Chrysler has taken just about everything a minivan can do and either improved or reinvented it with the 2017 Pacifica, an all-new minivan that blew us away. We went ahead and named the Pacifica our Best of 2017 car - and then we bought one.
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(car engine starts) Chrysler has taken just about everything a minivan can do and either improved or reinvented it with the 2017 Pacifica, an all new minivan that blew us away with its innovation, utility and drivability.
We went ahead and named the Pacifica our best of 2017 car. And then we bought one, something we've done every year with our favorite car to see how it holds up to the accolade. Now, the Pacifica comes in 5 trim levels, we decided to target the fourth highest which is called the Touring-L Plus that has power sliding doors and a power tailgate, leather upholstery, power front seats. And it also has some must test features, Chrysler's updated Uconnect System, multimedia system for the front seats and Uconnect Theater Screens and entertainment for the second rows. Finally, it also has heaters for the first 2 rows and steering wheel. An absolute must for the frigid winters around cars.com's Chicago headquarters. Now on top of those features, we wanted 2 more options on the Touring-L plus, one was a navigation system, the other, a safety package with 360 degree cameras or collision warning with automatic emergency braking and a few self-driving features. More importantly, we wanted to make sure that our van was built after August, 2016. When Chrysler made reinforcements to the door structure to improve the van's crash test ratings. Of course, what we want and what dealers actually have, can be quite different. Although the Touring-L Plus accounted for about a quarter of all new Pacifica inventory locally, at the time, we couldn't find any van that had only those features. We ended up with this red Pacifica Touring-L Plus that had the features we wanted as well as 18 inch wheels and the touring suspension, a middle seat for the second row, optional, that increased seating capacity to a total of 8. And hands-free operation for those power doors and power tailgate. (fast rock music) How will the Pacifica's reliability hold up? When we get it to EPA estimated 22 miles per gallon combined. And can that Uconnect Theater System, maintain backseat road trip harmony, stay tuned for all this and much more as we put our new Pacifica to the test throughout 2017.
