Chrysler Pacifica – AutoWeek Review – English subtitles

De hoogtijdagen van grote MPV’s zijn wereldwijd allang voorbij, maar Chrysler gaat stug door met z’n ruimtereus. De moderne Pacifica gaat zelfs met z’n tijd mee met een plug-inhybride aandrijflijn. Loont het daarmee de moeite om zo’n Amerikaanse gigant te importeren, of is deze ruimtereus Nederland definitief ontgroeid?

Back in the day, big mpv’s like the chrysler voyager and renault espace were found on every corner. nowadays however, thanks to the suv… and smaller families, that market has collapsed. and it’s exactly the same in the usa. despite that, chrysler has tried again with this pacifica. in 2016, it became the successor to the chrysler town & country, which was known in

The netherlands as the chrysler grand voyager. except for that name change, there’s another thing about this pacifica. that’s the fact that it’s available as a plug-in hybrid now. and that’s the car standing next to me; the pacifica hybrid. theoretically, that makes it interesting for the dutch markets. less fuel means… it is an american car, so the base of the engine

Isn’t a 4-cylinder. instead, it’s a 3.6-litre v6. the same one as you’d find in a regular pacifica. there’s an important difference however. this engine runs according to the atkinson-principle. that means it’s more economical, which suits it because hybrid. it also means it’s less powerful, the regular pacifica produces 290 horsepower from only that v6. not that it’s a

Big deal of course, because 260 horsepower is more than enough. more importantly is the cooperation between the two motors. of course, you can hear the engine turning on. but because it’s such a big engine, the engine sounds very quiet and pleasant. and that’s the most important different with a prius for when you put your foot down in this, the revs go up. that’s normal

In cars with a cvt. but because the engine is this size, you barely hear it. it always sounds like it’s able to anything that’s good for the comfort but it also makes it feel pretty quick. the electric motors get their power from a 16-kwh battery pack, which is a lot for a plug-in hybrid. chrysler says you can do 50 km… electrically, and you can actually achieve that

Amount. for most people, it means most drives to work, school or daycare, can be done electrically. that’s good news for your fuel consumption. however, you’re not able to there’s no city-mode or anything. it’ll drive the first 50 km electrically, and that’s what this car kind of is about. there’s not a lot there’s no sport-mode, no flappy paddles… it aimed at going from

A to b without too much effort. and it’s very good at that. when it comes to the interior, there’s the usual clichés about american cars. admittedly, i drove its predecessor which had a lot of hard plastics, but in here, everything seems solved. it’s all made of soft touch- also, it’s incredibly luxury. we’ve got cooled seats, heated seats, heated steering wheel, all kinds

Of climate zones… those seats are operated through an infotainment system which you might know from jeep or fiat or other fca-products available in the netherlands. it also has uconnect, which works very well. it reacts quickly, and you’re able to customize it to your preferences. the mostly digital instrument cluster supports that. on that, you can see all kinds of

Handy power usage-numbers. that way you can see what energy source is being used at what time. for all that hybrid pleasure, you have to compromise when it comes to interior space. the pacifica is known for its ‘stow & go’-system. that means that both rear seating rows fold into the floor, in this case, that’s only possible with the third row. the second row also,

The hybrid is always a 7-seater. the regular pacifica can come with 8 seats. so a 2-3-3, but in this case it’s a 2-2-3. but it has an advantage. it means you’ve got two captain chairs back here, also, there’s legroom and headroom everywhere you look. then, the third row. in europe, we’re a little bit used to only fitting children back there. but i’m alright back here,

With my 1.80 m. i even have some leg- and headroom left. so you’ll be alright back here, the middle seat clearly is meant for children. that’s usually a difficult point in 7-seaters, because normally in this case however, it’s not that bad. if you want to fold away the third row, it folds backwards in a compartment. so if the seats are up, you can use that compartment

For your luggage. i can’t tell you exactly how much litres it fits, because the americans… have different measuring methods than us, but i can promise what might be even more impressive than the incredible offered space, is the amount of handy gimmicks and luxury features i in here. take the third row for example. it’s truly royal. i’ve got a sunscreen, i even have

My own part of the panoramic roof, so that i don’t what goes here, goes for the rest of the car as well. the second row has screens of their own. almost like the infotainment system of a plane. and we haven’t even talked about the usability. as you’ve already seen, this car has sliding doors. that means it’s incredibly accessible, but if i counted correctly, you can open

The electric doors in six different ways. the bootlid is electrical and there’s storage compartments everywhere. that way you’ll lose your stuff guaranteed, but you’re able that said, i think we can conclude you won’t get any more but it will cost you. this particular car will set you back €70.000, which is a lot of money. that’s why it will remain a very rare car.

However, if you’re able and willing to spend €70.000 on a mpv, it’s also good to know that the fuel consumption is pretty good, thanks to that plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

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Chrysler Pacifica – AutoWeek Review – English subtitles By AutoWeek