The Chrysler Town & Country is a luxurious minivan with an innovative seating design that adds greatly to its versatility. The Town & Country combines the practical features of the Dodge Caravan with a higher level of equipment and style. A choice of models is available, ranging from a short-wheelbase Voyager replacement to the leather-upholstered Limited, but all are powered by smooth, responsive V6 engines and all ride smoothly and quietly.
The flagship Town & Country Limited is in many ways a luxury vehicle, and it is in many ways a very intelligent choice of vehicle. The Limited model comes loaded with leather upholstery, GPS navigation, dual power sliding doors, and a power rear liftgate. DVD entertainment, hands-free communication and other convenience features are available by checking options boxes.
Standard in all but the base model is a system of second- and third-row seats called Stow'n Go that fold flush with the floor, perfectly flat, opening up more than 160 cubic feet of cargo space. That's substantially more than what you'll find in any sport-utility vehicle, including the behemoth Chevrolet Suburban. You don't even have to remove the headrests to quickly and easily fold the seats flat and out of sight.
Open the seats up, and they provide comfortable seating for up to seven people. Convenience and safety features abound in the Town & Country cabin. Storage bins and cargo nets assist with carrying groceries. Curtain air bags designed to provide full-length coverage for all three rows of seats are available, though they're not standard equipment.
Stow'n Go and other features and general competence make the Touring and Limited models a solid choice among the newer designs from Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM and Ford. The Town & Country is certainly a more sensible choice than a sport-utility for moving people around. Properly equipped, it can tow up to 3800 pounds, enough for personal watercraft, an ATV, a light boat and other small toys.
After benefiting from significant revisions for 2005, the Town & Country forges into the 2006 model year with few changes.
The Chrysler Town & Country presents a sleek, solid stance and remains an attractive vehicle, even if it isn't the newest design. Subtle changes freshened its looks for 2005.
Take a moment to view the Town & Country in profile and you may more fully appreciate its aerodynamic design. Its raked windshield, rising roofline and beltline, and fast D-pillars framing canted rear windows help it slip through the air. Pronounced wheel arches complement sharp character lines that flank the integrated grille. The rear end is designed to make Town & Country look wider and not as tall as it really is. Huge taillamps feature clear red lenses and jewel-like reflectors. It's a nice look, marred only by a black piece of trim below the rear bumper for the Park Assist system that looks tacked on.
There's nothing mini about today's minivans, and the Town & Country is no exception.
The power sliding doors on both sides are particularly useful when you find yourself herding children while carrying two armloads of gear. Press the appropriate button on the remote transmitter twice and the door slides open; press it twice again and it slides closed and seals. Pulling on the outside lever opens the power door manually, with just slightly more effort than opening a regular manual door. Once inside, the power sliding door can be opened and closed by pressing a button conveniently located for second-row passengers. That may seem far too fussy for those in a hurry to get out (and almost all passengers are almost always in a hurry to get out), so the door can be opened manually just like any sliding minivan door. In short, everything works intuitively so training sessions for your passengers should not be needed. A safety lock switch hidden on the trailing edge of the door can be engaged to prevent a child from opening the sliding door from inside.
The base and LX come with manually operated sliding doors, which are still easy to operate, smoothly gliding open and closed with the pull of a nicely designed lever. The outside door handles are comfortable, easy to operate and well designed; they impart a feeling of quality in appearance and operation. All door handles should be this good on all vehicles, but they are not.
The available power rear liftgate makes loading groceries and other cargo easier. Press a button on the remote control and the liftgate opens or closes automatically. You'll quickly appreciate this feature for those all-too-frequent times when you approach the van with an armload and you'll truly appreciate after experiencing this situation when it's pouring down raining.
it's trying to cool or heat the cabin, there are separate High-Auto and Low-Auto settings, a great feature. Details like this can enhance fondness for a vehicle over the years. Heating and air conditioning controls on the base and LX models are functional but rudimentary.
The instruments, redesigned for 2005, are attractive and highly legible. An electronic odometer doubles as the trip meter when a button is pressed. On premium models, Cruise control buttons are conveniently located on the steering wheel.
Lots of glass means good visibility all around, though the thick A-pillars hamper front three-quarter vision. Rearward visibility is good thanks to the big side mirrors. The high beams didn't seem effective, however, lacking fill at closer ranges.
The base, short-wheelbase model still has the traditional seating setup, so the seats must be removed to turn it into an effective cargo hauler. We found the second-row bucket seats and third-row split bench easy to remove. All or any one of the four seats can be popped out and rolled away in three quick steps, providing a wide variety of seating and cargo configurations. Reinstalling them takes a little more practice, as you need to learn how to line them up before snapping them into place. Each seat is heavy enough that care should be exercised when lifting it off the garage floor. The seats can also be folded down to form a continuous load floor for large items.
The Town & Country Limited delivers enough performance to exercise domination on busy freeways in Los Angeles. Response from its 3.8-liter V6 allowed us to work through high-speed traffic with five adults aboard, while its handling permitted easy passing on the winding sections in the hilly country outside Pasadena. Yet the ride was smooth and comfortable, even on rough city streets and bumpy big-city freeways. Drinking a hot cappuccino while driving can be done without fear.
Driving the Town & Country is pleasant and enjoyable. It rides smoothly and feels very stable at highway speeds. It handles competently and is surprisingly nimble for its size. Its power-assisted steering is light, making it easy to maneuver and park in crowded lots, and the front air dam isn't so low to the ground that it scrapes on curbs. Careful suspension tuning, a recently redesigned steering system and a rigid structure have raised the Town & Country's handling prowess to that of the leading minivans.
It's also relatively quiet, even at high speeds. Chrysler says the 2005-06 models are 16 percent quieter than previous editions. Wind noise was reduced by using triple door seals, molded gaskets, a more aerodynamic roof rack, and a spiraled antenna. Carrying on a conversation inside the Town & Country is easy and pleasant.
The four-wheel disc brakes that come on the long-wheelbase models stop them quickly and without drama. Heavy-duty brake rotors and calipers ensure strong braking performance, plus durability. We liked the pedal feel and found the brakes easy to modulate in stop-and-go traffic. Anti-lock brakes (ABS) help the driver maintain steering control in an emergency or panic stop. Traction control, which comes standard on the Limited, reduces front wheelspin on slippery surfaces.
The 3.8-liter V6 that comes on Touring and Limited models is rated at 205 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque. Both numbers are down slightly for '06, from 215 and 245 last year, but it isn't the engine that's changed, only the way that horsepower and torque are measured. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recently revised its test procedures, and the manufacturers who adopted the new procedures this year are stuck with smaller power figures; manufacturers who haven't switched will likely feel this pain next year. So keep this in mind if comparing with other manufacturers. What's important to remember is that the engine itself is as strong as ever, even though its strength is now measured more conservatively.
The 3.8-liter is considerably more powerful than the 3.3-liter V6 that comes on base and LX models, whose ratings of 180 horsepower and 210 pound-feet haven't changed (because it isn't using the new measuring system). Both are pushrod-overhead-valve V6s with two valves per cylinder rather than newer, overhead-cam, multi-valve designs, but they are solid engines.
For its part, the 3.3-liter V6 delivers lively acceleration. We felt like we had plenty of motor to jackrabbit away from standstills or pull off that big pass. The engine is smooth and quiet when cruising, although it makes itself known under full-throttle acceleration. The 3.3-liter is rated 19/26 city/highway mpg by the EPA. It's also a flexible-fuel engine, so it can use E85 ethanol. The 3.8-liter engine is rated 18/25 mpg City/Highway by the EPA. Both engines allow the Town & Country models to be certified as low-emissions vehicles in all 50 states.
The 2006 Chrysler Town & Country comes in four trim levels: base, LX, Touring, and Limited. Like all modern minivans, the Town & Country is built on a long wheelbase (119.3 inches, to be exact). The exception to this is the base model, a value-oriented variant built on a shorter wheelbase (113.3 inches).
Base and LX models are powered by a 3.3-liter V6 rated at 180 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque, while a more powerful 3.8-liter V6 comes standard on Touring and Limited models that develops 205 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque. All models come with a four-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is not available.
The base model ($20,925) was designed to fill a void in dealership parking lots left by the now long-gone Plymouth Voyager, but it comes equipped with air conditioning, power windows, cruise control, tilt steering column, remote keyless entry, four-speaker AM/FM/CD stereo, tire pressure monitor, 15-inch steel wheels and dual manual sliding doors. Upholstery is cloth. The clever Stow 'n Go seats are not included, however, and the second-row seat is a bench. Anti-lock brakes cost extra; rear drum brakes are standard.
The LX ($25,275) is built on the same wheelbase as the upmarket Touring and Limited, but is equipped similarly to the base model. Think of it as the long-wheelbase Voyager. The LX does, however, come with Stow 'n Go seating, heated power mirrors, four-wheel-disc brakes with ABS, and upgraded interior and exterior trim.
The Touring model ($27,755) is a Town & Country done proper, with dual power sliding doors, a power liftgate, three-zone manual temperature control, six-speaker AM/FM/CD cassette audio, upgraded interior trim, eight-way power driver's seat, improved interior lighting, overhead console with trip computer, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, universal garage door opener, roof rack, 16-inch aluminum wheels, and traction control.
The Limited model ($35,630) is the flagship, with leather-trimmed upholstery, heated seats, GPS navigation, automatic climate control with air filtering, 6CD/DVD changer with MP3 playback, a removable center console, fog lights, automatic headlamps, Park Assist, power adjustable pedals, and a memory function for the radio, driver's seat and mirrors.
Lots of options and packages should ensure buyers will be able to come up with the combination of features they want. For example, leather upholstery is available for the Touring model and comes packaged with three-zone automatic temperature control, heated seats with power for driver and passenger, and the deluxe overhead console ($2,100).
Side-curtain airbags are optional on all models, but we strongly recommend them as they are designed to provide head protection in a side impact or rollover; head injuries are the leading cause of death in side-impact collisions.