The Plymouth Voyager is more than one of America's greatest-selling minivans. Like the
Dodge Caravan, the Voyager is a true original-a model that created an entirely new category in the automobile market during fall 1983. The Voyager offered itself as a scaled-down version of the van, with more modern conveniences and greater fuel efficiency. And after a few months of warming up to these newcomers significant numbers of people began buying the Voyager and Caravan.
Well, you know the rest. The minivan is now the top mode of family transportation in the industry, and Chrysler has sold more than 4 million of them. Success certainly hasn't changed the Voyager: Except for a slightly bigger engine, some structural reinforcement and interior improvements, the 1994 base model bears a strong resemblance to its groundbreaking ancestor.
On our test Voyager, we added an optional 3.0-liter V6 with an automatic three-speed transmission, a seven-passenger seating group, a luggage rack, air conditioning, a rear defroster and other amenities. That bumped the MSRP from almost $16,000 to $18,581, still a reasonable price for a vehicle that offers both significant roominess and car-like features.
The Plymouth Voyager, as we saidTearlier, has not strayed far from its original boxy design. Not the most radical of looks, but a sloping hood and tinted windows give it some sense of character.
Our vehicle was Light Driftwood in color, and though not excessively decorative, it did include bodyside moldings as an optional feature. The front and rear fascias were body-colored - some folks may favor contrasting fascias, but we liked the uniformity of this look. One thing that didn't particularly excite us, though, was the front grille-the chrome strips and metal screen combined to make too busy a design for a vehicle with a pretty basic look.
The headlight assembly was the same as on all Chrysler minivans: single halogen lamps, parking lights that wrapped slightly around the sides and amber turn indicators positioned directly below. Again, not a revolutionary design, but functional. The brake-light design was even more simple-there was no wraparound, and the lights were housed in red, rectangular plastic casings that sat above small white reverse-light strips.
We were very happy with the sliding door on our Voyager. It moved smoothly on its track and shut with authority. The liftgate also opened easily, thanks to an optional power release we chose for our vehicle.
