That means it’s going to be all-in on the Town and Country … which battles a wide variety of options from foreign automakers including Honda, Toyota and Kia.

I recently drove a 2015 Town and Country, and I’m back with a full report about what it has to offer and how it compares with other minivans.

LOOKS
The Town & Country looks like a minivan -- there’s really no way around that, because that’s what it is. You get your traditional power sliding doors on both sides, and Chrysler does what they can to give it an attractive exterior shaping.

But this isn’t a beauty contest; it’s about utility and what you can do with it. And you can do quite a bit. The goal of a minivan is either to haul a lot of people, or a bunch of cargo, or some combination of the two.

If you’re hauling people, you’ll be happy to hear there is plenty of room inside for everyone to sit, and even the back row isn’t terrible to sit in, which is rare in three row vehicles. I wouldn’t recommend it for long hauls if you’re a grownup, but the kids should be plenty comfortable even for distances. (And as a bonus, the rear seats can be turned into tailgate seating).

For moving cargo, it’s quite helpful that you can stow away the back two rows of seats to create a plentiful hole for whatever you are transporting.

Front row and second row seats can both be heated, you can heat the steering wheel, and the interior is pretty comfy overall (maybe a tad tight in the driver’s seat if you’re tall).

Materials aren’t high-end by any means, but it’s nowhere near cheap-feeling. It’s about what you’d expect in a non-luxury ride.

ENGINE, HORSEPOWER
The Town & Country features a 3.6-liter Pentasar V6 engine that offers 283 horsepower, along with 260 lb-ft of torque. It also offers a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Despite the seemingly strong horsepower number, I wasn’t overly impressed with the T&C’s ability to get up to speed, especially on the highway when it’s needed most.
Once you’re up to speed it performs admirably, but getting there is often a chore.

The ride was not perfect and occasionally bumpy, but was overall quite smooth and quiet -- I’d rate the ride about mid-pack as far as minivans go; better than some of its competitors, but worse than a couple others.

TECHNOLOGY
The 6.5-inch touchscreen display/tech interface in the Town & Country I tested was well-designed, easy to control, and the vehicle also responded well to voice commands.
Navigation is via Garmin and will look familiar to those who have used Garmin standalone units.

Those who want to entertain the kids on long trips can opt for the Blu-Ray quality DVD player setup with video screens hanging in the second and third rows. The system includes wireless headphones for those watching to wear.

SAFETY
Since minivans are by definition family vehicles, safety has to be a main concern.

One feature that I found very helpful was the Blind Spot and Cross Path Detection system, which alerts you if there are vehicles in the next lane or behind you as you are backing up.

Other safety features include rain-sensitive windshield wipers, auto headlights, tire pressure monitoring system, the always-important rear back-up camera, electronic stability control, multistage front airbags, supplemental side-curtain airbags in all rows, and more.

Add to that a series of four and five star safety ratings from government testing, and it’s safe to say the T&C is one of the safer minivans you can buy.

PRICE
Your price on the Town & Country will vary based on the trim level you choose. There are six trim levels: LX, Touring, S, Touring-L, Limited and Limited Platinum. I drove a Platinum edition, the base price of which was $39,995 (plus destination charge it came to $40,990). The base model starts at $29,995 but will be missing many of the tech and safety upgrades that I had on my test vehicle.

MPG
Official numbers are 17 city/25 highway/20 combined, and I found these numbers to be accurate for the most part during my testing. As far as how they compare to other minivans on the market, it’s about level to almost all competitors with one major exception -- the Honda Odyssey weighs in at 19/28/22 -- a significant improvement that puts it top in class.

BOTTOM LINE
With the Grand Caravan not around after next year, Town & Country is Chrysler’s long-term hope for minivan. And while there are many competitors aiming to take that market share, Chrysler has a strong option for customers here that should continue to perform very well.

If I had to pick a favorite minivan overall I would give the narrow edge to the Honda Odyssey just due to overall ride quality and mpg, but the Town & Country is definitely no slouch in this battle.

Chrysler has price on its side and a lot of folks are loyal to Detroit, so that will also help the Town & Country in the minivan fight this year and beyond.

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Matt Myftiu can be found on Twitter @MattMyftiu.