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. Our neighbor is taking that one off our hands for us.

If anyone sees any kind of end of year closeout pricing in the next 45 days please let us know and we can low ball them even more on this deal. We receive the military discounts since we are posted overseas, but they have to be lower than any other offers anywhere in the Cont USA.

Sounds nice Jerry. Long overdue is true. It's not the sportser model is it? Sorry flashback to the beginning of National Lampoons Vacation.......

What kind of close out should we keep an eye out for? The same make and model vehicle? Chrysler dealerships?

Congrats on treating yourself and the family to the smell of a new car.

Thanks guy.
 

Thanks Guy. Yes what I am looking for is any Chrysler dealership that is conducting year end close outs trying to clear out the remaining 2010 models. Town & Country "Touring Plus" models that can compare to our new toy. If we gain access to any special sales advertisements with added discounts then we can take them into the Military dealer here and they have to honor that deal as an added bonus to us. Because of the military sales promotions and garuntees they have to give us the absolute lowest deal anywhere in the USA.

My last new car was my 1999 Yellow Ford Mustang, and we gave that to my daughter a few years ago for her birthday. My wife's last new car was in 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and we sold that one in 2005. Too long if you ask me.

Model year closeouts are exactly what you got. I doubt if you can find many 2010's on the lots right now. They typically start in June-ish.

Go into Edmonds.com and figure out where you bought at relative to dealer invoice on it - if your within a 1000 of that (below it), you got a good deal. I'd be interested in knowing what the difference in dealer invoice is here vs over there.....

420HP V6??? Wow... Sounds like a nice ride. :mdr:

So you got a new minivan, huh ??? :lol:

My how things do change.........:whistle:

I'm just teasin'. It does sound like a bad mamma jamma. Especially with all thoses horses.

Should have no trouble baking the front tires off!

420HP sounds a bit high for a naturally-aspirated 4.0L engine. According to the Chrysler site, the largest engige (the 4.0) is rated 251HP, so it was likely a typo unless he got some modded engine. :smile:

Checking.
 

I have to go back and check that out. It is 0330 in the morning here and everyone is sleeping right now. The wife has the paperwork on the new van. I may have misread that one. I was just so excited about this purchase, and there are tons of major options and gadgits with these T&C vans that its hard to keep track. OK I fixed it. 251 HP.

Anyway thanks guys. It is a pretty cool van, and yes it is a change of pace for me. I have had a few vans in my days and when you have kids at home they are a great choice. When I had the Mustang I also had a 1998 T&C as well. I do love my hotrods, but one has to make compromises sometimes when your raising a family. At least with the T&C vans they are pretty cozy and have lots of features that make them a nice trade off. I will verify the engine specs when everyone wakes up. Have a great day guys.

Nice Jerry I hope you and your family enjoy it!

......................

Thats funny
 

Now thats funny. I have no inclings of wanting to burn the tires off or our new touring vehicle. Still nice to know you can if you need to.

What I am concerned about is whether the new 6 speed transmission is holding up better than the old 4 speed models. We have a Dodge Grand Caravan now and the tranny is slipping. Of course it has like 138,000 miles on it, but they have been plagued with issues over the years. I just read that Chrysler is planning for install the 8 speed BMW 7 class tranny into the newer 2011 T&C vans. Anyway we are just hoping to get a few years out of this one until we retire in 2017, and then we will more than likely buy ourselves a retirement vehicle at that time. By then the kids will all be grown and out of the house, so having a van will no longer be a requirement. I will post up some pics once we receive the van.

4L V6 is what you really need in Europe with our gas prices :)

Jerry if you wait a few months you might find one after the first wallop of depreciation has arrived...what's that likely to be 10K??

That's a nice family holiday!

Thanks
 

Thanks PBO, but we had to have this in hand for our transfer so it will get shipped to Prague ahead of us. We could not wait any longer.

Thankfully we get gas coupons from our Gov which keeps our cost of gas at the same level as it appears in the USA. Not exactly sure how that works, but it saves us a ton of money during our stays overseas. Here in Korea we just purchase our fuel on base at $3.30 a gallon. Not too worried about that. If we had to pay full Euripean gas prices we would never leave our home. Filling up our van usually cost us about $65. When we were posted in Brussels we traveled to Paris on one occasion and forgot our coupon card, and it cost us nearly $200 to fill up our van. We never did that again.

In the Navy in Italy, you'll get x amount of gas depending on the size of the engine of your vehicle. The ration is on a monthly basis. If you bought work for the gov't and have 2 vehicles, each of you will get separate rations. If you have leftover rations(in the form of coupons) at the end of the year, you can trade them for the new year. If I remember right, a 6 liter engine at or above 4 liters will get you 400 liters of rationed gas a month.

Just looked over that mini van pretty freaking nice.

Heated second row seating. Nice!

This should get you back up to that original number you were thinking of!
http://ststurbo.com/

Excited
 

Yea we are pretty excited about getting this one. AAFES is bringing it to our base on Tuesday, but we have to get all of the paperwork done during the week and get financing lined up before we can take possesion of it. It is a beauty.

Yea that turbo system looks interesting, but too much for me with a van loded up with kids. I can't stop looking at the specs and all of the options that were already built into this van. Incredible line up and some surprizing extras already added prior to being shipped overseas to us.

Oh and Jimmy Johnson just clinched his fifth NASCAR chapionship in a row.

i have like 190hp in my 98 4.6 v8 fullsize ford van, and i drive that like a mad man. I can't even imagine 251 hp. My van weighs around 9000 pounds with the 10 inch floor drop and wheelchair lift, that minivan is easily half that weight.

Just once Jerry, when you're all alone- set the e-brake and just bake those front tires. I live for crap like that:intello:

Test drive.
 

Well I just went over to check out our new van and test drive it. It is what they call clearwater blue or something like that. It is a light blue color with dark grey leather interior. The van is very nice and has tons of special features. We still have to work out all of the financing issues, but we got FCU financing at 4.6%, so we are happy with that. $600 a month is pretty good in our book for some pretty good transportation. Insurance is fair, and gas will be reasonable at 25mpg. After all we have no other monthly expenses, because the US Gov provides our housing, and utilities for us, so all we pay for is our cellphone, internet, and cable/satalite TV services. Once our California home is rented out again (hopefully Jan) we are golden. Anyway the van is very nice and we are so excited about getting it either Friday or Monday. Merry Christmas is coming early in the Hill household. Just in time to drive it for a little bit before it gets shipped to our next assignment local.

Merry christmas.
 

Christmas came early. Well we picked up our new van last night. This thing is sick. It even has remote start up for those cold winter mornings. We picked up the kids last night and told them that we were borrowing the van from friends while they were on vacation for Xmas. They loved our new toy, and wanted us to buy one, so after about 20 minutes of cruising we finally broke the news to them that it was our new family vehicle. The video system is very cool. With two DVD players and three monitors we can listen to mosic up front, while the boys play PS3 games in the middle, and our youngest can watch a movie in back all at the same time. I just love modern technology. Very cool stuff for sure. The only bummer is that the GPS will not work outside of the USA.

Sounds like a cool ride. Lets see some pics of some e-brake burnouts! :yes:

Not.
 

I doubt that I will be doing any burnouts with it Josh. Actually I am hoping to get a ton of milage on these tires. But I will be having fun just driving this thing around Europe over the next few years. A long overdue upgrade for us. We got rid of the 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan last week through one of the local Korean junk companies. They even gave us like $500 just to get rid of it. The tranny was begining to slip and it had nearly 200K miles on it. They cannot resell it. They can only part it out, but you can bet that they will make a few bucks on it.

We were lucky with that one. We picked it up four years ago for $3K figuring if it lasted three years that it would pay for itself. It kept us safe on the road for 4 years, so not too bad for a beater. Things have come a long way with these new vehicles. This thing is amazing. It was good to see how the kids reacted to riding in it for the first time. Our 15 year old got home and went online for over an hour last night reading up on all of the features we opted for. Life is good.

Damn Jerry.... Just once:whip: BTW we will require a video:oops::lol:

Couldn't hold the truth from them longer huh. Would have been fun to play it out a bit longer. I imagine that you could contact Chrysler regarding the GPS. It may be possible to use it at your location.

I'll agree with the whole new tech thing in vehicles. My folks picked up a new Honda Pilot it has all the bells and whistles. Including the ever so cool rear view camera.

Glad your enjoying it I am envious.

Gps fix
 

Chrysler won't have anything to do with changing the GPS system, but apparantly there is a way to convert it for Europe, but I don't know if it is worth it. We shall see. And actually when we lived in Brussels purchasing a TomTom GPS was one of our best investments. We bought the 700, used it for three years, and sold it for nearly what we paid for it. So it will work out one way or another. My favorite thing in this new van is the remote start feature. I love being able to start the van from inside wherever we are, and warming it up before we get in for a drive. With leather seating its nice to be able to warm up the seats first when the weather is cold. We can really enjoy just going for a ride now.