2006 Chrysler Pacifica Touring Sport Utility 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Ford tumbles to second worst in Consumer Reports reliability survey, list dominated by Japanese [w/video]

It's no secret that MyFord Touch has had its share of problems since being introduced, but the most recent reliability survey from Consumer Reports shows just how much this infotainment system has affected Ford. Just two years ago, the automaker was in the top 10 for the institute's reliability rankings, but since then, it has tumbled to the second-lowest rung just above dead-last Jaguar. In addition to MyFord Touch, CR also attributes a handful of new products that have had issues right out of the gate.
Compiled from 1.2 million subscriber surveys, this year's auto reliability survey heavily favors Japanese automakers, with eight of the 10 spots hailing from Japan. Toyota brands grabbed the top three spots (Scion, Toyota and Lexus - in that order) with Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Acura filling the next four spots. The only non-Asian automaker cracking the top 10 was Audi at number eight.
Audi climbed a total of 18 spots from last year, and Cadillac and GMC round out this year's top gainers breaking into the top 15. Helping Cadillac's upward movement, the CTS Coupe was named the most reliable domestic car. Lincoln, Volvo and Chrysler join Ford on this year's biggest loser list.

Dodge shows can-do attitude with grand Can'avan sculpture

There are lots of ways to celebrate an important birthday, and all of them are well deserved. You can throw a big party, buy yourself something nice, or - if you're the altruistic type - do something for others in need. The latter is how Chrysler has opted to mark the 30th anniversary of its Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country.
Together with hunger-advocacy organization Canstruction, the Chrysler Foundation has built a full-scale replica of the Grand Caravan out of 30,000 food cans in the square at the corner of Yonge and Dundas in Toronto, a ways down the highway from where the real vans are built in Windsor. The sculpture was built over the course of 10 hours by 30 volunteers and was displayed earlier this week.
Now the installation is being taken down, and the cans of food are being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank, which will assemble them into 2,000 food baskets to be distributed to those in need through its network of 200 food banks across the Canadian metropolis. Check out a neat time-lapse video of the build and the press release below.

The company formerly known as Chrysler is now Stellantis

Introducing Stellantis. Talk to your doctor before using Stellantis as side effects may include model redundancy, the overwhelming urge to apply Dodge badges to Peugeot crossovers, and weak stream. Honestly, how can you not poke just a little fun at the name chosen for the new multi-national corporation that will result once the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot S.A. (Groupe PSA) is completed in the first quarter of 2021. According to the press release, "Stellantis is rooted in the Latin verb 'stello' meaning 'to brighten with stars' ... The name's Latin origins pay tribute to the rich history of its founding companies while the evocation of astronomy captures the true spirt of optimism, energy and renewal driving this industry-changing merger." The "Latin origins" of the French company Peugeot and the Italian Fiat are obvious. Chrysler, on the other hand, was founded by a man born in Kansas whose father was a Canadian-American of German and Dutch ancestry (thanks Wikipedia). His mother was also of German ancestry. So yeah, the name Stellantis is really only related to the Peugeot and Fiat bits. The Americans are just along for the ride with their Jeeps and Hellcats.  And it should be noted that we will henceforth never write "Stellantis" in ALL CAPS as the corporation does because it's silly and we don't do it for Hummer, Mini, etc. Admittedly, Fiat could go either way since it's literally an acronym, but Fiat doesn't even bother doing that any more.   The name Stellantis will only be applied at the corporate level, so effectively in place where you previously would've said Fiat-Chrysler or FCA. There won't be a Stellantis Challenger.  We produced a list last year of all the cars that are currently made by the brands within Stellantis. Here's also a list of all the names that the company we generically know as "Chrysler" has gone through over the years. Chrysler Corporation (1925-1998) DaimlerChrysler (1998-2007) Chrysler LLC (2007-2009) Chrysler Group (2009-2014) Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (2014-2021) Stellantis  There have also been secondary corporate entities. There was Diamond Star Motors from 1985 to 2015, a manufacturing joint venture between Mitsubishi and whatever Chrysler was called at the time. It resulted in the Plymouth Laser, a randomly selected example pictured above, amongst other automotive diamonds.