Chrysler minivan reviews

Platform:The Town & Country prototype seen here is pretty much a blank canvas onto which a lot of random Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, and Ram pieces have been scattered. As we noted when we last spotted this haggard test mule, the body appears to sit lower than the current Town & Country, and the roof has a crossover-like taper that indicates Chrysler is at least trying to make the van stylish. None of this is news, however. What is fresh is that for the first time, we’ve gotten a look at the prototype’s interior and its rear suspension. Predictably, the interior is a mishmash of Dodge Durango pieces—witness the center stack, digital gauge cluster, and steering wheel. Expect these items to become more “Chrysler-y” for production.

As for the rear suspension, it looks as though the T&C switches from a twist-beam rear axle to a multilink arrangement. Given how the exhaust and some underbody shielding pass beneath the axle, and that the suspension components we can see sit at an angle, it seems unlikely that there is a full-width stick axle down there. This might sound minor, but it bodes well for the van’s interior packaging. When we last spotted this test car, we speculated that the current-generation van’s clever Stow ’n Go folding rear seats may be binned, as there is no way the lower-looking floor could fit both the folding seats and, well, the rear suspension. An independent suspension, on the other hand, leaves more space for underbody components like the exhaust, the fuel tank, and optional all-wheel-drive bits, possibly leaving room above for disappearing seats even with the chopped roofline.

Powertrain: So far, we know only that the 2017 Town & Country will be offered with a plug-in-hybrid powertrain. In a segment not known for powertrain choices, a plug-in option will be bold and unique—the van’s competitors all offer just a single engine/transmission combo. As for the nonhybrid T&C, engine possibilities depend largely on how much weight Chrysler can strip out of its minivan. If it can yank a lot of tonnage out of the T&C, Chrysler could get away with a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and its ZF-designed nine-speed automatic. If the van turns out to be porky, don’t be surprised if Chrysler leans on its venerable 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine, which also could be mated to the nine-speed. Front-wheel drive will be standard, but all-wheel drive may return as an option.