Seating for seven, up to 32-miles of EPA-rated all-electric range, and a 30-mpg combined rating set the 2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid up to be not just the ideal minivan but the ideal family mover at this point in time.
From our experience—updated with a city drive of the Pacifica Hybrid today—this van delivers more usable all-electric range than most other plug-in hybrids. But what happens when it’s time for the family to take a road trip and there aren’t places to plug in?
To push that to a point, we decided not to plug in at all along the way. Last week I spent nine days taking a great American road trip in an Ocean Blue 2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid—with my wife and two kids—to put this plug-in hybrid to the family test. The bottom line? There’s no question in my mind why it was named Green Car Reports’ Best Car To Buy 2018.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
The road trip
Our journey began in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with our 2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid tester’s odometer reading just 757 miles. We topped the tank off with gasoline and set to take a meandering route back to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Pacifica Hybrid’s gauge cluster showed the van’s 16-kwh battery pack was at 92 percent and had an estimated all-electric range of 27 miles.
Unfortunately the Pacifica Hybrid lacks the ability to hold off the EV-only mode to save the battery juice for stop-and-go or slower driving, so we ran out the battery first before the powertrain defaulted into full hybrid mode, but despite highway speeds we went about 28 miles before the batteries ran out of juice.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
The first two days saw highway speeds for the first few hours but things quickly slowed to a more reasonable pace of 45 mph once we entered the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
After two full days roaming the beautiful national parks we headed towards Buffalo, Wyoming. On the descent from Yellowstone we were able to recharge the battery pack up to 16 percent on regenerative brakes alone, which the system blends really well with friction brakes.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
We rolled into Buffalo with the fuel indicator reading “Low” and, after filling up the tank, realized we had less than two gallons of gas left in the 16.5-gallon tank, after traveling 475.90 miles. Adding 14.72 gallons of gas at a cost of $2.99 per gallon filled the van back up. Given that, we averaged 32.3 mpg, including a boost of maybe 1-2 mpg from the charge remaining.
The next few days became a blur of open fields and county highways or interstates with speed limits reaching 80 mph for hours upon hours.
After blinking and blasting out of Wyoming we refueled in the middle of nowhere South Dakota on the side of highway 85 at a little gas station with one single pump that had diesel and 85 octane with 66 miles of range showing. The higher highway speeds (thanks Wyoming!) lowered our fuel economy and after 397 miles we averaged 29.2 mpg on the second tank of gas.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
Out of South Dakota and north into North Dakota we ran into a massive storm front with blinding rain and strong winds. The weather took a toll on our efficiency and we filled up with 41 miles of range showing in Jamestown, North Dakota, and what calculated to be a 26.3-mpg average.
After a day of rest with some family in northern Minnesota we made our way back home to the suburbs of Minneapolis. Our final fill-up at in Minneapolis a few miles from home was after 382 miles on the fourth tank of gas with an average of 27.9 mpg.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
The simple math
After 35 hours in the car as a family we had traveled 1,640 miles from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We had seen Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, the Grand Tetons, Mount Rushmore, and Devils Tower.
The Pacifica Hybrid’s engine drank 56.151 gallons of gasoline over the course of those 1,640 miles—an average of 29.2 mpg. The trip computer in the gauge cluster said we averaged 29.5 mpg over that same 1,640 miles.
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
Given the slight boost of starting out with some charge, it’s safe to say our average, not counting the positive effects of plug-in energy, rounds to 29 mpg.
Despite lugging the extra weight of the battery pack around, the Pacifica Hybrid managed to be (slightly) more efficient on the highway than what we anecdotally saw in a long-term test of the non-hybrid Pacifica (which is rated 28 mpg highway).
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
The reality
The Pacifica Hybrid has two drawbacks over the non-hybrid model. The batteries live in the underfloor storage bins otherwise used for Stow-N-Go, so you lose that useful cargo and seat-folding feature. Should you want to remove the second-row seats you’ll have to lug the 61-pound seats out by hand. Although because these seats don’t need to fold into the floor they are actually thicker and better padded than the Stow-N-Go seats, which means they are more comfortable.
The second is price. It’s not cheap. Priced from $41,490 and $51,050 as tested, the Pacifica Hybrid costs real money. But factoring in the $7,500 federal EV tax credit that can apply, as well as possible additional incentives, it can cost less than an equivalent non-hybrid Pacifica. With 32 miles of all-electric range and better fuel economy than the non-hybrid Pacifica even when you skip plugging in, it’s hard to justify buying the non-hybrid unless you need the second-row seats to fold into the floor on a regular basis or are buying a lower-spec Pacifica.
The 2019 Pacifica Hybrid ends up being a good gateway to the world of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, as you lose little by gaining a plug and enough all-electric range for many people to never use a drop of gas—without any worries, when the time comes to take on the open road.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles provided all travel expenses to Internet Brands Automotive to bring you this firsthand review.
View original article at: “https://www.greencarreports.com//news/1123839_2019-chrysler-pacifica-hybrid-fuel-economy”
