Featured Rumourmill: Venza and Sienna to Come in Hybrid Form Only

I never looked at Pacifica PHV when I was looking for a minivan/SUV to replace our old Sienna. We had a Grand Caravan before Sienna, but it lasted only 80K miles with an engine failure. It was the last US model car we have owned. If Pacifica engine is as good as Toyota, I would have considered it, but at that time, I could not afford a new Pacifica PHV, and no used one on market. Ended up buying used Pathfinder Hybrid. Not as good on mileage, but my wife loves it.

 

Since Fiat took over Chrysler, they have sold nothing but unreliable JUNK.

 

I had higher hopes. My buddy's (Fiat era) Wrangler is on its 3rd transmission already.

 

I'm not a fan of Chrysler at all ( cough...dodge neon...cough ). However, a coworker has the Pacifica plugin and I never thought I'd say this...but it looks like a well built vehicle. He has had absolutely no problems with it either. It will be interesting to see how it holds up long term.

 

We had all the same problems when we had our 3rd kid, now 4th kid.

Got the Sienna, and it was excellent, but mpg was horrible after owning 2 Prius for a couple years.

What we finally decided (well i decided, lol) was that 2 Prius was better.
If/when we ever go as a whole family, we take both cars and have extra room and better comfort.
The younger kids can even walkie talkie for fun, we can listen to different tunes,
can drive even different routes/roads.
It makes it much easier actually.

And we still have better mpg then one Sienna- which was giving us about 20mpg at the time.

 

If both parents are available.

 

Well that still works in the Gen3, but very tight squeeze (best for short trips) with 2 booster seats in the back.
But luckily (worked the thought into the decision) my oldest son is 19 now, so not so much
coming along the ride much the last few years.

 

Our Chrysler has been amazing. 1st gen, in crucial fixes twice (got lenders) but haven't had a problem since. I think they've worked out the kinks. By far the best for the family out of all the vans. Goes over 30 miles EV or more if you hypermile. Entertainment options...Wifi streaming, HDMI ports on two screens that can be seen from the captain chairs or back row...Potentially you can have people in the back watching 2 different movies or playing games.

The Van is also spacious and quiet...It's awesome, which is why we're upgrading to a 2020 with CarPlay and Android Auto lol!

I see Sienna and the Odyssey as the closest competitors...But they lose on MPG and entertainment though they have other cool features. I love driving around 32 MPG + after the battery is depleted. I hadn't felt this excited since first driving a Prius 3rd gen and seeing 45+ MPG!

 

I'd be in a Prius v already by now if they still had it. Venza is poss...how long will I wait?