2017 Chrysler Pacifica

[regfootball]

DRIVEN: thanks to an egift card incentive, 2017 Chrysler Pacifica (not even sure what trim)

 

Quick spin, and even less time to write here.  Here i can legimately make comparison to the Town and Country in our garage

 

HIGHS

-eye catching looks inside and out, minvans now have style

-all the positive assets of the minivan are maintained....and enhanced

-updated Pentastar v6 remains strong and feels faster, and promises improved mpg (if possible)

-update to the 9 speed vs the 6 speed means much better and quicker shifting (note: my short spin exhibited none of the 9 speed foibles written about in the buff books).  It bangs off shifts smoother and quicker and therefore the van is a legitimate hot rod.

-You do notice the feel of reduced heft.

-improved road noise isolation.  In fact, the ride itself is smoother and more compliant and trending more towards a sedan ride than the big cushy tank ride of the current van.

-the current van is easy to see in and out of, the Pacifica is positively stupefying in how airy it feels inside the cabin, and how good the visibility is for the hulkiness of such vans.  

-Low and compact dash and large window glass, reinforces how much easier this is to drive more like a sedan than a bus

-simple and attractive interior on all counts

-cleverly improved stow and go function, it's ridiculous how beneficial this is, and it even preserves a center center seat in the process.

-U Connect screen is possibly the best out there.  Super high res, gorgeous.  Lots to pick from on the menu, but this alone is a huge improvement in the model change.

-lots of available trim levels, you can go as basic or loaded as you want.

-i think this platform could work for a large sedan...?

-current vans feel out of date in minutes long drive of the new one

 

LOWS

-lack of heft may make vehicle feel less vault like to some.  I'll be clear, it's not a tinny feel at all.  It's just not feeling like a tank anymore

-This more of a base model, the ride softness and easiness / light mush of the steering may have been due to the tires being softer.  I would be interested in seeing if the reflexes sharpen up a bit on upper trims with the larger wheel packages

-trending to a sedan like drive may be offputting for decades long hardcore Chrysler van drivers who actually want more of a truck like feel.

-According to sales guy, AWD option is a year away

 

SUMMARY

-You're either van averse, or open to the option.  If you're stubbornly against them, there is nothing you can even do to get someone in to drive one, but if such a person did..their aversions would be cut away at pretty well.  It's ok it's not a robust market, but this vehicle should create new attention and a renaissance to the minivan.  Vans can often cost less than the consistently skyrocketing SUV prices.  Whatever the case, this is the top of class and will deserve all the rewards it gets from the efforts.  

 

Grade A

Edited August 7, 2016 by regfootball

[smk4565]

I am holding out for the Hellcat version.  Once sales slide in year 3 or 4 FCA's solution will be to add more power and let the same chassis and sheet metal soldier on 10 more years.

 

Anyone realize the Jeep Compass is going into its 11th model year without a re-design?  I think the current body style is going to continue to 2025, and they are adding a Pentastar V6 in 2019.

[Suaviloquent]

Alright dude none of those complaints prevent this van from getting a good score.

 

Look, FCA may have problemos up the butt, but they made this van right. Do I do feel that the next gen Odyssey will shed weight too, and it is EPA rated the same as this all new van.

 

But for one model year, this van is champs.

[regfootball]

one year later, a second test drive renders nearly the exact same impressions.  Perhaps some of the interior seems a little cheaper to me, but overall, again, i tend to think this minivan is VERY desirable.

AH BUT, go to Pacifica Forums dot com and read all the first year bugaboos...... gives one a LOT of pause.

It's a Chrysler ya know.

[oldshurst442]

48 minutes ago, regfootball said:

AH BUT, go to Pacifica Forums dot com and read all the first year bugaboos.

All cars of EVERY make have teething problems...

What you read about in all internet forums are all the whining bullshyte that people bitch about and the internet gives them a voice to be heard.

Some of that whining is real, some of it fake and some of it imagined just to stir an emotion or a hidden agenda.

My wife's 2013 1.6liter ecoboost Ford Fusion has had 5 or 6 recalls on it to date.

Her car was built in June of 2013 and we took deliver of it that December and supposedly the engine fire problems for the 1.6 liter ecoboost were solved by April 2013....but you guessed it...2 months ago I got a letter from Ford telling me that there are still fire hazards with it....something about the coolant may get too low or the pressure circulating the coolant not being sufficient to properly flow not cooling the engine fast enough or something like that and that well last month, I took it in for the recall...

OK...like I said...there is like 5-6 or even 7 recalls on her car....all fixed....

If I was a whiny little shyte, like most people in today's society...guess what???!!!

Id be bitchin' on a Ford Fusion forum that Fords suck and the Fusion sucks and ALL THAT!!!

Reality is that my wife and I are really really satisfied with the Fusion...albeit annoyed with all the phoquing recalls. But the car does perform flawlessly though!

And yes, Id buy another Found On Road Dead or Fix Or Repair Daily Ford product again.

Take all the internet bitchin' with a grain of salt is what Im sayin!!!!

Another anecdote....

Ive read some Google reviews about my very own restaurant...

I do have like a 4 or 4.5 star rating with as many as 150 responses and Id say 90% of the responses are of the hell yeah positive side of things....

The little complaints that I do get...well....some people's perceptions are phoqued and we are such a coddled and whiny phoquing society...we can be very whiny bitches!!!!

I remember some of those complaints...and um...I aint about to give you a free phoquing meal for life just because we forgot to add ketchup in your burger or we forgot to omit the pickles in it...

Its good enough I gave you another burger and let you keep the old one and no I aint gonna apologize and kiss your ass for an honest HUMAN mistake!

You could add phoquing ketchup yourself and take the phoquing pickles out with your own phoquing food!!!!

Honestly. folk! Stop being so phoquing prissy with your food! Its food! EAT IT!

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by oldshurst442

[regfootball]

how bout you read all 26 pages of this thread

http://www.pacificaforums.com/forum/474-chrysler-pacifica-minivan-issues-problems/2937-vehicle-shut-off-while-driving.html

and the dozens of other threads with stuff that should not even really happen.  Some of those threads will give you insight on why the hybrid has seen the long delay after a few got out into the public......

my Malibu the 1.5 engine apparently melts pistons.  I've had a recall and a couple other fixes done, and I've read many threads on it but haven't gotten too wound up about it.

[oldshurst442]

5 hours ago, regfootball said:

how bout you read all 26 pages of this thread

http://www.pacificaforums.com/forum/474-chrysler-pacifica-minivan-issues-problems/2937-vehicle-shut-off-while-driving.html

and the dozens of other threads with stuff that should not even really happen.  Some of those threads will give you insight on why the hybrid has seen the long delay after a few got out into the public......

my Malibu the 1.5 engine apparently melts pistons.  I've had a recall and a couple other fixes done, and I've read many threads on it but haven't gotten too wound up about it.

I repeat:

10 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

All cars of EVERY make have teething problems...

What you read about in all internet forums are all the whining bullshyte that people bitch about and the internet gives them a voice to be heard.

Some of that whining is real, some of it fake and some of it imagined just to stir an emotion or a hidden agenda.

Take all the internet bitchin' with a grain of salt is what Im sayin!!!!

 

[regfootball]

hard to take a grain of salt about a vehicle spontaneously stopping and losing steering, don't you think?  Massive safety issue.

[Robert Hall]

Well, it is an FCA product..recalls are to be expected...just heard about a new one pertaining to my Jeep that's coming..something to do with the alternator and fires.   

[oldshurst442]

4 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Well, it is an FCA product..recalls are to be expected...just heard about a new one pertaining to my Jeep that's coming..something to do with the alternator and fires.   

Ford, GM, Toyota....

Honda too....

VW? Sure....they also got their fair share of recalls...

Subaru about 15-20 years ago got caught fixing defects without the owners knowing that there were defects!

Moot point...

Although I hate Toyota BECAUSE of the myth of "Toyota flawless reliability".

However, certain Toyota motors are indestructible. But certain others, not so much.

4 hours ago, regfootball said:

hard to take a grain of salt about a vehicle spontaneously stopping and losing steering, don't you think?  Massive safety issue.

 

This whole thing sounds like COMPLETE BULLSHYTE!!!

And Chrysler not doing anything about it???

In THIS day and age when Toyota paid a hefty price for unintended acceleration,  GM a hefty price for the ignition switch fiasco and VW for polluting from their diesels...WITH AN UPSIDE!!!!

NO SIGNIFICANT LOSS OF SALES DUE TO CONSUMERS DISTRUST IN THOSE BRANDS!!!

So Chrysler will try to hide this???!!!

BULLSHYTE!!!

Same derivative answer that I personallynget from a technician that does not know what the problem is...

"If it happens again, bring it in right away so we see the codes!!!"

 

Laprincess sounds like an agenda driven poster....kinda like our banned friend Wings...

 

 

 

[Robert Hall]

I'm sure if there is something to it, there will be a recall, if not already.... without all the silly drama. 

[oldshurst442]

18 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I'm sure if there is something to it, there will be a recall, if not already.... without all the silly drama. 

I only believe legit news sources on stuff like this.

Internet chit chat stuff...not so much.

Im sure our very own William or Drew will sniff it out and report it to us soon enough if this is an issue for FCA and their Pacifica.

Like you said, without the drama, this is what I should have stated from the get-go: Im sure our very own William or Drew will sniff it out and report it to us soon enough if this is an issue for FCA and their Pacifica.

[regfootball]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/06/fiat-chrysler-shuts-pacifica-hybrid-production-amid-safety-recall-report/

[oldshurst442]

1 hour ago, regfootball said:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/06/fiat-chrysler-shuts-pacifica-hybrid-production-amid-safety-recall-report/

Thank-you.

And I retract any statements I made earlier regarding any Pacifica problems with me not yet acknowledging them.

But I did say I needed credible sources. This would be a credible source.

I still however stand by my beliefs in not trusting blogs and internet forum chit chat opinion sites!

[regfootball]

Like cheers and gears? 

i can agree in principle with what you speak of here. I think in the case of this rig the Pacifica though, it seems what I have read on that forum site about both the gas model and hybrid model (and the hybrid issue being repeated on other more generic sites ) having some very concerning issues, well, concerns me. I find a lot of the stories in the case of the Pacifica to be believable because they seem the same and I doubt that many people collude to defame a mfr like that. 

Edited July 25, 2017 by regfootball

[Stew]

My bug will be the last 1st year model I buy.  believe me on that......

[A Horse With No Name]

On 8/7/2016 at 8:19 PM, smk4565 said:

I am holding out for the Hellcat version.  Once sales slide in year 3 or 4 FCA's solution will be to add more power and let the same chassis and sheet metal soldier on 10 more years.

 

Anyone realize the Jeep Compass is going into its 11th model year without a re-design?  I think the current body style is going to continue to 2025, and they are adding a Pentastar V6 in 2019.

I am holding out to whatever it is you folks in Pittsburgh are smoking...there will be no Hellcat version of this.

7 minutes ago, Stew said:

My bug will be the last 1st year model I buy.  believe me on that......

My wife's Bug looks like it will be quite flawless....agree on the first year thing.

[Stew]

1 minute ago, A Horse With No Name said:

I am holding out to whatever it is you folks in Pittsburgh are smoking...there will be no Hellcat version of this.

My wife's Bug looks like it will be quite flawless....agree on the first year thing.

They made some nice updates starting in 14.  Mine is the 12 so it is a little more excessive in body roll than you would think, but on the same hand it is still a blast in the turns. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Just now, Stew said:

They made some nice updates starting in 14.  Mine is the 12 so it is a little more excessive in body roll than you would think, but on the same hand it is still a blast in the turns. 

Really enjoying mine, but ready for a BRZ, GTI or Miata.

[Stew]

1 minute ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Really enjoying mine, but ready for a BRZ, GTI or Miata.

Understand that for sure.

[A Horse With No Name]

Just now, Stew said:

Understand that for sure.

Now we just need things to work out so you can get that Civic Type R.

[Stew]

Just now, A Horse With No Name said:

Now we just need things to work out so you can get that Civic Type R.

I can't get anything riht now haha.  Good thing though, because i have no idea what i want.  I love any Challenger or Charger with a 6.4 or Hellcat, I love the ZR2, the Type R is a hell of a surprise (the SI is turning out to be a bit of a letdown to me though), Still love the Golf R, even with a little bit of VWphobia right now.  The Camry XSE V6 is an interesting options.  I also have evolved an Affinity for the Chevy SS and the 18 mustang GT.  I followed a Hellcat for around 30 minutes the other day and we played some and yes, he could pull away from me at like 1/8th throttle lol, but the sound, oh mercy. 

[A Horse With No Name]

Just now, Stew said:

I can't get anything riht now haha.  Good thing though, because i have no idea what i want.  I love any Challenger or Charger with a 6.4 or Hellcat, I love the ZR2, the Type R is a hell of a surprise (the SI is turning out to be a bit of a letdown to me though), Still love the Golf R, even with a little bit of VWphobia right now.  The Camry XSE V6 is an interesting options.  I also have evolved an Affinity for the Chevy SS and the 18 mustang GT.  I followed a Hellcat for around 30 minutes the other day and we played some and yes, he could pull away from me at like 1/8th throttle lol, but the sound, oh mercy. 

Ohhh mercy indeed...all nice choices.