2017 Chrysler Pacifica Limited First Test

There's a big push in America to make things great again. America itself, for example, is a top priority for many citizens. The return of the Running Man is surely a pleasant surprise for those '80s kids. Then there's a minivan such as the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. That's not to say the outgoing and aging Chrysler Town & Country wasn't great, but its level of greatness had dipped below competitors from Kia and Honda. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles looks to change that with the new 2017 Pacifica.

FCA's attempt to make the greatest minivan in the segment wasn't cheap. The automaker reportedly spent more than $2 billion developing the all-new Pacifica, and based on our extensive look at the minivan, it definitely shows. Tech-addicted kids, the main reason the minivan exists in the first place, will be relieved to find no fewer than 11 power sources, including eight USB ports. There's also an optional rear entertainment system complete with a DVD player, games, and the perfectly named "Are We There Yet" app, essentially a riff on flight tracker maps found in commercial passenger jets.

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Another big chunk of that development money went into the powertrain. FCA's 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 has been tweaked for efficiency and more power, producing 287 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque (4 hp and 2 lb-ft more than before). More significant is the new nine-speed automatic, a gearbox that has experienced teething issues since making its debut in other FCA products such as the Jeep Renegade. Thankfully for Pacifica buyers, the automaker has done its homework. The transmission is pretty solid here. Shifts are smooth, and the gearbox is much more eager to downshift, which wasn't the case before.

Straight-line performance is pretty much what you'd expect from a minivan. The Pacifica won't snap necks, but it won't fall behind its competitors, either. We recorded a 0-60-mph jaunt of 7.5 seconds, which is the quickest among recent minivans we've tested, including a 2015 Toyota Sienna SE (7.6 seconds), 2015 Honda Odyssey Elite (7.9 seconds), and 2016 Kia Sedona SX (7.8 seconds).

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On the road, the Pacifica is quiet, though there's little to no communication from the steering wheel. Take a turn aggressively, and there's little feedback and no trace of tire squeal even though it's evident the tires are losing traction. Testing director Kim Reynolds found it Pacifica's road manners "sloppy … a disappointment compared to its visual promises."

However, Reynolds was slightly surprised at the figure-eight course, which the Pacifica knocked out in 27.3 seconds (best in class). "It's surprisingly amenable to being tossed around," Reynolds said. "Lots of roll and pitch, of course, but the tail slides way more than you'd expect and is somewhat controllable." The transmission lacks a manual mode or steering wheel shift paddles, but Reynolds found its gear picking sensible and "reasonably quick."

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Reynolds also didn't find the seats very comfortable. Perhaps it's his taller frame, but I, your averaged-height author, thought the seats were adequate. The rest of the cabin is a significant improvement in build quality over the outgoing Town & Country. Our test car's two-tone interior featured white as its primary color, a brave choice for hauling around kids armed with orange soda or grape juice. (At least the carpet is black.) The improved Stow 'n Go seats work as advertised, and our test car had the optional power-folding third-row seats, which were easy to operate.

Although we didn't get the opportunity to run Real MPG numbers this time around, the EPA has rated the 2017 Pacifica at 18/28 mpg city/highway, a 1- and 3-mpg improvement, respectively, over the 2016 Chrysler Town & Country. Credit the boost in fuel efficiency to the new gearbox and lightweight materials such as the aluminum sliding doors. Chrysler says the Pacifica is about 200 pounds lighter than before, though our test car tipped the scales at 4,611 pounds, a tad heavier than the aforementioned Odyssey and Sienna (4,592 and 4,544 pounds, respectively). That said, our top-of-line test car was packed to the max with a panoramic sunroof (with three panes of glass), large 20-inch wheels, and the Stow 'n Vac system. Total MSRP for this loaded Pacifica Limited came to $46,655, a relatively competitive price compared to a similarly equipped Honda and Toyota. Is the Pacifica greater than those two? We'll find out in a forthcoming minivan Big Test.

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