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
I rented a Pacifica in Miami three years ago and drove it with my wife and another couple down to Key West as the designated driver/chauffeur and it was very pleasant. There were no challenging roads/curves along the way. And for day-to-day driving with a bunch of people, it was perfect.
Would I choose it to tackle California Highway 1 or the Tail of the Dragon? No.
Reliability issues aside, I don’t know what I would pick over it. It held all our luggage for a week, got over 30 mpg and never did anything weird/annoying.
On a more recent vacation in Hawaii, the rental Dodge Charger was a far less pleasant way to get around. Sure… it could go around curves better than a Pacifica, but unless you have a passenger or passengers willing to also discover the limits of adhesion, it’s ok to be tame and let people in a hurry get by. The only person who actually passed me was an idiot on a crotch-rocket motorcycle pass us on the shoulder, who we caught up with at a stoplight a couple of miles ahead.
There are a lot of roads in the islands of Hawaii, that would be a ton of fun on a 150cc+ scooter but only one-up.
Ya think that Huntington Beach dealership licensed the Indiana Jones font?
Are you checking the fine print when you bring us these ads with delectable discounts? I’ve seen big dealers with the most unscrupulous add-ons on Autotrader: conditioning fees, reconditioning fees, market adjustment fees, registration fees, dealer add-ons that seemingly amount to nothing more than coupons, mandatory trade-in amounts, incentives for which you may not qualify . . .
I wonder how many Siennas Toyota could sell if supply was anywhere near demand? In N. California, a dealer site shows vans “in production” with a $3,000 markup over list, as sale pending.
They’re unobtainium in the Southeast with big markups as well.
As tempting as it is to get a van with AWD and Stow N Go seats…for thousands less than the Honda and certainly the Toyota, I just have very little confidence in Chrysler quality.
And it’d still be cheap with a big Mopar warranty on it, but then I have to have confidence in the local Chrysler dealer to fix it in a timely manner….which is also a tall order.
At least the Chrysler technicians only have to learn one model only. Should really simplify things.
Neighbor has one that is just out of warranty and is dealer maintained, it developed a head gasket leak. Chrysler approved a engine replacement, but my neighbor was still out rental car + dealer labor which ended up being around $7k.