Can you believe it’s officially been more than a decade since we first saw the Chrysler Pacifica minivan? On Jan. 11th, 2016, Chrysler’s sixth-generation minivan rolled on stage at the Detroit Auto Show, giving families and rental fleets a much-desired dose of modernity. Little did we know that rounded styling, a nicer interior, and a gearbox that didn’t date back to the K-Car’s Ultradrive would define America’s family car for the next decade. However, you can’t leave stuff on the shelf forever. Sometimes you need to switch it up, which is why the Pacifica is getting another facelift.
Right now, details are scarce. All we have to go on are three photos published to Chrysler’s official Facebook page, all showing a dramatically different face on the same basic van we’re all deeply familiar with. It’s unapologetically weird, yet not unprecedented. After all, it’s largely a mix of trends we’ve seen before.
Let’s start with the big statement pieces, the largely vertical headlights. Alright, they’re technically L-shaped, but all the important bits stack in a straight line up-and-down. We’re talking low-beams, additional elements, and what look to possibly be turn signals. As the driver of a small sedan and an even smaller convertible, automakers effectively lowering headlight beams on tall vehicles is a rather welcome thing, as it generally strikes a nice balance between headlight throw and glare reduction.
At the top of the fascia sits possibly the most controversial trend in modern car faces: A light bar with gaps. While several thin elements effectively span the width of the Pacifica in a singular line, I can’t help but wonder what this arrangement will actually look like at night. Maybe the stylistic gaps around the new-look Chrysler emblem will balance out the panel gaps between the headlights and the center element. We’ll just have to wait and see.
This newly slimmed upper grille treatment has really given Chrysler leeway to play with texture on the front fascia. The latest Pacifica comes across all texture-and-trim, especially where dimpling on the bumper cover meets stylized brightwork on the lower grille. Sure, the forward-facing radar unit isn’t as neatly hidden as it could be, but I’m definitely interested in seeing this latest front-end treatment up close. Add it all up, and you get a face perfectly in line with where the latter half of the 2020s is going.
What else can we see from these initial shots? Well, there is one thing perhaps unsurprisingly absent from the new Pacifica: A charging door on the left front fender. While you used to be able to order Chrysler’s modern minivan with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, recalls and eventual discontinuation brought an end to the only plug-in hybrid minivan in America. Sometimes making batteries is hard. That begs the question: What’s under the hood of this latest van? While the outgoing model features Chrysler’s ever-present Pentastar V6, there have been recent efforts to phase out the Pentastar in favor of the GME T4 engine family seen in the Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Compass, and Alfa Romeo Giulia.
For now, we’ll just have to wait for Chrysler to give us a closer look at the refreshed Pacifica. Don’t be surprised to find updated infotainment and some interior renovations, but it looks like America’s last homegrown minivan keeps a lot of what we love. Same flexible Stow-N-Go platform, just with a fresher look. If one thing’s for certain, this latest update is a whole lot more interesting than the 2021 facelift.
Top graphic image: Chrysler
Can we put the Autopian Contrarian Koolaid down for just one day?
Looks Chinese or Korean. Pretty meh but it’s nice to hear Chrysler is doing something?
Looks like the rear is unchanged – missed opportunity. It’ll look dated compared to the front. not much you can do about the sides during a redesign but there was opportunity out back. I’ll wait for a clearer shot.
Well, it most likely will Chinese in the very near future, along with the Charger…
I dont hate it, and the Chrysler emblem being done in lights is interesting. I think the back end needs work to match the face though.
The vitriol seems harsh to me. It’s a minivan & there’s only so much you can do with a box on wheels. Aesthetics aren’t high on our list of needs here. Loved my old Odyssey but the current design is also hideous. Current Sienna frankly homely as well.
But it’s about utility & we adore the utility & unreal fuel economy of our current Pacifica PHEV. 7 tanks/year vs 36 with the previous odyssey, & the tank is 25% smaller. That’s my real complaint with this story, dropping the PHEV, but I understand if they couldn’t get reliability to a point to make it profitable with all the recalls and lack of dealer support, and the cancelled rebate. If ours gets hit, probably => Sienna with the ++wait. I wish Chrysler just settled and converted it to a regular hybrid since the large battery seemed to be such a problem. The smoothness of the electric drive on the PHEV blows away every other minivan I’ve driven, including my brother’s new Sienna.
How is yours with reliability? We were getting some version of “service charging system” errors at least a few times a month. They usually resolved themselves after a charge, but still.
More than its share of recalls over the 8 years & 150k, one of which was done fraudulently by our local dealer. (I knew because I’d reviewed what was required and it was done way too fast.) So I had to go to Chrysler to get it done right. We did have a few strange errors a couple of times after the last service, but they resolved on their own. A few others on the forum had similar errors that also resolved after a couple of charges. Can’t be sure if it was related to some sort of fuel vapour line that had been replaced. Aside from the (mostly software, but some sort of battery cable too I think) recalls which always seemed to involve parking outside until repaired, not many problems other than the brakes needing servicing frequently because they never get used because of the regenerative braking. Side door roller, tailgate strut, & a defective 12V battery that took 3 visits to figure out. I replaced it with a quality AGM that also only lasted 4.5 years, so there’s something there. Auto parking not calibrated when we got it. Thankfully we were watching it like a hawk the 1st few times so no harm done. (Compared to my Outlander PHEV with 2 recalls & basically 1 rear brake job & oil changes required over 7 years.) Oh, & if you drive smoothly for your passengers, don’t be too smooth or you get this “Put hands on the wheel” error – you have to jiggle it a bit to make it realize you’re driving.
Ha. That last one makes me feel seen.
Yikes
This looks terrible, and while the last version did ok with the original bodywork, this face absolutely does not match the rest of the van.
Does this mean the Voyager will inherit the outgoing Pacifica nose?
That’s not an improvement.
This could be the next generic car for insurance commercials. I guess I will keep our 22 Pacifica PHEV until the battery dies.
TIL I can’t get a new version of my current car…
I guess I’ll join the Hyundai hegemony when this one bytes the dust
Still only a front-end refresh, while the rest of the car is basically the same. Typical Chrysler, just refresh the tooling as long as you can. They were making the Caravan (RT) along side the Pacifica (RU) for a few years and all of that tooling was paid off. Just printing money after that.
Hey, Chrysler! I got a collect call from Nissan for you. Did you want to accept the charges?
Oh you can’t afford to…
Uhhhh…
Oh, OK.
They said you can borrow the Ariya and Sentra’s faces, but next time, please ask first, OK?
…
…OK, they dropped the call, but it sounds like you should call them, maybe.
Who is choosing this over a Siena/Carnival/Odyssey? I’m guessing someone who is allergic to resale value/has terrible credit.
If I had to get a minivan, I’d probably get a Pacifica over an odyssey.
That means that somehow I’ve passed over all the Siennas in the universe, plus the Transit Connects, Mazda5, Mazda MPV, Kia Sedona/Hyundai Entourage, and even the awkward Carnival, but there we are.
I’m not in the market at the moment, but until Stow n’ Go gets licensed or pirated by someone else, I’m squarely in the crosshairs of its use case so they have my loyalty.
I think the patents expire very soon or just did.
Also, my phone tried harder than usual to autocorrect “patents” to “parents”. Make of that what you will…
We’ve had a couple Pacificas since 2020 when my 4th kid was born. Probably would just have been one if my wife hadn’t totaled the first one a couple years into ownership. Functionality wise for our family of 6 no other minivan or suv comes close with the stow and go and underfloor storage the biggest plus for us. We don’t worry about resale value as we run our cars into the ground (or total them). Other than a recall around the bubbling paint on the hood and some start/stop system issues its been a relatively reliable car for us. Our 2022 is pushing 110K and while it isn’t fast it definitely had more oomph than the others which is needed in and around ATL.
Stow N Go seats + AWD makes it fairly appealing. Plus the fact they usually have $10k on the hood helps. But then I come back around to Stellantis “quality”.
John Travolta and Nicolas Cage approved
“Sometimes making batteries is hard”
So buy them from someone else. It’s not like lots of other manufacturers haven’t figured out how to offer hybrid or BEV products that work.
But Chrysler can’t find a manufacturer of batteries that uses 20th century design
Oh I’m sure the Duracell bunny has enough D cells for them.
But Chrysler uses B sized batteries.
Isn’t that what the old Batmobile used?
This one needs to go back in the oven. It’s half-baked.
I’m just happy they’ll have a replacement model ready for when the current one goes out of production.
“Is there any way to make this thing look anything slightly like the Carnival from the front?” … “Good enough! Do it!”
That is a wonderful Kia Bolt CTS-V Lightning minivan they got right there.
Exactly my thought when I saw that face. Kia was first look, and then the lights giving that Lightning.
Their strategy is “Chrysler doesn’t have a face, so lets take other faces instead!”
well at least they don’t have to deal with keeping styling cues consistent among all the vehicles in their lineup.
Honestly, I’m not mad about it, and Hyundai is also a Random Bullshit! Go! design OEM at the moment. I feel like they’re better off for it, and in general cars of the same company don’t need to share the Corporate Grill (looking at Lexus for being the most egregious here…)
Which is weird, because I thought the first and even second generation new Pacifica looked just fine with the Chrysler corporate swoopy spline grille. This just seems disjoint, like the famous “One team designed the front and one designed the back” memes
Chrysler had a face with the original front end, but then went and angrified and anonymified it on the 2021 refresh and now here we are. Given that the basic body structure seems unchanged, I wonder if the original front clip would mate.up?
I don’t hate it. Is the design coherent? No. But I love wild facelift like that.
It’s like they hate money
Like an unholy mashup of the Kia Sportage, Toyota Sienna, and something half-baked in the middle.
I actually kinda like it? Yeah I’m going with I actually kinda like it
Chrysler should just stick a mid-2020s style nose on all of their old products an bring ’em back! Bishop, what would this look like on a LeBaron?
Well, used Pacificas just went up in value.
So THAT’S what they’ve been working on for the last 8 years.
Chrysler’s back, baby!
HEMI!
The author Tom Robbins once described his creative process: each day, he would write a sentence, and then he would rewrite it until it was perfect, and then he was done for the day. This is why it took him four years to write a book, and it’s why his books were so unfathomably weird and disjointed.