By Carol Traeger
Enquirer contributor
Town and Country
ZOOM
The Chrysler Town and Country features up to 165 cubic feet of cargo space.
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Wheels rating: (out of 5)
Dads will be fighting soccer moms for the keys
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What I drove: 2005 Chrysler Town & Country Touring, 7-passenger, front-wheel-drive minivan
Base price: $27,070
Price as tested: $31,750
Options on test vehicle: Leather Interior Group (leather low-back bucket seats, heated front bucket seats, power front seats, driver's adjustable lumbar support, air conditioner with three-zone automatic temperature control, cabin air filtering system, vehicle information center), removable front center console, in-dash six-disc CD changer, Rear Seat Video System (second-row overhead video screen, wireless headphones, video remote control, three overhead storage bins).
Drivetrain layout: Front engine, front-wheel drive
Engine: 3.8-liter V6 producing 215 horsepower and 245 lb-ft torque
Transmission: 4-speed automatic
Wheelbase: 119.3 inches
Length: 200.5 inches
Width: 78.6 inches
Height: 68.8 inches
Weight: 4,279 pounds
EPA mpg, city/highway: 18/25
Warranty: Basic: 3 years/36,000 miles; powertrain: 7 years/70,000 miles; roadside assist: 3 yeas/36,000 miles
Assembled in: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Safety: Dual front multistage air bags, driver-side knee air bag, LATCH child seat anchors, antilock brakes, low-speed traction control, obstacle detection system in power sliding doors and liftgate.
Cool: "Stow n' Go" seating and cargo system, third-row tailgate seat
Uncool: Minimal front head room, side-curtain air bags optional, no all-wheel drive
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It's not unusual for guys to get excited about sports cars and trucks, but when men go ga-ga over a minivan, you know something's up.
So what's up with Chrysler's new Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivans? They look like minivans. They drive like minivans. They have power sliding doors and lift gates like minivans.
Ah, but these vans have something special. Chrysler calls it "Stow 'n' Go" seating - meaning that both the second- and third-row seats fold flat into the floor.
"Is that the van with the fold-away seats?" At least four men, and not one woman, asked me this question during my weeklong test of a 2005 Town & Country.
Each query demanded a demonstration, and by the end of the week, I was so adept at pulling the seats' numbered straps - 1, 2, 3 - I could convert the Town & Country from seven-passenger van to two-passenger van within 30 seconds.
After showing them how easily the seats fold into the floor, I demonstrated how the third-row 60/40-split rear bench can be flipped 180 degrees to serve as a tailgate seat or a diaper-changing table. With the larger seat flipped over and the smaller seat kept in its forward-facing position, the small seat's storage well can hold a brewski-filled ice chest or a diaper bag.
But what really won the guys over were the under-floor storage compartments. With the second-row seats upright, these two bins can hold 12 cubic feet of whatever.
Dirty clothes hampers
My auto writer friend, Matt, gushed about how he and his family used the bins for food and water during the first half of a 1,200-mile trip. As the trip neared its end, they used the bins for dirty clothes.
Ann Fandozzi, Chrysler's director of family vehicle product planning and marketing, said she hid her son's Christmas gifts in the bins when they drove to her in-laws' house in December. Her son never knew his presents were lurking right beneath his feet.
With all the seats stowed, the Town & Country boasts a best-in-class 165 cubic feet of cargo space. And yes, guys, that includes enough room to carry a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood.
One advantage of not having to remove the seats is you're not forced to choose between passengers and cargo. For instance, with the seats stowed, you can drive your kid and all his stuff to college. After arriving and unloading, you can flip up the seats to take him and his friends out for pizza.
Two V6 choices
The Town & Country comes in four flavors: base, LX, Touring and Limited. The base is the only standard-wheelbase model, and the only one that doesn't include Stow 'n' Go seats. Base and LX models are powered by a 180-horsepower 3.3-liter V6. Touring and Limited models get a 215-horsepower V6.
My tester was a Touring model, and while not as powerful as the Honda Odyssey (240 hp) or Toyota Sienna (230 hp), it provided plenty of pull on hills and decent acceleration. The four-speed automatic feels well-matched to the engine, the brakes are snappy, and the ride is supple. For a minivan, the T&C's handling is surprisingly agile, although the steering is a little floppy.
The front seats are comfortably firm, but offer very little headroom - 39.6 inches compared with the Sienna's 42 inches. Even with the passenger-seat cushion at its lowest position, my 6-foot pal's head nearly kissed the ceiling. In addition to folding, the second- and third-row seats recline. The second-row buckets slide fore and aft, and tumble forward to provide easy access to the third row.
The second-row seats are comfortable, and the third-row seats are park-bench hard. Adults probably won't want to sit there, but the kids won't complain, especially if you spring for the $1,150 rear-seat DVD system. This system includes two seats of wireless headphones, a remote control and a flip-down 7-inch screen.
My daughter and I enjoyed the three-zone temperature control, which allowed her to transform the rear seat into a sauna, and I to bask in arctic temperatures up front. I also appreciated the power liftgate, but I could've used a button in the back to automatically close it, as I often found myself fumbling for the key fob with my hands full of groceries.
Crash-test performer
Protection-wise, Chrysler's new van ranks high. In frontal impact tests performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the 2005 T&C earned a "Good" rating (four out of five stars) for front-occupant protection. In side-impact tests, it posted an "Excellent" rating (five stars) for front- and rear-occupant protection.
The T&C Touring comes standard with dual front multistage air bags, a driver's knee air bag, antilock brakes, traction control, and LATCH child-seat anchors and tethers. Three-row head-protection curtain air bags are optional.
Maybe late, but better
It's curious that Chrysler, the automaker that launched the modern minivan back in the 1980s, was last to market with a stowable third-row seat. For years, Chrysler resisted offering a fold-flat seat, maintaining it needed the under-floor space to make all-wheel-drive versions of its minivans, although those only accounted for 3 percent of sales.
Thankfully, the company came to its senses. Alas, Chrysler's all-wheel-drive minivans are a thing of the past. But that's a small price to pay for the most innovative seating system the minivan world has ever known.
"We one-upped even ourselves," said Fandozzi, adding that Chrysler already is at work on its next-generation minivan.
"Stow 'n' Go is just the beginning," she said.
E-mail ctrigger@aol.com
