On a recent business trip, I reserved a car rental in advance. A car, not a minivan. However, a shortage of inventory led the cross-country all-state wizard rentacar company to only have minivans available. So a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica it was.
I am not presetting the tone of this review, but I do have several criticisms. I am not prejudging the final result of this as to it will be a positive or negative outcome in terms of overall rating. I will say that I liked this (mini?) van, albeit with all its shortcomings. One word of note, this is not a review of how many they made of these, the price, what kind of brakes it has, or who is the competition. This just focuses on the driving experience of having one for four days during some nice sunny spring weather.
Perhaps having been surprised by the type of vehicle that I was about to be driving being a van, at the end of a ten hour travel period over multiple (two) flight connections, this took a few minutes to get used to. The windshield was dirty, inside and out. There was no windshield washer fluid in the reservoir, as I was going to find out a couple of miles down the road. I couldn’t find the remote button to open the back hatch, but the sliding side door was nice. Just pop the handle and the door slid open at my behest. The middle row seat behind the driver’s seat was folded down and resisted attempts to restore it to upright, but it eventually surrendered.
Once engaged into Drive, the van was a bit ponderous, a little lagging or hesitant in the accelerator response if you will. Are we really moving sir? OK If you insist. I believe it had the 3.8 six engine (ED: Pentastar 3.6 V6). I believe I have read about that engine previously. Whether it was right or not for this van is debatable, it seemed to need a bit more bite to it (ED: published tests average 0-60 in 7.3 sec.)
Some time early in my journey I realized this vehicle had 37,000 miles on it, and that it was last year’s model. I don’t think I have ever rented a vehicle that elderly on a business trip. I did rent a severely used Gremlin back in the day from Rent a Wreck, so this van comes in second place ever as the most used rental vehicle I have ever experienced firsthand, moving trucks aside. Not that a year old is that old, but I imagine the inventory crisis has hit the rental people hard.
Depending on where this van was first deployed, it was as much as 1000 miles away from that spot. It must have covered five to ten states in its lifecycle to date. I have had the opportunity to have visited 31 US States, and Puerto Rico. I have covered geography in the southwest (California, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona), the eastern seaboard down to Florida, and midwestern States from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and down to Louisiana. Like many of us, I have had multiple rental cars in each of those locations. I was glad the weather was good when I was on this visit; the weather turned nasty a week or two later.
There was no obvious sign of any brand name marking anywhere on this van except the prominent Pacifica name on the rear hatch, and the Chrysler wings on the steering wheel, rear hatch, and the grille. Is Stellantis trying to de-emphasize the Chrysler name brand? Perhaps. (ED: Mercedes and several other brands don’t have their names on their cars)
Mistakenly, I had believed I would find the control centre head unit would operate similarly as on my own 300. There have been advances, changes if you prefer, in the functionality, some not all for the better. An endorsement first of all, that the control screen is contained within the dash, not sticking up as if it was an afterthought. It did not have a navigation system as an option in this van however. Seriously, you put out a van with leather seats, A/C, PS, PB, a multi function sound system, power seats, lane assist warning, a power sliding side door, cruise speed control, and you don’t put a friggin navigation system on board? No heated seats maybe I understand, I was not in the Great White North, so probably not generally needed or called for by consumers. In any event, the rental place probably would have wanted money for Nav to be enabled. (ED: navigation is available at extra charge on most rental cars). Apologies for the lighting in some of these photos.
So I pulled out my GPS device. I still use a portable GPS, as opposed to my phone. I have gotten used to it, I like it, and it gets me where I need to go. To that point, on board GPS systems in cars require updating, which appears to be an involved process, one that I have never attempted in my own car. I need something that I can download to a USB, plug it in to the car and hit go. I don’t want to spend a whole bunch of time being my own IT help desk to upload and configure files.
Back to my GPS; I neglected to bring my power cable. Dang! So I tried my USB cable, but it only provided the device with recharging power, and it was not able to power the device to run. So I ran it on battery power, expecting to get me 30-60 minutes of running time. To my great surprise and delight, this NUVI ran for the whole two hour drive each way on my trip through the Midwestern US. Kudos to Garmin. This unit I have is almost ten years old as well. It still accepts updates for North America and Canada, with a memory chip installed. Those updates are done on my home computer, where I can leave it running for however long it takes.
On the highway, the van deported itself well. It didn’t ride at all like a car, like my 1987 Voyager minivan (or my 2001 Caravan) had, but it was no truck either. It rode pretty smoothly albeit heavily along the road. Certainly the wheelbase was longer and I could tell. One nit I had with the headlights, was that there were some dark stretches along a curvy road that I could have used high beams to help navigate. It turned out that the high beam setting only allowed for short bursts from pulling the turn signal lever forward, pressing it forward did not permit switched on high beams. The dash gave me a message that that function was disabled. I think I would like to decide, not the car, when I need high beams. There was probably a setting buried deep in the control screen that I could have used to reset that function, but at 70 MPH at night I was not so inclined to do that searching. (ED: If the automatic high beams are activated, the pushing the lever forward will cause them to turn on automatically when appropriate above 16 mph. If automatic high beams are not activated (via UConnect) then pushing the lever forward will turn on the high beams)
The sound system offered an option to use a USB stick for music. Great! Just what I was hoping for. In goes the stick, and I went searching for the voice response button like on my Uconnect system at home. Not there. The VR button that was there, that I thought was the voice response system, only told me it could not pair a phone while in motion. Dang again, over to the screen. We had radio, satellite radio, Bluetooth radio, and the USB stick. I could have used my phone, I suppose, but I have not mastered, or tried to gain expertise in using a music service, setting up my playlists, or any of that. I left it on a local radio station for a time.
Stopped for a bite to eat, and now emboldened, with the stick still in the slot, and I again hit the USB button. And again, and again. Nope, not working. Tried the other USB slot, no dice. Perhaps fortunately, there was a bump in the road just when I tried one final time before deferring to the radio, and I hit the USB button twice, completely by accident. Boom, on comes the music from the stick. I thought it was from pressing the button harder at first, only later did I realize what the intended action was. Unfortunately the system didn’t give me the whole playlist on the stick, it just picked twenty or so songs. I think it would have needed to index the files first before I hit play.
So after hitting nineteen buttons to get my music going, adjusting the equalizer up and down, all this action allowable while in motion was OK? Hmm, for safety, it might be more advisable to put all those functions on gearshift in Park only mode. However I guess consumers don’t want that, so marketing gets them to keep it on the permissible list.
The gearshift was a round knob, close to the right hand of the driver. It is larger with toothed edges for a different tactile feel than the radio volume button, or the climate control button. Also the radio station tuner button – is the same as the radio control, but I had not even noticed that control until well into my trip. Once I got used to the round gearshift, I could go from R to D and back fairly easily and without looking.
I did like the climate control system. Without the control screen on (with the sound system off, the screen goes black), one can press the button continuously to toggle from heating vents top, bottom, or both, defrost, etc. The selection appears as a little symbol on the screen. Temperature adjustments accomplished with big depressible buttons for hot and cold, variable for each side driver and passenger. Settings are on the control screen as well as on the panel.
I see parking brakes are just a button now. Something worth remembering.
The wizard rentacar company had given me a full tank of gas which is always appreciated.
Side mirrors are power adjustable, I always move mine out almost all the way out they will go away from my vehicle. That reduces or mostly eliminates blind spots, as approaching cars can be seen moving from the centre rear view mirror, to the side mirror, to peripheral vision, and then into sight. Head turning for lane changes can still be done for safety, but I have found this side mirroring method to be quite effective. External visibility was good, and the rearview camera performed well when reversing. The audible warning system of impending disaster- danger when backing up was entirely unnecessary and uncalled for.
Some other people I met at my business meeting and I went out for dinner and I offered to drive. A few of them had great difficulty with the power sliding side door, pulling and thrashing on the handle to get the door to open or close. I tried to demonstrate the simple pull technique, but it seemed too hard for others to master.
The driver’s door, and the front passenger, has an integrated button that when the key fob is in the region nearby the outside of the van, allows for door locking. Similarly, with the door locked, a hand inserted into the door handle unlocks the doors with key fob in hand.
Driving along on an open road, with no music playing, the sound I liked was the sound of the drivetrain. It brought to mind the sound of smooth rotating machinery whirring along as if on board an airplane, although much quieter. It gave me a feeling of confidence. It reminded me of the sound of a turbine. Linguistic note, to me, the word ‘turbine’ is pronounced as it rhymes with “pine”, “thine”, or “mine”.
Some system reminder popped up on the control screen that something or other needed to be fixed or given attention. Every Single Time I started the engine, and it had to be acknowledged by pressing a button on the control screen. Perhaps the folks at wizard rentacar will see to that before another fifteen people drive the thing. There was another maintenance message that came up on the speedometer screen also every time, but it went away.
Cruise control works all right; I didn’t test it to see if it was adaptive in relation to the car ahead of me or not. However another nanny system popped up when I briefly (honest officer) accelerated to pass another car, and the system distracted me by telling me I was overriding the cruising speed set. Really? I found that entirely unnecessary to the point of distraction. I’m looking at you auto manufacturers, Chrysler in this case. I just don’t see the point of it, if you are driving, you need to be aware of your speed.
The gas cap cover was easy enough to figure out how to open, but a quick consultation with the owner’s manual took me to page 197 of over 400 pages. Perhaps a quick start guide would be helpful from the manufacturer, especially for rental fleet customers. Why the headlight switch is best left to the Auto position. We know you just got in this car, and it may be your first time driving a Chrysler, VW, Honda, Nissan, etc. Here’s what you need to know in less than two minutes. The major functions available on the control screen. It could be a quick video on the control screen, like the ones seen on airlines on fastening your seat belt.
As for the gas cap, after learning how to start the car, being able to put gas in it is about number two on the important to know list, not delegated to a page deep in the thick manual. For reference, on this van it was push the gas cap cover in and it would pop out. There was no actual gas cap, a great innovation I also enjoy at home on my cars.
My very first Magic Wagon (1987) had rear windows that I could crank open on an angle. It made for very nice air flow through. They operated using a simple ceiling mounted knob that rotated, and was connected to the glass via a cable hidden in the roof. On this Pacifica, the side windows opened, but not the rears. I believe that has been the consensus for some time now. My previous vans always had fixed side middle windows, to the chagrin of my then young kids. If this van had that feature, I didn’t find it.
Steering feel was good and firm, not mushy. The van went straight down the road, and navigated highway curves well, and sharp turns in parking lots.
The crevice spaces on either side of the centre console is limited. I dropped a pen or something between the console and the passenger seat, and it took some doing to retrieve the item. My hand wouldn’t fit in between, so another object had to be used to push the item forward to allow its recovery. The owner’s manual might have come in handy here if it had been needed. Not as a reference tool, but as a book to push through the crevice. I have the same problem on my own crossover CUV vehicle. Drop a French fry down beside the seat, and even a good vacuum crevice tool will struggle to capture the forlorn fry.
The rear cargo area with the seats in place was certainly not cavernous, and it was irregularly shaped. I suppose a load of groceries could go back there, but a trip to the big box store might need those back seats to fold down. I would think eight foot wooden studs would fit inside with the hatch being able to be closed, as a guess.
As an aside, and looking at these photos, I see the roof rack consists only of lengthwise bars, with no crossbars. I cannot imagine their usefulness, but perhaps a comment or two below might shed some light.
The button labeled “VR”, in the middle of the bottom row of buttons on the left, seemed to be the button to use to pair a phone. When pressed when driving, when I was looking for the voice command system, it only told me I could not pair a phone while driving. It might be the hands free button for the audio system, but I did not accomplish getting it to function as such. However, my GPS unit dutifully responded when I asked it for voice command.
Finally, I reset the speedometer to kilometers rather than miles per hour, and did not reset that upon dropping it off. I challenge the next driver, who is already cursing at me, to reset that when in their first few miles on the road wonder why they seem to be going slower than everyone else.
That is not an oil leak from this van. It is an oil leak from a previous rental I would imagine.
The end result is that this Pacifica got me where I needed, enabled me to transport three additional passengers in leather covered seating greater comfort than in the vehicles they had rented, and got fairly decent gas mileage. The speedo info centre reported 22-25 MPG in US gallons, alright for a van of this size although it may have been optimistic. I don’t know the curb weight, but it sure felt like it had some heft to it. It certainly had a longer wheelbase than any van I had piloted previously. Taken as a body of work, I’ll give the van a 7 out of 10. I’ll only give the rental folks a 3 however. I know you are short cars, but at least please put a little effort in to clean the windows and refill the reservoir. A car wash wouldn’t hurt that much either.
If I was in the market for a minivan, I would consider this one, but cannot say whether I would lay out the bucks for one or not. It may be a bit too thirsty for my liking. A seven passenger SUV may find more driveways for buyers in this market.
This was an enjoyable real-world review of a real-world car. A couple of comments:
Rental Cars: I sort of miss renting cars. It’s been about 20 years since I’ve traveled for business, and about 15 years since I’ve flown anywhere, so I’ve had no reason to rent cars since then. And it was always enjoyable for me to get a random car from a rental fleet and see what I liked or didn’t like.
Renting a Minivan: Minivans are actually tough to rent if you actually want one, so it’s amusing when you’re provided with one even when you don’t. Shortly before we were married, my (future) wife and I visited friends of hers in Texas, and we were given a Chevy Venture minivan by the rental agency… like your experience here, all other vehicles were taken. It was impossible to convince her (gossipy) friend that we hadn’t intentionally rented a minivan due to some sort of imminent family expansion that she was unaware of. But that aside, we liked it… it was comfortable, was very useful for carrying four adults, and was also completely anonymous. Sometimes you feel like you stick out when driving a rental car… but with a rental minivan, you just blend in with the crowd.
Power Sliding Doors: We currently have two minivans (Honda Odyssey & Kia Sedona), and we occasionally face the same situation that you did, where our passengers can’t figure out how to operate the power doors. I guess it’s not quite as intuitive for everyone as we might expect.
Headlights: Our Sedona also has headlights that seem ineffective, especially in rural driving. Its one of my few complaints about that car — I wonder if it’s a common phenomenon?
Venting Rear Windows: I wish minivans still had this feature. My father bought a 1984 Voyager with those ceiling-mounted knobs, and it was a great feature.
Ha! I remember riding in a vanpool in the 90s when we had GMC Beauville 12 passenger vans at work that were used. The big, heavy, sliding door had to be closed with some degree of strength, The trouble was, after about the first three passengers, riders had to make their way toward the back seats, and inevitably tried to close the door backhanded. It almost never worked, and the person seated in the first row had to assist with a good pull to close the door.
A button to power close the side doors was located much later on in the rental experience.
Another curmudgeonly nit was the button to close the rear hatch. I think Jim Klein wrote about one of these in a previous rental review, where after you press the button you kind of have to get out of the way of the door closing in on your head.
I agree with you about the headlights. I could have used better lighting on a curvy rural road in the dark, and high beams were used, but I had to keep the turn signal stalk pulled back to use them.
Thanks for your commentary.
Yes, bad headlamps are a thing—objectively, as measured on the Pacifica and on the Pacifica.
Thanks. That’s interesting — I’ve never seen that resource before.
The IIHS headlight ratings are the best out there in the North American market, and they give quite a lot of information if they are interpreted correctly. This is made somewhat difficult by IIHS’ claim that the ratings indicate how good or bad the headlamps are on a given year-make-model of car. In fact, the ratings indicate how good or bad the headlight performance is on the specific, individual cars they test. The reason for this is that they don’t adjust or correct the lamp aim before doing their testing. Their rationale for this is sturdy; in North America it’s been many years since headlamp aim was cared about, generally, and most vehicles in North America go from showroom to junkyard without the headlamp aim ever being checked or adjusted, let alone properly.
Fact is, though, it’s more important now than ever before; today’s headlamps are much more sensitive to misaim than older types. The IIHS tests are doing a good thing—creating an incentive for automakers to get more careful about new-car lamp aim—but they aren’t clearly
communicating this aspect of their testing, and that’s unfortunate.
Here, in a nutshell, is how to usefully interpret the IIHS ratings:
Headlamps described and plotted as giving long seeing distance in most or all directions, but
create glare: probably aimed too high.
Headlamps described and plotted as giving short seeing distance and no glare: probably aimed
too low.
Headlamps described and plotted as giving short seeing distance and creating glare: probably bad headlamps.
Lamp aim is by far the main thing that determines how well you can or can’t see at night, and how much glare you’re throwing around. Even many brand-new vehicles have poorly aimed lamps, as the IIHS tests show. It is maddeningly difficult to get a proper aim job done on this continent, even if you’re willing to pay for it. More detail on the subject is here (my own site, full disclosure).
From the IIHS reviews on the Pacifica: “On curves, visibility was good on the sharp right curve, fair on the gradual right and sharp left curves, and inadequate on the gradual left curve.” I quite agree. On the curves to the left the view was darkness, so the high beams were applied.
Your second reference above is to the Sedona, as I think you intended.
Thanks, very interesting.
Venting rear windows – my older Sedona has the next most useless thing to non-opening rear windows. Mine have a manual latch accessible only to those in the far back seat or through the open hatch. Had I popped for a higher trim level, they would have been power operated.
That reminds me of my Dart Sport. The rear side windows had a latch that could only be opened if you were back there, or by the driver before setting off.
That was industry standard on 2-door cars for a long time and how I’d always thought the Chrysler minivans’ were. Easy enough to open and close via opening the rear hatch whenever there is one, much more difficult on a trunk coupe or 2-door sedan where the only way to reach them is to stretch from the driver’s seat or climb back there.
I agree. I haven’t done any travel that called for a rental car since the Before Times, and even though that was a basic Hyundai Accent, it took me longer than I would have liked to learn the basic functions of the car. I hate to be the grumpy old curmudgeon, but I think modern cars and trucks have become too complex.
I rented an Accent a few years ago (after getting my bike wrecked when a semi ran me off I-40), and found it pretty straightforward…though figuring out why I couldn’t pair my phone to it required a check of the owner’s manual. (The rental company spec’d the cheap stereo, which looks identical to the Bluetooth-equipped stereo except for not having the BT logo.) Fortunately, $5 at Walmart got me an AUX cable for the 1000-mile drive home.
Not that I’m a grumpy curmudgeon either, but I wholeheartedly agree that new cars have become TOO COMPLEX! Our local dealer routinely schedules a follow up visit after a new car purchase to review for a SECOND time the function of the controls. And even that’s not sufficient. I have a friend who SPECIAL ORDERED his new car DELETING as many features as possible to minimize the complexity. He would have gone so far as to delete the power windows, too, but they wouldn’t do that.
In 2021, I DID rent a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica. I was suitably impressed by its overall competence and capabilities but needed to get accustomed to many details as to its operation. A lot of things have happened since my own newest car was built. I got used to most but there were a couple that I never did figure out before turning the car back in. I do remember that the automatic engine stop/start had to be disabled on beginning every drive. Some like that feature, I don’t. Maybe there is a menu item to change. At least Hertz had the owner’s manual in the car but I did not have time to wade through it.
Ha! I never did get to the back of the 562 page owners manual in my 2017 Lexus RX before turning it back in after lease.
Start-stop is definitely an irritating gimmick on non-hybrids. It all began when it was used on the first Toyota Prius. It works okay to get the vehicle going when there’s a traction battery, then seemlessly switches to ICE operation.
It does not work well on ICE-only vehicles and the value in increasing fuel economy is dubious.
My non-hybrid Transit has auto stop-start and it works flawlessly. A friend has it on his V8 F150 and he’s a fan as well. But I know we’re in the minority.
I have it too and absolutely love it. There’s nothing I dislike more than sitting at a light and watching the average MPG go down. Just money out the window…newer Subarus actually quantify it, there’s a trip menu setting that calculates the amount of gasoline saved both each time as well as cumulatively, perfect for my inner geek (although I don’t have a Subaru).
It’s unforgivable that the vehicle did not have GPS on the radio. In fact, Chrysler fleet vehicles have that option on lower trims when you (technically) cannot get GPS on civilian versions.
With that said, I believe it’s possible to get GPS on any new Chrysler radio (and maybe many other brands). It’s actually a deactivated feature incorporated into all of them. In order to activate it, you have to download the quite pricey activation code (something like $595). It’s aggravating to know that it’s there, they just turn it off so you have to pay to use it. Similarly, any map updates are a cool $150.
In-dash GPS is nice, but with pricing like that, it sure makes aftermarket GPS units (that are a target for theft) an attractive option.
If you have a smartphone, Google Maps is at least as reliable as factory systems in my experience, and it’s free (well, it uses data of course).
Others have found other free navigation apps to their liking if Google Maps doesn’t work properly for you, but I’ve personally never had any serious issues, and use it frequently.
That’s what we do too. Unfortunately we travel in parts of the US where there is no cell phone signal (those maps the phone companies show in their ads are, well “deceptive”). I think on board GPS and the likes of Garmin use satellite technology which is superior.
Our most recent Ram 1500 (2020 model) has the big screen, but no Nav. It does have Apple CarPlay, so I use that for naviation. These days, i’m rarely in an area that is outside of cell signal… but occasionally it does happen. The few times that has happened, the navigation (tried it both with Apple and Google Maps) continued to work when I lost cell signal. When you pop in an address and start navigating, it will download the relevant maps/directions and store them on your device when you leave cell signal.
This brings back memories—not good ones—of the last time I rented a Chrysler.
I have not had the opportunity to drive a Pacifica. My last outing in a Mopar van was a late Grand Caravan. I recall loving the engine but being not very thrilled with much else, especially the indecisive shift programming and the creaky, flexy body.
I will join the chorus, as I must be getting old too. I used to be the guy who instinctively knew how everything worked in a rental – who could intuit Ford, GM, Chrysler and a couple of Japanese brands in the way things worked. And a 400 page owners manual is just silly.
Yes, I had a 2016 Grand Caravan for a rental once, for a few days. I don’t remember the transmission doing that much hunting for gears on that one. The van got me from point A to B, and I only stopped to take two photos of it, one of them being this one.
It used to be finding the headlight switch and the windshield wipers were the biggest challenges from one make to another, and on what side of the car the gas filler was located.
The new SUV that my son and his wife just bought has a manual totaling approximately 640 pages, including five just on the seat belt system. In this manual, I randomly found a section on Driver assist features, such as parallel park positioning and things. I went to the index to see if I could find this very section, and this section was not indexed. I checked Parking, driver assist, and another one or two key words with no success.
Baffling.
Minivans still can’t be beat for hauling stuff. I’ve moved two large recliner chairs upright, a washer and dryer upright, and a lawn tractor (not all at the same time) without any issues. Large volume and the low liftover height are the keys. I don’t think there are too many SUVs that can do that as easily.
I agree that the rear window knobs on the early Chrysler vans were great.
Every Chrysler wing on the van says “Chrysler” in the middle of it. Two of the pics (rear and steering wheel) show it legibly. 🙂
Most consumers plug their phone in and utilize Apple
CarPlay or Android Auto for the navigation as the vast majority of people purchasing a US$40-50k van have a smartphone these days. It’s a boon in my opinion to not be forced to pay for hardwired navigation that could easily be a forced bundle with the rest of the automation.
My nit about the power closing rear was with the few manufacturers (such as Chrysler) wherein the button is located inside the trunk or cargo area rather than in the door/hatch itself which makes it far easier to not possibly be in the way.
Reading the comments though is hilarious. Whatever will you all do when the government takes your cars away and force-issues you an EV? Come on, the target market for a minivan is the 30-40yr old crowd with….kids, the majority of owners are comfortable with and request new technology, be it automatic high beams, Apple
Car-Play, power doors, heated everything, etc. and if the adult can’t figure it out without reading the manual Junior will be there with his own device helping Dad or Mom out if my own family is any indication.
Chrysler does do a quick start guide…perhaps in 37,000 miles of rental car use and probably 200 or so renters it went missing…more a reflection on your rental car provider (which all suck but can’t really be expected to deal with that particular gripe). Most likely it’s online and could be found in two minutes of Googling, but who wants to waste two minutes when they could be driving without knowing stuff they want to know…:-)
It’s good to hear it started every time, never stalled or hesitated, heated and cooled appropriately, didn’t seem to have too many rattles after those hard rental miles, and everything seemed to work. 40-50 years ago in the “Automotive Rose-Golden Age” I doubt that would have been the case.
Good points, all.
Plus this van, while a smidgeon lower on mileage, appears to be much better than the last minivan I rented, a Toyota Sienna. Hell, I couldn’t even open one of the rear doors, but it did exactly what I needed it to do so my complaints are minimal.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/driving-impressions/curbside-rental-service-2017-toyota-sienna-i-declined-a-bmw-in-favor-of-a-toyota-minivan/
If anybody really wants a boxed transporter, I can help them out with a truly luxurious but really simple van of full-size proportions. We have been talking Chrysler Pacifica but are concerned it would be hard to adjust to something so petite. 🙂
A Pacifica weighs in at north of 4500 pounds, I wonder about your van. The Club Wagons were about 500 pounds more, but I wonder if the conversions are lighter.
Don’t think of it as smaller, just more dense. 🙂
I’ve been curious about the weight of my van, also. All I can say with certainty is right now it’s about 150 lbs lighter than normal as I have removed two of the seats, making it a three-seater at the moment.
Good information here .
I’m a geezer too but my first thought was “I bet my 42 year old son intuitively knows how all that crap works .
I too love and still use Garmins, there are multiple different holders that allows me to mount it where it doesn’t block the forward view and I don’t have to look down and away from the road to see it .
I always carry a USB cable, I just bought a new cell phone so am up grading every vehicle and suitcase to the USB – Typ C .
That this van did it’s job well and no failures after nearly 40,000 miles says it’s good to me .
-Nate
Dennis Collins of Utubes ” Coffee Walk” paid $700 a day to rent a Jeep Wrangler with 57000 miles on it!. Put it done to COVID and a lack of new replacement vehicles due to the electronic chip shortage perhaps.
I’m not clear on what the writer dislikes about the cruise control override notification. Is it just a screen display or something more I didn’t understand? I’d think the display would be a good thing if say you don’t realize you are grazing the pedal, or if you thought you disabled its function but really hadn’t. Also, gain a better appreciation for the word distracted please. Claiming that feature was, yet taking a photo narrowing in on the gauge cluster itself at 75 mph is extremely tone deaf.
My specific dislike about the override notification is that it was accompanied by an audible warning tone, thus creating more of a distraction than it was already. I would disable that if a car I owned had that.
I truly don’t understand the purpose of having a giant LCD screen in the middle of the dash if it doesn’t display a map. It’s just become the norm in modern vehicles for technophiles to ogle as far as I can tell, there’s no real purpose it serves that tactile buttons and knobs with a small text display can’t do.
It can in fact display a map, the user just needs to connect his phone (pretty standard these days) and it can mirror the display on there including the map from the phone using whatever mapping program is preferred. It can also display massive amounts of other parameters, settings, as well as customization options, both for the display itself as well as for the vehicle. If all the possible features were done via hard buttons there’d be a million of them. We have three cars with displays and one without (the Jeep) that uses buttons and a small readout. I’ll take the display every single time. I’d much rather have the option to have the car as I want it to be rather than limited to whatever amount of buttons a manufacturer decided was the budgeted amount. But you know all this already.
The bigger problem is familiarizing oneself with them. In a day or two span of a rental or a dealer test drive this is not possible for most people. However over a week of constant use, ie a press loaner or equivalent, they (can) become second nature if one has A) an open mind and B) is actually willing to invest some time in learning the capabilities and options available to the user.
Why would anyone ever choose to have less information and personal customization available? Of course there is always the default settings, everything works just fine like that as well if that’s someone’s bag.
Do they work properly with gloves? Because that is far and away my biggest dislike about touch screens.
I don’t know, John, my heated steering wheel and cabin preheat functions preclude the need to wear gloves in the car. You’d probably want to take your gloves down to the dealer and give it a whirl.
Depends on the gloves more than the screen, my Milwaukee work gloves are touch screen supportive.
Ah that I didn’t realize from the article, I’ll take that specific criticism back.
That said I really don’t see the novelty in personal customization, but I’m the type that typically buys a new TV without touching the picture settings, or just lets the apps on my phone wind up where they wind up. Messing with anything else to tailor them to my liking is just a chore, it would take me less time to just get used to where and what color the clock is, or being comfortable with just one speedometer rather than having two speed displays two inches apart for some reason, than trying to meticulously configure it via menus and sub-menus. It’s just very gimmicky.
A comment on “I see the roof rack consists only of lengthwise bars, with no crossbars. I cannot imagine their usefulness, but perhaps a comment or two below might shed some light”.
It seems that all except the cheapest stripper SUV and minivans have roof-racks, yet we had to pay extra for cross-bars (that we’ve never used). I have been thinking it is for air-flow somehow, stopping air across the roof from spilling down the sides, that idea. Just a guess, but I doubt if most customers wanted racks to start with (we sure didn’t). Maybe not, though, they stick all of us with those stupid moon-roofs.
There may have crossbars. Many manufacturers (including Chrysler) are now storing the crossbars in the rails until needed.
When we bought our Honda Odyssey in 2010, it came with a roof rack that was just lengthwise bars. Figuring that I’d better get some crossbars before I actually needed, them, I quickly ordered a set of Yakima bars, just to have them on hand. That was 12 years ago… never used them.
We got the factory bars, thinking the same thing. On the RAV4 the crossbars are too close front to back to be of any use. You could get a bike rack up there but the crossbars probably couldn’t hold a 2×4 stud, it would rock too much. They are in the basement with the rear compartment cover (head shake). And with cars that last forever now, they’ll probably be there for the estate sale.
I actually bought the rear compartment cover for my Escape, and use it frequently. As for the crossbars, they are safely stored in the house along with the middle rear headrest. I haven’t had a rear middle passenger in forever in that vehicle, and it blocks my rear view when in place.
I forgot about the middle rear seat headrest, it’s there, too. We use the back and the cover gets in the way. All we have back there is a booster seat, a couple of grocery bags, and a – big black towel (ha!).
Funny about the rear compartment cover. Our Odyssey didn’t come with one, which I considered mildly annoying at the time. So my wife and I bought a few black bath towels at Walmart, and we just put them on top of any cargo. We call it the Hillbilly Cargo Cover… with the van’s tinted windows and relatively deep cargo well, the black towels are virtually invisible from the outside. It actually works better than an actual cargo cover, and no glare on the rear window, either.
My son and his wife just bought an SUV, and it turns out most manufacturers don’t provide the seldom used crossbars any more. This was confirmed by a trip around our neighbourhood wherein now a relatively new vehicle with a roof rack had cross bars. Apparently vehicle owners must procure them via aftermarket.
I had the most annoying rattle in my Escape, that sounded like it was coming from down below on the right side. Multiple inspections and trial and error yielded no findings, but washing the car a few weeks ago and applying the brush to the roof revealed a loose crossbar. Both were swiftly removed. I think the last time I used them was perhaps 2019.
I would think taking them off would increase fuel mileage.
The system on my Outback is outstanding, where the cross bars fold into the side bars until needed. I’m surprised Subaru hasn’t added that feature to the Forrester or Cross Trek yet.
Good review of a decent minivan…I see there’s PA license plates on the van? Did you rent it in PA?
No, Kansas City area. Thanks!
For both my newish cars I have downloaded the manuals to my iPad. I find it much easier to find things when I can do a search. I also added the manual for my sister-in-law’s Mazda after she asked me about how the high beams work. It is very handy and does not actually take up a huge amount of memory.
I think that would be in the category of a best practice. Great idea, and the pdf file would be searchable too as you mentioned.
A good real world review. I always get a chuckle when people say “Hoon it like it’s a rental !!!” because for most renters that means struggle to find the wiper switch and return it with no extra charges that you can’t put on your expense report.
So I see that the current Grand Caravan is actually a lower trim spec Pacifica since August 2020 and the least expensive Pacifica at our local dealer is $52,635 CDN. I’m hoping our 2015 GC lasts until the kids are done college, then I won’t have so much need for a minivan.
IIRC the stripped model (which resurrected the Voyager name in the US) has been dropped for 2022.
It retained the Grand Caravan nameplate in Canada for the most Canadian of reasons; Chrysler didn’t want to change the name of the youth hockey league they sponsor.
Thanks for the report. I got a chuckle from many of your comments as I see myself in some of them. And changing the speedometer to metric, brilliant!
The only jarring note are the photos taken while driving. Here in BC that could result in a hefty fine, and I would never chance it here, or in any jurisdiction I did not know the laws of.
No, I think rental cars are getting older, just as cars are lasting longer. In ’14 I rented a 2012 VW Passat with 59K on it. A vile car by design, let alone the multiple flat tires I had due to near bald tires. 4K vacation miles later I was ready to pour lighter fluid on it and strike a match…
While not normally a member of the “Kill all the Lawyers” club, owners manuals can drive you towards it. I’ve a Nissan/Infiniti Pathfinder. The first 50 pages of the owners manual relate to seat belts. 50 pages to say, pull it across, put it on and make sure it latches. Do the people who write these things even have the ability to feed themselves with out leaving most of it on their faces?
Minivans, which are no longer mini. I’m not sure I’ve ever driven one, but it’s hard to conceptually criticize an efficient vehicle. Granted they’re no longer lean and mean, but compared to a pickup or passenger truck with a battering ram bumper mounted on a rigid frame, right at head level, it’s really hard to criticize. Except for in the rental car world where what you get may or may not resemble what you might be able to purchase. I know business today is all geared towards quarterly profits, but I wonder how many sales are lost because of grinder rental car experience? It may not be the one I would or could purchase, but if a rental is a complete POS, I’m not going to think about buying a new one. Maybe the retail ones are better, but once burned, twice shy.
This is the first I’ve seen pictures of the front/rear fascia changes to the Pacifica. I know Stellantis is just allowing things to wither on the vine until they can kill off the brand but neither end here is an improvement at all. Whatever the Pacifica’s faults it at least used to look good but the new grille is way worse and I’m no fan of the new taillamps either.
One of the things I like about belonging to a car share is getting to try vehicles I would never buy in more detail than a mere test drive allows. The one I belong to (Modo) has a good variety of vehicles too – everything from trucks and vans to sports cars and EVs. I probably never would have learned otherwise that the Nissan Cube looks a hell of a lot better from inside and is actually not too bad a vehicle, or that the Honda CRZ is way more fun to drive than the stats would suggest, and despite being a very different vehicle than the CRX still managed to evoke it on occasion while driving it. The only downer is the lack of standard transmissions.
Thank you for the review! My wife’s parents have a 2017 Pacifica. We took her parents on an 800 mile round trip from Michigan to southern Illinois. It was actually an enjoyable trip. With 5 people and luggage we were getting up to 30 mpg on the highway according to the computer. My wife and I just plugged our phones in and had Google Maps. It worked well enough for the trip. My wife and I found the start/stop feature annoying. And the battery had to be replaced last Fall. I wonder if the stress on the battery and starter are worth the efforts to save gas.
As far as cargo? Minivans win hands down over almost all CUV’s. Even for passenger room and comfort. I only bought our Honda Pilot CUV for more towing capacity. The floors are just too high up in most CUV’s which limits cargo size.
I get the impression that the overall human factors design in the Pacifica are sub par, regardless of how well it drives or sounds. I have mostly dealt in Ford/Mazda and the occasional GM product and apart from louse seatbelts in a Saturn I can usually navigate controls and functions quickly. IIRC my last encounter with a Chrysler product was Sebring rental in 2005 and it was dire compared to even a decontented 2001 Escort.
As for minivans as a breed, I never saw either a van or 3 row SUV as a necessity since we hauled tow kids and a fleet of bikes in a sedan with a roof rack. The Mazda5 did appeal to me as the right size for two kids and occasional car pools and when we finally got around to buying one it was indeed just the right size and everything was easy to manage, once I figured out how to reset the climate control to Fahrenheit. Bigger vans seemed like more car than necessary. This is slightly ironic in light of my 20′ long truck but we actually use it fo rmostly truck stuff so it’s less unreasonable than it seems
Human factors – good point. Some gripes for sure on this Pacifica, however the seat adjustments were fine for my 5’10” height, the steering column was adjustable up and down for comfort also. I usually bring my steering wheel down a bit lower than most people for ease of reach. I was glad the gearshift knob was a different touch and larger diameter than those for the radio, and also glad that the A/C could be controlled with buttons, not just on the control screen.
I get the sliding door glitches, the start/stop feature that people have mentioned, the rear hatch, etc. I will say that this van is a long way forward than the 1987 I had where you had to be able to lift the back seat out (no wheel casters to help) for storage space. That and air bags, ABS, and lots of storage space provided comfort, safety, and cargo space.
I currently drive from Pueblo to Colorado Springs for work. Usually I see cars that appear to be on their last leg dead on the side of I-25. I was surprised to see such a new car on the side of the road with an orange removal tag placed by a state trooper, but as of now there is one of these on the roadside at exit 104 going Northbound. I hope its nothing major or majorly common wrong with it. I read this CC and thought about that. Too many bad personal experiences with Chrysler products in my past to ever go there again, but if there are people out there that find their products rewarding, more power to ’em. I am sincerely glad they are enjoying them.
Yeah, I had three Chrysler minivans in my driving career, an ’87, a ’99, and an ’01.
Speaking of the 1999 I had, didn’t I see a ’99 Dodge Caravan just yesterday! It had some rust around the edges, but overall seemed to be in half decent condition. Listening to the exhaust note, it sounded smooth and intact.
Just had one of these as a rental. The techno overkill was not fun…I felt like i was driving an iPad on wheels.
I was also less than impressed this “mini”van was 5300lbs.