Originally Posted by
jackal
Big? Remember, up here in Alaska, a Jeep Grand Cherokee is normal, a Durango is nice-sized, a Suburban is a large family car, and a GMC Sierra 3500 four-door full cab/extended bed is maybe a little bit of a large car!
I never did understand why the Pacificas weren't good sellers, since all the feedback I ever heard on them was positive. Maybe it was a marketing thing...
Heh, yeah it is all perspective. Down here I find a Camry is a bit too big and difficult to park.
I think the main problem with it was that it never quite found its niche. It was priced too high to compete with conventional options such as the Ford Freestyle, and not in the same league to compete with the Infiniti FX and Lexus RX (as Chrysler had intended).
Having driven both the Ford and Chrysler, I always put it this way. Both the Freestyle and Pacifica look good doing a night on the town. You see either one glimmering in front of a waterfront theatre, and both look like they're in their place. However, exchange the city for the country. To me, the Pacifica never quite looked right with a roof box on top of it and mud splattered on each side as it sat parked on a campground, whereas the Freestyle suited the backdrop nicely. So I think people either saw the Pacifica as too posh, and went down the scale, or saw it as inferior to the luxury marques.
That's probably at least part of the reason that the Dodge Journey has really taken off, since it competes better where it counts these days: Backyard America (or Canada).
The Pacifica was remarkably smooth. I drove one from Toronto to Buffalo and back in a day. I used my prepaid tank right up to almost empty, and that was about 350 miles of driving, averaging close to 90 mph at times. The 4.0 litre model was fun, especially if you "accidentally" got a bit heavy on the throttle at a stoplight. No-one ever suspects this huge minivan/wagon thing's front tires to suddenly start squealing up a storm!