Our long-term 2017 Chrysler Pacifica crosses the 20,000-mile mark

Since we first took possession of our long term 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, we've put 20,000 miles on this brand new minivan. Now it's time to talk about how it's been holding up. [BLANK_AUDIO] In a word, the Pacifica's been A peach, whether it's doing duty as a dog mobile or a shuttle between home and school, the Pacifica has taken all our lickins and kept on tickin. We have encountered no major mechanical or electronic wonkery over the last few months. So let's talk about what we liked starting with fuel Fuel economy. The [UNKNOWN] is 3.6 liter 287 horse power V6 is a little on the thirsty side at 18 to 19 MPG city and 28 MPG highway, it's not gonna win any awards for thrift. But thankfully, we've been beating the estimates. We're getting about 30 on the highway and about 24/25 combined as opposed to the EPA's estimate of 22. Electronically, everything's been, well, just about perfect. The [UNKNOWN] 8.4 inch touchscreen is responsive and it has no problem with voice recognition, whether it's making calls or setting navigation. Destinations. Now I personally am a little bit more of a Google maps on my phone kind of guy. Don't blame you if you are or if you aren't. Which is why I am happier about the litany of USB ports across the front. It makes it a lot easier to keep the battery from dying when you're trying to get from point A to point B. So let's talk about what we don't like. My only real qualm with the infotainment system is that both the heat seating and climate control syncing settings are hidden away behind a couple of menus which you have to fiddle with. And that's a little frustrating considering I fiddle with those things pretty constantly. The only real mechanical annoyance we've experienced comes from the nine speed automatic. Transmission. Smashing the gas pedal results in a significant delay, followed by eventual forward motion. There doesn't really seem to be a correlation between how hard I push the gas and what gear the transmission shifts into, meaning I tend to floor it more than necessary just to make sure I have the acceleration required to even get on the highway. [BLANK_AUDIO] Now Chrysler may not always receive the best marks for vehicle reliability, but the Pacifica has beaten that stereotype into submission. Aside from the transmission's occasional wonkiness, our long term minivan has performed admirably. Next time, we'll dig into the minutia and see how our van has fared in the face of some tough love from both dogs and kids. We've hauled cargo of all shapes, sizes, and hairiness. And the van hasn't walked away entirely unscathed. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]