1966 Chrysler Town & Country on 2040-cars

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FCA joining virtual CES with in-depth tours and Jeep Wrangler 4xe in AR

CES is sort of, technically happening, but it won’t be the CES weÂ’ve all become accustomed to over the years. Automakers will be doing their best to participate virtually, assuming they decide to join in the festivities at all. FCA is one that will have a little nugget of tech to share with us. A few main experiences will be made available to anybody with a computer. FCAÂ’s main draw is meant to be “highly detailed interactive product tours” where you can get to know a number of vehicles in a virtual world and hear from a “virtual brand ambassador” throughout the tour. You wonÂ’t be able to sit in and crawl through the cars like a normal auto show for the public, but FCA is promising a rather immersive experience online. The guided tour through the cars and technologies will be available in 12 FCA vehicles, two of those being the new Jeep Grand Wagoneer Concept and Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio. FCA plans to offer in-depth talks about how it tests vehicles, too. There are demonstrations planned for wind tunnels, the four-post shaker, an advanced drive simulator and general performance testing. Additionally, FCA plans on providing more insight into Uconnect 5 and vehicle electrification systems. WeÂ’re guessing the latter will offer up details on the Wrangler 4xe. The plug-in hybrid Wrangler will also be the star of FCAÂ’s AR play at CES. Everybody will be able to scan a QR code on FCAÂ’s site, then have access to a Wrangler 4xe on their phone. YouÂ’ll be able to “put it” in your driveway virtually, change the colors and get up close and personal with the interior.  All of this will launch on fcaces2021.com at 9 a.m. ET on January 11 (official first day of the virtual CES show), so surf on over there next week if you want to check it out. Related video:

Detroit 3 small cars lay an egg in latest Consumer Reports reliability study

Consumer Reports has released its Annual Auto Reliability Survey and the results are, in a word, interesting. While we already covered the score-damaging effects of infotainment systems, there's another big angle to the data that's getting some attention - the utterly dismal scores of the Detroit Three's small car offerings.
The turbocharged Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Cruze, as well as the Ford Fiesta were their respective brands' lowest-scoring models, a stat that's made worse by the fact that the American automakers finished 25th, 21st and 23rd, respectively.
That's not acceptable for The Detroit Free Press' auto critic, Mark Phelan, who has penned a scathing critique of the D3's small car reliability scores, arguing that GM, Ford and Chrysler are "out of excuses."

Junkyard Gem: 2001 Chrysler Voyager

When a car brand gets the axe from its owners, it's not as easy as flipping a switch. Sometimes models of that brand still sell enough to be worth carrying on under the original name. That was the difficulty presented by the deletion of the Plymouth marque by Chrysler after the 2001 model year; sales of the Plymouth Neon could continue here (for a few more years) with Dodge badges, as had been the case all along, but what about the still-popular Plymouth Voyager minivan? As the most proletarian of the Town & Country/Caravan/Voyager minivan triumvirate, the Voyager name had been on Plymouth minivans since 1984 and on full-sized Plymouth siblings of the Dodge Tradesman/Sportsman since 1974. So, when an updated Chrysler minivan arrived for the 2001 model year, the Voyager name lived on — briefly — as the lowest trim level of Chrysler-badged minivans. Here's one of those rare machines, found in a Denver boneyard recently. For the 2001 through 2003 model years, the Dodge Caravan lived in the middle of the Chrysler Corporation minivan prestige pyramid, flanked by the Chrysler Voyager below and the Chrysler Town & Country above.  In the European market, of course, Chrysler Voyagers (and Chrysler Neons) were sold for decades. Trivia fans might also recall the Lancia Voyager and Chrysler Grand Caravan, both available for a while in the European market. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In fact, the idea of a Lancia Voyager seems sufficiently amusing that we should watch a Dutch-language advertisement for it right now. This is the pushrod 3.3-liter V6 engine, originally developed as a more powerful alternative to the Mitsubishi V6s that went into so many Chrysler vehicles during the 1980s and 1990s. This one was rated at a respectable 180 horsepower. You could get a manual transmission in US-market Voyagers and Caravans through the 1995 model year, but the days of three-pedal Chrysler minivans were long gone for American car shoppers by the dawn of our current century. So, it's a gem from a historical standpoint but not exactly the sort of vehicle that inspires the howls of outrage from enthusiasts over, say, a discarded Lotus Esprit or Jensen Interceptor. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.