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car review

The minivan is very nearly the perfect ride for a broad swath of the families in your neighbourhood, yet the stigma remains. Admitting you drive a minivan is like confessing to a love for Celine Dion's music.

Embarrassing, right? Yet millions do love their minivans and our own Quebecois chanteuse.

Here's why: the lovely Celine, wacky as she is in real life, can belt out a song with the best of 'em. Barbra Streisand could only dream of hitting those notes with such window-shattering clarity.

And SUVs or crossovers, which have largely replaced minivans as the family vehicle of choice, will never match a Chrysler Town & Country or a Honda Odyssey or a Nissan Quest or a Toyota Sienna for versatility, for hauling a family and its stuff all over.

Let's start with doors. Double sliders make much more sense than hinged doors in a shopping mall parking lot or at the hockey rink. When that big lug stuffs his hulking SUV into a compact space beside you, no matter. Everyone can get in and out without any fuss at all despite being squeezed by your neighbour.

Minivans may not handle much better than a truck-based SUV such as the Nissan Pathfinder, but many car-based crossover wagons with a tall centre of gravity fail the sports car test, too. And few SUVS or crossovers ride as well as, say, a Chrysler Town & Country.

Minivans are cheaper, too. A lot cheaper compared to crossovers and SUVs, yet compared to the latter, minivans are wonderful boxes of versatility. I know, you're looking at the sticker price of a 2011 Town & Country and saying, "That's not cheap!" and you'd be correct if you believed only the MSRP or manufacturer's suggested retail price.

Don't. It's just a suggestion. The marketplace is awash in incentives and some of the richest sales sweeteners are on minivans of all sorts, brands and trim levels. When last I checked, the Town & Country, which lists for a base price of $39,995, had at least $10,000 in sales sweeteners available. You'll need to negotiate the deal, but just relax and take that money off the table.

The Town & Country is not going away. The Chrysler Group plans to offer just one minivan in the future and this is it. Automotive News reports that the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan will be replaced by a crossover in 2013, while the next-generation full-sized minivan, due in 2014, will be offered only by the Chrysler brand.

For what it's worth, then, the Town & Country is not a model about to be phased out. On the contrary, the 2011 version received a thorough makeover about a year ago. The suspension and the sheet metal were reworked, the interior reinvented and the powertrain updated with a new engine and refined transmission.

The 3.6-litre Pentastar V-6 is very strong and decently fuel-efficient. If you are imagining this engine is similar to the three V-6 engines of before, you really are imagining things. With 283 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque and mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, the Town & Country has lots of power and the gearshifts are smooth.

Once you're at highway speed, the suspension delivers a stable ride. You'll like that if your kids are prone to carsickness. This van is agreeably quiet, too.

What matters most, however, is the interior and here Chrysler has done a solid job. The single-piece dashboard looks well made and quite attractive, as minivan dashboards go.

Nearly every touch point in the cabin is covered in some sort of soft-ish material – from armrests to the centre console. All good. Really, the interior is quite nice.

And you'll find all the gizmos and things that everyone wants in a family hauler: power outlets, dual DVD entertainment system and even those marvellous second-row Stow 'n Go seats, which are not only comfortable to sit in, but also boast a one-touch fold-down function.

Throughout you'll find an assortment of cubbies and storage places. If you have kids on board, you need them – kids of all ages, of course. Chrysler also offers a rear back-up camera, blind-spot detection and rear cross-path detection.

Yes, the exterior has the basic shape of a brick, but Chrysler's designers have managed to dress up the sheet metal a bit, adding chrome jewellery along the body and so on. None of it hides the fact this is a minivan, but at least they made the effort.

That brings us to quality. The Town & Country finished first among minivans in the latest J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study. First. Ahead of the Honda Odyssey and Dodge Grand Caravan, the runners-up. Not bad.

The quality improvements at Chrysler were also noted in the latest Consumer Reports reliability survey: Jeep jumped up seven places to become the top-rated domestic brand, the Chrysler brand jumped 12 places and Dodge (including Ram) jumped three spots.

So even on quality, while the Town & Country is not perfect, it's better than many might think.

jcato@globeandmail.com

2011 Chrysler Town & Country Limited

Type: Full-size minivan

Base price: $45,995 ($1,400 freight)

Engine: 3.6-litre V-6

Horsepower/torque: 263 hp/260 lb-ft

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Drive: Front-wheel

Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 12.2 city/7.9 highway; regular gas

Alternatives: Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, Dodge Grand Caravan, Nissan Quest

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