Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid - PHEV minivan

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Toyota should be chagrined, along with Honda and Nissan. They all have the components for a PHEV minivan, and in the case of the Prius V, it would take amazingly little adaptation to install the PHEV components from the Prius PHEV, but they just didn't bother...
 
LeftieBiker said:
Toyota should be chagrined, along with Honda and Nissan. They all have the components for a PHEV minivan, and in the case of the Prius V, it would take amazingly little adaptation to install the PHEV components from the Prius PHEV, but they just didn't bother...
Prius V curb weight is 3400 pounds, with a GVWR of 4400, a Sienna's curb weight starts at 4400, with GVWR of 6000. And frontal area (drag) is likewise much larger. The drive system and batteries have to scale up to match, which is expensive, and expectations are for minivans to be tough and reliable. The original Chrysler minivans were tested to truck division standards, not a place for under engineered kit. Also, minivan customers have a reputation of price sensitivity, so the Pacifica Hybrid is not a slam dunk success.

But the minivan IS the first, most logical step in scaling up from passenger to work vehicles. Honda and Chevy have supposedly talked partnering on electrification. With the arrival of better batteries, the time for bigger plug-in vehicles may be here too.
 
Prius V curb weight is 3400 pounds, with a GVWR of 4400, a Sienna's curb weight starts at 4400, with GVWR of 6000. And frontal area (drag) is likewise much larger. The drive system and batteries have to scale up to match, which is expensive, and expectations are for minivans to be tough and reliable.

The Prius V already uses the Prius drivetrain, and that drivetrain is the same in the Prius PHEV. So you're talking about engineering for the weight difference between a Prius PHEV and a Prius V, which isn't large.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Toyota should be chagrined, along with Honda and Nissan. They all have the components for a PHEV minivan, and in the case of the Prius V, it would take amazingly little adaptation to install the PHEV components from the Prius PHEV, but they just didn't bother...

Toyota is still pinning its EV future on hydrogen FCEV, which is why they don't bother. I don't know what the battery size will be on the plug in version of the recently released model, but the one before that had a battery that barely qualified for California's HOV-exemption sticker.
 
The new Prius PHEV will have an EPA range of 30 miles, according to Toyota, double the range of the current PIP. Since "barely qualifies" is the same as "qualifies" and doubling that makes it much better, I don't know why they don't bother. Having lost the Camry's reputation as the Gold Standard of family cars, they might well want to try to at least have a popular hybrid minivan.
 
This is on top of my list to replace oiur CUV. This has pushed Outlander PHEV down. They will be proceed about the same, I guess.
 
evnow said:
This is on top of my list to replace oiur CUV. This has pushed Outlander PHEV down. They will be proceed about the same, I guess.
As much as I'd like to stick with a Japanese vehicle, if the Pacifica arrives first, has at least a 30 mile electric range(which with a 16Kwh battery I believe it should be able to do) and be priced under $40k(before rebates) I might bite. My ultimate would be an all electric 5+ passenger NV-200 from Nissan but I'd really want it to have a minimum 100 mile range which on a vehicle with it's profile would probably require a 30+KWh battery, but who knows if/when they will ever introduce it. The VW Budde might also work for me, depending on size(passenger and cargo) but who knows if/when it will be available and at what price. I really like my little Leaf but need both more passenger room(5 would be OK but it would need more backseat room) and most importantly cargo room. While the Leaf is handy with it's hatchback it has very little room between the wheel wells and isn't very long to both the back of the second row or even back of the front row of seats when the back row is dropped. Our 10 year old Prius has much more cargo area storage, although it's probably longer, not sure it's much wider but it has much more room between the rear wheel wells.
 
Prices with the 'regular' ICE drivetrain; as most mfg typically sell the 'advanced' powertrains with their high end models that would mean $43,490 + but perhaps they'll offer it on the others as well ... ranges from a low of $29,490; I'm sure we'll see the PHEV version numbers soon; on the photo gallery provided, the plug-in model starts around photo 21 with a close up (but the EV 'fuel' flap is closed) at photo 41.

Not bad looking at all for a minivan and the in-car screens for GPS, etc. look pretty good as well --

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/chrysler-pacifica-minivan-price#ixzz42WMUBdZE
 
Chrysler has such an incredibly bad reputation for reliability and quality that it would never be on my list!

evnow said:
This is on top of my list to replace oiur CUV. This has pushed Outlander PHEV down. They will be proceed about the same, I guess.
 
TomT said:
Chrysler has such an incredibly bad reputation for reliability and quality that it would never be on my list!

evnow said:
This is on top of my list to replace oiur CUV. This has pushed Outlander PHEV down. They will be proceed about the same, I guess.
We have 150,000 miles on our 2006 and have been very happy with it. Only problems with the power doors. We had a Toyota Sienna before that had a suspension issue the dealer and Toyota couldn't or wouldn't fix without major escalation. We ditched the Toyota and got the caravan and couldn't be happier.

I guess everyone has their own experiences. Chrysler minivans seem fairly reliable since the early to mid 2000s. When they first came out they were famous for transmission issues but those have been long fixed.
 
I know several people with Chrysler minivans of the 00's and all are quite happy, one even has 200K+ miles with nary a problem.
In my suburb I mainly see Toyota minivans followed by Chrysler and Honda. No the Chrysler name wouldn't stop me from getting a PHEV version, it's paying $40K+ for a Chrysler minivan :( What I'd really like would be a more barebones eNV-200, with room for 5 or preferably 7(not going to happen with current NV-200 shell) selling in the $30s. Ford makes a nice 7 passenger Transit Connect in that price range(maybe even upper $20s) but alas no electric or even PHEV version......yet. Nope, guess I'll be driving the Leaf and skimping by for the next several years. It's a nice vehicle but storage and rear seat room really sucks IMO.
Sure wish they'd make a more basic Pacifica instead of the luxed out model :( not everyone needs all the go-ga's of the upper trim models, especially for a "work" type vehicle.
 
Although we've outgrown minivans (have owned 3; a '90 and '97 DGC and then a derivative T&C '09 VW Routan; most don't even know that the VW was made by Chrysler) they do serve their purpose; unfortunately the 'worse' one was the newest due to some issues with the head unit that had the radio, GPS, etc. -- it disabled the car enough to get it towed twice to the dealer (once the wife was driving; not good; at least she was still at work when it happened) and was starting to fail/act up a third time just after the regular warranty was about to expire so we traded it for a 'real' VW (a '13 Touareg VR6 Sport).

Loved the ride height and utility of minivans; especially when our kids went to college but they're done now so don't need all that extra space; our mid-size SUV can handle all but the really big stuff that we'll simply get a pick-up truck from Home Depot, Menards or even Enterprise for a cargo van when its needed. If Chrysler opts the base 'LX' model with a plug; it will probably attract more buyers depending what the battery pack, etc. adds to the price. And yes, both our '90 and '97 needed something major in the transmissions; the '90 at just below 70K miles (so under warranty) got a new one and the '97 (although it was at about 75K miles) needed a whole new trans shift module and got the rest rebuilt; drove it another 40K miles before dropping it in a 'cash for clunkers' deal at the time.
 
Our next-door neighbor has a 2013 Town and Country... It has been a reliability disaster from the get-go! He plans to dump it for a Honda as soon as the warranty expires...

dm33 said:
I guess everyone has their own experiences. Chrysler minivans seem fairly reliable since the early to mid 2000s. When they first came out they were famous for transmission issues but those have been long fixed.
 
DanCar said:
Consumer Reports ranks the quality and reliability of these vehicles consistently at the bottom.
If thats the case then for sure I wouldn't be interested in paying $40K+ for a PHEV that had reliability issues, I mean IMO the more go-ga's they add the more chance for problems, it's part of the reason I'd really only be interested if they had a more base model with the PHEV option :)
Of course it sounds like many of the Chrysler problems revolved around the auto trans, something lacking in a EV......oh scratch that, I guess since it had a gas engine it would probably still have a traditional transmission?? IMO the best option would be something like a Volt where the ICE was only used to charge the battery......maybe some day.....
 
Judging by the pictures I've seen, the plug-in didn't have the panoramic sunroof, so maybe you can get the plug-in without getting the top trim? Not proof or anything obviously, but seems to suggest that will be the case.
 
jjeff said:
DanCar said:
Consumer Reports ranks the quality and reliability of these vehicles consistently at the bottom.
If thats the case then for sure I wouldn't be interested in paying $40K+ for a PHEV that had reliability issues, I mean IMO the more go-ga's they add the more chance for problems, it's part of the reason I'd really only be interested if they had a more base model with the PHEV option :)
Of course it sounds like many of the Chrysler problems revolved around the auto trans, something lacking in a EV......oh scratch that, I guess since it had a gas engine it would probably still have a traditional transmission?? IMO the best option would be something like a Volt where the ICE was only used to charge the battery......maybe some day.....
Knowing all the issues, I'm still interested, since it is the only game in town. I'll wait some months till the great lease deal comes out. Great lease deals might be California only cause they need to meet their plug-in quota.
 
Well I visited my local auto show and while they didn't have the Pacifica PHEV, they had several ICE only versions. I must admit it wasn't a bad looking van, lots of room for both people and cargo. Kind of too bad the PHEV will omit the sto-n-go for the 2nd row of seats but I suppose they had to have somewhere to put the battery, I could live without it. They knew very little of the PHEV version, kind of odd for a vehicle they say will debut this fall :roll: My main concern will be that they only offer it in the totally luxed out version, something I'm not interested in at all. My guess is it will be this way for the first year or two and only by the 3rd year will they offer a more basic version for less cost.

I visited the VW area and not a BUDDe to be found, in fact it took 2 salespeople to find anyone who even knew what one was :roll: It's my believe that this will be one of those concept cars that will never see the light of day, devised by VW to try and defray public opinion away from their diesel fiasco. I hold out very little hope for the BUDDe.

I also visited the Mitsubishi area and again no PHEV version but the salesman did seem to know a little about it. Truthfully I think this vehicle may hold out the most hope of something to replace my Leaf. It was quite roomy(the non PHEV version which I was told the only space difference to the PHEV would be the lack of a third row of seating, something I'd miss but could live without). The Mitsubishi was more a basic vehicle compared to the Pacifica, of course I wonder if they might do the same thing where the PHEV is only offered in some luxed out version.....time will tell, until then I'll just have to live with my trusty little Leaf :)
 
FWIW, this weeks Motorweek on PBS did a kind of review of the '17 Pacifica(not the Hybrid but they did mention it should be out this fall) and were quite impressed with the ICE version. In passing they mentioned the Hybrid version is expected to be in the mid 30s, which would suit me just just fine :) I'm guessing it will be more like low 40s but one can hope they'll offer a more basic model PHEV.
 
jjeff said:
FWIW, this weeks Motorweek on PBS did a kind of review of the '17 Pacifica(not the Hybrid but they did mention it should be out this fall) and were quite impressed with the ICE version. In passing they mentioned the Hybrid version is expected to be in the mid 30s, which would suit me just just fine :) I'm guessing it will be more like low 40s but one can hope they'll offer a more basic model PHEV.
I'm holding out for Carplay. Just bought a Mini and its integration with the iPhone is worse than the LEAFs. I'll be hard pressed to buy another car without Carplay. May have to wait until the '18 Pacifica if our current minivan holds out that long.
 
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