Holy crap, I remember my dad bringing this home brand new in 2006. I used the DVD player so much, I must've watched talladega nights over 30 times in a row. My mom is still driving it with over 200k miles on it.
It's no small feat to keep a Chrysler product going for 18 years...kudos to your folks for driving safely and staying on top of the maintenance and going the distance in the Pacifica.
You are absolutely wrong on that. We had this very Pacifica and never had a single problem with it in over 200K miles as is the case with most of the Chrysler products I have owned since the first one I bought in 1986.
The Pacific minivan should have kept the town and country name and the voyager van should have been the Dodge Grand Caravan. And Chrysler should have made a midsized suv in a two and three row version to be called the Pacifica.
No matter the confusion these cars received, it is very nicely designed, It surely aged well in terms of style! Compared to other Chryslers at the time, this was a fancy car!
One option in the Pacifica that often gets overlooked is the Navigation in the gauge cluster, which is part of the reason why the cluster is shapped like that.
My daily driver is an '02 Crown Vic my dad bought new. It was his first new car, and almost every one of the 201,000 miles on its odometer has been put there either by him or me. I also have a Pontiac G6 convertible which I enjoy driving way more than the Crown Vic... but that Ford is like a security blanket. Driving it just feels like home. It almost feels like those 20 years never passed when I'm in that car. I hope I never have to get rid of it.
We had an early build ‘04 Pacifica. No doubt the worst car we ever owned. Engine blew up twice. Electronic bugs everywhere. Transmission slipping… Paint wore off the nav and hvac buttons… Wouldn’t open the sunroof-afraid it wouldn’t close. This car soured us on Chrysler… forever. Replaced this with a Hyundai Santa Fe… no problems whatsoever after 8 years…
Wow, that has to be the cleanest Pacifica left. Weird thing about Chryslers, they've either been run into the ground or they're mint. There's no middle ground. I'd expect the rust on the bottom from a Northern state but the rest looks a third its age. One of my state's senators got over 600,000 miles out of an early 00s Town & Country and it still looked decent when he traded it for a Tesla. I can't imagine the maintenance costs on that. Those gauges look old-school Lexus. Is that clock electroluminescent? Chrysler's EL gauges were so classy. I've always liked how they put whether a 12v outlet is always on or keyed on the cover. The metallic blues Chrysler used in the mid 00s were iconic.
You can tell it's been taken care of, but it's also completely rusted out. It's a shame, but the shame can only be blamed on Chicago and their beautiful salt highways. I see these in very good condition more often than you'd think. They always have had my respect. So much so that I'd like to have one as a "beater". I've driven several, and although they're very unreliable, they're so damn comfortable. I was close to picking up a AWD 4.0 Limited awhile back.
This Pacifica is so far ahead of its time, considering the current day obsession with SUVs and crossovers. It was just too heavy, too expensive, and too misunderstood during its time in the mid 2000s. It's fate may have been different if it was introduced a decade or so later.
I was bout to drop the 727. That's one of the best transmissions to ever grace God's green earth. Only weak spot is the reverse gear, but that can usually be fixed by adjustments. I flogged my 727 and it never once missed a beat.
@@OhPhuckYou Yeah from what i heard when you but it in reverse when the high idle is still on, it can damage it. I just wait for the idle to slow down before putting it in reverse.
I know tons of people with pacificas and I've owned Chrysler vehicles all my life never had a transmission do anything but shifts smoothly you're supposed to change the fluid every 30,000 to 60,000 miles and the filter completely remove all the fluid it's called maintenance!
We had an 05 Pacifica with similar features to this one. My son loved the DVD player. Ours was used with 88,000 miles and was a good car for us. We sold it with about 150,000 miles on it and it was mostly trouble free. Had to replace the catalytic converter, but that was the only major repair. It was one of my favorite vehicles that I’ve owned. It felt luxurious but was reasonably priced. The air conditioning didn’t ever work well though. It took a long time to cool down in the summer.
My mom has one of these. Has had it since new in 2004, fully optioned out as well. Has been going strong the entire time with normal part replacements over the years. In Canada no less, we get weeks of -40. We used the DVD player a whole lot when we'd drive to the next major city, it's about a 3 hour drive. A whole lot of "Reba" watched in the Pacifica with my brother and sister. It's story is about the same as well. Garage kept for most of it's life and been the first vehicle my parents bought brand new. But haven't had nearly as much rust build up, the under side it some surface rust but not terrible and the most noticeable rust on the body panels is in on the door that was replaced after a fight with a bollard hahah.
Love the little personal bit about you added in about the car. I could say almost all of the same things about my 2004 Mercury Monterey, which my parents bought in 2006. I also have one sibling so the 3rd row seat rarely came up, and it also had a DVD player that we probably used like once. It also has the odd battle scar or two from little freak incidents involving my dad. I "inherited" it in 2021 at 111k miles, and it's been my primary vehicle since. Lots of room for activities, for someone who gets into way too many things. Sadly, since I don't have a garage, it's also being parked outdoors, but since it was garaged and never winter driven until then, it's still very clean for its age. The one thing different is that I do feel something for this minivan despite all of its inherent flaws, maybe because that's just the kind of person I am, but it has also been very good to my family and me, against all odds. I've taken care of a lot of major maintenance items over the past few years and it once again drives like new at 135k miles. I just took it on a 2000 mile road trip. I know it won't last forever, but I'll enjoy it while I can. More on topic - my dad rented a pacifica in 2007 or so when we flew to the southwest and did a trip around california/arizona. I think we were supposed to get a Charger or something and he was really bummed when all they had was this pacifica with stains all over the inside, but being a fairly new rental, I guess it did the job. I should ask my parents what they thought of it, if they remember lol.
My dad buys a new car every 4-5 years and my mom every 3 to 2. They don’t keep them forever per say, but I’d say the car I mainly grew up with was the 2012 Honda Odyssey Touring. I was born in 2002 in case you were wondering. He had it from May 2012 to October 2018.
I miss the 2004 Honda Odyssey that my family had, I wish we kept it, I want it to keep it and buy it from my parents, they didn’t want to keep it anymore.
The Chrysler Pacifica strong it hauls my 2 12”s and all my 3 friends and when I hit speed bumps going 70 the suspension is so nice the touring for the win
I'm not sure anyone would forget the Pacifica name, Chrysler still uses the name today. Sure they might forget the car, since the new Pacifica is nowhere related to this one.
My wife had a 2004 exactly like yours. It was a fantastic car and we never had any issues with it or with operating the climate controls. They are much better than the controls in my wife's current vehicle which is a 2013 Ford Edge. I thought the Pacifica had plenty of power with the 3.5L V6 and it got better fuel economy than my wife's Edge with also has a 3.5L V6 and is smaller with a 6 speed automatic.
This does not sit on a mercedes platform. It does sit on a modified Dodge Grand Caravan platform. And it was the first joint engineered product between Chrysler and Daimler Benz engineers. But a lot of people believe it rides on a Mercedes’ platform, it does not. It’s a Dodge Grand Caravan with a better engine and an independent rear suspension. That’s it. It lost sales because everything aside from the platform and drivetrain was shared with no other Daimler Chrysler product to cut costs and development time. Everything was Pacifica specific and that make it expensive to build.
Wife loved this car, she had one that was totaled out rear ended by a DUI. Took the hit like a tank and while it was totaled we were still able to drive it home. Heard a lot of bad on the motors and electrical though we didn’t have it long enough to have those issues.
my mom had a 2008 and I loved it but the transmission blew up a few years ago and we bought a used town and country limited because my mom liked Chrysler a lot I have a lot of great memories in that car and I am glad you do too
This pacifica isn't built on a Mercedes platform. The platform it's built on is the same platform the regular chrysler vans Is built on. In fact some years of the pacifica can be had with the same 3.8L v6 that was the upper spec engine in the town and country/caravans for years.
Have you driven one of the 2007/2008 models with the 4.0 L V6 in the six speed transmission? They are much better. For a while my grandmother had a 2007 Pacifica and it was such a good road trip car and comfortable. The transmission was almost imperceptible at shift points and I never thought the 4.0 L V6 is under powered. Unfortunately, when my cousin that is my age got married, my grandmother gave it to them and her husband turned it into a piece of junk because he can’t take care of cars worth a crap. But when she had it, that was a good car.
I had a 2004 Pacifica all wheel drive and you can get and we had it in both sunroof and DVD player monitor from the factory, so you are wrong there . Mine only lasted 10 years due to major sub frame rot . And metal was very bad the two years until they changed the metal to better rust resistant.transmission was starting to leak, lots of bushing wear and tear, replaced the cat and two mufflers out of three and the electrical was starting to go on it also. Live in southern Ontario Canada and winters are not that good with cars here also, due to rock salt and sticky sodium brine that the southern province puts on the roads and eats are vehicles to death.
My grandparents have an 04 town and country and it was kept very well for all 18 years and has been garage kept it's entire life. That has not stopped the Illinois weather and climate from taking it's toll on it. While it's in better shape than most of the Mopar vans of it's age it's still got it's fair share of rust. It sits now at 151,xxx miles and it's still going. The 3.6 is a pretty solid engine and it's transmission shifts very well. However it leaks pretty much everything and it's body is worse for wear. That being said it's kept going and it's not giving up until it's blown up.
I bought my 04 Pacifica awd in 2012. 2nd owner. At 190,000 miles and only some minor repairs that’s to be expected. But never drivetrain issues. We don’t get much snow but it is definitely my snow car. Because it’s so nice inside with all the goodies I keep it for when I just want a nice smooth ride. Also ours has back dvd and sun roof. So someone lied to ya.
that engine sounds really smooth! hows the condition of the trans fluid? that is some serious low miles if the engine was to live on it would need a timing belt.
Im just two years older than you, My family was GMC safari family! Hope you can do a review it one day, Or if I ever get my hands on one I'd post a review on RU-vid, such a great van as well
Back in 2004, Chrysler was owned by Mercedes. The quality was OK and these cars weren't that reliable. Later the Pacifica nameplate would be used as a minivan. This Pacifica was smaller than a minivan and not as popular.
Did yours come with a second mini keyfob? I can't for the life of me figure out what it does. Edit: it has a single button with a key and a red light when pressed.
Never had a good transmission? Not true .the Chrysler Corporation TORQUEFLITE was the BEST AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION by ANY American manufacturer…and was the ONLY automatic transmission that could handle the POWER of the famed 426 Hemi V-8 !!
I used to like these. But then the engines started falling out from subframe rot and now I just try to stay away from them if I see one on the road 😂😂😂
