Chrysler ekes out additional 2 mpg on 2009 minivans
Thursday, September 11th, 2008Filed under: Car Buying, Minivans/MPVs, Green, Chrysler, LLC., Dodge
With moms now actually reading EPA fuel economy figures on the window sticker before trying out the dozen cup holders found in most modern minivans, Chrysler went back to the engineering lab and knocked out a few more miles per gallon for its 2009 minivan offerings. Bragging that no other minivan offers better fuel economy than the 2009 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan, the automaker is boasting EPA figures of 17 city / 25 highway for the minivans when equipped with the automaker’s 4.0L six-cylinder engine and minivan-first 6-speed automatic. Considering that the original 1984 Chrysler Town and Country achieved 18 city / 21 highway with a 2.6L four-cylinder and three-speed transmission, we’ve clearly come a long way. To squeeze out the extra miles per gallon, Chrysler tweaked the large 4.0L V6 engine and then changed the ratios on the transmission. With a higher ratio first gear, and smaller steps between the new ratios, the minivans are quicker off the line and the engine doesn’t loose as much speed between shifts. The result is a fuel economy improvement of about 8 percent or about 2 mpg. Now, if the engineers could just do something about that minivan stigma…
[Source: Chrysler]
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