What You Give Up to Get a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

CARS.COM — With Chrysler’s new Pacifica minivan, drivers don’t have to give up comfortable road manners for the usefulness of a minivan; it does both. But what about the hybrid version? Here’s where the trade-offs come in. Yes, it delivers better fuel economy but at a cost to features. 

Related: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Review: First Drive

First, the good: The segment’s first electric minivan is excellent and innovative; it gets 32 mpg in combined driving, which is comparable to a compact car, has more electric range than a Toyota Prius Prime and retains many of the things that we loved about the Pacifica, like its premium materials and rear-seat entertainment system.

However, there are a few features offered on the gas version of the Pacifica that won’t be available on the Hybrid, some of which could be crucial for minivan shoppers. Here is a complete list of those features:

• Second-row Stow ‘n Go seating
• Trailer tow
• 20-inch wheels
• 20-speaker Harman Kardon sound system
• Stow ‘n Vac vacuum
• Power third-row Stow ‘n Go seating
• Optional eight-passenger seating
• Heated second-row seats
• Super console (pull-out storage from the center console for second-row passengers)
• Xenon high-intensity-discharge headlamps, LED fog lamps
• Power folding mirrors

The biggest omission to me is the second-row Stow ‘n Go seating, lost because of battery placement under the floor. During my testing of the Pacifica Hybrid, I tried removing the second-row seats and it was an ordeal. The seats are 68 pounds each and don’t fit straight in or out of the sliding doors, so you have to wiggle them to fit them through. Chrysler said that the weight of the seats is middle-of-the-pack for minivans, but the bigger issue was actually how awkward it is to maneuver them.

Two other missing features which could loom as deal-breakers for consumers are the lack of an eight-passenger seating configuration — again a consequence of the battery placement — and no towing ability. If either of those would be used regularly, then the gas Pacifica is the way to go.

Other than that, I don’t see much that would stop me from preferring the hybrid version to the gasoline one, especially since it qualifies for the largest current federal rebate ($7,500), which helps offset the difference in price. The gas-powered Pacifica starts at $29,590, including destination; the hybrid model’s base price is $43,090, but it offers much more standard equipment. The estimated $600 saved in annual fuel costs versus the gas Pacifica (based on current fuel prices) is nothing to sneeze at either.