2005 Ford Freestyle - 2004 Chrysler Pacifica - Road Test

If you were a child of the 1960s, you'd sooner beg your dentist for a root canal than drive the old Country Squire. Anyone a half-step younger would avoid the family Reliant or Aries wagon like an airport strip search. But love 'em or hate 'em, station wagons are an efficient way to move people and stuff. So the challenge for carmakers looking to reinvent the station wagon for the 21st century is not to create yet another new segment, but to banish an old stigma.

Enter the Chrysler Pacifica and Ford Freestyle. New this year, the Pacifica shares powertrains and other components with the Town & Country and Caravan minivans. The Freestyle bows as a 2005 model; its architecture stems from that of the Volvo XC90, not a bad place to start. Similarities: a unibody (non-truck-based) chassis design, regular front-hinged doors, a wide-opening rear hatch, three rows of seats, a V-6 engine, an automatic transmission, standard front drive, and optional all-wheel drive. Neither offers fake-wood appliques on the side body panels.

In terms of style, the Freestyle is generic Ford SUV-lite, a deliberate move designed to banish those old Country Squire ghosts. As you'd expect from Chrysler, the Pacifica is more dramatic: wider, lower, more glittery. Against the tape, the Freestyle is an inch longer overall, but rides on a 3.4-inch-shorter wheelbase. The Chrysler is 4.9 inches wider than the Ford, although their tracks are all within an inch of each other. The Ford has 5.7 cubic feet more maximum cargo volume. (See the sidebar for more interior space discussion.)

Despite their load-lugging pretensions, neither seems equipped to haul six people and their cargo up a long grade without raising a sweat, much less set your pulse racing at the traffic lights. The Pacifica's base engine is Chrysler's 3.5-liter SOHC V-6 rated at 250 horsepower, while the Freestyle makes do with a 203-horsepower, 3.0-liter DOHC V-6. You'd expect the Ford to be left standing, but you'd be wrong: Despite 47 fewer ponies, the Freestyle outruns the Pacifica to 60 by 4/10ths of a second (both our testers were all-wheel-drive versions), although at 9.2 seconds it's still a full second slower than a Honda Pilot. The Freestyle's continuously variable transmission helps make the most of the engine's modest output, adjusting to load conditions and the demands of the driver's right foot to keep the engine in its sweet spot. The Chrysler's maximum power comes at a high 6400 rpm, but its engine is coarse and grainy at anything past midrange and entirely unenthusiastic about hustling the Pacifica along. The only transmission choice is Chrysler's four-speed AutoStick automatic. While the manual control is handy for selecting lower gears when descending hills and such, this tranny sends shudders and shocks through the chassis, even on moderate shifts.