Bon Voyager
Filed Under Curt Hennig | Posted on April 12, 2008
The new Chrysler people mover is built for comfort, Ian Porter
reports.
AS THE financial crisis spreads from Wall Street to the world
banking system and then to the suburbs of Melbourne, families will
be reconsidering their annual budgets, particularly their holiday
spending. Those budget considerations - and, perhaps, a heightened
environmental awareness after Earth Hour - could see fewer families
boarding planes when next they take a break.
Which could make Chrysler’s timing for the all-new Grand Voyager
a master stroke. With the right options, this car will definitely
appeal to families feeling a touch of flight withdrawal
syndrome.
Sitting in the third row of seats in a Grand Voyager fitted with
the top-of-the-line entertainment option is just like being on a
plane. Rear-seat passengers are confronted by a line of
roof-mounted, drop-down video screens, just as if they were sitting
in row 29 of a Boeing 737. True, the line only has two screens in
it, but the similarities are striking.
Where the Chrysler trumps the Boeing, however, is that you don’t
have to watch the same pictures on every screen, ad infinitum to
the horizon, or, rather, to the business-class curtain.
The family travelling in the Grand Voyager has options, and
plenty of them. Up to five passengers in the second and third rows
can watch the same movie on the two screens and listen through the
wireless headphones that come with the car. However, when the kids
cannot agree (What? Never!), the movie can be screened on one of
the two screens while the other can be used to play games, if the
little ones remembered to bring their games console and a plug.
There’s a 12-volt outlet next to the C pillar A/V jacks.
If the heavy rain and gale-force winds outside have blown away
the tent and you have all adjourned for a temporary break from the
great outdoors, even the people in the front seat of a stationary
Grand Voyager can watch the movie.
The screen-based entertainment options available in the Grand
Voyager reflect the thorough and detailed design that has gone into
this all-new model. Chrysler invented the people mover in 1983 and
is keen to stay at the vanguard of design in the class, although it
now wants to rename them multi-utility vehicles. Which would make
their owners Muvvers.
Chrysler reckons its designers started from the inside and
worked outwards. They laid out the interior space, with more head
and legroom, and features they wanted to incorporate, and then
designed a body to house it all. Which is great for passengers but
has left the big Chrysler looking a little industrial, a sort of
square box on wheels.
But it is a roomy box on wheels, and the exterior is not
unpleasant, just a little understated, an interesting switch for a
Chrysler Group product.
The engineers have tried to make manoeuvring the big bus easier
by thinning down the window pillars of the Grand Voyager by a total
of 10 centimetres. They have also concentrated on seating and
interior flexibility. The standard second-row stow ‘n ‘go seats can
fold flat into the floor, into an underfloor box made of laminated
steel to keep the noise down.
However, if you tick the swivel ‘n ‘go box, you get a pair of
captain’s chairs in the second row that can turn around to face the
rear seats. These are too big to be folded into the floor but they
can be removed. You also get a table that can be erected between
the two rear seat rows and, when not in use, stowed in the
underfloor space that the stow ‘n ‘go seats use.
The third-row seats also fold flat into the floor manually on
the LX and Touring models while the Limited gets power folding.
Both the manual and power third-row seats also can be folded
towards the back into a stadium seating position, which allows you
to sit on the seats facing backwards so you can watch the local
football game or just enjoy the scenery while staying out of the
rain.
Other nice touches include the built-in sunshades for the rear
rows and the powered second and third-row windows, all standard in
the Touring and Limited models; they are optional on the base LX
model. All models have tinted glass to make those long drives more
enjoyable.
The Grand Voyager gets two sliding doors for the first time.
They are manual on the LX, as is the tailgate, and all three are
powered on the top two models. A power-pack option can be added to
the LX.
All models get Chrysler’s MyGig entertainment system, with a 20
GB hard drive so you can store all your music in the car, although
there is an MP3 socket, too. The Limited MyGig system also comes
with satellite navigation, Bluetooth and a reversing camera. These
are optional on the LX and Touring.
Also new to the Grand Voyager is the introduction of a diesel
engine alongside an enlarged 142 kw/305 Nm 3.8-litre petrol V6
motor, up from 3.3 litres previously, which also does duty in
various Jeeps.
The engine department is where Chrysler’s all-new claim for the
Grand Voyager starts to look ambitious. The petrol and diesel
engines may be new to the Grand Voyager but they are not
ultra-modern. The diesel, a 120 kw/360 Nm 2.8-litre, turbocharged
four-cylinder unit also used in Wrangler, Cherokee and Nitro
models, pulls well enough but runs out of puff before 4000 rpm,
whereas many diesels now spin to about 4500 rpm.
With an unloaded weight of slightly more than two tonnes (2.1
tonnes for the diesel), performance is not exciting, even when
there are only two people on board. The petrol model consumes 12.3
L/100 km and the diesel 9.3 L/100 km.
Both engines are matched to Chrysler’s six-speed automatic
transmission, which is also used in the Sebring range. This unit
has a second, higher fourth-gear ratio, which is only used when the
driver wants to kick down from top gear for more acceleration. But
they have to want it a lot because the gearbox has been tuned for
maximum economy and will hold top gear well past the point when
other transmissions would have changed down. This can leave the
diesel engine, in particular, labouring at about 1500 rpm, creating
a mild boom in the cabin until a lower ratio is finally
selected.
The driver can use the gearstick to manually change down, but
its placement on the floor between the front seats makes this a bit
awkward.
With a longer wheelbase and wider track, the Grand Voyager has
more stability on the road and corners with a commendable lack of
body roll. Standard load levelling suspension helps here. The
steering wheel is big and the low-geared system feels a bit woolly
around the straight-ahead position. The column only tilts.
Chrysler claims that the Grand Voyager comes equipped with 10
airbags. The mind boggles for a minute trying to imagine where all
these bags might be located until it is explained that Chrysler
counts each curtain airbag, which stretches from the front seats to
the third row, as three.
The company’s aggressive approach in this area is really not
required as the six-bag total is perfectly defensible in safety
terms, especially when backed up by electronic stability control
and the availability of a reversing camera. The curtain bags also
stay inflated for five seconds if they are triggered by a
rollover.
The new Grand Voyager is stacked with improvements compared with
the old model and, given it is aimed at the top of the people-mover
segment, it has to be. The LX petrol model starts at $56,990, the
Touring costs $62,990 and the Limited is $72,990. Diesel adds $3000
at every stage.
This puts the Limited model about $40,000 above the
segment-leading Kia Grand Carnival and makes it the most expensive
people mover on the market after its old stablemate, the
Mercedes-Benz Viano seven-seater.
The Grand Voyager was the best-selling people mover above
$55,000 last year and has been Chrysler’s only entrant since the
shorter-wheelbase Voyager was dropped.
This gap will be filled this year when Chrysler plans to release
the Dodge Journey, a five-plus-two people mover based on the
Sebring and Avenger chassis.
The Dodge will be a cheaper alternative, although Chrysler is
frank enough to say that the “plus two” seats in the back really
are only for children. Whether it will have enough DVD screens to
attract frequent flyers is yet to be seen.
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