2022 Chrysler Pacifica

Overview

Practical, comfortable, graceful, and undeniably handsome, the 2022 Chrysler Pacifica has family transportation down pat. It's offered with either a regular V-6 or a plug-in hybrid powertrain, and can be equipped with optional all-wheel drive. Its refined road manners make the Pacifica a pleasure to drive, whether you're logging interstate road-trip miles or simply shuttling kids to the high school football game, making it worthy of an Editors' Choice award. Cargo capacity is vast, especially with the second and third rows folded flat into their built-in alcoves in the Pacifica's floor. Its base price is loftier than rivals such as the Kia Carnival and the Honda Odyssey, but that's because the Pacifica's entry-level trims are marked under the Chrysler Voyager name, a van we review separately. While the rest of America continues to crave SUVs and crossovers, we'll be over here beating the drum for the more practical minivan—the Pacifica, in particular.

What's New for 2022?

In addition to a new in-cabin air-filtration system, the 2022 Pacifica also gains an optional Amazon Fire TV feature that will allow passengers to connect to streaming services to watch movies and TV shows through the optional rear-seat entertainment systems. Pacificas equipped with this feature also will display content on the front infotainment screen, but only while the transmission is in park. Elsewhere, the hybrid model gains a Max Regeneration indicator for the gauge cluster and Silver Mist joins the color palette.

Pricing and Which One to Buy

The midrange Touring L offers the best mix of features and value as it adds a host of additional features over the base Touring model. Those standard features include a heated steering wheel, perforated leather upholstery, heated front seats, and 18-inch wheels. We're fine sticking with front-wheel drive, but we'll let you make that call if you want all-wheel drive. We'd suggest staying with the standard 3.5-liter V-6, though, as we had a few reliability hiccups with our long-term Pacifica hybrid.

Engine, Transmission, and Performance

It's not the quickest minivan we've tested, but the front-wheel-drive Pacifica is far from sluggish (it reaches 60 mph in 7.3 seconds, about midpack in terms of performance) and feels plenty peppy around town. In nonhybrid guise, it packs a 287-hp 3.6-liter V-6 and a nine-speed automatic transmission. The Pacifica hybrid makes less total horsepower (only 260 ponies) from its 3.6-liter V-6 and two electric motors backed up by a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery. In our testing, its zero-to-60-mph time trailed the gas-powered model by 0.5 second. We'll perform instrumented testing on the all-wheel-drive Pacifica soon and update this review with its results.

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Fuel Economy and Real-World MPG

In addition to being space efficient, a minivan should also be fuel efficient. The Pacifica Limited we tested delivered an impressive 31 mpg on our 75-mph highway fuel-economy route—that's tops for minivans. According to the EPA, the Pacifica hybrid can travel up to 33 miles on electric power and is rated at 84 MPGe combined. Around town, we were easily able to match the EPA's 33-mile estimate. On the highway, the Pacifica hybrid managed 23.4 miles of electric-only driving before the gasoline engine kicked on. While we haven't had the opportunity to test the new all-wheel-drive model, we expect to update this review with test results soon. For more information about the Pacifica's fuel economy, visit the EPA's website.

Interior, Comfort, and Cargo

Airy, spacious, and packed with cubbies, cupholders, slide-out bins, and connectivity, the Pacifica is big on the features that minivan buyers love. Fit, finish, and materials are all fairly decent, but a few down-market plastic pieces lurk inside the cabin. Upscale Limited and Pinnacle models come with a taller center console that blends more seamlessly with the dashboard, giving those trims a more SUV-like feel from behind the wheel. The fancy Pinnacle model comes with quilted-leather upholstery and even offers matching lumbar pillows for the second-row captain's chairs—a feature we haven't seen since the last time the ultra-luxurious Mercedes-Maybach S-class visited our office. The Pacifica's standard Stow 'n Go seats offer less padding than those in its rivals because they need to fold up compactly enough to fit inside the floor bins. To make up for relinquishing the Stow 'n Go second row in hybrid models (the battery pack takes up all of the underfloor-storage space), Chrysler engineers added extra cushioning to the standard captain's chairs. When it comes to hauling cargo, the Pacifica doesn't disappoint. We managed to fit 53 of our carry-on suitcases inside with all the seats stowed. A built-in vacuum cleaner is available as an option, but it occupies space that can otherwise be devoted to an optional mini-spare tire.

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Infotainment and Connectivity

Chrysler's Uconnect 5 infotainment system is projected onto a glossy 10.1-inch touchscreen display that's framed by climate-control vents on the van's dashboard. Uconnect 5 is new and offers a reconfigurable home screen and Amazon Alexa integration. It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, which can be connected wirelessly, and a Wi-Fi hotspot. An optional rear-seat entertainment system provides dual touchscreens to keep the kids placated and can be had with Amazon Fire TV, which provides access to movies and TV via embedded streaming apps. Up to 12 USB ports dot the Pacifica's cabin, including some that are the new USB-C type that offer quicker charging for smart devices.

Safety and Driver-Assistance Features

The Pacifica adds to its safety standing by offering nearly every conceivable driver-assistance feature available today. For more information about the Pacifica's crash-test results, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) websites. Key safety features include:

• Standard automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection
• Standard blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert
• Standard adaptive cruise control and lane-departure warning

Warranty and Maintenance Coverage

Chrysler offers a warranty package that is par for the class. The Kia Carnival does offer lengthier terms, but the Pacifica allows for longer use of the roadside-assistance plan. The Pacifica hybrid model has a 10-year/100,000-mile warranty on hybrid components.

• Limited warranty covers three years or 36,000 miles
• Powertrain warranty covers five years or 60,000 miles
• Hybrid components are covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles
• No complimentary scheduled maintenance

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