QUALITY | 8 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
The cabin features higher-rent materials than the outgoing model, but some of the hard keys on the center control panel don't have the greatest feel.
Kicking Tires
new three-point mount system to reduce noise, vibration, and harshness
Motor Trend
There's a lot for busy parents to like about the 2013 Journey. Dodge and Chrysler clearly applied some of its long-honed expertise with minivans to this interior, as people and cargo really fit well and there are plenty of smaller spaces for personal items, toys, and accessories. Overall, there's good seating for a full-size family without full-size parking drama.
Front seats are what we’d best describe as ‘American-sized’—think wider than some other seats. Back-seat accommodations are among the best you’ll find in any vehicle this size, and the seats are contoured to fit adults (two of them, or three kids); the seatback is adjustable for rake, and the whole bench slides fore and aft a few inches, so it’s easy to get comfortable back there.
In back, folding the seats forward takes an extra step—you slide the middle portion of the outboard cushions up and forward first—but the reward is that you get a lower, flatter load floor as well as that better contouring. There are also many thoughtful solutions for storing odds and ends, and keeping some of them out of sight. For instance, the cushion of the passenger seat flips up to reveal a bin underneath, while below the rearward portion of the cargo floor there’s a huge space vast enough for a couple of laptop bags.
The cargo hold specs out at a swell 37 cubic feet behind the second row, and a tight 10.7 cubic feet behind the raised third-row seat. Flip everything down behind the front seats, and you can fit a half-dozen flat-screen TVs in the Journey's 67.6 cubic feet of space.
Conclusion
Flexible seating, good passenger space, and plenty of small-item storage makes the Journey one of the most thoughtfully designed crossovers. .
