Chrysler Pacifica Minivan Good? Bad? Both?

I took my Chrysler Pacifica to the 20k mile service and after picking it up and being a bit disappointed of still having the rattle noise coming from the right door rearview mirror, I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience with this minivan.

I’m in my second Chrysler Pacifica lease, so far, the experience has been mostly good, if I must rate it, I’ll give it a 7/10.

This is the list of what has room for improvement, has given me trouble or caused short bursts of anger:

1. Battery died after 4 days of picking it up from the dealership. Had to get the minivan towed from my house to the dealership, jumpstarting the car won’t work. I had noticed the start-stop battery was not charging or took over an hour of drive to charge, my guess is that start stop or infotainment were draining the batter, dealership told me it was just a software update.
2. Automatic sliding door not closing. It would take us 3 or 4 attempts of closing the door after it actually stayed locked. Dealership said it had a slight misalignment.
3. Clunky downshift. Sometimes when you cruise and the transmission shifts down to 1^st gear you’ll feel and hear this hard engagement of the gears, I noticed that happened more often in the 2018 model than the 2020 one
4. Head rests aren’t adjustable or easily removable for adjusting car seats. This is a total miss, when you set your 3-1 car seat to the booster position or when you switch from your convertible car seat to a highback booster you’ll find that the headrest gets in the way of the seat back. Here’s a video on how to remove the headrest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrpKiuM_Tv8

• Hands-Free Sensors. The sensors don’t work really well, you have to lean and try several times before you get the door to open, the Pacifica’s tailgate sensor is just to open not to close, this feature is not as good as the Ford’s handsfree tailgate.
• Door Rearview Mirror. There’s been a rattle noise coming from the right door mirror that the dealership was not able to figure out, they even change the glass portion and it didn’t work
• Infotainment. After one of over the air updates the screen would froze for a minute or so and then reset, this would happen once or twice a week, sometimes more.  

These are the features we’re the happiest with or that have been great are:

1. Engine. The 3.6L Pentastar is just great. Has enough power to get you in the express way fast or to incorporate to traffic in a busy street, my wife loves how responsive it is. Fuel economy is not bad with an average of 21MPG.
2. Storage space. This is what differentiates this minivan from the competition. The stow & go feature allows you to have the entire cabin as cargo space, very convenient for those IKEA trips. The cargo space is great even with the 3^rd row up.

• Infotainment and Sound System. Despite the issue I mentioned, I would say the Pacifica infotainment is the best out there, the screen resolution is great, is very responsive and intuitive. The sound system is great and if you get the upgraded Alpine 13 speaker option is just gets better
• Looks and design. In my opinion this has been one of Chrysler’s strengths, the looks and finishes on both on the inside and the outside are very good considering the price point and type of vehicle
• 8-seater option. The removable 8-seat in the middle of the second row is a great option for those with a bigger family or that just want the flexibility to be able to haul more people when needed.

In general, I would recommend the Pacifica only if you’re leasing it, if you want a long-term reliable minivan, I would go with the Odyssey or the Sienna.