Chrysler Slings Updates at Pacifica for 2024

by Matthew Guy

Published: September 1st, 2023

chrysler slings updates at pacifica for 2024

While the majority of Americans have long since decamped in favor of crossovers and SUVs, there remains a dedicated cadre of buyers committed to the family minivan. For 2024, Chrysler is rewarding them with a smattering of updates to its Pacifica.

It’s not a sea of change, to be sure – no, they aren’t grabbing a couple of Hellcat engines before that line goes dark in December – but they are worth mentioning. The frankly excellent plug-in hybrid variant will be available in two models for 2024, including a Select trim in addition to the spendy Pinnacle and its second-row throw cushions. This decision deletes a few features or makes them optional (power liftgate, ambient lighting, and the like) but opens the plug-in hybrid price point to more customers.

Two new colors are on the palette: Red Hot and Baltic Gray. Heady stuff, we know. The top-rung Pinnacle gets a different hue for its quilted Nappa leather seats as well. A neatly named Road Tripper package is expanded to Touring L (a trim, not long wheelbase) and the Select PHEV, bringing a basket of exterior graphics and jazzy orange accents plus a few blacked-out inserts for those who want to try and assert their dominance in the school pick-up line. Wholly practical gear like an integrated vacuum cleaner, cameras providing a bird’s-eye view of small passengers in rear-facing seats, and vanishing Stow-n-Go seats are all on the docket depending on trim.

If you need a refresher, the standard Pacifica is powered by the ubiquitous Pentastar V6, good here for 287 horses while the plug-in hybrid adds 16-kWh worth of batteries and has a system output of 260 ponies. It can travel up to 30 miles solely on electricity when conditions are right. As with other years, all-wheel drive is available on some gas-powered models.

Through the first half of 2023, Chrysler has recorded 73,845 sales of the Pacifica, a number which isn’t readily broken out into gasoline-powered and plug-in hybrid take rates. Amongst the sprawling Stellantis house, this is a number eclipsing vehicles like the Compass, and Durango, and only about 10k off the mighty Wrangler - proving there are still plenty of customers for a Magic Wagon.

[Images: Stellantis]

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#Chrysler #Pacifica #Hybrid #Minivan

Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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3 of 28 comments

Avnut on Sep 05, 2023

Chrysler removed the spare tire and replaced it with an inflator kit. That removed it from my consideration. I want to tow a camper and not having a spare of some kind is a deal killer.

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- RHD on Sep 08, 2023
  
  I wonder what percentage of the time an inflator kit is sufficient when a tire goes flat. In my experience, it would be less than 50% of the time. Those were from overnight slow leaks from a nail, not a sudden blowout on the side of the highway, which is when you need a genuine spare tire. The overnight slow leaks get fixed with a patch kit, so the inflator kit would never get used. This is something that car manufacturers do wrong.
  
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Flipper35 on Sep 06, 2023

We have an 18 Limited. No real issues not related to imacting a.coyote other than the aux battery went bad at 20k miles. Last road trip was 3400 miles and averaged 30mpg on the trip. Tows 3500# just fine.

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Bouzouki Cadillac (aka GM!!) made so many mistakes over the past 40 years, right up to today, one could make a MBA course of it. Others have alluded to them, there is not enough room for me to recite them in a flowing, cohesive manner.Cadillac today is literally a tarted-up Chevrolet. They are nice cars, and the "aura" of the Cadillac name still works on several (mostly female) consumers who are not car enthusiasts.The CT4 and CT5 offer superlative ride and handling, and even performance--but, it is wrapped in sheet metal that (at least I think) looks awful, with (still) sub-par interiors. They are niche cars. They are the last gasp of the Alpha platform--which I have been told by people close to it, was meant to be a Pontiac "BMW 3-series". The bankruptcy killed Pontiac, but the Alpha had been mostly engineered, so it was "Cadillac-ized" with the new "edgy" CTS styling.Most Cadillacs sold are crossovers. The most profitable "Cadillac" is the Escalade (note that GM never jack up the name on THAT!).The question posed here is rather irrelevant. NO ONE has "a blank check", because GM (any company or corporation) does not have bottomless resources.Better styling, and superlative "performance" (by that, I mean being among the best in noise, harshness, handling, performance, reliablity, quality) would cost a lot of money.Post-bankruptcy GM actually tried. No one here mentioned GM's effort to do just that: the "Omega" platform, aka CT6.The (horribly misnamed) CT6 was actually a credible Mercedes/Lexus competitor. I'm sure it cost GM a fortune to develop (the platform was unique, not shared with any other car. The top-of-the-line ORIGINAL Blackwing V8 was also unique, expensive, and ultimately...very few were sold. All of this is a LOT of money).I used to know the sales numbers, and my sense was the CT6 sold about HALF the units GM projected. More importantly, it sold about half to two thirds the volume of the S-Class (which cost a lot more in 201x)Many of your fixed cost are predicated on volume. One way to improve your business case (if the right people want to get the Green Light) is to inflate your projected volumes. This lowers the unit cost for seats, mufflers, control arms, etc, and makes the vehicle more profitable--on paper.Suppliers tool up to make the number of parts the carmaker projects. However, if the volume is less than expected, the automaker has to make up the difference.So, unfortunately, not only was the CT6 an expensive car to build, but Cadillac's weak "brand equity" limited how much GM could charge (and these were still pricey cars in 2016-18, a "base" car was ).Other than the name, the "Omega" could have marked the starting point for Cadillac to once again be the standard of the world. Other than the awful name (Fleetwood, Elegante, Paramount, even ParAMOUR would be better), and offering the basest car with a FOUR cylinder turbo on the base car (incredibly moronic!), it was very good car and a CREDIBLE Mercedes S-Class/Lexus LS400 alternative. While I cannot know if the novel aluminum body was worth the cost (very expensive and complex to build), the bragging rights were legit--a LARGE car that was lighter, but had good body rigidity. No surprise, the interior was not the best, but the gap with the big boys was as close as GM has done in the luxury sphere.Mary Barra decided that profits today and tomorrow were more important than gambling on profits in 2025 and later. Having sunk a TON of money, and even done a mid-cycle enhancement, complete with the new Blackwing engine (which copied BMW with the twin turbos nestled in the "V"!), in fall 2018 GM announced it was discontinuing the car, and closing the assembly plant it was built in. (And so you know, building different platforms on the same line is very challenging and considerably less efficient in terms of capital and labor costs than the same platform, or better yet, the same model).So now, GM is anticipating that, as the car market "goes electric" (if you can call it that--more like the Federal Government and EU and even China PUSHING electric cars), they can make electric Cadillacs that are "prestige". The Cadillac Celestique is the opening salvo--$340,000. We will see how it works out.
Lynn Joiner Lynn JoinerJust put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Lynn Joiner Just put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Ollicat I am only speaking from my own perspective so no need to bash me if you disagree. I already know half or more of you will disagree with me. But I think the traditional upscale Cadillac buyer has traditionally been more conservative in their political position. My suggestion is to make Cadillac separate from GM and make them into a COMPANY, not just cars. And made the company different from all other car companies by promoting conservative causes and messaging. They need to build up a whole aura about the company and appeal to a large group of people that are really kind of sick of the left and sending their money that direction. But yes, I also agree about many of your suggestions above about the cars too. No EVs. But at this point, what has Cadillac got to lose by separating from GM completely and appealing to people with money who want to show everyone that they aren't buying the leftist Kook-Aid.
Jkross22 Cadillac's brand is damaged for the mass market. Why would someone pay top dollar for what they know is a tarted up Chevy? That's how non-car people see this.