2023 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is big and practical

2023 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle: Still the way to go with the family?

Price: $61,230 as tested. Fancy paint added $195.

Conventional wisdom: Car and Driver likes that it “Stows ‘n Goes hard, available AWD and PHEV options, the only relevant Chrysler,” but not that “AWD sinks fuel economy, PHEV’s uppermost trim is eye-wateringly expensive.”

Marketer’s pitch: “America’s first and only plug-in hybrid minivan.”

Reality: But every minivan choice remains a compromise.

What’s new: Pretty much hanging in there since 2017. It was refreshed for 2021, but those are some subtle changes.

Competition: Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Kia Carnival.

We gotta get outta here: We finally decided to finally break out of our COVID-induced lockdown of almost three years with an anniversary trip to New Orleans.

While I was given a choice of fun vehicles like the Dodge Challenger and Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Mr. Laissez Les bon Temps Rouler* Seat picked the hybrid minivan Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, because that’s how he rouler. (*Let the good times roll.)

In my defense, it was the vehicle I’d been out of the longest.

Up to speed: The Pacifica Hybrid provides decent acceleration for pulling out and especially strong passing performance, despite its minivan and hybrid lineage. The dual-motor electrically variable transmission paired with a 3.6-liter V-6 engine creates 260 horses, bringing the vehicle to 60 mph in 7.8 seconds, according to Car and Driver.

The hybrid only comes in front-wheel drive; all-wheel-drive is available only on the gasoline-powered Pacifica.

Acceleration tests can be difficult around the Bayou State. In and around New Orleans, traffic seems to be an all-day event. We did manage some speed tests while running late for an airboat swamp tour (thanks, United), and the Pacifica helped make up for lost time where it could.

Hill tests were also not a big feature of Cajun country. On a nature preserve visit, a ranger pointed out the “high ground” in the swamp, which was about eight inches higher than the low ground. But the Pacifica did well climbing the ramps to the Interstate highways built on stilts.

On the road: The Pacifica glided over the rough highways of Louisiana and the washboard side streets of Milan, the NOLA neighborhood where we stayed, and other locations throughout the beautifully historic but weather-beaten city. I’ll stop complaining about Pennsylvania and New Jersey roads now.

Winding-road handling was also left untested as there were precious few curves. At one point, I leisurely passed another vehicle on a two-lane road when I could perfectly see a truck coming at me. It probably took another 15 seconds until we reached each other, so he was likely almost a mile away when I saw him. That’s straight and flat.

Shiftless: Chrysler is not giving up its dial-in transmission controls with no shiftability for the nine-speed automatic. Sigh.

Friends and stuff: No Sturgis Kids joined in for the trip. I thought maybe we could pack in some newfound friends from the nightclub on Bourbon Street, where a really rocking band provided excellent renditions of “Proud Mary,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” and “Brick House.”

If we had saved nos amis from a noisy, bouncy, lethargic streetcar ride, they would have enjoyed far better accommodations, with leather and suede captains chairs in the middle and a cushy bench seat in the back. (No Stow and Goes in the middle of the hybrid model.) The middle row even included throw pillows, a nod to Mrs. Passenger Seat, who moves roughly 342 throw pillows from our bed every night and replaces them each morning.

Cargo space is 140.5 cubic feet. Honda’s Odyssey wins at 155 cubes; the Sienna is far behind at 101 cubes, thanks to seats that fold forward and don’t remove.

Driver’s Seat: The Pinnacle is a nice upgrade over the 2017 Platinum model that took us on an adventure to Maine. The seat is comfortable and fairly supportive, and a four-hour round trip to the end of the earth at Terrebonne Parish, a section of Louisiana ready to be subsumed by the Gulf of Mexico any day now, left us remarkably comfortable at the end. There’s plenty of storage space for Joe’s coffee cups and beignets as well. (Tastier and more leisurely than Cafe du Monde.)

Fuel economy: Here’s the winning part — the 33 miles of electric range. Even with infrequent charging and plenty of foot-stomping, the minivan still managed to average 31 mpg over 250 miles.

Play some tunes: Volume and tuning controls sit below the touchscreen looking like heater controls. Knobs offer a nice change of pace from most modern systems; they’re getting harder and harder to find.

The touchscreen is nice and large like most of items in this minivan.

The stereo offered pretty nice playback, about an A-. But adjusting the equalizer can happen only when the vehicle is stopped. It’s in the touchscreen, but it’s so big and so clear that it interferes with attentiveness to the road not at all.

Keeping warm and cool: Buttons control the temperature and air source and a dial controls fan speed. It seemed like a lot of air blowing on Mr. Driver’s face no matter how fast I was going, but it’s a big space to cool or heat, so that’s probably by design.

Where it’s built: Windsor, Ontario.

How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts a 1 out of 5 for Pacifica Hybrid’s reliability, an issue that has plagued the Pacifica.

In the end: We need a manufacturer to offer everything a minivan can: The Odyssey is fun and spacious, but lacks a hybrid and all-wheel drive, and the seats literally don’t measure up. The Sienna has all-wheel drive and a (non-plug-in) hybrid motor, but middle-row seats that impede cargo carrying. The Pacifica has a plug-in, but a reliability problem, middle-row seats, and no all-wheel drive in the hybrid.

So very close among the three; I’d probably pick the Sienna or Odyssey for dependability.

Next week: A Tesla Model Y takes on Oahu.