2021 Chrysler Pacifica vs 2021 Honda Odyssey_ CarGurus Compares.

Welcome to the battle of the vans. This 2021 Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle versus that 2021 Honda Odyssey Elite. These are two of the most expensive minivans you can buy. I'm talking 50 grand for vans that in probably five years will each be destroyed by a large American family. They've got big screens, big rims, video cameras, video games, leather. This one has leather pillows. Your kids should not be stepping inside these vans. Today, these vans are sparkly clean and it's just me and a few adults, so not going to be fitting any car seats. I'm sure it's hell not dealing with any leaky diapers, but I will show you which features make these minivans stand out from other minivans and what makes them stand out against any other SUV. Now, which one first? Hey, I saw that. Both the Honda and Chrysler are updated for 2021. The Pacifica came out for 2017 and it's the best selling minivan. The Odyssey was new for 2018 and it's the second best selling. I'll talk later about their outsides. It's the insides where these vans justify their $50,000 asking prices. Toyota calls its best Sienna the Platinum. This is the Pinnacle. This is the nicest minivan ever made. It's a brand new 2021 trim for the Pacifica and it's $54,885 as tested with Destination. There's nothing else like it. There's quilted Napa leather seats with contrast piping and stitching, heated and cooled for the first row, heated and pillow topped for the second. And really, check these throw pillows. The only other car that comes with its own branded pillows is a Maybach Mercedes. There's a microfiber roof, a thick carpet, a panoramic moonroof, and an 18-speaker Harman Kardon surround sound stereo. There's two 10-inch screens, 4G Wi-Fi. You can stream and connect almost anything into this car. Seriously, Mercedes probably wishes they were building something this good. Oh, I'm telling you. You know, there's a vacuum. The Pacifica is business class, the Odyssey is economy plus. It's also less expensive at $49,355 with Destination. The leather is lower grade, but it's still leather and no doubt it's more durable than the Pacifica. Check out the piping and the stitching. There's also thick carpet, but there's no heated rear seats, no pillows. There is an 11-speaker, unnamed surround sound system, and it's pretty good, but not as good as the Chrysler's. Both these vans have really cushy, reclining rear seats, lots of leg room, USB, HDMI ports, rear climate controls, but the Odyssey doesn't have as advanced of a rear entertainment system as the Pacifica. Instead of two 10-inch screens, there's only one, so you're going to have some fights among the back seat here, but the Odyssey does have more controls for back seat drivers. I'll get into that later. What about the last row? Well, adults can actually fit back there, and you don't have to tip this seat forward or fold it to do it. All you gotta do is slide it laterally. No other minivan, I mean, no other minivan does that. When you do fold the seats down, they fold flatter than before, but not all the way flat. And when you gotta remove them, I gotta take all this stuff off because I gotta let the muscles come out. This is a big one. Still gotta really... Yeah, this is just awkward, man. And then you gotta throw this in your garage or just on the ground. This is the best magic trick of any new car on sale. In a couple motions, the seat disappears into the floor. Chrysler has offered stow-and-go for years, and it's the easiest, best solution there is. Only trouble, this feature isn't on the Pacifica Hybrid, and to do this acrobatic dance, these seats are thinner and a little less comfortable than the Odyssey's. How about cargo? They're neck and neck. Check out these numbers. 140 cubic feet is massive. No full-size SUV, not even a Suburban, can top these two vans. Perfect for my hiking boots. But what if you don't need the third row? The Honda Odyssey Elite is all manual. It's got two pull straps, but it works pretty easily. But this is even easier. Electric power. Oh, I don't have to lift a finger. The Pacifica does it all for me. I'm just gonna... All right, well, some people like getting a head start. Both these high-end vans come with V6 engines, but only the Pacifica comes with all-wheel drive. The Chrysler Town & Country from the 90s offered all-wheel drive. That was the only van at the time that did that. But then it went off the market, and since then, only lately, the Toyota Sienna has been the only all-wheel drive minivan. But now Chrysler has brought it back. All-wheel drive is a new option for 2021. Now, this system operates in front-wheel drive for the most part, but if any of various vehicle sensors detect slip, it can send up to 100% of the torque to the rear. That's pretty good and more aggressive than many other all-wheel drive systems out there on the market. It's attached to a 3.6-liter V6, the same Chrysler Pentastar V6 you see everywhere across their cars. 287 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque, 9-speed automatic transmission. Pretty quiet for the most part. There's no paddle shifters or a sport mode, but it moves. You know, you can get on the gas, and it's a little slow to respond, but it actually has a nice little growl. I like it. And otherwise, it's really soft and quiet. You can get the Pacifica as a plug-in hybrid, and it's even quieter. But honestly, I think this regular engine is pretty good. The fuel economy is really only so-so, especially with all-wheel drive. The front-wheel drive Pacifica gets 19 city and 28 highway. The all-wheel drive is 17 and 25, and that's not so great when you compare it to, say, a Toyota Sienna, which comes as a hybrid, and it's doing in the 30s with all-wheel drive. So fuel economy can't really be your priority in the Pacifica or any minivan, considering all the people and cargo you can haul, but just be aware that there's some better vehicles out there in the segment if you want to save gas. I think Chrysler's done a good job with the suspension and the steering tuning on the Pacifica. There's actually some good road feel coming through here. Not a lot, but for a minivan or even a crossover, nice, decent steering weighting. The on-center feel is there, so I feel like I'm in control. And I'm calm. I'm starting the year off calm. The Pacifica is the way to go. I gotta say, it's not gonna stir your blood like a Pacifica Hellcat might. And I was just in a Durango Hellcat, so that just made me a madman, and now I'm just dropping down like this. And when you get into the minivans that are cushy and I've got my seat heater on, my heated steering wheel on, I've got the quilted Nappa leather, I don't need to go fast. Because this is a Honda, the Odyssey handles well, steers well, there's some feel to it. Now, that might seem like an obvious thing because it's not an SUV or a crossover. It's a lower ground clearance, all that good stuff. But Honda does care about how they tune their cars, and they don't really neglect the Odyssey just because it's a van. I mean, you're not gonna have fun. Just like I said with the Pacifica, it's not a fun-to-drive vehicle, but it's competent, it's secure, and it's quiet. 19-inch tires versus those 20s on the Pacifica. But there's no all-wheel drive. The Odyssey has never offered that. It does have some decent fuel economy. It matches the Pacifica's front-wheel-drive fuel economy, 19-city, 28-highway. But these days, you know, all-wheel drive, not gonna say it's a necessity, but it's expected, at least as an option. Which is why so many people have gotten out of minivans like this and into SUVs and crossovers. They at least think they need all-wheel drive. So having that option would be great. I hope Honda puts it on the next-gen Odyssey. But for now, driving it as it is, it's good. What more can I say? The Odyssey has a 3.5-liter V6, 280 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque, one more gear than the Pacifica. There's 10 speeds. That may seem like a bit much, but it moves through them pretty quickly and smoothly. And it has a sport mode and paddle shifters. It's kind of nice, you know? It's like third gear, fourth gear, fifth gear, sixth gear, seventh gear, eighth. You can lose track of what gear you're actually in. So it's best to just keep it in drive. One thing I will recommend if you drive a 2021 Odyssey, make sure the econ button, there's a button on here, make sure you don't press it. And if you see the little green icon on the instrument panel, make sure you turn it off because it makes the throttle so lazy. When I first got this van, it was on there. I didn't realize that it was turned on and wow, it's just, it makes this thing feel so sluggish, lethargic, and it's just, you don't want that. Vans aren't fast to begin with. You don't need to make them slower. So you're not going to save much fuel using it. I don't care what they say. The Pacifica wears an all new face for 2021. It's just more truck-like than it used to be, especially with the larger rectangular grille, these rectilinear style headlights. It's just nice. 20 inch wheels on the pinnacle trim, but I prefer the S appearance package that you can get on other Pacifica models that darkens everything, blacks out the rims, all the chrome trim. I think that's the way a minivan should be, dark, unobtrusive. Here's what's changed with the 2021 Odyssey. Almost nothing. If you look closer, you'll see some details. The grille, it's got more of a trapezoid shape. LED headlights are now standard. And on the Elite, there's new two-tone 19 inch wheels. There's also some black trim on the taillights. Yeah, you know, little minor things, but overall the Odyssey is just a bit weird looking, especially from the side. Uconnect 5 is brand new for 2021. It's faster, received over the air updates, and it's simplified. It takes an already very good system and makes it better. There's Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, both wireless. SiriusXM with 360L. That's the new service with on-demand streaming tracks, more channels, and curated audio recommendations. There's an app called Uconnect Market to pay for things in the car. Now, GM did this first, and now Chrysler's doing it. There are two interior cameras to monitor both roads, split screen. Best is the Uconnect Theater. Not only can I just watch my own movies without having to watch what he wants, we can play with each other than we want with these new games. Chess, backgammon, they're both brand new for 2021. I don't really know how to play chess, but I do know how to hit someone with a pillow. It gets tough back here. This infotainment is older and it's a smaller screen than the one in the Pacifica, but it is the most updated in the Honda lineup. It's color-coded by function here, but there's no secondary buttons that you'd find in the Accord for shortcuts. There's only just a little volume knob, no tuning. Why? Like the Pacifica, there's an interior camera to monitor the second and third roads, and it also comes on automatically when you shut the car off. Using the app, you can send navigations to the driver, and a feature called Social Playlist lets people add songs to a master list, like it's a big jukebox. But both these features, the driver can reject anything that he doesn't like. Nope, we're not going there. That song, that's terrible. This app also lets people control the rear climate right on the phone, and it also acts as another remote control for the rear entertainment. If anything, I think this is going to start a lot of fights. These two are not the values you'd expect in a regular minivan. These are loaded up luxury vans. But remember, they cost just as much as any loaded up SUV, and there are way more spaces inside. But these two truly are masters of packaging, comfort, and total entertainment. But only one can win. That's this guy, the Pacifica. It's got a way nicer interior, feels like a luxury car inside, got better tech than the Honda, and if I just squint enough, I can say it really does look very stylish. Chrysler only makes like two or three cars in its entire lineup, so I don't know how as a brand it's even alive, but the Pacifica is truly terrific product. What do you guys think? Tell us in the comments below, subscribe to the CarGurus YouTube channel, and keep watching for more reviews. Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time. Oh, hey, I saw that. That was good.