Some automotive innovations are really cool and, if you think about it, may be worth the money.
The Chrysler Pacifica?s power liftgate, for example, which goes up and down with two taps on the key fob, is a $400 option on the crossover vehicle. Is it worth it?
Most crossover drivers are, like the vehicles themselves, multitaskers. They?ve probably got kids and might be holding a toddler while manipulating the grocery bags, or restraining a dog or unloading sacks of mulch and potted bushes. Would it be worth, say, 50 cents to have the liftgate opened for you? Thirty cents?
Let?s say conservatively you use it six times a week, 312 times a year, 1,248 times in the four years you are in possession of the car. That?s about 15 cents each time you open or close the liftgate automatically. If you grocery shop a lot or do a lot of hauling, the number will amortize accordingly.
There are lots of features on Chrysler?s upscale vehicle, including a third row of seats. If the family expands, or you promise the kids they can each bring a friend, the law prohibits passengers from lap-sitting or bouncing unrestrained in the cargo area as we did in our youth. How many times will you use that third row, and is it worth choosing this vehicle over a more hip and chunky Jeep Liberty, say, or the ostensibly greener Honda Element?
We would forgo the Pacifica?s $1,150 entertainment package with its overhead DVD monitor, satellite radio equipment and all the accompanying headphones and remotes. After all, if you use the liftgate equation, entertainment on our one or two long car trips per year would run about $71 each way, money I?d rather use for a good off-the-exit diner, as we entertain ourselves by playing I Spy and singing Peter, Paul and Mary songs.
I?d also pass on the $1,995 navigation system, especially since this one is hidden behind the steering wheel so passengers can?t see it.
The accompanying ParkView, which shows a video of what?s behind you when the car is in reverse, is hard to see in the glare of sun or dark of night. But I would definitely shell out $285 for the ParkSense, which notifies you of objects in the way with increasingly rapid beeps.
The Pacifica is trying to be all things to all people: Luckily, the options let you pick and choose which people you are.
