Got one! Pretty happy with it too, so far. Figured I should write about it. Hence, this page.
This page will be run like the EV lease deals and EV discounts pages - quick updates, sort of a stream-of-consciousness format with date stamps so folks following along can easily discriminate what's new and what they've already seen. I guess we could call it a journal.
This journal is divided into five sections for now - Latest Updates, Current Discounts, Purchasing Experience, Real-World Fuel Efficiency, and Driving Impressions. If' you're revisiting, check the Latest Updates section for an indication of where you might find new info.
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Latest Updates
1/11/18 - Current Discounts - first update of the year!
12/27 - Real-World Fuel Efficiency - Using the 'Charge/Power'screen to minimize ICE use
11/25 - Purchasing Experience - Finally found the time to write the whole story!
11/22 - Driving Impressions - Just a couple of thoughts to start off, more to come.
11/22 - Real-World Fuel Efficiency - Riverside trip: 43 miles all-electric, 29.8 mpg in hybrid mode.
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Current Discounts
If you've read about my buying experience below, then you know I didn't get a smoking hot deal on our new Mother Ship. Got a good deal, not a great deal. But maybe I can live vicariously through you, since one thing that's better than scoring a great deal for myself is to help everyone else get one! To that end, I'll be updating this section twice every month for those of you that feel the need to get a Pacifica Hybrid pronto, and for one reason or another cannot wait for the hype to cool down a bit. Hope you find this data useful... Good luck!
1/11/18 - Only a few dealers were dropped this week; looks like they pulled their offer because they apparently sold all of their Pacifica Hybrids on the lot. South County Chrysler in the San Jose is back on top with their $4000 discount, but they are sharing top honors with Champion Chrysler in Los Angeles and Capitol Chrysler in Missouri. Nissani Chrysler in Los Angeles knocked themselves out of the #1 spot by dropping their discount to less than $3000.
By the way, Nissani Chrysler has the first published lease offer on the Pacifica Hybrid that I was able to find... see EV lease deals page for details. It's not a great lease deal, so it should still be better to take their $2585 discount on a buy.
| Year | Make and Model | Dealer | MSRP | Dlr Price | Discount | State |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Capitol Chrysler | $44,095 | $40,095 | $4,000 | MO |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | South County Chrysler | $41,285 | $37,285 | $4,000 | CA(N) |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Champion Chrysler | $42,780 | $38,780 | $4,000 | CA(S) |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Keffer Chrysler | $48,580 | $44,601 | $3,979 | NC |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Preferred Chrysler | $48,080 | $44,490 | $3,590 | MI |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Safford Chrysler | $48,580 | $45,230 | $3,350 | VA |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Koons Chrysler | $41,785 | $38,609 | $3,176 | MD |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Southtown Chrysler | $48,580 | $45,535 | $3,045 | IA |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Earnhardt Chrysler | $42,085 | $39,177 | $2,908 | AZ |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Nissani Chrysler | $43,090 | $40,505 | $2,585 | CA(S) |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | River Front Chrysler | $48,580 | $46,030 | $2,550 | IL |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Vision Chrysler | $48,580 | $46,227 | $2,353 | OH |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Ourisman Chrysler | $45,205 | $42,879 | $2,326 | MD |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Forest Lake Chrysler | $46,090 | $43,855 | $2,235 | MN |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Timonium Chrysler | $44,280 | $42,083 | $2,197 | MD |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | North Olmstead Chrysler | $42,780 | $40,659 | $2,121 | OH |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Marshall Chrysler | $46,985 | $44,962 | $2,023 | KY |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Zeigler Chrysler | $42,780 | $40,780 | $2,000 | IL |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | State Line Chrysler | $44,380 | $42,380 | $2,000 | KS |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Valencia Chrysler | $46,985 | $44,995 | $1,990 | CA(S) |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Clay Cooley Chrysler | $43,635 | $41,935 | $1,700 | TX |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | North Point Chrysler | $46,985 | $45,363 | $1,622 | NC |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Rydell Chrysler | $43,090 | $41,590 | $1,500 | CA(S) |
| 2017 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Prem | Gastonia Chrysler | $43,985 | $42,735 | $1,250 | NC |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Bayird Chrysler | $44,855 | $43,699 | $1,156 | AR |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Clovis Chrysler | $42,780 | $41,658 | $1,122 | CA(N) |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Billion Chrysler | $43,285 | $42,193 | $1,092 | MT |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Ed Voyles Chrysler | $42,780 | $41,780 | $1,000 | GA |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Ltd | Milton Ruben Chrysler | $47,685 | $46,685 | $1,000 | GA |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Moore Chrysler | $43,275 | $42,275 | $1,000 | AZ |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T + | Airpark Chrysler | $43,130 | $42,130 | $1,000 | AZ |
| 2018 | Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid T L | Ken Garff Chrysler | $44,855 | $43,900 | $955 | UT |
I'll try to update these Pacifica Hybrid discounts on a biweekly basis, at least while there's still hype and the discounts keep changing and/or proliferating. Please post below if you find any published deals that should be on this list. Thanks!
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Purchasing Experience
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| Our 2018 Pacifica Hybrid, with Matt from AutoNation Chrysler |
Well, turns out I didn’t wait… got a 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited just hours before my wife's birthday, that was my deadline. Cheapskate that I am, she almost got a refurb Acer touchscreen laptop with an i7 processor from Fry's, but I knew the Pacifica Hybrid would make her much happier. I was right. Happy wife, happy life, right?
So it was sort of an impulse buy, but I think I did my due diligence given the circumstances. You see, my wife really wanted to take ownership of a white GLE350 that the Mercedes dealer loaned us for a month while her beloved B-Class Electric was having its Tesla drive unit troubleshot, and in the end, replaced. I only wanted to get a GLE if it were the plug-in, so I went back and forth with the Mercedes dealer for over a month trying to get a white GLE550e lease for under $700/month, tax included. They came really, really close – I actually said yes at one point – but when my wife noticed that 2018 Pacifica Hybrids were starting to show up on dealer lots, I got curious and ran numbers on fuel and maintenance costs for the two. Buying a Pacifica Hybrid Limited would be much cheaper to own and operate for four years, even at MSRP, than a leased GLE550e. So I stopped considering the Mercedes and started calling Chrysler dealers.
Negotiating for a white 2018 Pacifica Hybrid Limited was straightforward enough. Started with a call to Rydell, who confirmed that the $1000 discount shown on their website was still available on a white one. I said I was looking to get it for $47K out the door, which was about $4000 off. They didn’t budge, not even a counter-offer. I contacted three other Valley dealers, and all said that they’re selling at MSRP, but they would meet Rydell’s published offer. I told each of them that I’d take the day off of work and buy the car if they would take $47K out the door. No bites. Lots of emails and texts in the following days from each of the dealers, though. I responded to each dealer a week later, after noticing that Rydell improved their published discount to $2500. This time only one of the other Valley dealers would match Rydell’s offer, the rest laid silent. But neither Rydell nor the other dealer would meet my $47K offer.
On the day before my wife’s birthday, I called Rydell and asked if they would take $48K out-the-door (about $3K off), and if so, I would be heading to their dealership that night to get my wife’s birthday present instead of to Fry’s for the i7 laptop. They stood their ground at $2500 off. Then just for kicks I checked the inventory at Valencia Chrysler, and saw that they just got a white 2018 Hybrid Limited in stock that wasn’t there a few days prior. I contacted them and said that Rydell is at $2500 off, and said if they’d give me $3K off I would close the deal that night. They offerd to match Rydell. I responded that for $2500 I’d just go to Rydell since they’ve been great to work with during the whole negotiation process. Then Valencia came back with $2650 off. I asked Rydell if they'd counter-offer. They did not, so I asked Valencia to get the white Hybrid Limited ready for delivery; $2650 off was a go.
Matt at AutoNation Chrysler in Valencia was awesome. He was very accommodating, responsive and willing to help with the reveal of my wife’s birthday present. It ended up not being a surprise gift after all; at the last minute I thought it best to make absolutely sure that she would like the car before committing almost $50K to buy it. Before swinging by home to pick up my wife, I coached Matt on what she was looking for. He was prepared, pointing out all the safety and convenience features that were important to her. He knew the ins and outs of all the features of the Limited trim – and there are a lot of them. Paperwork to seal the deal was painless, and despite a number of cars being sold by the dealer that night, I was driving the Pacifica home in no time.
So, what was my plan if Valencia hadn't gotten a white Hybrid Limited just in time for my wife's birthday? I was planning to show up at Rydell with my $48K out-the-door offer. If we were still at an impasse after we met eye-to-eye and both invested precious time in a test drive and paperwork, my wife would have that refurb Acer i7 laptop, and a new vehicle would have to wait. Since we were going to San Jose for a marching band competition anyway, one option was to squeeze in a visit South County Chrysler to get one at $4K off, then trailer it home since we would have made the trip up in my Ram truck. But with everything going on during that two day trip, the logistics would probably have been a nightmare. The more likely option would have been to wait a little longer for a So Cal dealer to publish a $4K discount. The wait would not have been long, because by Thanksgiving, Champion Chrysler in Downey was offering $3500 off on 2018 models, which I would have figured was close enough, and would have called Rydell to see if they could match Champion's published offer.
Of course that's all moot since I didn't have to resort to Plan B after all. I am glad we had the Pacifica Limited Hybrid for our first two out-of-town trips with the marching band; parking the Ram at home and taking the Hybrid instead saved us over $100 in fuel costs. And it's a much more comfortable, safer vehicle than the aging truck. Oh, and as far as a laptop for my wife, she doesn't know it yet but she's getting a new Dell touchscreen i5 laptop for Christmas, thanks to Best Buy's Black Friday sale. Not an i7, but it's $150 less than that Acer at Fry's, still way faster than her current laptop, and it's not a refurb. Happy wife, happy life, right?