2010 Road Test: Chrysler Town and Country Minivan is an Ideal Family Hauler

By: Nick Yost
NY Autos Examiner

There are probably some diehard Volkswagen Microbus fans who would dispute this, but to me Chrysler is the manufacturer that came up with the family-friendly minivan.

I was there back in 1983 when the manufacturer took the wraps off those first front-wheel-drive vehicles and I can remember my reaction to this day.

Here was a brilliant concept, I thought, a much more practical replacement for the station wagon. It was designed to hold up to seven or even eight passengers in reasonable comfort and could swallow plenty of luggage. What’s more, it would fit in most family garages.

Not so brilliant was the initial choice of engines.

The 2.2-liter, 86-horsepower four-banger was simply not up to the job, even with the manual transmission that was available in the early years. The optional 2.6-liter, 104-horsepower, Mitsubishi-built four-cylinder engine with automatic shifter was better, but certainly no fireball.

A year later, along with two other journalists, I toured the perimeter of the country in a Plymouth Voyager as a participant in the eight-day, 8.800-mile odyssey that was the first One Lap of America competition.

Unlike today’s One Lap events that include race-track driving and are basically for seasoned drivers with seriously hot cars, the goal of that first competition was to traverse the interstates closest to the country’s borders at a speed as close as possible to the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit and as close as possible to the pre-determined distance on the designated routes.

The Mitsubishi engine worked flawlessly, although it was definitely challenged as the minivan traversed the Rocky Mountains. More importantly, equipped with a prototype Convert-A-Bed, the Plymouth Voyager was the most comfortable vehicle among the 76 competitors as we cruised night and day along the interstates, except for a one-day rest stop in Redondo Beach, CA.

With a lot of luck on our side, our team came in fifth overall and divided a $5,000 prize—and my first impression of the minivan as an ideal family car was confirmed.

For reasons not exactly rooted in common sense, the minivan has lost some of its luster over the years as buyers first drifted in droves to the more expensive, gas-eating sport-utility vehicles.

SUV craze fading

The SUV craze is pretty much over now, replaced by macho-looking, car-based crossover vehicles that sacrifice rugged, off-road capability for more comfortable on-road travel.

Since only a small percentage of SUV owners actually drove their vehicles into the wilderness, the more comfortable and more fuel-efficient crossovers make a lot more sense than SUVs.

But to my mind, they still don’t match the drivability, practicality and comfort of the minivan.

You simply can’t beat the convenience of sliding rear doors, a comfortable ride and storage space that ranges from good to great depending on how the rear seats are configured.

For big cities such as New York, a properly equipped Town and Country is also a sensible choice for buyers needing a small commercial van or taxicab. The minivan isn’t exactly small, but it is easier to drive and park on the traffic-clogged streets of Manhattan than a full-size van.

Unfortunately, Chrysler has lost its long-time reputation as leader of the pack, no doubt in large part because the company itself had fallen on hard times that ended up in its recent bankruptcy and sale to Italian carmaker Fiat.

The result is a vehicle that Consumer Reports magazine surveys have found to have more than an average amount of problems.

However, I recently spent a week with a Chrysler Town and Country Limited and, in that time, could find nothing to complain about regarding the quality, performance or comfort of the vehicle.

Meanwhile, the new Chrysler management is working to convince buyers that its minivans are the equal of any on the road with various incentives to get them back into the showrooms.

Since all minivans are cut out of similar boxy molds, Chrysler and its competitors vie for consumer dollars with an ever-increasing number of features, and slightly different emphases on the car’s driving dynamics.

The Town and Country, for example, came across as an extremely comfortable highway cruiser while a recently tested Honda Odyssey had a suspension tuned for a sportier driving experience and that made it a bit more enjoyable on the two-lane blacktops.

The Town and Country comes in five different levels of trim, starting with a base $25,995 LX outfitted with a 3.3-liter, 175-horsepower V-6 engine mated to a four-speed automatic transmission and rising to the Limited, powered by a 4-liter, 253-horsepower V-6 teamed with a six-speed automatic transmission. Base price of the Limited is $35,880.

The vehicle provided for my test was a Chrysler Town and Country Limited outfitted with enough options to raise the price to $41,415.

For the driver, the minivan remains easy to operate and easy to control—even better than it was back in 1984.

The 4-liter engine is smooth, quiet and sufficiently powerful, and the six-speed transmission works its way through the gears unobtrusively.

Should a driver become a bit over-enthusiastic on the back roads, the electronic stability control system will cut in to keep the vehicle under control.

In addition, passengers can feel secure with a long list of otherb safety features that have earned the minivan a five-star rating for frontal and side crashes and a four-star rating for rollovers.

The EPA predicts fuel efficiency at 17 mpg around town and 25 mpg on the open road, but those figures may be optimistic. In a week and more than 300 miles of mostly highway driving with a light load I averaged about 21 mpg.

While the driver will be able to cruise along in comfort, this fully-optioned Town and Country probably offers the most enjoyment for passengers in rows two and three.

Everything from Chrysler’s Swivel ‘n’ Go seating to in-vehicle movies and TV can keep adults and children alike entertained as the Town and Country gobbles up the miles en route from home to a favored destination.

With the $495 Swivel ‘n’ Go, the second-row bucket seats can be turned to face the third row. A circular table, normally stowed in the second-row floor bin, can be installed between the rows of seats for board games, card games or snacking.

To be honest, this is pretty much a kids-only feature because there’s not a whole lot of space between seats and table.

Lots of comfort, convenience features

As for the long list of electronic treats, let’s take a closer look at a few of the available option packages.

For $2,020, you can get an entertainment system with separate nine-inch screens for second- and third-row passengers, a single-disc dvd player, Sirius broadcast TV with one year of free service, wireless headphones and video remote control.

Another $1,300 will get you a navigation system with premium audio, a hard drive with 4,250-song capacity, Ipod connector and Bluetooth phone connectivity.

One particularly convenient feature, for $595, is the power folding third-row seats that expand cargo space at the push of a button.

Another useful option for some buyers is the $600 towing preparation package. With it, the Town and Country can pull boats and trailers up to 3,600 pounds.

With continued improvements and upgrades in each new generation, the Chrysler minivan and its counterparts remain the most practical family haulers on the road today.

With just days left on Chrysler Group’s offer to reinstate 50 closed stores, some dealers are pleased with the deal the company is offering; some are telling Chrysler to bag it.

“Nobody in their right mind would agree to this,” California dealer Richard Carpenter says of Chrysler’s terms for costly improvements, and its demand for a five-year waiver on protesting new nearby points.

In certain cases, dealers are pleased with the offers and intend to sign.

“Half of my staff has been calling looking for jobs, and I have customers calling daily wanting to know if we’re going back,” said rejected New Orleans dealer Mike Comiskey. “I’d like to make a living again, and I think the brand can survive.”

Many dealers also are dismayed by the tight 10-day window for a decision on the offers, which began going out March 26. But a Chrysler source said the company is flexible and will talk to dealers who have questions and may need more time.

Carpenter said the store upgrades Chrysler wants could cost as much as $3 million — and says the company wants the job done in just eight months. In addition to saying no to Chrysler’s offer, he’s dropping his arbitration case, too.

Harold Johnson, who now sells used cars in Wichita, Kan., said he spent half a million dollars a few years ago to upgrade his store and could save as much as $100,000 in arbitration expenses by signing — which he plans to do.

One Midwestern dealer said he is leaning against signing because the requirements of the letter he received aren’t clear and he hasn’t been able to get a clarification from Chrysler.

The seven-page Chrysler letter also attaches a number of conditions that would make it easy for the company to wiggle out of the agreement, said the dealer, who asked not to be identified.

The dealer said Chrysler made the offer while he was in the middle of selling parts back to the company for less than 30 cents on the dollar. If he were to sign, he would have to buy back the parts at full price, resulting in a loss of almost $100,000.

Chrysler has said it is offering reinstatement to 50 closed showrooms that sold the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands under one roof out of 387 that filed arbitration claims.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a speech last week that the 50 dealerships “are in locations that will benefit our customers but not have an adverse effect on existing partners in our network.”

Chrysler was closed for the holiday weekend on Friday, April 2. The company issued a statement on the process: “Chrysler Group offered standard letters of intent in the interest of finding a mutually agreeable alternative to arbitration. The dealerships involved filed for arbitration, signaling they wanted to join Chrysler Group’s dealer network.”

Leonard Bellavia, a Mineola, N.Y., lawyer who represents dealers, said General Motors Co.’s letters of intent last month to 661 rejected dealerships “were more businesslike, more reasonable and less amorphous” than Chrysler’s letters.

Neil Roland & Bradford Wernle
Automotive News
Source: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100405/RETAIL07/304059978/1422#ixzz0lf1UeY73

Finally, some movement at Chrysler.

After nearly a year of taking a hard line with rejected dealerships, Chrysler Group changed course last week and offered to reinstate 50 stores.

The company also said it will enter settlement talks with an unspecified number of rejected dealerships and disclosed that 36 already have been reinstated nationwide.

One thing hasn’t changed, though. Chrysler still favors dealerships that sell all four of its brands: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and the recently added Ram truck brand. All 50 offers of reinstatement are to stores selling all those brands.

But despite the actions by Chrysler, problems remain.

Dealer lawyers say Chrysler hasn’t budged in its approach to arbitration — for example, demanding that arbitrating dealers sign confidentiality agreements blocking them from sharing Chrysler information with other dealers.

One dealer who received a call from a Chrysler official saying a letter of intent for reinstatement was coming said he was taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“We’re looking at it with guarded optimism,” said the dealer, who declined to be identified. He remains skeptical because Chrysler had given no previous indication it had any interest in bringing back any rejected dealerships.

A company spokesperson said Chrysler would continue to explore “mutually beneficial options outside arbitration” to settle with dealers who have filed for arbitration.

By offering to reinstate the 50, Chrysler reduced its arbitration caseload to 337, said a company spokesperson.

Ed Tonkin, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, called Chrysler’s intention to reinstate 50 dealerships “a move in the right direction.” This, coupled with previous contracts awarded to 36 other closed dealerships, brings the total to 86 dealerships that could be reinstated.

In U.S. Bankruptcy Court last year, Chrysler canceled 789 dealerships.

“NADA views this as a good-faith effort and hopes that this carries forward in Chrysler’s continuing settlement and arbitration discussions with the other terminated dealers,” Tonkin said.

Delays?

Eric Chase, an attorney representing four rejected Chrysler dealers, said the reinstatements do not change his opinion that the automaker won’t give in easily on the remaining dealerships seeking arbitration. He said Chrysler has been “obstructive” at every phase of the arbitration process.

Chrysler’s demand for a signed confidentiality pledge before it will agree to provide documents in discovery is prompting complaints from dealer lawyers accustomed to comparing notes on strategy.

The company also still is resisting dealers’ efforts to find out the specific criteria used in terminating their stores — information that Chrysler was required under law to provide in January, dealer lawyers said.

“Chrysler continues to resist and contest each and every step in arbitration,” said Rob Byerts, a Tallahassee, Fla., lawyer whose firm represents 13 closed Chrysler dealerships. “It appears to be for no good reason other than delay.”

Delays benefit Chrysler because if arbitrations aren’t completed before the June 14 deadline set by Congress, the dealers lose their cases, said Mike Charapp, a McLean, Va., lawyer.

Chrysler’s nine-page “Confidentiality Agreement and Order” — a copy of which Automotive News obtained — has touched off wrangling in dozens of arbitrations, seven dealer lawyers said.

Chrysler defended the confidentiality agreement.

“This is a standard request in litigation dealing with sensitive financial and competitive data,” the company said in an e-mail last week.

It added that the new law setting up arbitration states that “discovery shall be limited to request for documents specific to the covered dealership.”

Dealer lawyers disagreed, saying the standard approach in arbitration is to consider each particular document rather than the documents as a whole.

If a document deals with trade secrets or confidential business information, then it is addressed with the arbitrator, they said. But dealership performance documents rarely raise such sensitive issues.

Hearings in April

Meanwhile, the June 14 deadline looms over proceedings, although arbitrators have the discretion to extend them another month.

A total of 115 hearing dates, scheduled from April 21 into early June, had been set as of last week, said India Johnson, senior vice president of the American Arbitration Association, which is administering the cases.

Hundreds more have yet to be scheduled. The exact figure is a shifting number, as General Motors Co. and perhaps Chrysler move to reinstate dealerships.

A total of 1,550 GM and Chrysler arbitration claims have been filed, but GM has said it is reinstating 661 rejected dealerships and is willing to discuss possible settlement with as many as 499 more.

Johnson has little concern about the arbitration meeting the congressional deadline. Said Johnson: “We have a lot of other arbitrators that we could throw at these cases.”

Neil Roland & Bradford Wernle
Automotive News
Source: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100329/RETAIL07/303299935/1400#ixzz0lf7mgWr7

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“Chrysler Group understands that the practice at this time may be a cause of concern among policymakers and among arbitrating dealers,” the automaker said in a statement. “As a measure of good faith, Chrysler Group will not proceed with network actions that directly impact an arbitrating dealer until the arbitrator has had a chance to rule in that case.”

Chrysler said the only exception would be if the company is “contractually obligated” to award a new franchise.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, asked Chrysler this month to stop the practice. They said shuttered dealerships could win reinstatement from an arbitrator but be prevented from reopening because a new franchise already had been awarded in that market.

Some rejected dealers also have complained about Chrysler’s new franchise awards in recent weeks.

The moratorium on new franchise awards is Chrysler’s second in recent months.

The company initiated a halt from October to December during unsuccessful settlement talks with dealer groups about an alternative to legislation.

Chrysler told dealer groups last fall it planned to award about 100 new U.S. franchises. The company has declined to confirm or update this figure.

”This is window dressing to placate Congress,” Tamara Darvish, a leader of the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, which represents rejected Chrysler and General Motors Co. dealerships, said today.

Chrysler shut 789 dealerships as part of bankruptcy proceedings last spring. Close to 400 of them are seeking reinstatement through arbitration.

Under legislation signed by President Barack Obama in December, arbitrators have until mid-June to decide their cases. They can extend the process for a month at their discretion.

Chrysler has been trying to realign its dealer network to consolidate all its brands under one roof.

Neil Roland
Automotive News
Source: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100316/RETAIL/100319921/1400#ixzz0iTCLleiz

Town & Country, Chrysler’s gift to kids everywhere: a playground on four wheels.