The other two engines get a new six-speed automatic that shifted pretty well. The 3.3 is teamed with a four-speed automatic that, surprise, makes a palatable package for those trying to keep the sticker price down. The high-end, 4-liter, overhead-camshaft V-6 provides extra scoot previously missing from your minivan experience. The optional 3.8-liter V-6 no longer is so coarse you're embarrassed to take it out in public. The base 3.3-liter V-6 is pepped up and quieted. You move the lever left or right to manually change gears, and while that feels OK when the lever's sticking up from the floor, it's awkward when the lever is chest high. Excellent for normal shifting, but compromises the ergonomics of the manual-shift mode. It pokes out toward you from the dashboard, adjacent to the steering column. Obvious change: Gearshift no longer is mounted on the steering column. Three engines, all improvements over previous offerings, and two transmissions, likewise. The best news about the new styling is that it doesn't look as ugly in person as it does in photos. Second, the vans got bigger for '08: two inches longer outside, six inches wider inside. Only about 25% of buyers chose them, Chrysler says, too few to justify the cost and complexity of keeping them in the lineup. First, the short-wheelbase vans were killed for '08. Stow 'n Go is Chrysler's name for the system that allows the middle row of seats to flip, fold and flop into under-floor bins to open large storage space in the middle of the van.īigger is better in Chrysler's view. "We started with the Stow 'n Go center section and changed everything else," says Chrysler Vice President Larry Lyons. However you can imagine using a family room on wheels, the '08 vans are at your service. No such downhill lack of logic in the new minivans, though. Mere speculation, though, as there seemed too little time during the minivan test drive to park a spell and hike uphill. Odd thing about Sun Island, tucked beside the test drive route and all but demanding a stop for investigation: The expected tall fence surrounds the compound, but it's across the road from a tall, steep slope that one guesses would give the pruriently curious a good view. This self-described family nudist resort features what must be the only family activity not specifically contemplated in the redesign of the Chrysler and Dodge minivans for the 2008 model year.
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