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2008 Chrysler Town and Country
2008 Chrysler Town and Country Test Drive
Welcome to Feature City, USA
The new Chrysler Town & Country packs many innovative features and ably competes with minivans from Honda and Toyota.
Performance
The Town & Country Limited comes standard with a 4.0-liter V6 engine that produces 251 horsepower, and is hooked up to the first six-speed automatic transmission in a minivan. It’s one quick van, with an 8.2-second 0-60 mph run that makes it the quickest in the segment. Lesser Chrysler and Dodge models feature a 197-hp, 3.8-liter V6 with the six-speed; or a 3.3-liter, V6 with 175 hp and a four-speed transmission. The latter engine can run on ethanol-based E85 fuel, besides regular gasoline.
The robust 4.0-liter V6 in the vehicle we tested helped the Chrysler cruise effortlessly at 75 miles per hour, with ample power for passing and freeway merging. Compared to the V6 engines in the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna, the Chrysler’s is a bit raspier under hard acceleration, but it’s still the best choice of the three available engines. The EPA rates fuel mileage at 16 miles per gallon city/23 mpg highway; we experienced 21 mpg on the highway and 18 mpg overall.
Brakes delivered decent stops, although the annoyingly squishy pedal feel of Chrysler vans remains. Handling still isn’t as precise, sporty and satisfying as the Honda’s, and the ride isn’t quite as smooth over rough surfaces.
The Chrysler Town & Country Limited proved to be a steady, satisfying road-trip companion for adults and children alike. And if it’s not quite as refined and sporty as the Honda, it has key features the Odyssey can’t match, including power third-row seats, Swivel ‘n Go second-row seating and satellite TV.
You want the latest and greatest minivan features; your children are easily bored on trips; you want to support a domestic automaker.
You don’t need, or are easily confused by a lot of fancy features; the slight edge in refinement that Honda and Toyota offers matters to you.
Power-folding third row seats ($595); Swivel ‘n Go seating ($495). To keep children — or even adults — quiet and happy, spring for the DVD entertainment system with Sirius Backseat TV ($2,020).
The Chrysler and Dodge’s Sirius Backseat TV is the first in-vehicle satellite television system that doesn’t require a bulky roof dish. Where conventional satellite signals are stymied when there’s no direct view of the southern sky, the Sirius system relies on earthbound repeaters — similar to cell phone towers — that send the signal into urban canyons and other hard-to-reach places.
New-Car Pricing
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