One thousand five hundred eighty-two. That’s how many miles the Chrysler Town & Country traveled from 6:00 a.m. one Saturday morning until 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. It was a trip that saw Chrysler’s top of the line minivan ship two people and a backyard pond to Arlington, Virginia, and bring back more items than can be recounted here – or counted in one sitting – back home.

Like pickup trucks, having a minivan in the driveway is enough to make folks who are in desperate need of moving things your best friends. And so it was with the T&C, which became an instant favorite once the girlfriend caught sight of the Stow ‘N Go (S&G) seats.

These little beauties let you drop all but the driver’s and front seat passenger’s seats into wells in the floor, eliminating the need to remove and store the middle and rear seats in order to carry anything of substance. Which also eliminates the embarrassment of having no seats with you when you get to your destination, and have to carry people instead of cargo. You have the right configuration, no matter the situation.

And the T&C can swallow a lot of junk…I mean antiques. Yeah, antiques that your girlfriend’s sister has no room for at her new house. And it can do so without skipping a beat. On the way to Arlington, the T&C averaged 23.7 mpg, which is very close to its 25 mpg highway rating in real world terms. On the way back, and at higher speeds, it averaged 23.4 mpg. Not bad for a vehicle as large as this one. (For the record, the T&C with S&G sits on a 119.3-in. wheelbase, is 200.5-in. long, 78.6-in. wide, and 68.8-in. high. In Limited trim, it weighs 4,372 lbs.)

Folding the seats into the floor is easy – once you move the front seats all the way forward. This gives the room needed to raise the floor panels and swing the seats into their recesses. Just be careful. I pinched a finger on more than one occasion when folding the seats in haste. If you leave the seats up, the area is great for storing small- to medium-sized items out of sight. While the rear seat can be folded into a well in the floor, flipped backward to provide seating at tailgate parties, or set in place for normal use. All-in-all, the system and the vehicle are both pretty flexible.

There were a few gripes, however. As with the Dodge Grand Caravan tested earlier (http://www.autofieldguide.com/driven/0704dri22.html), the wiring going through the doors was visible on the Chrysler as well. Plus, the shift lever would catch as it was pulled toward reverse, just the opposite of the almost too-easy operation of the Grand Caravan. Finally, though the door locks functioned as they should, the overall feeling was one of disappointment, especially considering the $37,015 as-driven price.

At first, it was difficult to explain why so quiet and capable a vehicle would leave me wanting more, but the trip – and the chance to discuss the feeling with a car-crazy woman – put it all in perspective. The predominant feeling in the Town & Country tilts toward the feminine. The controls are light, the shapes non-threatening, the color palette subdued, and any overt signs of sport/performance/verve beaten into submission. The window sills are low, which gives great visibility, and the seats are biased toward placing the driver and front passenger high in the air for the best view. Which, in the case of the 4-way adjustable passenger’s seat, meant the feet didn’t have enough purchase on the floor for those shorter of stature.

The other area of disappointment was the interior design. The instrument panel has a large center stack with high-mounted air vents covered with something that approximates wood (it actually does a pretty good job of it) but – except for swatches of this petroleum-based “wood” on the front door panels – stands alone in a sea of non-wood finishes. It’s unthreatening and filled with swells and shapes meant more not to offend than to make a statement. And for nearly $40,000, she wants something that says, “I’m worth it.” Oh, and one that isn’t overloaded with buttons that must be found while dealing with raucous children, or demands the radio be in to see the clock when the navigation system is ordered.

None of this should dissuade buyers from choosing the T&C with its innovative seat package over the competition. (Stow ‘N Go can be had at a lower price point in the Chrysler lineup if price is a concern.) Most minivan buyers are practical people with tons of stuff and varying loads of people to move from place to place. Flexibility, therefore, is high on their list. However, the move toward SUVs has been driven, at least in part, by the image of minivans as mom’s taxi, and even Honda – king of the non-threatening vehicle – made the Odyssey broader shouldered than expected so dad wouldn’t feel like he had to wear a bag on his head when behind the wheel of the family minivan. Maybe Chrysler should consider doing the same. The comfort, economy, space, and flexibility are already there. Now all it needs is some attention to detail and attitude to complete an otherwise appealing picture.