Millennial Mom’s Review: Is the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid as magical as Disney on Ice?

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What’s the most magical place on earth, where dreams come true? If you guessed Walt Disney World, then you’re my people. If you guessed something else, then I can only assume you weren’t raised by Disney movies, my personal favourite being The Lion King. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, and then busy schedules and finances (or lack thereof), we haven’t yet found the right opportunity to take the kids to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. 

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However, we recently did the next best thing: Disney on Ice. My older kids — six and eight — have been to Disney on Ice before but this last time was my three-year-old’s first time attending the second most magical place on earth. I figured she deserved a chariot just as magical. However, with a wind chill of -30℃ (the coldest day of winter, thus far), a horse and carriage didn’t seem quite right (for the horse or humans), so again, we chose the next best thing: a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. 

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Okay, I digress, maybe a Pacifica isn’t quite the next best thing, but it’s a pretty awesome thing nonetheless. It’s a minivan, after all, and one that I’m familiar with, as we spent some time in the 2021 Pacifica Hybrid (I compared it to a bunch of Avengers). The Pacifica has more than enough space to hold my family of five plus one special guest, my 21-year-old cousin, who was also attending Disney on Ice for the first time. 

Infotainment wars

As everyone piled in, I turned on the Fam Cam, and that was 20 seconds of fun while everyone tried to get their face closest to the little camera on the roof. Then I turned it off. In retrospect, it’s a cool feature, but it’s also extremely distracting if it’s left on while driving. What’s more dangerous: taking a quick look behind you to check on the kids or constantly staring at the infotainment screen to try to figure out what they’re doing? Less screen time for adults would be ideal.

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My initial plan was a simple one: pile everyone into the Pacifica, play a Disney movie via the built-in rear entertainment, and make our way toward the Scotiabank Arena in some version of peace and quiet. I seem to have forgotten one crucial thing from my previous times in the Pacifica. The rear entertainment is tricky and it sucks. I know people are moving away from DVDs/Blu-rays, but it’s just so much easier to pop in a disc and see the movie start to play. In the Pacifica, it’s a bit more complicated. We tried a USB but that didn’t work. Then we remembered the last time we ended up playing a movie on my laptop by hooking up the HDMI to the screen and plugging it into one of the chargers. That’s a whole lot of work — that we didn’t do — for a trip into downtown Toronto. 

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Rear-entertainment is a silly concept anyway, in my humble opinion. It can’t satisfy three kids — one in the third row — with two screens attached to the back of the front seats. However, three tablets will easily do the trick, if needed. If I’m paying upwards of $60K for a minivan, I’m going to need a pretty awesome, easy-to-use entertainment system. Granted, the optional UConnect Family Theatre Group costs an additional $2,595 on this 2022 Limited trim that has a base price of $57,995. Let me make this easy for you: you don’t need it. I’d imagine that someone spending that much money on a minivan isn’t looking for huge savings and cutting costs, but instead, save yourself the hassle and just buy a few new iPads dedicated for minivan usage — even though you may not have adequate storage space for then. 

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Subtraction by subtraction

Unfortunately, this hybrid minivan loses some of its best features. The non-hybrid Pacifica gets those awesome Stow ‘n Go seats that provide a flat floor, but also ample storage space when the seats are up. In order to gain that flat floor, the hybrid’s seats need to be fully removed meaning you’ll need to find storage space elsewhere for those second-row seats. However, when it comes to storing iPads, whether you’ve got the hybrid or regular ICE variant — or any vehicle — it may not be the best storage space in these freezing temperatures, not to mention the recent rise in auto thefts. 

Additionally, the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is missing the built-in vacuum, a game changer if you’ve got messy little kids. 

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So, we’ve got some problems: missing features and complicated entertainment system. The entertainment is an easy fix – just don’t add that option. The missing vacuum and storage is kind of crucial to making this minivan stand out above the rest, especially when it has a starting price well over $50K, before taxes. 

Subtraction by addition

You’re probably thinking another awesome feature that makes this minivan stand out is that it’s a plug-in hybrid. No other minivan in the Canadian market is a PHEV. However, the Pacifica isn’t the most fuel efficient. 

As I mentioned, this isn’t my first time in the Pacifica Hybrid, but no matter how many times I drive it, the electric part never seems to make sense to me. When I think of a plug-in hybrid, I think of it as being the best way to enter the EV world — enough EV range for local and routine drives but the gas portion does away with any sort of range anxiety and makes longer travel a whole lot simpler.

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The Pacifica Hybrid should get 50 km of electric range and is rated at 2.9 Le/100 km, meaning you could save a lot of money if you only use electrons. However, there’s no way to switch to strictly EV mode — you have to drive super slowly and it only works in warmer weather so we didn’t even get a hint of that. On its own, the minivan switched back and forth, so during my week with this PHEV, I never saw anything lower than 11.2 L/100 km, and that kind of sucks considering the gas-only rating is 8 L/100 km. For reference, the hybrid Toyota Sienna is rated at a combined fuel efficiency of 6.7 L/100 km, but I hovered in the low- to mid-8s when I drove it. The non-hybrid Pacifica is rated at a combined 10.6 L/100 km, 8.4 highway and 12.4 in the city — and that is much more on track with the numbers I was getting from the “PHEV.”

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That said, some forums indicate some families are beyond thrilled with their Pacifica Hybrid and mention going months without filling up the gas while driving locally throughout the year. The Chrysler (U.S.) FAQ page says, “In order to maximize the battery charge, consider gradual accelerations when possible. When doing so, you will be able to help keep miles driven in electric mode.” 

According to a Chrysler rep, “Pacifica Hybrid switches autonomously between electric and hybrid modes as needed,” to maximize efficiency. He added that a variety of factors — state of charge, outside temperature, throttle input, etc. — are considered when the Pacifica chooses its power source. Maybe I just have a really heavy foot and I’m losing electrons leaving every stop light and stop sign; the cold weather doesn’t help either.

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Conclusion: Skip the plug-in hybrid

I know it seems like I’m picking on the Pacifica Hybrid, but trust me when I say, the last thing I want to do is make a minivan seem like it’s not up to the task. If the task is strictly hauling families back and forth to school, then it does that more than well. However, if you’re driving downtown, things get a little tricky, especially if you’re not used to the tight spaces. The parking garage beside Scotiabank Arena was a nightmare for me, but it’s not impossible to navigate, much like the Pacifica is not impossible to maneuver — the parking assist features are a huge help.

So, we’re back to where we started. The Pacifica Hybrid drives smoothly; there’s a ton of cargo space, along with awesome and comfortable seating for seven and a load of safety features (adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, etc.). However, the non-hybrid Pacifica gets those same features, in addition to an optional eighth seat, the Stow ‘n Go second-row seats, and a built-in vacuum. The hybrid’s fuel savings are a bit unpredictable and not guaranteed, but the non-hybrid’s fuel consumption is on par (just a tiny bit higher) with other non-hybrid minivans. I think you see where I’m going with this. The real magic is in the non-hybrid Chrysler Pacifica. 

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Think of it this way: Disney on Ice is to Disney World as the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is to the Chrysler Pacifica (non-hybrid). They can be compared and each has its advantages (you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to get to Disney World), but one is clearly much better than the other. If I had to choose between the hybrid and non-hybrid Pacifica, I’d pick neither and instead I’d choose the Toyota Sienna for its fuel savings and then maybe buy a cordless vacuum solely dedicated for minivan usage.

Check out the latest Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and Chrysler Pacifica models, to click here for more Millennial Mom’s Reviews.