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2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid | Mountain road / fuel economy review

PORTLAND, Ore. — I don't have children, which makes it a wee bit difficult to fully appreciate and evaluate every nuance of the 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. I'll leave that to Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore and any other proud parents at Michigan HQ where the long-term and extremely blue Pacifica resides. However, with an extremely beige Pacifica Hybrid in my driveway this week, I figured I could tackle something that's difficult to fully evaluate in the Mitten State: mountain road driving. You know, that thing families totally care about, right after safety ratings and cupholder count. ... Or not. Again, no kids. Admittedly, putting it through a fuel economy test seems more useful, so I did that too. Now, typically, minivans are huge boxes with a stratospheric center of gravity courtesy a whole bunch of steel, a whole bunch of panoramic sunroof glass, and a whole bunch of air ducting packed into the roof. This leads to a rather tippy driving experience that's exacerbated by a soft suspension intended to provide pillow-like comfort for the kiddos in the back. . This would apply to the regular Pacifica, but the Hybrid, it's different. Stuffed into the area where the Stow 'n Go seats would normally stow and go into, this plug-in hybrid's 96-cell lithium-ion battery pack is smack dab in the middle of the van and quite low to the ground. It's exactly where you'd want to stuff 568 extra pounds to counteract all that weight up high. It also settles that suspension down, resulting in a minivan that feels more buttoned down and poised with minimal rebound over bumps. Body roll is even kept nicely in check. This, despite balloonier, higher-profile tires than what you'd get in a comparable regular Pacifica. The steering could still use just a smidge more effort upon turn-in, but remains more reassuring and engaging than Honda's disappointingly loosey-goosey steering. Throttle response is different in the Pacifica Hybrid as well, providing ultra-smooth and torque-rich electric power delivery reminiscent of an EV. Even when the all-electric range has been depleted, the Pacifica Hybrid continues to feel more like an electric car than one that also has a gasoline engine aboard. It certainly helps that that engine is a smooth 3.6-liter V6 rather than a buzzy four-cylinder bound to make a racket. Unless you really gun the thing, it's difficult to detect when puttering around town or at a steady highway cruise. In total, the Pacifica Hybrid is better to drive.

Fiat stock rockets up after word of Chrysler deal

Now that Fiat has finalized a deal to purchase the outstanding shares of Chrysler owned by the United Auto Workers' VEBA retiree heathcare fund without having to file for an IPO, you can count the Italian automaker's stockholders among the happy. The Detroit News reports that Fiat stock closed Thursday with a 12-percent gain for the day on the Borsa Italiana, having been up by as much as 15.8 percent during the day's trading, at prices not seen since mid-2011. One trader reasoned the run was because Fiat "paid less than the market had expected and there will be no capital increase to fund this."
But there are some who worry, including bank analysts and unions. The final price of the stake will be $4.35 billion - $1.9 billion in cash from Chrysler, $1.75 billion from Fiat and extraordinary dividends in the amount of $700 million paid over three years. Adding that sum to its ledger will raise Fiat's debt level to roughly 10 billion euros ($13.8 billion), which Citibank says will make it the most indebted OEM in Europe.
Italian unions are also concerned about what the deal means for the future. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has had an at-times contentious relationship with both unions and the Italian government over the future of Italian manufacturing, a fact that makes headlines because Fiat is Italy's largest private employer. At least two left-leaning unions have publicly called on Fiat to give guarantees and to explain what the deal means for its Italian operations, while a centrist union argues this is "good news for Fiat workers, for the auto industry and for our country."

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Chrysler Fifth Avenue

Chrysler started putting the New Yorker name on its top-end luxury dreadnaughts all the way back in the early 1940s. When it came time to pitch an even more exclusive New Yorker, what street did Chrysler choose for its name in 1979? Exactly. The Fifth Avenues started out as Plymouth Gran Fury siblings, then switched to the smaller M-Body Dodge Diplomat platform for the 1982-1989 model years. Here's a padded-landau-roof-equipped '86 Fifth Avenue, spotted in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service wrecking yard. Though the Fifth Avenue started life as a option package for the New Yorker, Chrysler ditched the New Yorker badging on these cars after the 1983 model year (while applying it, confusingly, to the Chrysler-badged front-wheel-drive E-Body). Perhaps this was due to certain Chrysler-demographic-terrifying developments in New York-based popular culture around that time. 1970s styling touches were still going strong in mid-1980s Detroit, and this car has lots of fake wood and button-tufted vinyl inside, with this stainless-trimmed padded landau roof outside. Mechanically speaking, it's a Dodge Diplomat, complete with 140-horsepower 318-cubic-inch (5.2 liter) V8, rear-wheel-drive, and three-speed automatic transmission. The Diplomat was a sturdy and reliable machine, but the $14,910 Fifth Avenue sticker price was a lot to pay for a Diplomat with some extra gingerbread, especially when the Diplomat listed at $10,086. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The Diplomat was a very popular choice for American law-enforcement duties during the 1980s, and the chase scene from Short Time shows a slightly exaggerated depiction of its tough construction. It's a shame that the filmmakers couldn't find a way to use a Fifth Avenue instead. For 1990, the Fifth Avenue name went onto a stretched version of the front-wheel-drive K Platform, then disappeared after 1993. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "I enjoy making money... and spending it. But not foolishly." Related Video: