The seat positioning is one of Pacifica's most appealing assets. Climbing in and out is easy because Pacifica sits relatively low to the ground, more like a sedan, and its door sills are low. Yet the seats are positioned high, seemingly at conventional table-chair height, so the driver sits much higher than he or she would in the typical sedan. This presumably offers the sense of security many seek in a sport-utility vehicle. It certainly improves forward visibility, in that fewer vehicles on the road ahead will obscure the Pacifica driver's view.
From the driver's seat, the first impression is one of spaciousness. There's plenty of headroom, despite the high seat bottoms, and the window sills rise almost to shoulder height. The high-waist design means the sills are too high for comfortable arm resting, but it will likely enhance the secure feeling for many.
The cloth upholstery in the five-passenger base model looks more expensive than we expected. The Yes Essentials fabric is stain and odor resistant, and treated to control static. Appointments become more luxurious with each step to the Touring and Limited models. Wood, brushed aluminum and plastic mixed with quality soft-touch materials create generally attractive accommodations.
The front bucket seats are thick, deep and supportive, and fit even a lean, 6-foot, 4-inch adult like the proverbial glove. On the other hand, we'd guess the side bolsters might be a little too narrowly spaced for really wide frames. The center console between the seats is spacious and trimmed in a soft-touch material. There's a pair of cup holders conveniently located immediately aft of the gear selector, and they work well. All four doors feature molded-in bins and cup holders at the bottom.
The chunky steering wheel has a relatively small diameter. It gives the impression that you're directing the movement of something substantial. Redundant controls for the sound system are conveniently integrated into the steering-wheel spokes.
The instrument panel is shaped as one continuous enclosure that swoops from the back of the left front door across the center and around to the back of the right front door. Under that sweeping hood there's an improved set of instruments. The speedometer and tach graphics are easy to read.
We like the heating and air conditioning controls, and especially the automatic system, which includes Auto Hi and Auto Lo options. Either allows the climate controls to work automatically, but Auto Lo keeps the maximum fan speed low. That's perfect when you don't want the fan blasting away at full speed, but don't want to shut it off completely. Yet it's also easy for the driver to set the temperature, select the desired vents, and control the fan speed manually.
The analog clock is handsome, and great for quickly reading the time. All power windows can be lowered at once by pressing one button, a nice feature on hot days. The Pacifica owner can program convenience functions such as auto-locking, auto-headlights, lock notification (horn, lights, nothing), door lighting and so on to tailor the car to particular tastes. It's about as easy as it gets circa 2008. Some vehicles require a trip to the dealer to reprogram these settings, and some don't allow reprogramming at all, so we love this feature.
The second-row bucket seats in Touring and Limited models are as handsome as the front seats. They're not quite as cushy, but we found them roomy and comfortable. Between them is another center console, similarly elegant to the one in front, and equipped with practical cup holders. Controls for the fan and vents, a power plug, and a tray for a purse or day pack are provided for back-seat passengers. Each seat can be folded flat individually, to handle longer cargo like pieces of floor molding and a third occupant at the same time.
The second-row bench in the five-passenger Pacifica seats up to three, with some contouring at the outboard positions. It's also split 65/35, so two passengers can squeeze into the bigger portion with the other part folded. The seatbacks can be folded down to a flat surface, or the entire seat can be tumbled forward for maximum cargo space. We found this easy to do the first time we tried; the release levers are numbered in sequence. The only downside to this design is that it does not provide an absolutely flat load floor.
The second-row bucket seats in the six-passenger models operate similarly, but the bucket seats leave a gap in the middle when the backs are folded forward. The tumble-forward feature also allows easy access to the two-place third seat, which is roomier and more comfortable than the rear seats in the some seven-passenger SUVs. There isn't as much room here as one finds in behemoth SUVs such as Chevrolet Suburban or Lincoln Navigator, but the Pacifica's third seat will be fairly comfortable for a medium-framed adult up to five-feet, eight inches for 20 miles or so.
The third-row seats in Touring and Limited models fold down 50/50 and disappear to create a flat floor for larger cargoes. Again, the five-seat model offers more maximum cargo space than the six-seater, with 92.7 cubic feet of space versus the six-passenger's 79.5 cubic feet. Still, Pacifica offers more cargo space than mid-size sport-utilities such as the Lexus GX470 (77.5 cubic feet) and Mercedes-Benz M-Class 64.6).
