Voyage into space

By Michael Moroney

Ever since Opel introduced the flexible seating system on the Zafira, competing car companies seem set on developing even better ways of making space. And Chrysler has faced up to the challenge well with the new Grand Voyager Stow 'n Go.

There is no hiding the American heritage of the Chrysler Grand Voyager; this is a big people carrier in every sense of the word. It extends to over 5 metres in length, confirming its size as one of the biggest people carriers money can buy. And it’s also the most expensive!

So how can you rate the Grand Voyager? It has to be rated for its sheer size, the biggest people carrier around. That gives good passenger space and comfort.

And now there is more. The latest versions come with an impressive Stow ‘n Go seating system, which allows you to convert a mini-bus type vehicle, with seating for seven, into a flat-floor van. And the real trick is that you can do this in a few minutes, without having to remove the seats!

All of the rear seats can be folded into sections of the floor as if they were never there in the first place. There are neat covering flaps to ensure that the floor is level and that there is no damage done to the seat backs while they’re folded.

With all of the seats folded, open the boot and you’ll think you’re looking into a van.

My devious mind drifted to the question of what would happen if you decided to register this as a commercial vehicle and never divulged the seats to the local Vehicle Registration Office (VRT). Would somebody find those hidden seats? Let’s not go there.

This is the huge appeal of the Stow ‘n Go system; you can easily take seats out of use to carry a load. When all of the seats are in use, there are impressive storage bins available under the floor and the boot space is deep.

As well as developing the folding-seat system, Chrysler engineers also created an entirely new underbody load floor for the second-row seats. They also needed to design a new fuel tank, exhaust system, parking brake cables, rear climate control lines, and modify the rear suspension. So this new version is very new in an engineering sense.

This Grand Voyager has the flexibility and the space, so the question is, does it perform well? This large people carrier comes with an upgraded 2.8-litre, common-rail diesel engine. This engine is high on power and torque and it is rated to be among the most powerful people- carrier diesels on the market.

Proof of this is the acceleration. The Grand Voyager can achieve a 0 to 100km/hr rating of 12 seconds, only marginally slower than the performance of the Renault Grand Espace – a 2.2-litre diesel. And that’s probably because the Grand Voyager is almost 300kg heavier, weighing in at over 2.1 tonnes, before you load it up.

In true American style, the Grand Voyager comes with a column shift automatic gearbox. It’s a four-speed model and I found it a little jerky at times, certainly not as smooth as I would have expected. The four-speed system means that the engine revs a little more than necessary, because of its high torque rating, to achieve the greater cruising speeds.

And all of that gives a running cost penalty with the proof of this being in the fuel economy figures. This big people carrier will be expensive to run, giving a combined fuel economy rating of 8.5 litres per 100 km or 29mpg. And you need to be a steady driver to achieve this.

Compared to a field of 12 largish diesel-powered people carriers, the Grand Voyager has the poorest fuel economy rating. It delivers almost 20% poorer economy than the Renault Grand Espace – and the Renault has a smaller diesel engine with greater pace.

Despite its size and weight, I was surprised by its low towing rating of just 1.6 tonnes for a braked trailer. Most of the competition have ratings of nearly 2 tonnes.

The Grand Voyager’s message is one of size. The sheer size and the fittings in the Grand Voyager ensure that everyone has space and comfort.

The suspension was a shade soft, not noticeable on the main roads, but go off them and the softness becomes obvious when you face rougher conditions.

These latest Grand Voyager versions come with electric power operated sliding side doors, so that getting in and out does not demand a heavy pull.

The car has dual zone heating for more even individual comfort and the safety pack is also impressive. There are curtain airbags on each side as well as driver and passenger ones, so that even with the crowd on board there is no one short of protection.

The Chrysler Grand Voyager is big, it’s comfortable and it’s expensive. The list price is €59,665 (stg£30,130 in Northern Ireland) before delivery charges. The 2.2-litre Renault Grand Espace is nearest in price at €56,300 (stg£25,105 in Northern Ireland) and it’s marginally faster in acceleration terms as well as being more economical.

In people carrier terms, the Grand Voyager is an American icon. For Irish conditions it is big, expensive and costly to run.

It has superb space features and the most novel seat management system yet, but you need to be driving a crowd on a regular basis to make it worth owning and running.