After spending a weekend driving the 2010 Chrysler Town & Country around, I finally get why people love their minivans: It’s the versatility, lots of space for cargo and passengers, and ease of use. Spare me the soccer mom jokes. With a minivan, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and the Town & Country has plenty of awesome features in it. It seemed as though my test car had power everything. It had two power-sliding doors, a power liftgate and power-folding third row. There were so many buttons on the key fob that I had to give it a second look before hitting a button so I wouldn’t end up opening the wrong sliding door. While I liked having all of these power options, my husband wasn’t as enamored by them because he wondered how much it would cost to fix a power-sliding door if (or when) the kids broke it. My kids fell in love with the minivan, though. My oldest son made a pitch to keep the minivan for our upcoming family vacation. They both loved the multiple seating choices and the sunshades, which they couldn’t stop playing with. I installed my youngest son’s forward-facing convertible car seat in both the second-row captain’s chairs and the third-row bench using the Latch system. It was easy to install the car seat in both positions, but the Latch anchors in the third row sit slightly off-center from the middle seating position. This led to a lot of angst for my 3-year-old because he couldn’t reach the cupholder and cubbies to the side of his car seat. I’d prefer to have the Latch anchors in one of the outboard seating positions in the third row, and so would my boy. To learn about how other car seats fit in the 2010 Town & Country, go to our Car Seat Check. Many of my friends who own a minivan rave about how easy it is for their kids to get in and out of it. I’m not sure if my youngest is just uncoordinated, but he had problems getting in. The step-in height seemed a little high for him. At one point, he managed to trip on the doorsill and did a faceplant on the floor of the minivan. My 3-year-old’s exit strategy involved holding onto the well-placed grab handle and stepping out without any falls. However, he really could have used the optional running boards to help him get in and out. Thankfully, my 7-year-old didn’t have any similar problems. My test minivan had plenty of power with its V-6 engine. I found the ride to be quite comfortable. Yes, the suspension is on the softer side, but I didn’t mind it. It wasn’t so soft that it felt floaty. My husband, however, said the ride felt rougher when he was trying out the second row. My sister and her husband have been toying with the idea of getting a minivan. In the past, I’ve continually told her to look at other car types – crossovers, SUVs, even a microvan – but the next time we talk cars, I’ll tell her to give minivans a chance. I’m not saying she should get this minivan, but the time spent in it really opened my mind to the possibilities of these much-maligned vehicles.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 10:25 pm and is filed under auto brochure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.