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.