The 2009 Chrysler Town & Country minivan is built on the Dodge Grand Caravan platform, and both share roughly the same level of power, quality and finish. Unfortunately this is not necessarily a good thing with so much high-class competition from the likes of the Honda Odyssey, Kia Sedona and Toyota Sienna. The Town & Country looks OK, but get inside and the low-grade interior and tacky finish make it obvious that this is no luxury vehicle. Combine this with a serious lack of power in the base LX and Touring trims, and it becomes difficult to justify choosing the Town & Country over the competition.
2009 Chrysler Town & Country Performance
There are three engine choices for the Town & Country, aligned to the three trims. The LX trim carries a 3.3-liter V6 which can produce 175hp and 205lb-ft of torque with a four-speed automatic transmission. This is hardly adequate to pull the 4300lb weight of the vehicle let alone have any acceleration power, and suffers accordingly. A marginally better choice is the Touring which has a 3.8-liter V6 with 197hp and 230lb-ft of torque which has enough power for city driving thanks to its six-speed automatic transmission, but still struggles somewhat in highway overtaking. The top-of-the-range Limited is powered by a far more adequate 4.0-liter V6 that produces 251hp and 259lb-ft of torque and is our clear-cut recommendation if you require any kind of performance from your minivan. Its fuel economy is strangely better than the Touring despite the power difference at 17/25mpg city/highway, compared to 17/24mpg for the LX trim (which has a flex-fuel option). None of these are great, but for a heavy vehicle it is not surprising.
Handling is acceptable for all trims, with soft suspension (unlike the Dodge’s sport suspension which amplifies every bump in the road) and relatively tight turning circle, although body lean is significant around corners and requires a slow approach. The transmission, especially on the four-speed automatic has been widely criticised for being overly clunky at lower gears, but the six-speed transmission has been re-tuned this year for smoother and more efficient performance.
2009 Chrysler Town & Country Interior and Features
There are three main trims for the Town & Country this year. The base LX features a very basic interior with a vast amount of ill-fitting hard plastic, cloth upholstery, airconditioning, 4-speaker audio system and 16-inch wheels. Other additions are available as options packages, including a rear-seat entertainment system, touchscreen stereo interface and 30GB of storage. The Power Convenience package offers powered driver’s seat, powered sliding doors and power tailgate. The Stow’n Go second row of seating folds flat into the floor and the third-row of seating flips backwards for tailgate seating.
The next level up is the Touring trim which adds power-adjustable pedals, all-season tires on the 16inch wheels, all the features of the Power Convenience package plus six-speaker stereo with steering wheel controls, overhead storage bins, tri-zone airconditioning, dual glove boxes and more. With more package choices, you can also add to the Touring Town & Country leather heated bucket seats in the front and second row, second and third-row fold down video screen with Sirius back-seat satellite TV, 17-inch wheels, Bluetooth and remote start system amongst other features.
Finally the Town & Country Limited features all that and more, with xenon headlights, nine-speaker stereo system, navigation system with real-time traffic updates, uConnect multimedia suite and a power-folding third-row seating.
Overall the seating is reasonably comfortable, and the flexible seating arrangement means that the second-row can swivel around to face the third-row and a folding table fits between them. With all the seating facing forward there is plenty of legroom even for the third-row, but once the table is set up, space is cramped and vision is almost completely obscured through the rear view mirror when the two screens are in use. Cargo space is huge with the seats folded down, at over 140 cubic feet, but if it is stuff you want to haul, this minivan is probably not the number one choice for space, power or price.
2009 Chrysler Town & Country Safety
In government crash testing the 2009 Town & Country scored five stars for all front and side impact situations and an overall “Good” rating. This is thanks to a full range of safety features including electronic stability control, traction control and ABS brakes which prevent the vehicle from losing control in emergency situations. Full-length side curtain airbags protect passengers throughout the vehicle, and front airbags are standard. A new optional blind-spot monitoring system called “Rear Cross Path” detects vehicles approaching from the back. ParkSense rear parking sensors are also available.
Safety features:
- Front and side curtain airbags
- Second seat child booster seats
- Electronic stability control, ABS and traction control
- Rear Cross Path and rear parking sensors
- Child seat anchors
Overall the 2009 Chrysler Town & Country is not the greatest minivan on the planet, but if you are after lots of family-oriented features and a flexible seating plan, and are able to bypass the lower-end trims to go straight for the more adequate performance of the Limited, it may well be what you are looking for. However we would highly recommend taking a good look at the competition before you commit yourself.