I love this car! We initially went to the dealer to look at/buy a Town and Country, I WANTED the van with the fold in the floor seats. Within minutes of that test drive my 50 pound 10 year old announced the seats were NOT comfortable, they were too hard and thin (his words). Next, we looked at the Pacifica. The three children (13, 10, and 6) LOVED it and regardless of what you husbands think, their input is very important as they are the ones who are in it almost as much as us moms! The middle row seats are basically the same seats as the front row. They are comfortable and can be HEATED also (I'm in MA, this was a MAJOR selling point for the children!) I could sit in the third row seats if necessary. There is plenty of foot and head room for my 5 foot 6 inches. For the 6 year old that ends up there occassionally, it is more than enough space.

The pickup has been bantied about on many sites and reviews. I've never noticed it to be a problem, but I typically don't tend to pounce on the gas. Mileage is what it was advertised at... it's not great, but it's not as sucky as those SUV's.

The looks are much better than a minivan. I loved my Olds Silhouette and had it for 7 years and 150+K miles. But I really didn't want another minivan for 7 years.

Storage behind the 3rd row isn't great. I got a Thule box for the roof and that worked wonderfully for our road trips this summer. We kept a backpack apiece for the children and a cooler of drinks and snacks in the car and the rest was up on top. Actually this was better than the van as we then did not have stuff piled up in the far back over the window line.

Rear visibilty isn't great, but that is also well documented, and if you have a clue how to use you side mirrors this really is not a problem.

I do wish we had spent the extra for power lights... but that's only because I was so use to them I keep driving off at night without the lights on and thn after I put them on I forget to turn them off...

If you're tired of the minivan, or don't really want to start with one... this is for you.

BTW, we also looked at the Ford Freestyle. It is very similar, but we had a bad experience trying to get pricing at two separate dealers and gave up on them... my husband's comment during our test drive was "nice, but it could be lots better if only they put another $200 into making then interior nicer"... that says it all... the Pacifica is much "nicer" and really didn't look like a Mini-explorer.
Amount Paid (US$): 26,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: Touring AWD, cargo package, heated seats, chrome wheels