2008 Chrysler Town and Country Test Drive

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The new Chrysler Town & Country packs many innovative features and ably competes with minivans from Honda and Toyota.

Minivans are often scorned as purely practical devices, the vehicle you settle for as you slide irrevocably into parenthood and responsibility.

Yet the modern minivan, once you grit your teeth and force yourself to climb inside, often proves to be a wonderfully accommodating machine. Besides expanses of passenger space that blow away the interiors of most SUVs, they often offer plush features and gizmos you'd expect from a luxury car, plus a smooth, car-like ride.

That’s all certainly true of the 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. The latest hauler from the company that invented the minivan in the early 1980s, the Town & Country is Chrysler’s best and most sophisticated yet. It’s now a solid competitor to the Honda Odyssey — our current minivan favorite — though the Honda retains its edge in cabin refinement, ride quality and handling.

While the Chrysler and its Dodge Grand Caravan sibling start in the mid-$20,000 range with smaller engines and fewer features, our test focused on the upscale Town & Country Limited. This top-of-the-heap version starts at $36,400 and checked out at $39,510 loaded with options.

To use the vehicle for its intended purpose, I drove the Town & Country from New York to Vermont with my wife, a friend and two children, including my nine-month-old daughter. Not only did I survive my first minivan road trip with fidgety kids in tow, I actually managed to enjoy the six-hour jaunts each way thanks to the Chrysler’s smooth and quiet ride, its comfortable and endlessly reconfigurable seats, and the profusion of kiddie distractions that included three DVD screens, a music- and video-storing hard drive and the first-ever live satellite TV in a production car.

Exterior

The Chrysler Town & Country's dimensions aren’t much changed from the previous edition, but the styling is almost a throwback to the minivans of yore: The Town & Country is upright and boxy, with a grille that mimics the faux-Bentley look of the Chrysler 300 sedan. It’s a no-nonsense style that affirms what minivans are about — space and more space — and it's preferable to minivans disguised with visual gimmicks.

A pair of power-sliding side doors can be operated from switches up front, via the key fob or from within the open doors themselves. Opening and closing them manually now requires notably little effort — there’s no more wrestling with heavy sliders.

The rear liftgate is also power operated for ease of use. High-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps are standard.