I have spent a lot of seat time in minivans over the years. I have owned an early Honda Odyssey (the under-appreciated version with hinged doors), a 99 Town & Country (possibly “Peak” Chrysler minivan) and experienced over a decade with a 2012 Kia Sedona. I have driven others through the years, but until recently there has been a big hole in my experience – the current Chrysler Pacifica.
An accumulation of unfortunate circumstances recently allowed me to plug that experiential hole, and I thought I might share my thoughts on this vehicle. This is my first time in a Chrysler minivan since the old Dodge Grand Caravan of the 2010s. In fact, I wrote up my last experience with one in 2018 (here). So how was the Pacifica (which is actually not a Pacifica but a Voyager)? It was fine.
When your wife asks you how you liked the meal she prepared, “It was fine” is not really a ringing endorsement. I suppose we have all been through some language debasement when something that is “fine” is not the kind of “fine” Ford used to reference in its “Family Of Fine Cars” or of the old restaurants that always touted “Fine Food”. In my world “it’s fine” is another way of saying “meh”. Meh, of course, is not bad. It is also not used to describe the kind of thing that exceeds expectations.
I should acknowledge one issue up front: during my time with this Voyager, I was in an ill humor about the way my trusty Sedona was ripped from my hands. I came to love that stupid Sedona. Up to its last day, it never failed to pamper me with one of the most delightful combinations of engine and transmission in my entire automotive experience. The engine was smooth and strong, and the 6-speed automatic was almost always in the right gear at the right time and made its gear changes so unobtrusively that I never really cared where it might have been in that progression from 1 through 6. But all good things must come to an end, so I guess I had better get over it and concentrate on this Chrysler.
It seems that the Voyager is the version Chrysler sells to rental fleets as a value-leader to fill the gap left after the old Grand Caravan was (finally) euthanized. The Voyager still carries the Pacifica’s pre-facelift styling and has a relatively, um, economical level of equipment. It is certainly not the total stripper that my Sedona was – mine may have been the last minivan on the road with non-power rear doors. But it is also not nearly so pleasant a place to spend time as, say, a certain Charger that has been in our garage.
Let’s start with the good. It is mighty hard to find fault with the 3.6L Pentastar V6. That engine feels a little different in this FWD application as compared to the RWD setup it powers in my Charger. But the engine is a willing revver and never makes me wish for more power. One other area that is vastly improved from the old Grand Caravan is in the vehicle’s structural integrity. My experiences in GCs always involved degrees of body flex that should not have been seen in something designed in the modern computer age. This van was far better on this score, and left me without any complaints about the structure’s solidity.
This Voyager has the well-known Stow ‘n Go system for the seats, which is convenient when the time comes to convert from passengers to stuff to be toted in the acreage behind the driver. There are plenty of cupholders and cubbies (one area where my old Sedona fell noticeably short) and I was never at a loss for where to put a drink or a phone or a sheaf of papers. The Voyager’s utility was, well, fine. But then it’s a minivan, so this should be a given.
I do, however, have some niggles with this Chrysler. Let’s talk transmissions. The 9-speed automatic transaxle is a very different unit from the one in my Charger. I started out in this experience congratulating Stellantis on how it had completely solved the odd shifting characteristics that had marred my time in the 2018 GC. But then I kept driving. For 98% of my time behind the wheel, this powertrain felt great. But every once in awhile, the transmission would do something odd, like smack hard into the next gear in an upshift. It was almost at random, and under conditions I had trouble reproducing. But it happened at least 5 or 6 times during its week with me, a level of frequency that made it more of a problem than a fluke. I did not love this trait and have experienced nothing even remotely similar in my Charger. Perhaps this is an issue restricted to this vehicle, a 42k-mile example that has not led the easiest of lives. Aren’t rental car years kind of like dog years? Or maybe Stellantis still has not worked out the finer points of shift logic (that Kia nailed over a decade ago).
The Voyager’s HVAC system was also an odd and unsatisfying middle ground between the seamless full automatic system in my Charger and the simple, 3-dial manual system in the dearly departed Kia. The electronically-controlled manual system seemed to require frequent adjustments to fan speed. The 3-4 second delay between input and result is irritating. More irritating is that I did not figure out how to operate the fan speed for the rear system until I was in the rental lot awaiting my ride home on the day I turned the thing in. It was not at all intuitive, so I spent a week stretching to reach the rear control over the passenger side rear door in order to regulate the fan speed in the rear 2/3 of the vehicle.
HVAC control was also hampered by the U-Connect display. I paired my phone to the system quite easily, but find that it works a little differently from that in my Charger. My guess is that one of the two systems is a little older than the other, but have not looked further into this issue. Attempts to adjust the rear half of the HVAC system go beyond the analog controls on the dash, so much hunting and pecking on the screen was required before the adjustments to the rear a/c system were (or were not) made. Oh well, the Android Auto is handy for putting my Maps on the screen for navigation assistance.
I also found the driver’s seat to be not tremendously inviting. It left me with a feeling of sitting on a bit of a pedestal – visibility was good, but I am not nestled down into a comfy spot. Marianne agreed with me on this score. For both of us, the Charger’s seats feel wonderful while these did not. I should also add that I found myself ducking my neck every time I got in to avoid hitting my head on the edge of the roof during entry. My 1999 Town & Country was very swoopily styled, but I don’t remember entry/exit being so affected by the sleek lines, and its driver’s seat was far more satisfying.
Perhaps the biggest irritant is the Voyager’s stop-start system. Says the guy who knows that he has largely completed the transition into full-curmudgeon. But a vehicle that shuts itself down at each traffic light is a grade-A irritant. Yes, I know that I can momentarily release the brake pedal and make it re-start itself (so that my cabin temperature stays cool instead of transitioning to almost-cool). But why should I have to? I like cars, and one of life’s little pleasures is enjoying the smooth idle of (at least) six powerful cylinders as they await my command to proceed. The worst was the way the system shuts down the engine as I pull to a stop in my driveway, only to restart when I shift to park so that I can turn the car off again – which is just stupid. All I can say is that start-stop is a nanny, and I hate vehicular nannies. And this particular nanny increases the duty cycle of the starter by about 9,000%. Ask me if I think Stellantis spec’d a starter 9,000% stronger than in the pre stop-start era.
I found myself occupying a difficult spot during my entire time with this vehicle. On the one hand, it was hard to avoid comparisons with my old Sedona. When you have a vehicle that has satisfied you for many years, a new one has a tough act to follow. Maybe I would have found fault with the perfect new minivan. But I will never know because this was most assuredly not the perfect new minivan. This van was also particularly unsatisfying when compared with my Charger – made by the same manufacturer only a single model-year removed from this one.
While I had this Voyager, I kept thinking about the Chrysler vehicles of the late Virgil Exner era. This thing is awash in details that I saw as ”googie” – like the instrument cluster that I find strangely reminiscent of the 1961 Plymouth.
There, do you see it too? The fuel and temp “gauges” employ an odd display of little digital arrows or hash marks that appear and disappear as the levels of fuel and engine heat do. For a system intended to be so stylish, the gray/white display is quite dull so that there is no “Gee, Wow” factor to overcome the display’s gimmickry. And there is something about the overall shape of the van that keeps reminding me of the early Valiant wagon.
In the end, I can conclude that the Voyager was fine. It did what I needed it to do for the several days that I had custody of it, and there was nothing about the experience that left a bad taste in my mouth (beyond the start-stop system that I found so grating). OK, and the occasional hard upshifts. But neither did this Voyager surprise or delight and I never looked forward to driving it the way I have with the other cars that have inhabited my driveway in recent years. Most of my favorite vehicles have been products of the Chrysler Corporation under its multitude of corporate structures. The 2023 Charger that we recently purchased keeps this streak alive. The Voyager, sadly, whiffed on this score. Perhaps a newer, more highly optioned Pacifica would have left a more favorable impression. This one, unfortunately did only one thing really well – it made me miss my 2012 Sedona all the more.
Great review! I’m renting the exact same thing now to help with a move!
I also experienced a few odd shifts and think that the gauge cluster is too gimmicky.
Any idea if the Voyager has a radio? I’ve never experienced a car that seems to default to using your phone and not give a radio option.
I also think it’s a mistake not to include now common safety equipment like blind spot monitoring in a rental car when it’s standard in many cheaper vehicles. Knowing that this is a rental designed vehicle likely driven by either people who have a minivan with these features or someone who hasn’t and is used to these systems seems to invite disaster. Throw in foreign renters say in Florida used to smaller vehicles, yikes.
How sad is it that FCA and now Stellantis have allowed Chrysler to whither to one semi-mediocre vehicle with suspect long term reliability. Unrelated: Currently renting a 24 Malibu for a week and it’s very disappointing, mostly because of the Cerberus Chrysler era like cheapness of its interior.
It’s been a problem with all of Stellantis to date. They haven’t really upgraded many products like the smaller Jeeps, the minivan, and the old classic RAM. The Charger/300/Challenger were left largely unchanged for over 10 years. Then the sales plummeted and Carlos hurried back from vacation to figure out his next move.
Reminds me of the old days when Chrysler Corporation was known as the Financially Troubled Chrysler Corporation when sales dropped.
I just rented a new Malibu from Hertz and would never consider buying one, new or used. I spent most of the driving hours in it fidgeting to find a comfortable position in the uncomfortable seat, and hit my head (I am only 5’6″) every time I got in or out of the car. It seemed as though GM wanted to make the car as undesirable as possible so they could discontinue it for poor sales and concentrate on SUV/CUVs and BIG pickup trucks, then saying, “That’s what America wants…That’s today’s CHEVROLET!”
Here in my neck of the woods (Canada), this van wears the famous Grand Caravan nameplate because the Dodge was so popular here.
I so feel your loss of the Sedona. My car for 16 years was a 2007 VW Rabbit 4-door I bought new. A nice shade of dark green with black interior, just like your Charger. Stick shift. It just seemed to fit me perfectly – ultra-comfy seats, controls that fell right to hand. Great steering. Smooth 2.5L 5-cyl. engine with gobs of low-rpm torque. Quiet, even at high speeds. Great-sounding audio. Lots of neat features, like a draft-free A/C option (blows large volume of air at low speed), or a *front* passenger seatback that folds flat, so you can fold down the rear seats (or just the passenger-side 60% if you have someone with you) and be able to carry ladders, Christmas trees or bookshelves inside the car, stretched from back of trunk to the dash or front footwells. The glovebox had an A/C vent if you had something to keep cool. The dash and door controls glowed red at night (with a few blue accents on the gauges), which looked cool and was easy on the eyes. I could go on and on.
My time with the Bunny came to an abrupt end when I experienced a seizure and became less alert than I should be when driving, although still reasonably aware. But I missed a lane that was about to end, marked with a sign that had broken, except for the bottom 8″ of the metal post set into concrete. That protrusion ripped a gash across the entire underside of the car, taking the radiator, A/C lines, transmission, exhaust, and a few misc. pieces with it. Two repair shops both told me they were unable to fix it due to the supply chain issues of the time – they couldn’t get the needed parts, and it would cost several thousand $ more than insurance would pay. They offered to fix it if I sourced all the parts myself, something I’m not experienced at. They got tired of my car sitting on their lot for months, so with little time to get rid of it, I advertised it gave it away. I hoped to find someone who could fix it up rather than part it out. I thought I did, but a few weeks later I saw a CL ad from someone obviously selling my old car, likely for a profit (he had time to find a paying buyer; I didn’t). I later got a call from the new buyer, who was indeed a mechanic who had a Jetta Mk5 parts car with almost everything my old car needed. He was almost done with the work when we last spoke. I offered to buy it back if he gets tired of it or needs a change (and I find it still drives well), but as of now he doesn’t want to sell. I’m glad the car is still alive, but it’s kind of like knowing my old girlfriend I still miss is out there somewhere – does it matter if she’s no longer in my life?
I decided to replace it with a 2019 Golf, its direct successor, taking advantage of the 6 year transferable warranty on 2018-19 VWs. A Mk7 replacing a Mk5. Surely they must have learnt something in all that time and the new car would be better. It isn’t. It’s worse, much worse. The seats (vinyl now, not cloth) give me a backache. It’s noisier. It crashes over potholes. The headlamps stink. The radio sounds tinny. The gauges and controls all glow bright white, which glares directly and reflects off the side glass. So many nice features I mentioned earlier have gone missing. It just feels cheap. Most annoying is the engine – the 1.4T four is as powerful as the old 2.5, but has a narrow torque band, requires frequent shifting, and drones nosily at any RPM or speed.
Improvements? The tech stuff is nice. My first car with a backup camera, on the 8″ screen. The rest of the time it uses Apple Carplay (or AAuto) to beam my tunes and maps to the car’s display. This car predates wireless Carplay/AA and requires using a USB cable to connect phone to car, but an inexpensive USB key (from MSXTTLY) fixed that. There are several minor improvements. One big improvement – fuel economy is up by about 11mpg. Mostly I like the safety gizmos. Most are unobtrusive, working when needed and staying quiet and out of your way when not. I like the lane assist that pushes me back into my lane if if I veer too close to the edge (though it can easily be overridden if choose). Front and rear collision alert, and will slam on brakes if deemed necessary. No stop/start; I understand this works best on hybrids.
Much of what I miss about my old car is just the memories of people I drove in it; It reminds me of old road trips, old dates, old concerts and parties and films I went to with friends. My life was in a good place when I bought it and driving that car always brought back that feeling. I don’t get it with the replacement car.
Thanks for the review, I currently own a 2000 Golf (manual) and it sounds like your in line with what I also look for in a car. Besides being 24 years old (bought it new) I’m getting old enough that my next car will need to be an automatic, but besides that I’d like to pretty much get a newer version of what I already own…but no one is making that easy. They don’t sell the Golf anymore, and I’m quite a bit old for a GTi (besides, the car I had before my current one was an ’86 GTi….back then good handling was a plus, but now I mostly look for smoother ride rather than handling. Plus, like you, I’m not a fan of the vinyl seats that VW (and others) seem fond of, my ’78 Scirocco had vinyl seats, but I thought I’d left that behind with the ’86.
I’m looking at the Mazda 3, which unfortunately also seems like it has gone with vinyl seating…don’t want to have to put seat covers over the side airbags. I’ve even thought about getting one like your 2007, think they made them up to 2014, but hard to find one with low mileage. Seems I like the features in the older models better, the 2.5 litre would be OK, even with worse fuel mileage (I’d take a longer lasting engine over one that saves me in gas).
Nothing to say about the Voyager, haven’t driven one but interested in the review.
We’re still using “peak” and the stupid made up term “meh”?
Perhaps you are not, but I am. 🙂
From what I understand “MEH” is the new “fine” when used by women to say ‘I don’t like it’ when they don’t want to be held to not liking it .
Treacherous waters to navigate for sure .
I heard “MEH” in the East in the early 1960’s , at the time it meant SO/SO, neither good nor bad .
Don’t be all caught up in hating new things, life is like that : dynamic and ever changing much to the dismay of Geezers like me .
-Nate
You nailed it perfectly. My company car is a ’22 Pacifica. Even as a top of the line Pinnacle AWD version, I notice all the same irritants. My Pacifica was a 1 year old hand me down from the executive team when I got it. The initial thrill of getting such a well optioned vehicle rather then the standard salesman special quickly faded as I lived with the Pacifica. One earlier company car was a much more basic ’02 Dodge Caravan. Less fancy and less refined, but a far more satisfatory driving experience. I’d exchange the newer Pacifica for the older Carvan in a heartbeat if such were possible. Ironically, if hadn’t taken this thing, I probably would have gotten issued a base Charger. To end on a positive note, I now understand why whatever exec initially was issued this Pacifica was so quick to turn it in for something else. I’ll pay for this knowledge by driving the Pacifica until I retire.
Oh, this article hit home on so many levels:
First is the paen to the Kia Sedona. I still have my 2008 (five speed auto but otherwise I assume identical to yours) which is definitely heading into the Top Five Cars of my life, or at least Top Ten. And which is scheduled to finally go away next year, as I trade my Bolt on something larger and get rid of the Kia simultaneously, as I no longer sutler and my re-enactment schedule is now limited to the MD and VA coastal areas anymore. No longer having to carry tons of equipment, a Tesla Model Y is my current starting point.
If only Kia hadn’t made the rear seats ‘permanent’ on the third generation Sedona . . .
Envy because you were able to rent a minivan. Two months ago, upon the death of my mother-in-law (104), I attempted to rent one for the trip to Orono, ME to assist in closing out the estate. Despite hitting every rental outlet in the Richmond are, I ended up with a Chevy Tahoe – the closest Avis/Budget could get me in hauling size. And while I’ve always loathed full-sized pickups/SUV’s and the culture behind them, finally living with one for two weeks ramped my hatred up to a white hot level. I really, really, really wanted to rent a Pacifica, preferably a Hybrid, because that was the one route I was considering should I not consolidate into one vehicles. Plug in electric is mandatory for four wheeled vehicles for me anymore, allowing me complete flexibility to local commuting.
And kudos to the really good review you did on the Voyager. Definitely showed that it would work well for me, if I were still doing multiple trips to St. Augustine anymore.
The funny thing is that I was not expecting a minivan, but figured that they would only rent me something small and cheap. I have rented minivans in the past and they were quite pricey. Evidently the rental companies are forced give the same kind of discounts to insurance companies that we (former) lawyers were arm-wrestled into. That said, this one was highly used with tires that I considered on the lower edge of acceptable for tread depth.
This was what filled the gap between the dearly departed and its successor?
It was.
> If only Kia hadn’t made the rear seats ‘permanent’ on the third generation Sedona . . .
Yes, this. Toyota Siennas are now the same way too. I consider a foldaway or at least removable 2nd row seat to be a key feature of any van – being able to carry lots of stuff (or big stuff) as well as lots of people. Also missing from recent Toyota or Kia minivans: a passage between the two front seats, or between the 1st row and the rest of the van. The new Kia and Toyota vans are more like CUVs with sliding doors.
In my case, the second row came out the day the van came home and were put into storage. They’ll be put back in the van the day it leaves to be sold, donated, or traded. The third row fits nicely in the floor.
White cars help to lend to the ‘meh’ factor.
Overall, it seems this came across to you as unremarkable.
MagicWagons, as Lee once called them, were once thick in population on the roads. Now not many prowl the streets around here. Maybe these will be (or already may have become) another chopping block candidate for good ole Stella.
I started noticing how there are quite a few of these on the road. I wonder if the Voyager/Pacifica has become the low-cost minivan. I know that Honda/Toyota and even Kia minivans are priced stratospherically. These may be too, but I would imagine that the discounting is fierce.
It starts at $41k, so yes, it almost certainly is. But a quick look says there are no current factory incentives on the Pacifica.
I’m seeing a lot of the Pacifica plug-in hybrid in my California town. We have a local dealer (as well as Honda and Toyota, but no Kia/Hyundai) so perhaps that plus cost and the plug-in attraction have helped sales. I don’t really pay attention to Stellantis sales by model, but between the Wrangler, RAM pickups and ProMaster, and the now gone Charger and Challenger, the do seem to be the most diverse as well as popular domestic brand here.
Good review, it’s a bit timely for me because Mrs DougD and I were just discussing the empty nester question: When we’re done with this minivan do we get another or are we done with them? For now the answer would be yes, but our 2015 Grand Caravan is doing somewhere between meh and fine.
I have become accustomed to the willowy body structure and indecisive transmission on our GC, it helps that we paid $17k for it at three years old. Just checking now a new Grand Caravan / Pacifica starts at $50,733 Yikes!!!
I had been determined to keep our old one going for as long as possible. Because it was available, it was worth keeping for those rare occasions when we needed to tote 4/5 other people or to move something bulky (like massive amounts of bagged mulch). Now that it is gone, I doubt that we will be getting another, just because those occasional needs are really more rare than occasional.
Does that mean fewer vehicles in the driveway?
Like you, my experience with these was zero. I do remember seeing the Voyager on Chrysler’s website, on the “build your own” portion. The amount of options one could place on the Voyager was indeed, uh, modest.
You were at a disadvantage, getting into this Voyager after a long-term relationship. Those rebound relationships often don’t go that well, but you at least didn’t marry, I mean purchase, one. That said, we have been car shopping and know what we want. There is a degree of settling involved and I also am concerned about the new one not measuring up to the old one.
Seeing your rental Voyager also has me wondering (again) after our time with a rental from Florida in June…how much time is spent reconditioning these things before the rental companies sell them? The paint scratches on the left rear corner of this one and all the rentals I saw down there with paint scratches on the rear bumper next to the trunk/hatch. That Q5 we rented had 16k on the odometer and it was already quite scratched.
Any hints? Or waiting until something new is definitely official?
Thanks for the review. Definitely meh – though I suppose meh is better than terrible.
I agree about the Sedona’s engine & transmission matchup being very well done. The V-6/6-sp. transmission in our 2018 is a great combination, especially with the sport shift feature, which I use a lot. I’ve repeatedly said how much I’m dreading having to eventually buy a new car, and the engine/transmission matchup is one of the significant reasons.
The start/stop feature is aggravating because it’s one of those features that’s billed as saving drivers money (on gas), but whatever minuscule gas savings are achieved must be obliterated by longer-term costs like starter and battery problems.
Your rental car’s interior seems pretty sad looking – like it was designed by the same people who design dentist’s office waiting rooms.
Thanks for this review of a vehicle with which I have no experience either as a driver or passenger. Your comments are informative and helpful, not that I’m in the market for a minivan at the moment, but for future reference.
One item not mentioned that I think is a negative, based on my experience with older Chrysler minivans: yes, the Stow-and-Go seats can be reconfigured quickly and easily, but they are too damned flat and low to be comfortable for anyone over the age of ten years.
I do find that post-pandemic, the automotive manufacturers have taken advantage of their once-in-two generations pricing power to really push up the MSRPs on well-equipped vehicles to astronomical levels, and then responded to customer protests by offering base models stripped of many desirable features that were commonplace a few years ago. I understand the issues behind these moves, including parts shortages, new federal safety, emissions, and mileage mandates, etc., but the end result is a proliferation of meh or “fine” products like this Voyager. So many of my recent rentals fall into this category of being built to a price, fleet-spec mediocrity that my expectations have dropped to the level of just being satisfied if the car is clean and reliable during its short tenure with me.
Good call on the Stow ‘n Go seats not being ‘all that’. While they’re certainly terrific to get a completely flat load floor in a pinch, they’re not exactly terrific for carrying normal sized adults for any length of time. Small children or short trip for normal sized humans is the extent of their use.
Anyone carrying passengers on a regular basis should go with either the base second row bench or removable captain’s chairs (which might only be available on the Pacifica Hybrid).
JP, you mention 2 things that I find highly annoying on modern vehicles of any manufacturer. And yes, at age 65 I realize I’m entering my curmudgeon phase.
1. Auto stop feature. I simply cannot believe that today’s starters can survive thousands of starts – although I’ve yet to see any evidence of premature failures. A year ago I picked up a 2019 Chevy Silverado which has this feature. Starting a V8 engine that many extra times cannot be a good thing for long life of the starter. Although it cannot be disabled permanently, at least it has a button that I automatically push to turn off the feature each time I start up.
2. Intuitiveness of the touch screen features. I prefer to keep my eyes on the road, not have to continually look down to change functions. Anecdotal evidence: a few years back in mid-winter when temps were below freezing, I rented a car for a week long trip (a Chrysler 300). Although I only live 10 miles from our airport facility, I had to pull off the road because the heated seats were over-cooking my hind quarters and I could not figure out how to turn them off without extended time looking away from the road; I resorted to several minutes of googling while standing outside the car in order to learn how to shut them off. Give me the old fashioned knobs and buttons to control interior functions!
I rented one of these about a year ago and wrote a bit about it in my piece on the Houston Art Car museum (etc.). https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-art/curbside-travelogue-yes-there-really-is-an-art-car-museum/ It was an actual Pacifica, so maybe it was optioned a bit different from the Voyager you rented? I don’t know. Mine either didn’t have a start/stop system as finicky as yours, or perhaps I turned it off (I can’t recall). Most times when I have a rental car for more than a day, I do search for and usually find a way to turn off that most annoying (IMO) of features. It seems to me that these systems have gotten more aggressive and ham-fisted in recent years. In fact, I have a version of that on my 2006 hybrid vehicle…but it seems much more selective about kicking in and doesn’t shut down the vehicle at every traffic light.
The thing that bothered me the most about the Pacifica was the dash mounted gear selector knob. I sort of saw that as a salute to MoPar push button transmissions from the old days. Still, I would definitely have preferred push buttons to that silly dial/knob.
I half-suspected that there must be a way to disable the feature, if only for a given run cycle. But I had so many other irons in the fire that I did not take time to research it. That is, I believe, one of the symptoms of going full-curmudgeon – griping about something instead of looking for a way to solve the problem. 🙂
Still, the fact that someone who is as into cars as I have been for a lifetime has to consult the manual to turn off something that ought to be easily controlled is a problem in and of itself. It reminds me of the old days of office telephones when they tried to control every function under the sun with dial buttons and a hook switch, both of which date back to decades before anyone ever thought of using them for something other than their obvious job. But car dashboards do not suffer from these problems of using legacy designs. Put the disable option on one of the touch screens, if nothing else! That way someone will probably find it while trying to figure out the rear hvac fan control.
If you are referring to trying to defeat the auto engine shutoff…I rented a Pacifica not that long ago and could not find a way to do so, even after reading the owner’s manual. It appeared that it had to be defeated every time the van was started. Nagging Mommie!!!
Mini vans, huh .
Not surprised it didn’t grab your heart strings like the old one did, maybe if this was bought new and was your very first mini van ? .
I don’t exactly hate minivans but after owning multiple VW Typ II’s of the original variety I can say I don’t ever want another minivan .
Pops had a ?1984? Plymouth Voyager he bought new in Hawaii and loved so much he shipped it to the mainland . t had a 2.4L (?) four pot engine and when I drove it it was twenty years old yet still would have been what I wanted if i were to want one .
This one looks well used even in the pictures so my take on your report is : ChryCo. is still killing it with the minivans .
If you need / want one .
-Nate
Sounds like the same system in my mother’s 17 ram bighorn. She’s ready to sell it and keep driving the 01 Camry I found her as a work car a few years ago. When it comes to driving. Tactile control is better.
Start/stop on a ICE and a 9 speed automatic?! No thank you.
You know a company is in trouble when a new rental compares unfavourably to Old Faithful. The impression I get is that the company that pretty much invented the minivan in the US now merely has something to sell in that segment rather than being a front-runner. They seem to have deteriorated from market leader to ‘well, we’ve got this’. Sad.
One thing though – why do interior designers feel they have to reinvent the seat with each new model, rather than continuing with a good design when they’ve nailed it? Just doesn’t make sense.
I far prefer the unpretentious styling of the 5th-gen Grand Caravan to its replacement, the Pacifica/Voyager. That rear (D?) slanting the wrong way reminds me of a ’64ish Mercury with the “breezeway” rear window.
The Grand Caravans were (and remain) thick on the ground here, but I seldom see a Pacifica.
I would hate to have auto start/stop on an ICE-only vehicle. I hear them in action when I ride my bike, stopping and then restarting immediately when they come to a stop sign.
Now on the Toyota hybrid synergy drive, it works beautifully and seamlessly, transitioning between ICE + battery and battery only. There’s no conventional starter motor, and accessories like a/c remain fully on during battery-only operation.