We replaced our beloved Honda Odyssey with… a Chrysler Pacifica, yes, another minivan, or MinnyVan as we like to say.
Our Odyssey wasn’t old, we had it for just over 2 years, and there were many things that we loved about the Odyssey, including the amazing Magic Slide 2nd row seats and interior CabinWatch camera. Those were two key features that made us go with the Odyssey in the first place with our original minivan search.
While we appreciated a lot of the great design and features of the Pacifica (the non-hybrid model’s stow and go seating is super clever!), we had decided against it due to problems with the 9-speed automatic transmission in the non-hybrid model that we experienced in a 2017 Pacifica we have within the greater family.
But having gotten a taste of the electrified life with our Audi e-tron, it left us wanting more. There are no fully electric family vans… yet. But the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is actually a plug-in hybrid, meaning it offers up electric range, with gas/electric hybrid capabilities for the long haul. In this case, the Pacifica Hybrid offers 32 miles of electric range. After that’s depleted, it has a gas tank and V6 engine that can get about 30 miles per gallon, well above the 22 of our Odyssey.
Now, Toyota just launched their 2021 Sienna, and it’s also a hybrid, but not a plug-in hybrid. So there’s no dedicated electric range to speak of, but it does do better on gas mode, achieving an average of 35-36 miles per gallon, depending on if you choose all-wheel drive or front wheel drive. Chrysler also re-introduced all-wheel drive on the 2020 Pacifica, but it’s not available with its plug-in hybrid powertrain. So AWD Hybrid Minivan your fancy? Then the Sienna is all you got for now. Plug-in hybrid? Pacifica’s still the only game in town. Got all that?
Back to the Pacifica. We were actually very intrigued by the updates coming on the 2021 Pacifica. The updated 2021 model will introduce one key feature we love, the interior camera, Chrysler calls it the FamCam. Now, it still lacks the lateral sliding Magic Slide seats of our Odyssey, but we were tempted to see if that was something super necessary. Time will tell with our Pacifica.
The 2021 Pacifica is also bringing a host of other good tech and feature updates like a new 10.1″ infotainment system featuring wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a wireless charging pad (the Odyssey had a wireless charging pad, but no wireless smartphone connectivity). It will also bring LED headlights to the Hybrid (and the rest of the Pacifica lineup). HID headlights are available on the 2020 Pacificas, but not on the Hybrids interestingly.
Our intention was to wait for the 2021 Hybrids, but as we started to do some research, it came to our attention that there were some really big discounts to be had on the 2020 model. The 2020 Pacificas also have some features that we didn’t have on our 2019 Odyssey: proper front parking sensors, full-speed adaptive cruise control, lumbar support for the front passenger seat (these three things have been added to the facelifted 2021 Odyssey), panoramic sunroof, kick to open sliding doors, reverse auto braking, as well as the whole plug in electric part.
When looking at potential value of our Odyssey, we again enlisted the valuations from Carvana, Vroom and AutoNation to determine that it was worth ~$36,000. This of course would only continue to decline while waiting for inevitable large Chrysler discounts to show up on the facelifted Pacifica.
Researching deals on the 2020 Pacifica Hybrid, we surmised that would target a deal for a well-loaded Limited trim for $42,500 out the door, inclusive of our Virginia sales tax, etc. MSRP or sticker price was just over $53,000. After consideration of the $7,500 federal tax credit that we’ll leverage next year, it would put our effective price at just $35,000, or actually lower than our Odyssey’s value. Looking at current trade in values of the Pacifica Hybrid, we again estimated that we could drive it for about a year or so, and when good deals arise on the facelifted Pacifica we could possibly trade out of it for at least $35,000 at that time, if not slightly higher. So we can potentially drive the 2020 Pacifica for minimal to little loss in effective value, and save on gas while maximizing electric driving.
Emailed a number of dealers here in the D.C. area with our offer of $42,500 out the door on units that had sticker prices of between $51,000 to just over $53,000. They were all Limiteds with the advanced safety package, the S appearance looks and the panoramic moonroof. After a number of replies, we finally got one dealer that agreed to our offer. Others were only able to come to about $1,000 to $2,000 higher.
So here we start our plug-in hybrid van journey!
