Hey guys, been a few years since I posted, but I always lurk and read.
My Background: we bought our 2017 Pacifica Limited (8 person config, SafetyTek, 20" wheels, white) new almost exactly 2 years ago.
Just got back from dealer a few hours ago after trading it in on a new 2019 Hybrid Limited (SafetyTek, Hybrid Premium Wheels, something else I'm forgetting)
Here is what I noticed right away:
I think that is all the stuff I noticed and all the stuff I really wanted to share now that we have one for anyone shopping.
I would also add that Tempe Dodge was CRAZY cooperative with us when it came to making the deal happen; I had talked to 8 other dealerships up until that point both in and out of state - I was offering a fairly aggressive deal - and expected to find it with a 2018... but Tempe made it happen. The sales manager and associated I worked with were disturbingly friendly and I kept waiting for "the other shoe to drop" and it never happened... they were just super straight forward, no BS, amazing price and worked the deal to the end and helped us moved all our car seats from the old van into the new one and wished us well.
If you are in Phoenix/Arizona I would try and work with them if you are in the market. I've also had a great experience with Avondale Chrysler buying our original 2017 Pacifica but they couldn't even make this deal happen for me as a return customer.
My Background: we bought our 2017 Pacifica Limited (8 person config, SafetyTek, 20" wheels, white) new almost exactly 2 years ago.
Just got back from dealer a few hours ago after trading it in on a new 2019 Hybrid Limited (SafetyTek, Hybrid Premium Wheels, something else I'm forgetting)
Here is what I noticed right away:
- MOST IMPORTANT - I'm calling this out top of post because I wish I had this communicated to me more clearly (I ended up really understanding it when I got a Lyft driver that had a Hybrid Pacifica) - 2x things make the power delivery and driving experience of the Hybrid probably 20-30% nicer than the ICE one and those are: (1) New eFlite electronically variable transmission and (2) electric motor torque. The combination of those two things makes the delivery of the power smoother and stronger so you not only feel that you are pulling harder, but it's not interrupted with little hiccups of a transmission shifting and engine revs changing. Both my wife and I like driving this so much more - I'm the SRT/performance guy and I certainly like the pull more... it's not a hot rod and I believe the 0-60 is technically slower than the ICE one, but it doesn't feel that way... it feels better, feels faster, feels stronger. I'm guessing what I'm perceiving is a much more enjoyable power curve sub-40mph, but I also noticed in normal highway passing (just rolling into throttle, not trying to race) it also feels better there, I'm not trying to stab the throttle to encourage a downshift like in the ICE one, the car just accelerates linerally to my pedal press. It's much better BEHAVIOR I would say.
- Even when the battery is depleted, the ICE motor delivering power through the eFlite transmission is much nicer than the ZF 9-speed in the ICE-based Pacificas... just this driving dynamic all together is better. It just feels stronger when the battery has charge, but the good behavior is still there when it doesn't.
- Higher-res screens in driver and center UConnect are REALLY noticeably better.
- Manual and automatic sliding doors feel a bit more solid / smoother.
- The automatic tilt forward/return to position button for the Driver and Pass seat to help make access to 2nd row are now there on the 2019; so when you are loading people in the car can hit that and the front seats will lean way out of the way and let people in and then return when done - I loved that in our 17 and I believe it wasn't in the 19 until this year.
- MINOR, but I noticed the door pillars where the internal sliding door buttons are have a 45 degree face to them now; the button use to be on the pillar, pointing straight back parallel to the door; now it's inside on that 45 degree part pointing more towards the passenger. I'm surprise that Chrysler went through the trouble of designing, fabbing new moulding for this interior B-pillar with that design... it's perfectly nice, just surprised to see style changes.
- I had the "grinding sound in stop and go" in the Adaptive Cruise in our 17 and it seems to be gone in our 19.
- The pull handle feel on the driver and pass doors on our 2017 felt a LITTLE grindy and plasticy - like some plastic guides were grinding on each other - this one feels smoother and more substantial.
- 1-speed trans is AWESOME. We drove the car straight through a full charge into the ICE motor (with no charge) and the way power is delivered through the new tranmission is awesome regardless of where it's coming from. Very smooth, no gear shifts, no hunting... it's just accelerating happily.
- With a charge, this is 30-50% more enjoyable to drive around town. Mechanically it feels 20% smoother, power-delivery wise it feels like it has 30% more pull (both more torque AND delivered more smoothly with no shifts = better feel) and psychologically if you are the type to fret about how hard your motor is working when you "gun it" or hear it down shift aggressively and it sort of makes you feel guilty, all of that goes away.
- Battery charge EVAPORATES at hightway speeds. I mean like... "20 miles of charge left" going 80mph lasts like 6-8 miles.
- Regeneration in 'L' is awesomely aggressive. Car uses lots of opportunities to recharge the battery. About half as aggressive in slowing power as a Model S in the aggressive regen mode or Bolt using the regen tigger on the wheel.
- Faster UConnect 4 platform (software and hardware) is SO MUCH NICER. 50% better to use.
- Theater is way cooler and functional than I realized... I expected it to be gimmick-ey, it's really slick.
- Adaptive Cruise seems to have gotten some refinements - a bit smoother - OR it's just the power train that makes it accelerating/slowing feel more natural and less obtrusive.
- The driver display layout (infront of the steering wheel) is better laid out than in the 17; because of the higher res screen the fonts are bigger and have a little nicer layout.
- The gas cap is locking now - it was a push-cap in our 17 but it has the ejector button now like my Jeep and 300 have/had.
- The 3rd row doesn't recline like in our Limited 17 - in the 17 it had a "<-->" button in the side panel that the passenger could use to increase or decrease the incline of the seat back; it was actually pretty badass. In the new Hybrid it has a singular locked position, slightly reclined. It seems OK, but probably not as comfortable as the 17.
- When the car has a charge, the MPG is amazing; we were getting something like 75 MPGe on the way home when the car had a charge.
- Temper this with "new car high" but the 2019 feels a bit tighter/smoother than our 17 did. Not that our 17 had any rattles and creaks or anything, but little things like the action of the sliding doors (sounded grindy in the 17) or like I said handle pulls feel more smooth/solid in the 19. The impression I'm getting is that in the last 2 years Chrysler has put a lot of refinement into these vans based on warranty repair feedback and I'm happy to experience it.
I think that is all the stuff I noticed and all the stuff I really wanted to share now that we have one for anyone shopping.
I would also add that Tempe Dodge was CRAZY cooperative with us when it came to making the deal happen; I had talked to 8 other dealerships up until that point both in and out of state - I was offering a fairly aggressive deal - and expected to find it with a 2018... but Tempe made it happen. The sales manager and associated I worked with were disturbingly friendly and I kept waiting for "the other shoe to drop" and it never happened... they were just super straight forward, no BS, amazing price and worked the deal to the end and helped us moved all our car seats from the old van into the new one and wished us well.
If you are in Phoenix/Arizona I would try and work with them if you are in the market. I've also had a great experience with Avondale Chrysler buying our original 2017 Pacifica but they couldn't even make this deal happen for me as a return customer.
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