1994 Plymouth Voyager Review (continued)
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Walkaround

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.

Interior Features

Our Voyager featured the seven-passenger seating package that is optional on the base models. The front bucket seats were very comfortable, while the center and rear bench seats offered firm support. All were cloth with vinyl trim, but only the front seats offered headrests.

Head- and legroom were very generous in this Voyager. We had six people in the van at one time, and there were no complaints about anyone feeling cramped. People in the back two rows didn't get a lot of niceties - there were neither map lights, air-conditioning/heater controls nor the power vent windows that are available on other Voyager models. But the comfort level, although not luxurious, was good.

Up front, the clean-looking instrument panel featured analog gauges for fuel, speedometer and engine temperature, as well as the trip odometer. An information center - a thin, carved out section of the dashboard-sat just above the panel and housed warning lights and turn indicator lights. Because the lights were at eye level, we never forgot to click the signal off after switching lanes or after not completing a full turn.

The fine luxury steering wheel, as Chrysler calls it, gave us clear visibility of the instrument panel and was home to the standard air bag. The standard passenger-side air bag was enclosed in the dashboard - just above the glove box. After reading the brochure, we felt better knowing Chrysler included a diagnostic module that monitored the bags' status at all times.

The convenience group package we added to our test vehicle, which gave us power mirrors and locks, made us temporarily forget some of the things that were lacking in our base Voyager. After a while, however, we began to wonder why we didn't get a cassette player for our $18,000-plus, or why, when on the bi-level setting, the heater would only blow lukewarm air through the dash vents.

Those complaints aside, we did appreciate the room that this short-wheelbased (I 12.3 inches) Voyager packed in. Even with the seven-seat package, we still had 13.3 cubic feet of room in back-enough to store several bags of groceries and a gym bag, for example.