New Chrysler Grand Voyager: a “mediamobile” for family life

In terms of interior space, the Grand Voyager comes close to people carriers like the Mercedes Viano or Citroën Jumpy. Of the three rows of seats, the last one is, as always, to be reserved for children and teenagers, who are lighter than adults and will not suffer from the thinner upholstery.

 

The two seats in the middle can be folded away completely into the floor – a mechanism dubbed Stow’n Go TM. This system alone – if Chrysler bosses are to be believed – motivates buyers! When empty, these hatches make two storage spaces with a capacity to rival that of saloons.

 

With just one seat stowed, the space freed up in the centre is such that you can move – standing up (or almost) – from front to rear of the vehicle: very handy when you have to deal with children. You could even put up a camping table and play cards. For an adult, travelling in the rear is a real pleasure, allowing you to read quietly resting your book on the small table. In short, the trump card of the Chrysler Grand Voyager is the interior space, and rarely has a vehicle been so aptly named: it is indeed a car for crossing Europe with a (large) family.

Now, you have to keep the children occupied! So the new Chrysler Grand Voyager is also banking on its multimedia offer, which makes the vehicle a veritable “mediamobile”. Our test model was equipped with the whole multimedia range potentially available on this vehicle. At the heart of this system, the multimedia screen hosts the MyGIG system whose 20GB hard drive can store images and songs.

 

In the front, the driver, of course, benefits from navigation system, radio and music (stored or not). In the rear, two DVD screens set into the roof enable two teenagers to either play on a PlayStation or watch a DVD. They won’t disturb each other thanks to their infrared headsets which, moreover, don’t clutter up the passenger compartment with wires.

 

The new Grand Voyager boasts around thirty new features, the most useful of them being the electric opening of the two sliding doors, electric tailgate, electric windows of the second-row seats and double glove box.

 

The only cloud on the horizon is that the little 163 hp 2.8-litre CRD engine, which delivers 360 Nm, is noisy and struggles when fully loaded. It has to be said that it is required to propel a car weighing over two tonnes. At least fuel consumption is very reasonable. Likewise, the agility of the new Grand Voyager is all relative, particularly in the city, but it should not be judged on that score.

 

The very attractive prices of Chrysler’s new large MPV start at £25,995, peaking at £32,995 for the model offering the whole range of onboard multimedia equipment.