We don’t spend much time randomly checking in on the paint colors available on today’s minivans. No offense to minivans or their color palettes, but we just don’t expect much in the way of excitement. A tweet from Chrysler’s new parent company, Stellantis, about the Pacifica minivan‘s new-for-2o21 Fathom Blue paint caught our attention, however, and the hue is certainly eye-catching.
Fathom Blue is a rich teal color that, according to Chrysler, appears darker or brighter depending on the ambient light. Now, many automotive paints pull off this trick, but again, it isn’t typically something we see in the minivan segment. Taking a scan of the Pacifica’s competition, there are in fact a range of spicy paint options, including lipstick red (Radiant Red Metallic) and rich royal blue (Obsidian Blue Pearl) on the Honda Odyssey and forest green (Cypress) and a striking brown (Sunset Bronze Mica) on the wildly styled Toyota Sienna. The aging Kia Sedona has mostly grayscale options and one navy blue, but perhaps its new redesign will bring more interesting paints to match its name change to the Carnival.
Back to Fathom Blue, the hue is available at no extra cost on both the Pacifica and Pacifica Hybrid (the latter of which is pictured here). Both were updated for 2021, with the non-hybrid minivan adding all-wheel drive as an option and both getting a fancy new Pinnacle trim level. The Pacifica remains an excellent, handsome minivan, and currently holds second place among our 2021 minivan rankings, just behind the Honda Odyssey. If an in-van vacuum cleaner is a must-have, then the Pacifica wins by default, as the Honda’s built-in vacuum (HondaVac) option is on hiatus this year and the option remains available in the Chrysler. And while that feature may suck—literally, of course—Fathom Blue does not.
