[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOSH SADLIER: All right.
Mark.
Well, we find ourselves in the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica here.
It's the first year of production
for this new minivan.
You would think it's the replacement for the Grand
Caravan, and that's actually what I thought until recently,
when the 2017 Grand Caravan showed up on my assignment
sheet and I was thinking to myself,
I don't think that exists anymore.
But it does.
They're still making it.
MARK TAKAHASHI: How does this differ from that, then.
JOSH SADLIER: Well, it's a new platform.
It's a modular platform from the Fiat family.
It's not a derivation of the Grand Caravan.
This is actually an all-new vehicle.
The Grand Caravan, strong seller.
It is practical for families.
Nice price point.
And that's why they're still selling it,
I think, but we always dinged it for a general lack
of refinement through the years.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Right.
And build quality issues.
JOSH SADLIER: Yes.
Certainly.
Maybe tailgates not opening and things like that.
But I think I noticed in the Pacifica added refinement
compared to the Grand Caravan right away.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARK TAKAHASHI: We're talking about the interior.
More importantly, the interior quality.
So Josh, what do you think so far?
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah, I'm impressed.
I'm surprised and impressed.
I think we're all scarred from years
of entering Grand Caravans and feeling bummed out soon
as you plop down in the seat.
You look around.
I could pull that panel off with my hands.
That seems to have been assembled
by someone who maybe took a few tokes on his lunch break,
as the case may be.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Right.
JOSH SADLIER: We've been bummed year after year.
Grand Caravan.
Again, it's a practical vehicle, it's
a good value, and so on and so forth.
It's a tool for job.
But in terms of interior refinement and build quality,
you would never mention in the same breath as the Odyssey,
for example.
It just wouldn't happen.
You wouldn't do it.
In this case, I'm not discounting the Pacifica.
I'm thinking it's competitive.
I'm thinking they've stepped up their game
in a big way in terms of materials quality,
build quality, as far as we can tell.
I don't hear things rattling, unlike the Grand Caravan.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Right.
It felt like something was just going
to fall out of the headliner.
But yeah.
I mean, I'm feeling these elbow touch points,
which I think are really important.
They're nicely padded.
The materials on the door panels are soft to the touch.
They're a little more quality than we're used to.
The same with the dash.
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah.
Even this part.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Almost everything.
Yeah.
JOSH SADLIER: Even this piece like surrounding
the central controls here.
Often this is hard.
I mean, you cut costs here, and they actually
went with some simple stuff that cost
a few more quarters per car.
MARK TAKAHASHI: And the steering wheel
actually feels good my hands.
It's a good thickness it's got this pretty metal ring
inset between the two different leather.
So it looks good.
Feels good.
One thing that I'm still not a fan of with almost any car
is piano black here and there.
I mean--
JOSH SADLIER: Reflections.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Causes some reflections.
And it looks dirty.
It's always going to be dusty no matter what.
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah.
There are smudges all over the place here.
Yeah.
I agree.
MARK TAKAHASHI: But as far as minivans go, yeah.
They've definitely stepped up their game.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOSH SADLIER: So we just called up
the nav here on the Uconnect infotainment system
that's been with Chrysler products for a number of years
now.
And at first glance, I thought this might be a new interface
because at the bottom, you can see
the icons have been refreshed.
It's like a reskin.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah.
They look modern.
They look contemporary.
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah.
Looks crisp, right?
But then we've got the nav.
Here, and there's no real-time traffic.
And in general, the graphics seem
like they might be possibly from six, seven, eight years ago.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah.
It definitely looks outdated, which
is disappointing because the newest connect stuff
in the Challenger and other cars that I've driven,
they're really, really good.
The map, yeah it's kind of-- actually,
there's a really thin nav traffic.
JOSH SADLIER: Is that traffic?
MARK TAKAHASHI: That might be a traffic light.
But that's also--
JOSH SADLIER: Barely visible.
It's just like a yellow line that--
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah.
Just barely there.
But yeah, the other stuff.
Actually, the audio side looks pretty decent.
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah.
It looks nice.
I think that--
MARK TAKAHASHI: It's just the map
that seems to need a little bit of an update graphically.
JOSH SADLIER: I mean, a lot of people
use their phones for navs anyway, so.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah.
JOSH SADLIER: If you're going to have
one weak point in an infotainment system,
maybe the nav's the one to have there.
MARK TAKAHASHI: There you go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARK TAKAHASHI: All right.
So we're in the second row in our long-term Chrysler
Pacifica.
Not surprisingly, it's got plenty of room.
I mean, how tall are you?
JOSH SADLIER: 6'1.
MARK TAKAHASHI: I'm 5'10.
I've got plenty of room, even with this giant sunroof eating
into the space here.
Laterally, it's nice.
It's comfortable.
I guess it's got a really nice range of recline.
I'm assuming it slides forward and back too, no?
Maybe not.
Stow'n Go is fixed, I guess.
MARK TAKAHASHI: OK.
We'll find out later.
JOSH SADLIER: But yeah, no.
I mean, I'm mostly legs, and I got plenty of room for those.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah.
I have a nice little USB port in the back of the front seat.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Looks like we have seat heaters.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Indeed.
Yes.
JOSH SADLIER: That's a nice touch.
We got your window shades.
The are not power, but I guess we can live with that.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Right And the sunroof
actually gives it the illusion of even more space.
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah.
An airy--
MARK TAKAHASHI: An openness.
JOSH SADLIER: Airiness.
Yeah, it's pretty convincing.
I would almost call it upscale back here.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOSH SADLIER: We're going to walk you through the Stow 'n Go
second-row seat procedure here.
It's a term you probably heard a lot about if you're shopping
for a minivan, but in some cases,
you might not have seen it in action.
So here, in real-time, is our second-row seat
about to be stowed.
There's a little clip on the floor.
There's your first step.
Pull it up.
This collapses like that, and then it conveniently
stays up for you.
Now we move to this step.
Pull the strap.
There it goes.
Right into the floor.
You push it down.
Pull this part of the floor back out.
Push it down.
Simple as that.
It's really quite amazing.
And then when you're ready to bring it back up,
it's just as easy.
You do that.
Pull this up.
You flip it.
Scissors back into place.
I think it couldn't be simpler.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARK TAKAHASHI: We're at the back of the Chrysler Pacifica
long-termer talking about cargo capacity which is
paramount in a minivan, right?
JOSH SADLIER: Yes.
This is why you get a minivan.
It's got 140 cubic feet of maximum space
if you get rid of the Stow-N-Go in the second row as well.
And that dwarfs anything you get in the crossover.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, absolutely.
And yeah, it's massive.
It's tall.
It's easy to get big stuff in here because the floor so low.
JOSH SADLIER: Low liftover.
And that's another thing, like crossovers,
they want the higher ride height,
so it jacks up the lift [? over ?] [? height. ?] And
then you've got a suitcase you're like lifting up over
this thing.
This is like at knee level.
MARK TAKAHASHI: One thing that we
do like about modern minivans, especially with the Chrysler
product, is the power Stow-N-Go stuff.
So go ahead and let's hit the normal button
and we'll just see how long it takes for it to bring itself
out of its slumber.
JOSH SADLIER: Do I have to hold it?
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yup, oh, you don't.
JOSH SADLIER: Look at that.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Touch.
And this is really nice too because, with the third rows,
they're actually pretty far forward
and if they weren't powered, you'd
kind of have this awkward stretch
to try and get the straps and pull everything back out.
JOSH SADLIER: That's pretty cool.
MARK TAKAHASHI: That is really nice.
JOSH SADLIER: The two stage unfolding, I like that.
MARK TAKAHASHI: And another thing that's nice here
is you've got these hooks for shopping bags,
so everything doesn't open up and tumble all over the place.
Stow-N-Vac, I suppose.
And this pit here for cargo's really nice.
I mean--
JOSH SADLIER: Yeah, yeah, there's,
I don't know if you can see, but there's
more space below what you expect to be the floor
level so that you can add an extra layer of down there.
MARK TAKAHASHI: Yeah, so, I mean,
there's the case for any minivan right there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOSH SADLIER: If minivans are your thing,
visit Edmunds and start shopping now
to compare the Chrysler Pacifica against any of its competitors.