For 2027, Stellantis gave the Chrysler Pacifica, now in its tenth model year, a striking new front-end design and logo. They also canceled the plug-in hybrid and renamed the Voyager “Pacifica LX,” but that’s about it. Is it enough, or is the Pacifica destined to be another one of those Stellantis models that just hangs around with no replacement until nobody wants it anymore?
For this year’s end-of-summer trip, my wife insisted on Misquamicut Beach in Westerly, Rhode Island, where her family vacationed every year when she was growing up. Misquamicut is not that far from our home in Connecticut, so I questioned the need to spend money on a rental minivan, but she successfully argued that all four of us and our stuff were never going to fit into either of our Mazda CX-5s. Based on how the trunk looked after the van was packed, she was right.
When we showed up at our local Enterprise, I was thrilled to receive a new 2027 Pacifica in low-end-but-still-well-equipped Select trim, especially since most of my rentals lately have been a couple of years old. I was surprised that the van had already racked up over 12,000 miles since the 2027 models had only been on the market a few months at this point, but the fact that it had Florida plates was a clue. It had a few scuffs and dings but was thankfully smoke free.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Pacifica. For years, it was a lovely respite from battered and bruised Grand Caravans that I almost always seemed to end up with. I’m not sure why this is, but renters tend to treat the Pacifica better than they ever treated the Grand Caravan. While many owners likely question the quality of Stellantis vehicles, my Pacifica rentals have always felt solid and never suffered any issues. My black-on-black 2027 was no exception.
The Pacifica, though a very successful product, has had kind of a strange journey. For 2020, the low-end trims were renamed Voyager, a name that harkens back to the original 1984 Plymouth Voyager minivan for Gen-Xers like myself and further back for those of previous generations. Its place in the lineup alternated between value proposition and fleet-only model – depending on the year – to replace the Grand Caravan. The Pacifica was given updated front- and rear-end treatments for 2021 while the Voyager retained the older bodywork. For 2027, the Voyager rejoins the Pacifica family as the “Pacifica LX” but does not receive the new front sheet metal. Nor does it get the 2021 update. In addition, the grille and tailgate still have the old Chrysler winged logo instead of the new high-tech version on upper trims, though, oddly, you will find it on the steering wheel of the LX. Effectively, you can walk into a Chrysler dealer and drive out in a Pacifica that’s nearly identical to the ride of choice for the guys in the 2018 comedy Tag.
My excitement quickly waned when I got behind the wheel. Aside from the new front end, which has been giving reviewers and Reddit commenters a heavy Kia vibe, nothing else has changed. The wheel itself is the same except for the new logo in the center, as is the dashboard, instrument panel, center display, shift knob, and infotainment system. I’ve always found the Pacifica’s scalloped gauges with blue back-lighting rather attractive, but in a world of fully electronic instrument panels, I couldn’t help thinking that it’s now mostly wasted space. Even more so since I ultimately set the center display to digital speedometer mode anyway. The upside is that I was able to immediately make myself comfortable, pair my phone to the Uconnect system, and customize all my settings.
All Pacificas are very well equipped. The LX comes standard with a power liftgate, heated seats and steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, keyless entry, automatic headlights, tri-zone climate control, power driver’s seat, speed-sensing cruise control, all the good safety features, and, my personal favorite, an automatic parking brake. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why some people do not set the parking brake when putting a car in park. My mother’s former significant other actually convinced her that setting the parking brake was bad and she should never do it – going as far as putting masking tape on the parking brake so she’d remember not to set it. When I learned of this, I reminded her that we set the brake because it’s what my father taught us to do, and he was a lot smarter than the clown she was living with.
The Select adds LED taillights and headlights with automatic high-beams, auto-dimming rear view mirror, power sliding doors, “acoustic” windshield with active noise cancellation for a quieter cabin, and a rear backup camera washer. Limited and Pinnacle models add even more luxury features, and all-wheel drive models are available for those who need or desire it.
Renting the Pacifica came in handy again after checking into our motel. The Sandy Shore was chosen not only because of its beachfront location – the parking lot is actually on the sand – but it also offers as one of its room types the magical two-bedroom configuration with a queen bed in one room and two full-size beds in the other, ideal when your two children are different genders. It also has a small kitchen and living room.
Entering said apartment, however, was a bit of a letdown. The Sandy Shore is old, as are most of the motels in Misquamicut. While reasonably clean, it felt as old as it was and sparsely furnished. Most alarmingly, the entire place was cooled by one small window air conditioner in the living room, which sat in a box that apparently once held a much larger air conditioner. That living room itself was cool, but the two bedrooms, which also did not have ceiling fans, were not.
While we stood there in relative shock, my wife said, “Let’s get back in the van and go to Walmart.” A shopping spree ensued. Along with the boogie boards, beach chairs, and other beach accoutrements that we brought from home and were still in the trunk, where they stayed during our stay, we also added two milk crates to store all our toiletries, a full-size beach umbrella, two 16-inch pedestal fans (figuring my daughter can use one or both, along with the milk crates, when she goes away to college next year), enough food for breakfast for the next three mornings, additional snacks, a four-pack of Puffs, and the latest publication of the Heartstopper series that my daughter snuck into the cart. The Pacifica held it all with room to spare. These additional items made our stay much more palatable.
Upon checkout, now that we had more items than we came with, we were able to leverage the area under the floor of the middle row where the Stow ‘n Go seats are stored when hidden. Even after we added a gluten-free coffee cake for our neighbors as a thank-you gift for watching our cats and additional pastries for ourselves from the Cooked Goose, where we stopped for breakfast on the way home, nobody felt jammed in and nothing broke on the drive.
Even after 10 years, the Pacifica is still an exercise in how to design a proper minivan (and, as Chrysler’s sole model, it better be). It’s both stylish and practical at the same time, capable of holding a massive 140.5 cubic feet of cargo with the rear seat and, thanks to Chrysler’s proprietary Stow ‘n Go, middle seats folded into the floor. Thankfully, we didn’t need that much room. Just storing the third row, easily accomplished by pulling fabric levers clearly labeled “1”,”2”, and “3”, allowed us to pack ourselves and all the trappings of a family of four for our five-day stay.
The ride and handling are above average for a minivan, but the 287-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6 and 9-speed automatic combo are either not as smooth as they once were, or standards are much higher than they were 10 years ago. The engine sounded rather gruff and the transmission frequently suffered from harsh shifts. Maybe as I get further away from the memories of the loud, rough-riding, harsh shifting Grand Caravan, the Pacifica just doesn’t feel as refined anymore.
While you can’t go wrong with any of the minivan choices today, I still like the Pacifica the best. The Toyota Sienna, with its solid reliability and proven hybrid powertrain, is the efficiency play with prices very similar to the Pacifica. However, you’ll likely pay a lot closer to MSRP for the Toyota and the company has made some very questionable styling decisions lately and the Sienna is no exception.
The Kia Carnival offers an optional hybrid powertrain – though less traditional with a turbocharged engine and conventional six-speed automatic – but to my eyes it suffers from the “I’m trying really hard to look like an SUV” syndrome that ultimately satisfies neither minivan nor SUV buyers.
The Honda Odyssey is nearly as old as the Pacifica, and I’ve personally never cared for the C-pillar dip nor the floating roof line at the D-pillar. It starts about $1,000 higher than the Pacifica and Sienna, and, again, you’ll likely find yourself paying a lot closer to retail.
However, all these vans are newer than the Pacifica, and will likely see significant updates or redesigns before the Pacifica does if this is all we get for the next five years. In addition, their buyers are primarily consumers. While roughly one out of every three minivan sales are Pacificas, it is believed that up to 40% of those sales are to fleets (Chrysler does not break out fleet versus private sales). The manager of my local Enterprise did say he had three Carnivals and an Odyssey, which came as a surprise, but the majority of his minivan fleet are Pacificas.
Will a new front end and badge be enough to sustain the Pacifica for many more years after this first ten and, with it, the Chrysler brand? Many people alive today still remember when manufacturers updated sheet metal yearly. There are new Chrysler models on the horizon, but there’s no guarantee that any of these will sustain the brand if Stellantis cedes its dominance in minivans.
Related Reading:
Curbside Review: 2020 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited – Plug It In, Plug It In…
CC Newsstand: Chrysler To Revive Voyager Nameplate In North America For 2020
I’ve rented a couple of Pacificas over the years and – as you noted – they’re pretty good minivans; and a couple of orders of magnitude better than the old Grand Caravan design. Whenever I drive one, I get nostalgic for my old 2007 Honda Odyssey — which I consider to be the “pinnacle” of Honda minivans (prior to the swoopy redesign having the rear window “dip”).
It’s interesting to note that Chrysler is giving out $5500 rebates on leftover 2026 models, and already offering a $2000 rebate on new 2027 Pacificas.
Like previous GM products, the Pacifica’s ace-in-the-hole can be summed up in two words: money talks. For a young, empty nest couple planning a family on a tight budget, the street-price of a new Pacifica can’t be beaten relative to the competition. Hands-down, it’s a way more practical purchase than any SUV/CUV. Lee Iacocca led the way with his game-changing 1984 Chrysler T-115 minivan and things really haven’t changed to this day.
Yeah, you have to deal with Stellantis’ quality but, for the most part, it’s acceptable. I might have been lucky with the two Pacifica Hybrids I had, but there are lots of stories of glitches with those things, which is really a shame because they solved one of the minivan’s biggest issues: not-so-great fuel economy. I think the all-hybrid Sienna is now the winner in that category, but it loses with non-removable 2nd row seats.
The bottom line is, so long as they’re a relative bargain, Pacifica sales should remain strong enough to keep it in production for years to come.
Despite being somewhat of a minivan fan (we have two of them), I’ve found it’s almost an annual rite of passage to wonder: “Are Pacificas still made?” I see very few of them where we live (in Northern Virginia), and the slow pace of styling changes means that I rarely see one that looks brand new. I hadn’t even been aware of the 2027 redesign until now.
That said, this looks like a great van that served your purposes well for this trip. Folks may groan about minivans, but they’re incredibly versatile, and most are pretty good to drive. I may be in the minority here, but I find Kia’s Carnival to be the best-looking of the current minivan batch, followed by the Pacifica. The Odyssey and Sienna just have too many of what you described as “questionable styling decisions.”
Thanks for the review here – and now I’ll be on the lookout for one of these new Pacificas.
I hadn’t thought too much of the Pacifica since we still have a Grand Caravan. I’m still at “Is the Grand Caravan still made?”
You really can’t beat a minivan for having a mobile box to swallow a bunch of stuff, smart idea to rent one for your vacation.
You repeatedly slam this little car but it sounds pretty good to me .
-Nate
I disagree. I commended the design and the quality. I mentioned that the powertrain wasn’t as smooth as it once was, which is either true or faulty memory on my part. The only thing I slammed is the fact that Stellantis hasn’t updated it significantly in 10 years and there doesn’t appear to be anything on the horizon.
Kind of sad. Its the only Chrysler left. Remember in the 1980 -90s, there was a dozen Chrysler models and most of them called LeBaron? Hahaha. I owned 8 Chrysler in a row until 2015, and none of them was a mini van. Today, I drive a 2021 red Dodge charger Sxt.
The first gen of Stow N Go were absolute horrors for comfort for anyone other than a child. The second get was better but still not good for adults……that is why Chrysler offered full size non stow n go seats on the Town And Country. This generation is better still. but nowhere as comfortable as any other minivan. Stow N Go was and is the easiest system in any van to convert to a flat floor.
I like the Pacifica but if I wanted to haul adults on long trips, it would not be my first choice. I do also hate that NONE of the trims offer cloth seats. The base model has mediocre vinyl seats that are hot and slippery in the summer.
Whenever we’re on summer vacation back home in CT we made the trip to Misquamicut. Beautiful beach and the kids love the huge waves compared to Hammonasset.
I rented a plug-in Pacifica a few years ago when the entire crew came in for a family event. I was very impressed with the vehicle overall, especially loaded with all 7 of us. Great value for the money.
I would have assumed they at least updated the dash to all glass, sans even the most basic buttons such as for the climate controls. I’m pleased they didn’t. Plus the drive train, and body are all proven, and turbo free, if not the most high tech. The modern day Fifth Avenue, as there’s some luxury on a dinosaur. I may even consider a depreciated one in five or so years. Plus there’s nothing worse than putting adults or teens on the third row of most CUV’s. I thought these went away with the Dodge Journey.
We own a 2015 Honda Odyssey EX-L for over ten years, the current milage is close to 160 k miles. Over the years there were two major failures the alternator failed few months ago due to the oil leak from valve gaskets, and right rear spring was broken just before 100k miles, replaced under extended warranty. We love this van, it serves us well over years as the kids grow up. It now serves us well for college move in and out. Another issues we had were the front shock absorbers had small leaks, we replaced them with a pair of after market shock from Moron. I believe they are softer than Honda parts, so the vehicle now handles less pleasant than before, but not very unpleasant. Another issue was its transmission, it felt sluggish at 80k miles, but changed transmission oil and filter, this must be done at the same time, resolved the problem. Besides those issues, vehicle behaves very well, I doubt Toyota Sienna could do better. When we were on market for a van in 2015, we briefly considered Sienna all wheel drive, its XLE was thousands more expensive than Odyssey EX-L . That could offset by Toyota 60-month 0% interest financing. However our friend owned a 2014 and said its van had undercarriages rust issues. Its all wheel drive was not as helpful as we thought to.
As for the C pillar window drip, the kids loved them because it offered better view from the third row seats. One thing I should point out the problem for the current generation of Odyssey is its front indicator light location, they are too low for front vehicle driver to see from his and her rear view mirror when Odyssey is too close behind. I don’t know why Honda made such mistakes on design. For instance, I could not see the current Odyssey indicator lights from my Tesla rear view mirror if it stays 15 feet behind mine. I hope all vehicle manufacturers take note about this when they design a new model. There is in my opinion absolutely no justification for indicator lights placed so low, they are not fog lights.
As the sole Chrysler offered, good enough isn’t enough. The brand has been on life support without a notable vehicle for too long. Drivers under 40 don’t know Chrysler. Any money spent by Stellantis is essentially being spent on a forgotten retro brand without an image.
My GenZers were raised in a Town and Country. Chrysler is a Mommobile brand to them. It’s a family minivan – nothing they are aspiring to have. To younger drivers, Chrysler is about as much a car company as Pampers is a sportswear brand.
Sorry, but this isn’t enough to justify keeping the brand, along with its costs to keep it. This is a $60,000 shopping cart.
I don’t understand Stellantis. Chrysler used to be a full line car company, with a car to fit any kind of budget. Now all they sell is trucks and the Pacifica. There is a huge hole in the market for a sub $20,000 car but no auto maker seems to want to fill it. Perhaps Stellantis can produce an entry level car, but I doubt it.
Supposedly, Stellantis has a sub-$25k EV in the works, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
I still remember how I was never able to bond with the Voyager I rented about 3 years ago (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/rental-review/rental-car-review-2022-chrysler-voyager-it-was-fine/) It sounds like the flawed shift logic is still a thing. Does this one still have the auto stop-start?
I don’t pay attention to how Stellantis is faring on the Peugeot or Fiat areas, but I am not wowed by their decisions at Chrysler.
Yes, it still has the Auto Stop-Start, which we shut off every time we started it. As far as Stellantis’ focus, I read this on Motor Trend:
Going forward, the main priority will be STLA One. And under the new five-year plan, Stellantis will prioritize four core brands: Ram, Jeep, Fiat, and Peugeot. They are the most powerful brands, with momentum and great brand equity. It means they get the primary models when a platform yields multiple nameplates. Other brands still benefit, but the core brands take priority. Changes included moving more people to work on Jeep, which has design studios in Turin, Italy, as well as South America.
“We’re playing our best cards,” [Global Design Chief Ralph] Gilles says.
I kept my white Pacifica Limited for 16 months before trading it in on a Subaru Forester. While it was perfect for long distance trips, it was horrible as a daily driver. Especially since I live in the Texas Hill Country and the heavy non responsive steering made driving this 4500 lb beast a chore. I found a small sticker of a white whale for the back window to serve as a reminder that the Pacifica was as the B-52’s said “as big as a whale”. Unfortunately it handled like one as well.
I rented one of these not long ago for a round trip to Florida of about 1100 miles total. I’m not a minivan guy by even the broadest of definitions but this thing suit our purposes and made the long drive more pleasant than I thought it would be. The “beauty” of it was its features, utility, ride and handling ( for a minivan anyway ) and overall quality feel. The beauty was beneath the skin though because IMO the exterior styling was, to my eyes, awkward and a bit bloated.
I didn’t even know what powerplant was in it until a day or two into the period, and I was surprised to find out it was the 3600cc ‘Pentstar’ V6. I though it was even smaller. I guess it gave up some horsepower ( 287 ) compared to the 305 I thought most had due to either packaging restrictions or tuning for a broader power band. In any case, it felt just like the Dodge Challenger V6 I rented a a couple years ago: A relatively heavy vehicle with a relatively small displacement engine, with both feeling decidedly underpowered unless charging for the redline at WOT.
I grab these from Enterprise when I can due to the size, and Chrysler products are one of the few I know will have HD Radio & decent sounding speakers.
The hybrid version had plenty of pep for merging on the highway, and got great mileage – at least compared to the Nissan vehicles I’m usually stuck with.
My wife & I vacation in New England every year out on the Cape – looking forward to stopping off at The Nordic for some seafood on our way!
We just completed a trip of 2,4XX in a brand new Pacifica S Limited, starting with 3 miles. I’d have preferred a few more miles in case of any initial gripes and/or troubles. The Dakotas offers long stretches of not much.
The vehicle must have had every conceivable available option. At least those I’ve heard of, and a few more I haven’t. The perforated (leather?) captains chairs were very comfortable for the four of us. It was well laid out and easy for us fossils to move around in, see out of, enter, and exit. None of us had any trouble straightening up when exiting the car. THAT was greatly appreciated. Power outlet wise, it had more USB outlets (mostly C) than a Best Buy store. A few strategically placed twelve volt outlets, and an 115 volt, too. It’s great when everything works.
Mileage at 70 MPH was acceptable, at 80 MPH, forget it. Acceleration, braking, handling, and visibility was acceptable. We had some hellacious cross winds and a monsoon, and the vehicle handled quite well. The only gripe I had was the below floor rear luggage space had standing water. Good thing we hadn’t utilized it. It’s a great vehicle for road trips
One has to wonder about Stellantis. Throw a non matching front end on the existing styling and expect to generate sales all the while starving Chrysler of any new vehicles.
I used to think the Daimler and Cerberus days were the worst for Chrysler and Dodge.
Stellantis stepped up and said, “Hold my beer.”
When I hear Pacifica I still think of the early oughts 5 door rather than the minivan, but it’s a vehicle type I rarely pay attention to. My sole minivan was a Mazda5 that started life as an Avis rental, proving the rental car landscape can be varied. Modern minivans can be good performers and carry a surprising amount of stuff so if you can put utility over image they still make sense
Great marketing descision. Take an invisible brand and give it a new emblem that removes the name of the brand from the vehicle. Chrysler is doomed.
Wow that instrument panel looks nearly identical to a 2020 model year Chrysler 300 rental I got for a weekend trip (also black, also from Enterprise). Clearly Chrysler is emptying out the parts bin. I wonder who makes the gauge packages. The highway mileage was impressive, getting a best 29mpg on one 156 mile interstate leg at 77mph.
But like slow_joe above, I just remember the Pacifica name being more for an SUV/minivan crossover of that first generation design with doors.