2019 Pacifica - worth a look?

[ChiTDI]

Young family wants a van for Mom and her three kids. Dad likes Mopar, so I get the research duty.
Anyone know something to avoid or a must -have ?
They want ten years plus, and will probably average 10k a year.
I can't see the benefit of a hybrid in that scenario, but that's me.
Thoughts?

 

[DevilsRule]

I think it is definitely worth a look. Just bear in mind....there will be anti Chrysler,Ford,GM experts that will have nothing good to say about the Pacifica. They will suggest models from Asian companies because they are created by unicorns and finished with fairy dust.

 

[gregk24]

Transmission issues. I can't speak to more than that other than general poor reliability rankings of Fiat/Chrysler products. Looks at the rankings, they are always on the bottom of reliability. The Grand Caravan and Town and Country that the Pacifica replaced are more reliable options if he wants to stick to Mopar. I would looks elsewhere as DevilsRule mentioned, but thats just me.

 

[StevieC]

They are great now that the bugs have been worked out on the 9-speed. I just bought a Caravan myself which you can still get from Dodge until the end of the 2019 Model year. (Same engine as the Pacifica) but has the 6 speed transmission.

 

[KrisZ]

Three kids mean second and third rows will be occupied. Pacifica comes with two screens, but only available to the second raw passengers, Grand Caravan and T&C have two screens one for the second and one for the third row, that can work independently and play different movies, games.
May not be relevant in the tablet world, but something to consider.

Pacifica on the other hand has a revised second row stow and go where entry to the third row is easier, and the seats can be moved out of the way with the child seats still attached. My kids have not trouble going between the second row seats but that's would be a useful feature in GC/T&C.

Pacifica has a dedicated button that moves the first row seats forward automatically to stow the second row and then moves it back where it originally was positioned. GC and T&C you have to go up front and manually move the seat all the way forward and then remember where it was.

The interior of the Pacifica is of course much, much nicer, has one of the best Infotainment systems and in general is a big improvement. You do loose one of the glove compartments and the superconsole though.


Another important thing to remember when shopping Grand Caravan line is that the lower trims have much less insulation and have regular suspension, so their ride quality is lacking. If you want a better ride you have to go to at least SXT trim, I think. That gets better insulation and touring suspension. T&C gets these in all trims.

From what I read though, Pacifica's ride quality, even Ithe lowest trim, is much better than that of the top of the line GC or T&C. But it was meant to be a premium minivan to compete with Sienna and Odyssey, so that's to be expected.

 

[Andrew1972]

The challenge for it is 10yrs+ coupled to trouble free operation. Grand Caravan is way more proven but long in tooth while Chrysler is still bug fixing the Pacifica which had some transmission nags more on the computer side. Grass is not greener with Honda Ody which is having a troublesome first year with it brand new design.

It seems like minivans mean however around average reliability at best even the Toyota products. They can move a bunch of people in comfort though.

 

[PeterPolyol]

Pacifica starts at a surprising high price, no?

 

[Leo99]

Kids trash cars. I was in a Pacifica uber. Very nice vehicle. Friend of mine is a mortician. He uses his Pacifica for work and personal family stuff. Kinda creepy to me but that's me. Should be able to get 100k miles in 10 years out of even a Chrysler. Is the Pacifica design a hold over from the Mercedes days?

 

[Y_K]

When I had the taxi-towncar fleet the Mercedes R Series were the best in utility and the worst in dependability. Nothing could compete with them in utility. And what a disappointment it was at around 65k miles..

 

[wag123]

The Pacifica is a nice van, but I would be more than a little concerned about whether or not FCA will still be in business in 6 or 7 years. Jeep is carrying the entire company right now. If Dad wants to try and help save the company by purchasing a new vehicle from them, so be it. As a long term investment, purchasing an FCA product is an iffy proposition IMO.
The Sienna is easily the most reliable van and will definitely last the longest, it comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense and Star Safety Systems, plus, it is made in the USA (if that means anything to Dad).

 

[bubbatime]

I have the 2017 Pacifica with the 9 speed BMW transmission. There is a class action lawsuit against Chrysler for this transmission. Mine has acted weird and been very clunky/bang and been back to the dealer twice in 23,000 miles. Chrysler doesn't really have a fix for the transmissions, and are replacing a bunch of them. The 9 speed NEVER ever shifts into 9th gear, ever. Its useless. The best i can get is 7th gear on the highway, sometimes, very rarely does it shift to 8th gear. So it turns more RPM's at highway speed than it was designed to.

Honestly, if I was going to do it again, I would have bought the 2017-2018 Dodge Caravan. Its the older body style that they have been building for 10 years, BUT its dead nuts reliable, and comes with the reliable and problem free 6 speed transmission. Same 3.6L engine as the Pacifica, but the more proven older 6 speed transmission.

And a financial tip, Chrysler cars have terrible residual. They lose their value quickly. This is good and bad. Bad for people that like trading in their car every 3-4 years, but good for people that like buying a low mileage used car and driving it until the wheels fall off. I bought mine as a dealership demo used with 3000 miles. It was stickered at 35K, but I paid like 17K or 18K. More than 10K off for a new car with less than 3K miles.... which is perfect for us as my kids trash the cars interior and we drive them into the ground.

 

[KrisZ]

The 8th gen GC and T&C have a 6 speed automatic transmission.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by wag123
The Pacifica is a nice van, but I would be more than a little concerned about whether or not FCA will still be in business in 6 or 7 years. Jeep is carrying the entire company right now. If Dad wants to try and help save the company by purchasing a new vehicle from them, so be it. As a long term investment, purchasing an FCA product is an iffy proposition IMO.
The Sienna is easily the most reliable van and will definitely last the longest, it comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense and Star Safety Systems, plus, it is made in the USA (if that means anything to Dad).


The 8 speed transmission in Sienna, which is shared with Highlander has many reported problems already, so does the Odyssey 9 and 10 speed versions.

Your point about FCA going out is ridiculous. Olds, Saturn, mercury, Pontiac, all went out, yet there are still plenty of these cars on the roads.
A car will not automatically become useless just because the company that made it went out of business. 6 to 7 years from now will mean the warranty is gone, Chrysler don't have to be around to get more years out of the van at that point.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
Originally Posted by wag123
The Pacifica is a nice van, but I would be more than a little concerned about whether or not FCA will still be in business in 6 or 7 years. Jeep is carrying the entire company right now. If Dad wants to try and help save the company by purchasing a new vehicle from them, so be it. As a long term investment, purchasing an FCA product is an iffy proposition IMO.
The Sienna is easily the most reliable van and will definitely last the longest, it comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense and Star Safety Systems, plus, it is made in the USA (if that means anything to Dad).


The 8 speed transmission in Sienna, which is shared with Highlander has many reported problems already, so does the Odyssey 9 and 10 speed versions.

Your point about FCA going out is ridiculous. Olds, Saturn, mercury, Pontiac, all went out, yet there are still plenty of these cars on the roads.
A car will not automatically become useless just because the company that made it went out of business. 6 to 7 years from now will mean the warranty is gone, Chrysler don't have to be around to get more years out of the van at that point.


I saw a Pontiac 6000 last night. But I don't see many of the those defunct nameplates around my way other than Saturn. Financial stability of the would play a small part in my decision making but it's a factor.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by wag123
The Pacifica is a nice van, but I would be more than a little concerned about whether or not FCA will still be in business in 6 or 7 years. Jeep is carrying the entire company right now. If Dad wants to try and help save the company by purchasing a new vehicle from them, so be it. As a long term investment, purchasing an FCA product is an iffy proposition IMO.
The Sienna is easily the most reliable van and will definitely last the longest, it comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense and Star Safety Systems, plus, it is made in the USA (if that means anything to Dad).

Jeep and the Dodge Caravan. The Dodge Caravan is a huge seller for them. They were going to can this design in 2017, then extended to 2018, now extended to 2019.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
Originally Posted by wag123
The Pacifica is a nice van, but I would be more than a little concerned about whether or not FCA will still be in business in 6 or 7 years. Jeep is carrying the entire company right now. If Dad wants to try and help save the company by purchasing a new vehicle from them, so be it. As a long term investment, purchasing an FCA product is an iffy proposition IMO.
The Sienna is easily the most reliable van and will definitely last the longest, it comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense and Star Safety Systems, plus, it is made in the USA (if that means anything to Dad).


The 8 speed transmission in Sienna, which is shared with Highlander has many reported problems already, so does the Odyssey 9 and 10 speed versions.

Your point about FCA going out is ridiculous. Olds, Saturn, mercury, Pontiac, all went out, yet there are still plenty of these cars on the roads.
A car will not automatically become useless just because the company that made it went out of business. 6 to 7 years from now will mean the warranty is gone, Chrysler don't have to be around to get more years out of the van at that point.

I just got rid of my highlander because of that terrible 8-speed. Took a loss on it too but I'm happy I don't own that vehicle any longer.

 

[IveBeenRued]

If they value their legs and are fixed on the idea of a FCA minivan, advise them to avoid the Grand Caravan (https://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/dodge/grand-caravan-minivan#SmallOverlapFrontal17921). The Pacifica did significantly better (https://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/chrysler/pacifica-minivan#SmallOverlapFrontal16907).

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by KrisZ
The 8 speed transmission in Sienna, which is shared with Highlander has many reported problems already, so does the Odyssey 9 and 10 speed versions.

I just got rid of my highlander because of that terrible 8-speed. Took a loss on it too but I'm happy I don't own that vehicle any longer.

1st, Toyota engineered a design revision on the transmission in Dec. 2017, so there were only mechanical problems on earlier production 8-speed transmissions (generally not serious and primarily on AWDs), and Toyota is replacing all of them under warranty.
2nd, Toyota developed a software update and issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) in early March for the shifting problem (mostly in ECO mode) which has reportedly fixed it.
For the record, Toyota has a history of fixing factory defects on vehicles that are WELL out of warranty (nobody else that I am aware of does this), and, Toyota is not going to go out of business during my lifetime (or anyone else's lifetime that is reading this). For my hard-earned $40k+, if I'm going to purchase a new van that I'm intending to keep for a long time (like the OP wants to do), I'm buying a Sienna. My 2005 with 173k miles has been mechanically flawless and I don't have any reservations about driving it across the country (I just came back from a 3200 mile journey, 1/4 qt oil use, 24 mpg average @ 75 MPH).

 

[StevieC]

Wag, I stated in the other threads that I'm sure Toyota will get this right but it isn't right at the moment and I couldn't wait around with the miles I drive to let them fix it because I feared with the way it was acting it would cause it to damage the transmission in the interim and decrease it's usable life and on a $65K CDN SUV that's not something I was willing to wait on. I drove another 8 speed and it did the same thing. Mine was an AWD UA80E.

As for the the Dec 2017 recall I'm aware of this and wasn't suggesting this was the cause of my problem. (Just so you know)

With the TSB issued for shifting this was to address the engine revving up in RPM before it would shift into the next gear and not harsh/jerky shifting (I have access to Toyota Tech Info site)

There are lots of folks out there complaining about the jerkiness of the shifts and some along with me complaining about the harsh up/down shifts that occur irregularly indicating it's most likely software and not mechanical in nature. Some owners experience this right away and others it takes thousands of miles before it shows up. I was somewhere in between.
(RX-350 owners, 2018 Sienna owners, Highlander owners, and Camry owners that have this unit. It's also a common design with some Volvo's and they are complaining as well so I think it's an Aisin originated issue).

Again Toyota is good and they will fix it but I couldn't wait around for that to happen and gamble on the chance mine would puke a transmission in the meantime with the heavy miles I drive so I decided to take the loss and move to something else I know is reliable.

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Wag, I stated in the other threads that I'm sure Toyota will get this right but it isn't right at the moment and I couldn't wait around with the miles I drive to let them fix it because I feared with the way it was acting it would cause it to damage the transmission in the interim and decrease it's usable life and on a $65K CDN SUV that's not something I was willing to wait on. I drove another 8 speed and it did the same thing. Mine was an AWD UA80E.

As for the the Dec 2017 recall I'm aware of this and wasn't suggesting this was the cause of my problem. (Just so you know)

With the TSB issued for shifting this was to address the engine revving up in RPM before it would shift into the next gear and not harsh/jerky shifting (I have access to Toyota Tech Info site)

There are lots of folks out there complaining about the jerkiness of the shifts and some along with me complaining about the harsh up/down shifts that occur irregularly indicating it's most likely software and not mechanical in nature. Some owners experience this right away and others it takes thousands of miles before it shows up. I was somewhere in between.
(RX-350 owners, 2018 Sienna owners, Highlander owners, and Camry owners that have this unit. It's also a common design with some Volvo's and they are complaining as well so I think it's an Aisin originated issue).

Again Toyota is good and they will fix it but I couldn't wait around for that to happen and gamble on the chance mine would puke a transmission in the meantime with the heavy miles I drive so I decided to take the loss and move to something else I know is reliable.

So, is the Dodge Caravan you just purchased an AWD?