MEMPHIS, Michigan — You think minivans are uncool?

I emerged from a game of Padel into a black Michigan night. With my arms full of a tennis bag and water bottle, I walked up to my red 2026 Chrysler Pacifica minivan tester and swung my foot under the rear door.

Open sesame!

The door automatically slid sideways, exposing the cavernous interior. I deposited my bag, then shut the door behind me with the push of a button on the B-pillar. Then I strolled around back where I had kept my laptop bag secured and did the same with the rear hatch.

Open sesame!

The motion sensor read my foot and rose automatically. You think minivans are uncool?

Pacifica will be one of the most mobbed vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show from Jan. 17-25 as families ogle its multiverse of features. But wait, there’s more.

The futuristic rear end of my Pacifica tester looked like it was penned by Disney’s monorail designers. Dark glass — uninterrupted by body-colored pillars — swept rearward, meeting a dark, pod-shaped rear window underlined by a single horizontal LED light. You’d think it rolled off a "Tron" movie set, if I didn’t know it had been designed by Jewish émigré Irina Zavatski, who fled religious persecution in her native, civil war-ravaged Tajikistan in 1994 and got a design degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art.

“I was just 15 when we came to the United States,” Zavatski told me back in 2016. “My mom explained to me she wanted a better future for her children.”

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to design American minivans. Cool.

At 10 years old, Pacifica is relatively long in the tooth by industry standards. The posh, spanking new $120K 2026 Lucid Gravity SUV I reviewed last week has received raves for its design, securing a nomination for North American Utility of the Year (I’m a juror) for the 2026 model year. It looks a lot like a Pacifica from the rear — for twice the price of my Pinnacle tester. Swap the Chrysler’s 20-inch wheels for the Gravity’s stylish 21s, and it would be hard to tell the difference.

I slipped into Pacifica’s front seat and connected my smartphone via Android Auto.

Voila!

My phone took over the screen.

“Hey, Google. Navigate to work," I said and Google instantly routed me from Sterling Heights to The Detroit News address that I had pre-programmed in Google Maps. I punched SETTINGS and changed the map to SATELLITE VIEW to better see the landscape around me at night.

A dazzling bird’s-eye of my route appeared with meticulous detail of buildings, trees, parks, interstate.

One of the advantages of being 10 years old is that the Pacifica, unlike many three-row SUVs under pressure from federal nannies, hasn’t ditched its throaty V-6 engine.

GRRRRRR! roared all 287 horses as I nailed the right pedal onto I-696. As I came down the on-ramp, an SUV decided “to be that guy.” The driver accelerated on my right to stay alongside and prevent me from merging into traffic. GRRRROWL! I summoned the V-6’s 220 cubic inches of piston and accelerated past him. Stud.

Think minivans are uncool? Cargo hauling is the three-row Pacifica’s sweet spot.

Need to haul five basketball players to a game? The Chrysler’s three rows comfortably fit six. Hauling a lot of luggage to the airport? The third row stows in the floor. Need to haul long toboggans to the local sledding hill? The second row also stows in the floor so two kids can sit on the left part of the third row, and you can throw the sleds down the right side.

All second- and third-row seats stow in the floor, even with all-wheel drive for woolly Michigan winters. My friend Tom stows all the seats to bring home plywood sheets for home projects, then takes his wife and three kids to Massachusetts every summer. When they get there, he stows all the seats and cleans out the kid debris with the vacuum hose.

Yes, the Pacifica options a vacuum hose in the left C-pillar that can reach every corner of the cabin.

I took my tester on a 100-mile road trip to Richmond and Memphis in St. Clair County (who knew Richmond and Memphis were in Michigan?) to pick up big bags of the Midwest’s best popcorn at a Sunrise Convenience Store.

While there, I had to check email/work on my laptop. Strangely, the top-drawer $60K Pinnacle trim does not offer Stow ‘n’ Go seating for the second row (though you can still remove second-row seats). I flattened the second-row seat and used it as an ottoman from the third row. I worked under the panoramic sunroof while downing an Arizona tea and popcorn.

Oops, my bag of popcorn spilled. I reached over, pulled out the vacuum hose and — ZOT! — sucked it up. Had my laptop battery waned, I could have plugged it into the 110-volt plug in the right C-pillar.

Cool.

Speaking of charging, Pacifica’s’ thirsty V-6 got about 374 miles of range (17 mpg) under my lead foot, which is about 100 more than the top-trim $77K electric, all-wheel-drive three-row Kia EV9 that I road-tripped to northern Michigan two winters ago. The Kia EV9 required 90 minutes of charging to go 215 miles to Gaylord, Michigan in cold temps.

I filled the Pacifica in Memphis in five minutes. Cool.

Could the Chrysler be cooler? Of course. I have a list.

Pacifica’s rear may be sci-fi but its front end is stuck in the early 2000s, with a fascia off a Chrysler Sebring. A thinner, more horizontal front light and grille — similar to the Gravity — would wow minivan-averse moms (like Mrs. Payne).

The minivan’s aging platform shows in an outdated instrument display that features an antiquated round tachometer. Modern digital displays make better use of the space. It’s hard to be mad, though, as ergonomics are superb. Steering wheel controls include volume and radio buttons on the back side so you don’t need to remove your hands to adjust a console knob. If you do, the volume knob is smaller than the automatic transmission shift knob so you don’t get them confused (unlike, say, a Genesis GV80).

And I would have liked to eat my Popeye’s chicken on I-75 north to Memphis (that still sounds weird) hands-free. Yes, I’m spoiled by hands-free systems from GM, Ford and Tesla. But that’s the standard today. Heck, I can drive hands-free in the three-row, $52K Chevy Traverse. In the digital age, Pacifica’s adaptive cruise control is soooo 15 minutes ago.

Which designers no doubt will address when Pacifica gets its next-gen upgrade ‘round 2028. Until then, however, this minivan is one of the coolest cars in show.

2026 Chrysler Pacifica

Vehicle type: Front- and all-wheel drive, five-door, seven-passenger minivan

Price: $45,940, including $1,995 destination charge ($57,590 Pinnacle as tested)

Powerplant: 3.6-liter V-6

Power: 287 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.8 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 3,600 pounds

Weight: 5,064 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/25 highway/25 combined (AWD)

Report card

Highs: Swiss Army knife features; three-row utility

Lows: Dated fascia; no hands-free driving option for long trips

Overall: 4 stars

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