2009 Volkswagen Routan and 2008 Chrysler Town & Country Comparison
Mike Hanley: Hi! I’m Mike Hanley with Cars.com and I’m here with the
Volkswagen Routan. It’s a new minivan from Volkswagen that
they’re putting on sale and it’s related to the Chrysler and Dodge
minivans that were recently redesigned. I want to show you some
of the features of this van and how it differs from the Chrysler
Town & Country.
Volkswagen’s amazing styling changes on this van. You can see it
has Volkswagen’s characteristic front grill and headlight design
which gives its fair pretty sleek appearance. It also has large 19-
inch wheels. This is one of the higher trim level so those won’t be
the base wheels but you can see what this van can have on the
upper end. And also around back, it made some styling changes
with the taillights. On the whole, it’s a pretty stylish looking van if
you can say that about a minivan.
The Routan’s going to be available with two V6 engines. There’s a
base 3.8 liter V6 and an upper level 4-liter V6. These are the same
engines Chrysler uses in their vans. So, there’s really no difference
there.
You can see here, there’s a rear flipping third row seat just like the
Chrysler vans have and it can be power operated. One thing that
differentiates the two is that the Routan doesn’t have stow and go
second row seats and they did that because they wanted to have a
bigger captain’s chair to be more comfortable. Stow and go seats
aren’t the most comfortable for long drives but this captain’s chair
should offer more comfort.
One of the biggest differences between the Chrysler vans and the
Routan here is the interior design. Volkswagen has given it its own
look and feel but you can also see there are also some Chrysler bits
and pieces still hanging around. In the middle, there’s a MyGig
system just like any vans can have. Steering wheel’s very similar
too but on the whole, the material quality is higher than the
Chrysler’s offer.
We’ve covered the Routan. Now, here’s the Chrysler Town &
Country. I’m going to take you through it and show you some of
its features.
Even though they share platforms, the Chrysler Town & Country
has its own look. It’s got a more upright grille, different headlights
and that carries around to the back where the taillights are different
too.
You can see here the Chrysler Town & Country’s stow and go
seats. These seats are pretty interesting because they can fold right
into the floor but they can do that because they’re pretty small.
You can see how it sits low to the ground and they’re smaller
overall. That doesn’t translate into the best comfort for adults but it
does give these seats an edge up in terms of cargo flexibility.
The Town and Country is limited here and it also has upscale
materials like the Routan. And you don’t have to look hard to see
similarities in terms of buttons or switches that are used between
the two models. You can also see that this Town & Country also
has a MyGig audio system and the steering wheel is pretty much
the same. The controls down here are also the same. So, the main
difference you get with the Routan is a more refined dashboard and
just a little different look but all in all, when you compare high
level trim levels of the two, they’re pretty similar.
I’m sure you’re curious about price. Well, Volkswagen hasn’t
announced pricing yet for the Routan but they say it should start
about $25,000.00 for the base model. That’s about $3,000.00 less
than a similarly equipped Town & Country. And that’s going to
make the Routan that much more attractive.
For additional information on this car or any other, go to Cars.com and our blog
KickingTires.
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