Chrysler Voyager SE Touring
Ask most people about Chrysler in the UK and the answers youll get will depend very much upon the age of the respondent. The younger generation will probably mention the Viper supercar while older customers still recall Petula Clark imploring us to put a Chrysler Sunbeam in our lives. Few will mention the Voyager, the car that really put the company on the map. In its latest guise with the SE Touring trim level, Chrysler hopes the Voyager can build its profile a little higher.
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The Voyager SE Touring edition offers compelling value from less than £21,000. Only one version is now available, a £20,490 2.5-litre CRD diesel. Its finished with a few luxury features that many MPV owners wont expect to find at this kind of price level.
Sixteen-inch alloy wheels punch up the exterior appearance as do the black side mouldings. A ten-speaker 360-watt Infinity CD stereo system, with audio controls incorporated into the leather-trimmed steering wheel is also fitted as standard, as are rear parking sensors. All of which leaves the highlight of the vehicle as far as any self respecting eight-year-old will be concerned - a DVD entertainment system. This package alone is unlikely to grant Chrysler the vast slew of conquest customers from Ford and Renault it genuinely covets.
Part of Chryslers quandary is that as a result of all the celebrity product placement, much of the car-buying public perceives the Voyager as a very expensive premium product. In reality, it competes head to head on price with less prestigious fare.
"The two Brits who arguably command most column inches Tony Blair and David Beckham have both been Voyager owners "
The 2.5-litre common rail diesel engine offers ain impressive 36.7mpg average fuel consumption figure, meaning that with low depreciation and strong CO2 emissions, the 141bhp CRD makes a powerful case for itself straight off the bat. Its also enjoyable to drive, with a CV featuring many of the current industry buzz words: common rail, 16 valves, twin overhead camshafts and twin balancer shafts. As a result, its far quieter than Chrysler diesel engines of yore and has far more acceptable levels of performance (0-60mph in 13.5s on the way to 115mph). Although there is plenty of torque available, the Range where that torque figure is developed is quite peaky and youll need to make use of the gearstick for rapid progress.
As a versatile motorway tool, however, the Voyager Touring CRD has few peers. Inside, its business as usual. You get two individual seats in the middle that flip forward for easy access to the foldaway three-person bench at the rear (which can be swapped for two individual seats). As usual, all the seats can be removed or folded into makeshift tables but they dont slide back and forth to increase either centre legroom or rear luggage space.
If you want the full gambit of seating acrobatics, youll need to look at the larger Grand Voyager with its clever Stow N Go system. The Voyager offers 450 litres of storage space behind the rear third row of seats. Take all but the front seats out and the capacity rises to a vast 4,880 litres - almost enough to move house with. Nice touches include optional electric operation for the sliding side doors and tailgate which would be a real boon in the supermarket car park with your hands are full of shopping.
Another extra worth having is the optional cargo organiser for the boot, which neatly divides the space into three separate cargo bays. There are also now side curtain airbags that cover all three rows of seats. Its always been something of a personal bugbear that manufacturers will jump onto a bandwagon and offer a seven seat vehicle without going the extra mile to offer seven seat safety features. The exterior on the latest Voyager models has been freshened up a little, retaining the Chrysler family look but adopting a revised grille and shapely projector headlights.
There are also body side mouldings, a more attractive wheel trim design and, for plusher models, a wider Range of alloy wheel designs. Inside the fascia has been revised too. The Voyager SE Touring will have its work cut out attracting hordes of new buyers but if youre in the market for a quality full-sized MPV, it should be on your shortlist. Can you afford not too?
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Chrysler Voyager SE Touring
PRICE: £20,490 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 15
PERFORMANCE: [2.5 CRD] Max Speed 115mph / 0-60mph 13.5s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [2.5 CRD] (urban) 29.1mpg / (extra urban) 43.5mpg / (combined) 36.7mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin Front, side and curtain airbags / ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height 4800/1997/1748mm
