What is the cheapest minivan in America? You might say it’s the Kia Carnival, with a sticker price starting at just $37,895. However, you can grab a three-row family hauler far cheaper if you know where to look. In this case, you’ll want to head out to a Chrysler dealer to score yourself a brand-new Pacifica on the cheap.
When it comes to new cars with amusingly large discounts, we can always rely on the usual suspects—which are pretty much all the Stellantis brands. Whether it’s a Jeep Grand Wagoneer for $38,000 off, or ancient Dodge Chargers going for under $25,000, there are bargains to be had from the beleaguered coalition of automakers. The Chrysler Pacifica is just the latest addition to the list.
Chrysler’s main minivan is supposed to start at $44,145.  That’s a big chunk of change compared to the Kia Carnival and the Toyota Sienna in the pricing stakes, both of which kick off below $40,000. But Chrysler’s recent poor fortunes mean that you can actually score a Pacifica for a lot less than the competition—you just have to go where the deals are. We’re talking chunky five-figure discounts, here.
Right now, Airport Chrysler in Florida has a Pacifica Select listed for just $33,625. Compared to the sticker price of $44,145, that’s a huge $10,520 discount. Brickell Chrysler will almost match that, too, and they’re not far away. Meanwhile, down in Maryland, Ourisman Chrysler has a similar deal at $35,266, a full $8,879 under sticker. You’ll find similar deals in Chicago and Texas, too. At Fields Chrysler in Illinois, you can even get yourself a model with the optional all-wheel-drive system for $36,995. That’s over $10,000 cheaper than its $47,640 MSRP.
Down in the $35,000 region, the Pacifica becomes a lot more compelling. You’re getting a three-row seven-seater, with the possibility to spec it out for eight if you and your partner are expecting sextuplets. Since even the base Select model is supposed to be just a little bit premium, it comes with heated front seats, synthetic leather interior, and 17-inch wheels as standard.
Engine-wise, the Pacifica packs a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 under the hood, good for 287 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. Those were sports car numbers once upon a time. Of course, given that engine and all the vehicle’s bulk, it’s not the cheapest car to run (but there’s a solution to that, which I’ll mention in just a moment). You can expect 19 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA.
The upper trims can be had for cheap as well. You can find the Pacifica Limited for under $38,000 in Illinois and Texas, and it’s not much more in Kentucky or North Carolina, either. Discounts of $14,000 are easy enough to find. Meanwhile, the top-of-the-line Pinnacle trim can be had for over $20,000 off. This example in Florida is selling for just $14,457, against an MSRP of $61,780.
Things get even crazier if you’re looking for a Pacifica Hybrid, which should help solve the aforementioned cost-to-run issue. Between tax credits, dealer incentives, and cash on the hood from Chrysler, the discounts are huge. Down in California, Huntington Beach Chrysler will sell you a Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid for just $33,600—that’s $24,070 cheaper than the $57,670 sticker price. In fact, it’s a few thousand dollars cheaper than a base Pacifica at that price. The same dealer even has a Premium trim for $41,235, at $22,270 below MSRP.
This isn’t just a California special, either. Chrysler of Leesburg in Florida will hook you up with a Pacifica Hybrid in white for $33,127, just over $20,000 below sticker price. Safford Brown Chrysler in Virginia has a similar deal too, as do dealers in Illinois and Minnesota.
The hybrid doesn’t have the same power—just 260 horsepower, and it’s front wheel drive only. It also maxes out at seven seats, rather than eight. However, it does have the nice benefit of 32 miles of all-electric range, and you can plug it in to recharge at home. It’ll do 30 mpg city/highway combined on regular gasoline, too. That’s a pretty decent package for under $34,000.
“But wait!” you shout. “Isn’t the Voyager supposed to be the cheapest minivan in the Chrysler lineup?” Yes, you’re right—Chrysler split off the lowest trims of the Pacifica into a separate model some years ago. (It’s possible they do this sort of thing just to irritate journalists like myself). You can get a big discount on a Voyager—there are plenty of examples just under $35,000. Discounts range up to $7,000 off sticker or so. Still, none are quite as cheap as the cheapest Pacifica Selects or Pacifica Plug-In Hybrids.
One might ask why these vans are selling so cheap. They’re by no means the slowest-selling vehicle out there. Still, there are signs that Pacificas are sitting around a little longer than similar products from the competition. Late last year, data from CoPilot indicated that there were 97 market days of supply for the Chrysler Pacifica, versus just 18 days for the Toyota Sienna. The Honda Odyssey and Kia Carnival came in at 43 and 60 market days respectively—indicating a minor glut of Pacificas versus the rivals.
And yet, the Pacifica (107,356 units) actually outsold the Sienna (75,037) and Carnival (49,726 units) last year, so it can’t be doing that bad.
This is the last vehicle Chrysler has left on sale—a whole brand with just one van (and two model names). And it’s discounted, at that. The future looks as bleak as ever for Chrysler, but there’s an upshot to this—you might just score a great family vehicle for cheap.
Image credits: Chrysler, Cars.com via screenshot
Back when the Grand Caravan was going out of life you could get base model ones for just a hair over $20k IIRC. I seriously thought about it. Same with Dodge Journeys, I remember seeing them in high/mid teens.
This whole “Chrysler only sells 1 vehicle with 2 model names” trope is kind of ridiculous. First of all, there’s no such thing as a Chrysler-only dealership, so this minivan is just one of the vehicles sold at your local CDJR dealer. Second of all, until the introduction of the Cordoba (1975?), Chrysler historically sold only one vehicle, sometimes with 2-4 model names.
Literally in the market for one of these right now. Want a carnival, but these deals are tempting. From a packaging standpoint, Chrysler has the best features in a minivan.
That Stow n Go is such a great feature compared to the other minivans
I am fortunate enough to have a ’24 Voyager as a fleet / work vehicle, and so far (11k miles), I LOVE it.
Enough power, super comfortable, and so much quieter, smoother and more solid-feeling than the old Grand Caravans. That said, it seems like you either get a good one or a bad one. I’ve had coworkers who have had their vans in the shop more than they’ve been driven, and others that have been problem-free for 40k miles.
Great highway machine if you get one without the bugs, and stow-n-go for every seat in the back is a killer feature for folks that need to haul stuff regularly.
I had no idea that base Pacificas were being sold as Voyagers. I learn something every day here.
Years of Consumer Reports surveys, car mags/sites, and Youtube miscellany have ingrained in me the idea that Pacificas are unreliable enough to be non-starters if you’re looking for a car to keep for years and you want it to be able to afford keeping it on the road when its a decade+ old. I gather that the hybrid system is responsible for a lot of the problems, so getting the non-hybrid version with its mediocre MPG might alleviate that issue.
Still, I’d rather have a ten-year-old Sienna SE or Odyssey, especially after reading all the comments in Steve’s article about three-row vehicles.
To make things even more confusing, in Canada the base Pacifica is sold as the Chrysler Grand Caravan.
Owner of a 2017 Pacifica Touring L with 118k miles on it that we bought used in 2018 with 28k miles on it, and I have to say that the internet has cost me more money than the van has. Starting with the extended warranty I rolled into the purchase (something I’ve never done before or since) because the internet convinced me that the ZF 9-speed transaxle was a grenade with the pin pulled.
A very expensive grenade with the pin pulled.
Simple issues have become complex and expensive because of the misdiagnoses of internet experts sent me down rabbit holes when Occam’s razor should have applied. I chased a front end vibration for months because I was convinced that the brakes were fine after I did the front rotors and pads for the third time. Turns out that when you have a sticking caliper and put 1,200 miles on vehicle in a couple weeks you’re going to warp things.
In general my cars have been enthusiast vehicles with pretty good online communities. The Pacifica has an okay online support, but not on the level of say a GTI or a G8.
Would you buy another one?
If the price was right, yes. Our van was an ex-rental that we picked up from CarMax. The pricing new on these post-COVID has been out of control, which these rebates seem to be somewhat correcting.
That being said, the deals are rather regional. Of the half dozen or so CJDR dealers in my area, most have no Chryslers of any kind in stock. Those that do have 2023 Hybrid models listed on their websites, none with anything approaching the discounts in this story.
Holy Fuck Batman! This is some serious value. As a five year owner of a Pinnacle, I can absolutely say they are really nice. For this money, they are an absolute steal. If you don’t need AWD, towing, or Stow n Go, the hybrid is an even crazier deal. Nice.
My new car was in the shop for 8 months meaning that we had a rotating cast of rental Pacificas. Each vehicle was kept for 30 days as per the rental contracts. The odometer on these ranged from 5k miles to 40k miles.
First of all – this is one of the best rental vehicles you can get. The ergonomics are excellent, it’s comfortable, and it fits anything and everything.
Initially, I was sold on buying one of these. Large, comfortable, stow-and-go, AWD. However, the build quality is atrocious. Every single one of the vans we rented had some sort of issue. Brakes or suspension making noise. Interior body panes broken. Squeeks and rattles. Literally, none of the vans we had were problem-free.
What a shame. This isn’t a new platform. Any other manufacturer would have worked out the kinks years ago.
Mine has been tight as a drum. I’m wondering if rental duty or poor maintenance might be at play. I am no Mopar fanboy or anything and thus expected less, but honestly got more.
We have a Voyager and it’s been solid, a brand new one in the mid 30’s would be a steal in my opinion.
My only complaint as of right now is that I’m just in the beginning stages of seeing the leading edge of the hood paint bubble. This is a problem a lot of these vans have, and I’m worried the entire front edge of the hood is going to be rotting out in a couple of years. Which isn’t very cool.
The plug-in Pacifica is a very nice car. I rented one in Minneapolis a few years ago and it gets a hell of a lot done before the engine even turns on in the morning.
Did you get the TruCoat?
No but they got the optional trailer hitch, which has just enough capacity to tow a good sized wood chipper. You never know when one of those might come in handy.
Not on the Hybrid, they didn’t. 🙂
I had one as a rental car on a long work trip (fifteen hours of driving over three days with four people), and while I was happy for a minivan, the strange ergonomics made me wish I had been given something else.
I have also had minvan rental experiences where the stow-n-go seating has been the focus of complaints from adults in the back. It feels like getting the seats to be compact enough they carve out most of the comfort.
I’ve heard that complaint about the stow-n-go seats too. It’s not a problem if you are using them for car seats, but adults find that they don’t have enough padding. Definitely something to consider if you plan to have adults in the back for anything beyond running errands in town.
The idea that 2nd and 3rd row seats aren’t useful for adult travel is wrong. I don’t have any problem with the 2nd and 3rd row seats in the Pacifica for hours-long interstate cruising.
If I were less healthy, maybe they’d bother me. Each row is slightly less accommodating than the one in front. That’s normal, and why I keep a few small couch pillows in the van. They’re more comfortable than airline and train seats, that’s for sure.
Would I want to sit in back for hours at a time, daily? No. But for a road trip, they’re fine.
Now that is a deal to get excited about!
Yes, but they have a $30,000 dealer fee.
The name “Airport Chrysler” feels like it is out of a novel in the vein of “Death of a Salesman,” where the main character is a car salesman. It is where hope goes to die.
I had a similar feeling of dread when I read that dealership name. It just sounds bleak. I cannot imagine that anything good happens there.
The local Kia dealer here is Airport Kia. Their motto is “Our price sells cars” and their commercials are a bad sales month away from going full “Big Bill Hell’s”. At one point they had a goddamn donkey in them. These guys have to step their game up a lot to match that level of bleakness, although being a Chrysler dealer definitely helps.
Stow ‘n Go seating the patent that sold 5 million minivans. If it were not for Stow ‘n go with AWD we probably would have bought a minivan from Toyota or Honda. We have had minivans with “removable” seats and it is just NOT the same.
Stow n Go was a HUGE selling feature for us. If I’m not using it for the seats, I tend to use it to hid personal items, like a backpack, somewhere that no one would think to look at.
We leave ours down all the time because of the dogs but occasionally raise one to have a passenger. Can’t do that if they are in the garage.
Because the seats themselves weighed a ton. A couple of generations ago the seats were offered with little wheels on them to make them easier to move around, and it was a legitimate selling point. Because the seats themselves anchored the belts, they were crazy heavy and stout. At about that same time, I can’t remember if it was an Aerostar or what but I was also occasionally driving another American not-so-mini van whose belts anchored to the floor, I could carry a bench seat singlehanded. They weighed nothing.
We had an 89 grad caravan and both the short and long bench were easy to remove and carry by myself.
The Sienna is just killing it right now, with a reasonable price and 51 (!!!) MPG. The others aren’t keeping up.
Especially Chrysler.
A lot of fine print here it seems. The 2024s make sense to get old units cleared out, especially as one model that actually seemed to follow a normal model year – not like the 2024 Wagoneer S or Charger rolling out in 2025.
The 2025s seem more wonky. The Huntington Beach example, you can see in the screenshot there’s a Trade-In Savings listed twice at 2k each. Surely not supposed to be doubled, but either one of them + the Preferred Lender Savings at 2k sound like dealer discounts that they’re trying to gussy up so you finance with them and trade with them. (Manufacturer financing can pull that trickery too but less common.) The Airport listing has $2k trade assist too.
The Brickell one is another grand cheaper on the website from a mobility program rebate, as part of conditional pricing. That’s fine, but there’s a military bonus cash rebate included in the conditional price that’s sending out to the Cars.com listing. And the website discloses nearly $3500 in add ons.
Seems like there are still some really good deals that put a Pacifica at a good price advantage vs. a competing van, but you definitely need to roll up your sleeves to figure it out. Ourisman listing for example seems like it may be legit, Tyson boasts they have no add ons, etc. If you’re shopping, next closest Chrysler dealer might look way higher online but end up being the same net price once all is said and done.
Something that I like about these Pacificas, they are modern enough but also with a bunch of buttons to do quick actions. They are one of the few vehicles that haven’t ditch regular buttons with huge screens, I guess this is the result when you are still selling a vehicle design from 2018.
I have the Hybrid with an extended warranty and it took us to Sonora, Mexico from Michigan, back and forth. We have repeated this trip twice so far. 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs and 30MPG on average. I cant ask for a better vehicle. I wish it had drive modes to save the battery for city driving but I learned if you go above 82mph the engine turns on even if you have battery % available.
Unfortunately the seat heaters can only be operated via touchscreen. It’s by far the worst thing about owning a Pacifica thus far…
Agree, mine turn on automatically if its cold, and they get hot very fast. Its just a quick tap on the screen but sometimes it will lag.
Man, I bought ours about 16 months too early… Dang. I blame the youngest kid, pushing us out of my wife’s Cruze.
If they’re going to be minivan only while Stellantis figures its shit out, why not bring us real luxury vans like they have in Asia?
This is an attractive van though one with no shortage of issues. A big one being the paint flaking off within the first few years.
Hopefully they straightened that out because Chrysler dealers are no picnic.
Why there isn’t a $25k rebadged Dodge Grand Caravan version of this I don’t know.
I think they killed off the Caravan because they had the Journey to fill the budget 3 row family hauler niche… and then they decided to kill off the Journey instead bringing it up to modern standards. Maybe they don’t think a cheap and simple family wagon fits with the Dodge shtick of big manly cars for big manly men. The Durango stuck around because you could get it with the Hellcat Hemi.
Since they’ve backed off from killing the Hemi maybe they can come out with a Hellcat Caravan. A Hella-Van, if you will.
The Journey and GC were nixed at the same time, but they held out so long strictly because they had such high sales volume. Brand identity was cited as the reason just like you said, focus on performance. Looking at the rest of the CDJR lineup since then, seems like it was more like PR speak for “no replacement developed” given the number of models that were dropped without any real replacement.
No sweet deals like that in my area.
Maybe Chrysler can come out with a Personal Luxury Vehicle to keep the minivan company. Then, perhaps, a Business Coupe.
we have a 2020 Pacifica we bought new and after a 112K miles it has been fantastic. Only issues have been crappy batteries that needed replaced. The 2 batteries just sucks. The motor is great. That 3.6 is in both our van and our wrangler and it is plenty strong.