Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Used OK?

Just sitting in the MD's parking lot / wife's appt ... after picking up ½" plywood for shelving. All is ok w/ the PacHy. As you can see by the odometer we are still only averaging around 2 years worth of driving in the 6 years of ownership. Our winter temps are in the high 20°s f so far ... lots of slushy driving will drop winter range to about 30 mpg, especially because my wife likes to run the heater - which turns the ice on a lot of the time. Once spring rolls around - efficiency will go back into mid & high 40s mpg. Summer driving in SoCal we'd easily get mog up into High 50s low 60s MPG.
2 recalls .... software related that required one stay for about 10 days (free Subaru loaner) as they kept borking it up - despite me handing the service center all the directions they needed. Only other thing was a poorly sealed modular traction pack heat/cooling connector that won't be replaced unless it gives a fault warning ... without someone like me clearing the code. Should have left well enough alone

I bought the new connector for around $25 so that if/when it does get water intrusion again ... & we're still w/in the 8yr/100K mile hybrid warranty ... i won't have to wait for parts order. They have to drop the traction pack as it's on top of the pack. Not a thoughtful placement - or i'd just DIY.
All in all - wife hopes to drive it till the wheels fall off.
There is a Pacifica forums where you can watch to see what people's gripes are for the first gen - which I think ran for ~5 years starting with 2017 iirc.

 

Glad that I've found this discussion. Just in time I'm also considering buying a used hybrid. Having looked through the drivetime reviews, I found out other people's experiences, but not much about Pacifica. Thanks for the detailed post, I appreciate your help.

 

Down vote here. Owned a new 2020 pacifica hybrid for six months (and four break downs).

I suggest reading their forum for a few weeks where even the fanboys and admins recommend an extended warranty and see if it's still a good fit for you. Also, see if there is a good dealership nearby with trained hybrid techs because you'll need them. No loaners in my experience with multiple dealers and their super busy, backed-up service departments (another flag).

Nice van otherwise but the lack of drive mode button means always using the battery first. That dumbed-down design decision might have seem appropriate for "soccer mom" customers but really limits the usefulness and flexibility of a PHEV design. Thought it wouldn't bother me but it did; even the wife too.

Zero regrets going with the Sienna hybrid replacement.

FWIW

 

I could swear I just saw that van on the CR "Make sure to avoid" list...

I've enjoyed a few rentals but not the kind of risk I want to own.

 

The Pacifica hybrid loses the second row stow and go to the battery though. Are the seats easier to pull out completely?

 

good advice. We had our first extended warranty contract on our Prius and it paid for itself multiple times over. It's like fire insurance for your home. Statistically it's not going to pay for itself - but sometimes ......

we got hit in the rear when the minivan was just one year old and there was a loner, and we had to go in for flashing the traction pack about a year ago and we got a loaner again. 1st loner was the plug-in version and the second was the standard non-hybrid version. Loaners & auto work coming out of covid has made the scenario difficult for all manufacturers. We had it take over 1½ months to get our traction battery updated - January '23.

funny you should mention EV drive mode used 1st - as John finds the Chevy volt's multiple choices of modes (1st plugin to ever offer that - many years ago) to be strictly for fanboys. I get that ..... most soccer moms aren't drawn to that kind of selectability & that's why Chrysler chose to set it up that way.

Our daughter's Sienna has been in the shop multiple weeks over her years of ownership & she hates that. But she loves its functionality despite her in-shop experience.
After ~6yrs our Pacifica only has ~24K miles on it, which lends itself to running electric only - over 90% of the time. So even with its 2 interstate trips - and now living in hilly & sub-Zero winter temps - & the better ½'s lead foot - between summer & winter driving she still eks out mid 40s mileage. With electricity here under 10¢/kwh (including utility monthly hookup fee baked in) - that equates to very low running cost.
But of course everybody's experience will be different

I'd estimate the weight of each seat at about 50 lb each. Newer ones are heavier I understand. The seats have a quick release so they take maybe 2 or 3 minutes a piece to unhook, remove & walk over to our storage area. It's not too terribly long a process - even for a nearing 69yr old like yours truly.

Hopefully Sienna will go plugin someday & then it will rival Pacifica's great EPA;

https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/chrysler/pacifica-hybrid

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Here's our latest Pacifica review - representing 6 years from when it was new in 2018 until now;
Stock tires we use during spring, summer, & fall have about 20K miles on them (winter time we run a studded winter set of tires) and the OEM's appear to have over ½ of their life left. Considering the weight of the vehicle, that's not too bad.
The good/bad news is the traction pack that allows for its 33 EV miles had to be replaced June 1st this year, although it never gave any unusual indicators of being bad. We went in for a TSB & when they ran the checks - they said it had to be replaced. That was the bad news. The good news is - at exactlly 25,500k miles we got a 6-Yr-Old traction pack replace with a brand new one. The sad thing was we had never reset the fuel efficiency meter since day one. Combining both winter & summer Electric & gas usage we were getting around 55mpg.



The measly thousand miles we have on the new traction pack only represents our summer driving so once Sub-Zero Winters roll around and the engine kicks on just to warm the traction pack - that mpg number gets pulled way down from the 75+ MPG that it currently shows in the photo. Any who - we got to drive around in a gasser Subaru rental that corporate paid for during the 3 weeks it took to get a traction pack shipped to the Northwest & then get worked into specialist's schedule.
I think the Subaru was getting around 21 or 22 MPG which was kind of a shock after only refueling the Pacifica tank once or twice a year
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3 weeks down for a battery replacement, plus how long for the back window?

6 years is usually long enough to age out most tires, doesn't matter how much tread is left. Especially winter tires, that soft compound loses a lot of traction once it hardens.

I enjoy driving those Pacificas but I really don't think I'd want to risk owning one.

 

Since it's a warranty thing (10yrs or 100K miles non CARB state), they never tell you.
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The volt AND Bolt (which needed to have all its batteries replaced) are lithium. Everyone is using lithium of one chemistry or another now days. Well, Toyota is still using nickel metal hydride in some other cars.
The GOOD news from Tideland's article he posted was that an aftermarket replacement pack can be had for $4900. That's ten's of 1,000's less than OEM !
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a VERY long time.
The long time for rear window & door were attributable in good part to issues that are/were systemic within the entire automotive industry. Post covid body shops ... they lost too many employees to make it possible for quick service. Same was true with hybrid tech's.
Now, if we drove something with a Cummins? Dime a dozen around here. Great for plowing thru snow drifts - but it'd be a tight squeeze getting an F650 into the garage



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I'd have a hard time seeing it as anything other than a warning shot and getting out of the way before another round goes loose. Trade that sucker fast!

As it is I'm in the midst of disposing of an unwanted Cherokee.

Stellantis sales collapse