Anonymous wrote:The Pacifica did terribly for 5-year reliability on consumer reports and other reviews. We didn’t buy it because of the issues.

Sigh. If I knew a plug-in or fully electric option was coming down the line from any of the other manufacturers, I'd hold out. Chrysler certainly has never been on my short list before now. But to my knowledge, there are no other comparable options coming anytime soon. Any one know if there are any on the horizon that I'm missing? -OP

The Pacifica did terribly for 5-year reliability on consumer reports and other reviews. We didn’t buy it because of the issues.

OP - have you done test drives in both of these? We had the same debate, but after driving decided on the Toyota. For us, the Pacifica back seats were less comfortable and the drive felt, well, like a Chrysler. I am curious for those who bought in the first year or two how the Chrysler has aged bc it felt like it had all the cool things but maybe would rattle after a few years. But we prefer Toyotas bc you can drive them forever, so I was biased. Our neighbors have a Pacifica and love it, so I think a lot is personal preference

Anonymous wrote: I don't have either of these vans-but I do have a PHEV and I LOVE it! Best of both worlds.

Especially since your daily driving is short distances OP and you have access to free charging. And on road trips, you can use gas.

I'd choose the Pacifica.

I think that's definitely the way we're leaning. Anyone bought the hybrid Pacifica recently? Curious about wait times and whether that's causing dealerships to upcharge still. I know someone who bought the Sienna recently, albeit not locally, sounds like they've already been waiting several months so far. -OP

I don't have either of these vans-but I do have a PHEV and I LOVE it! Best of both worlds.

Especially since your daily driving is short distances OP and you have access to free charging. And on road trips, you can use gas.

I'd choose the Pacifica.

Anonymous wrote:

We just bought a Sienna, but honestly never considered a Chrysler. We prefer Toyota or Honda. I like my new Sienna, but think the trunk space is tiny. Much smaller than my prior suv. I do like that it is an AWD and hybrid despite the fact that we don’t drive much. We don’t have leather or built in screens. We waited about 5 months to get the minivan and are happy that it arrived in time for baby#3. I wouldn’t have gotten a minivan if I only had two kids though. I hate having to park it and would have been so irritated if I had to do street parking. We have a driveway so I don’t mind having the monstrous thing as much.

The hybrid Sienna has 50 cubic feet less cargo space than the non-hybrid models that preceded it.

Anonymous wrote:

We just bought a Sienna, but honestly never considered a Chrysler. We prefer Toyota or Honda. I like my new Sienna, but think the trunk space is tiny. Much smaller than my prior suv. I do like that it is an AWD and hybrid despite the fact that we don’t drive much. We don’t have leather or built in screens. We waited about 5 months to get the minivan and are happy that it arrived in time for baby#3. I wouldn’t have gotten a minivan if I only had two kids though. I hate having to park it and would have been so irritated if I had to do street parking. We have a driveway so I don’t mind having the monstrous thing as much.

I know, people definitely raise their eyebrows when we mention we're considering one with only the two kids. Despite only having two, I feel like there are so many occasions where we're limited by the lack of extra passenger seating and/or cargo space. We have an older Forester, which isn't a small car, but you can't exactly throw Grandma and Grandpa in to drive them around on their visits, or even bring a teammate along to soccer practice with that.

I have the Pacifica. The stow and go seats are only in the non-hybrid because the battery is below the middle seats. It is easy to pull the middle seats out if you need to though they are heavy.

I looked at the Sienna but didn’t end up going that way because I liked the way the Pacifica drove better. I also prefer the plug in because I end up almost never using gas unless it’s a road trip and like PP said, then I just have gas and it’s easy to fill up gas anywhere so I am not stuck having to recharge unless it’s confident to me.

I have a level 2 charger at home so it takes about 2 hours to charge my car.

I also got the higher model trim because of some of the other features (and I like leather seats) but the entertainment screens fold down and we never use them.

I haven’t had any issues with the car at all, just some recalls which also seem to come in the same amount on my other car (Honda).

I was able to get the full $7,500 tax credit so the Pacifica was way better priced at the time but I think there are income caps now.

We just bought a Sienna, but honestly never considered a Chrysler. We prefer Toyota or Honda. I like my new Sienna, but think the trunk space is tiny. Much smaller than my prior suv. I do like that it is an AWD and hybrid despite the fact that we don’t drive much. We don’t have leather or built in screens. We waited about 5 months to get the minivan and are happy that it arrived in time for baby#3. I wouldn’t have gotten a minivan if I only had two kids though. I hate having to park it and would have been so irritated if I had to do street parking. We have a driveway so I don’t mind having the monstrous thing as much.

Anonymous wrote:They are completely different cars in terms of energy use. The Toyota uses gasoline on the first mile. The Chrysler is a plug in hybrid, which means the electric range (30 miles) must be depleted before using gasoline.

I am like you and have the Chrysler Pacifica. I never have to get gas unless I go on a long distance trip. Then on a long distance trip, you don't have to worry about charging the van because it works like a regular hybrid (just fill with gas).

Do the plug in. With the Toyota you'll still be super gasoline dependent

It just occurred to me that between the two, only the Pacifica would qualify for the EV tax credit. That's significant.

Anonymous wrote:I have a Pacifica and the stow and go feature is amazing. The seats are stored underneath the floorboard vs having to pull them out of the car and put them somewhere.

Do you have the hybrid? I thought only the gas Pacifica had stow-n-go because in the hybrid the battery takes up that spot.

I have a Pacifica and the stow and go feature is amazing. The seats are stored underneath the floorboard vs having to pull them out of the car and put them somewhere.

They are completely different cars in terms of energy use. The Toyota uses gasoline on the first mile. The Chrysler is a plug in hybrid, which means the electric range (30 miles) must be depleted before using gasoline.

I am like you and have the Chrysler Pacifica. I never have to get gas unless I go on a long distance trip. Then on a long distance trip, you don't have to worry about charging the van because it works like a regular hybrid (just fill with gas).

Do the plug in. With the Toyota you'll still be super gasoline dependent

I would always pick a Toyota over a Chrysler. No brainer in my mind.

Anyone recently compared the Toyota Sienna and the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in? Trying to get a sense of which would be the better option for us.

Factors to consider:

-2 kids (we have a few more years of car seat/boosters to go), several pets
-80% of our driving is short city distances, but we do at least 3-5 longer road trips a year and cargo space is a priority and we'll want a roof rack for sure
-we have street parking only, but almost always can get a spot right in front of our house for purposes of charging; work garage has free charging available
-AWD would be nice, but not a deal breaker
-other preferred but not critical features would be hands free liftgate, remote start, stow-n-go seating, built in vacuum, Cabin Talk/Driver Speak option, rear passenger climate controls
-would prefer to NOT have leather, built in video screens
-we have time to wait so better price is a priority over fast availability
-we keep our cars as long as possible, so longevity is key

Which did you/would you choose?