8 seater caravan?

[sjr8ut]

hey everybody,
I am thinking of buying a 99-01 G. Caravan, the only problem is that I would really like to have eight seats sometimes to take the whole family (including grandparents) on trips. Here is my question--if I could find an extra rear 3 seat bench, could I put it in the middle where the two seater bench or captain chairs are? Are the mounting brackets in the floor the same size?
I realize that it would not be practical to run this way all the time as getting in and out of the back seat would be tough.
Anyone know if this would work?
Thanks for your replies.

[neon_rt]

On the 96-00 Minivans you can put the 3 seat bench in the middle.
So, you can buy a junkyard spare 3-seat bench and put in the middle when you need to. '01 Minivans are a different Generation than 96-00 and I don't know if you can do that. The Dodge minivans come with either the 2-seat bench or the 2 buckets in the middle. Mine has the bench w/integrated child booster seats. When you are looking at Minivans (newer than 00), before you buy, remove the buckets and move the back seat forward and see of it fits. On mine (00), if I put the 3-seat bench in, there is no arm rest or cup holders for the middle passengers. My sister has a 96 Caravan and a 00 Grand Caravan. She moved the 3-seat bench from the 96 to the middle of the 00 and the 2-seat bench to the back of the 96. Now she has a 6-pass and a 8-pass Minivan rather than two 7's.

[sjr8ut]

Hey thanks for the reply--that is good news for me. I was looking for other minivans that seat 8 but they are either too pricy or have design problems that I did not want to deal with. One more question. How does the seat belt situation work if you have the 3-seater bench moved to the middle? Aren't the side seatbelts mounted to the wall? I guess that they just hook up to the bench like they do in the rear?
Thanks.

[neon_rt]

The seat belts work fine, the 3-seat bench contains it's own lap belt (there is not a shoulder belt for the middle).

[emanresu]

I put the rear bench in the middle of my 2003 grand caravan all the time - it has the same seating arrangement as the 2001. I have 3 kids and generally like to keep them separated but when we need to haul a lot of cargo I remove the middle bench and slide the 3rd bench forward. The seatbelts work fine because, as said above, the middle seat has a lap belt. If the van you are looking at has the 2 middle seats instead of the 2-person bench it will still work because the floor slots are the same no matter what seat configuration - the rear 3-person bench uses the 2 outermost slots, the middle 2-person bench uses one outer and one inner slot.

I actually was thinking the same as you about getting another 3rd bench to make the van an 8-seater. I was thinking about trying to find the later version of the rear bench that comes in 2 pieces, so I could fold one side down to let kids climb over it into the back. I think it is pretty stupid that DCX didn't originally offer the van as an 8-seater and build a tumbling seat.

[neon_rt]

I was told that making the Minivan an 8-seater from the factory makes it more difficult to pass Federal passenger safety regulations. They would have to make specific changes in the Van that are not user friendly.

[Bowzone_mikey]

Originally Posted by neon_rt

I was told that making the Minivan an 8-seater from the factory makes it more difficult to pass Federal passenger safety regulations. They would have to make specific changes in the Van that are not user friendly.

For most places at least in my neck of the woods making a vehicle 8 pass. would make it fall into the same catagory as a 15 pass Van.

My 05 caravan I am pretty certain I can dump the captains chairs in the middle and bring the 3x bench forward