Volkswagen took a bit of flack for rebadging and (slightly) retuning Chrysler's Town & Country minivan to come up with its Routan rather than manufacturing its own from scratch, especially given the German car company's history of making with innovative vans. In the face of dismal sales, the fate of the Routan is uncertain, but there's one tech aspect of the vehicle that benefits from its platform sharing.
Chrysler offers one of the best stock rear seat entertainment (RSE) systems available, and carbon copy was included in a 2010 Routan SE I recently tested, renamed JoyBox. JoyBox include two 9-inch drop-down screens for the second- and third-row seats. And via the system's wireless headphones, rear-seat occupants can access any entertainment source the vehicle offers: DVD/CD, AM/FM/Sirius, music stored on a 30GB hard drive and A/V any device that can be plugged into the audio-only aux input on the head unit and two set of audio/video inputs next to the driver's-side sliding door.
When my kids were younger and would watch almost anything animated, I and they may not have appreciated such a wide variety of media choices. But now that my daughter is nearing her teens and my younger son only wants to watch movies that involve some form of fighting, it's hard for them to find common ground.
In the Routan, if they couldn't agree on which DVD to watch, at least my daughter was able to tune into her favorite FM or satellite radio stations and tune everyone else out by listening listen to teen-pop tunes. And my son could watch his shoot-'em-ups (bonus point if you can identify the flick in the photo above). Best of all, my wife and I could listen to our own music or, more likely, enjoy the chance to chat without being interrupted for a change.
As the former owner of a 1976 Westfalia and a 2001 Eurovan Camper (and someone who followed every bit of news about the aborted Microbus concept), I still think that VW's co-opting of Chrysler's minivan platform was a cop-out. But most automakers would do well to emulate Chrysler's RSE system, and I found it to be one of the Routan's most redeeming values.
Doug Newcomb, Senior Editor, Technology
By billt9
on July 20, 2010
02:56 PM
This van's ad campaign was dismal. It's full of negativity and not funny at all.
I would avoid this vehicle just because the ad was full of negativity.
By misterfusion
on July 20, 2010
03:59 PM
Sorry Doug, the resolution is just too low for me to make out what's on the screen. Too bad, because I know my shoot-em-ups.
By dougnewcomb
on July 20, 2010
05:00 PM
Okay, I added another pic ... and probably made it too easy. And a bit morbid.
By misterfusion
on July 22, 2010
05:25 PM
Much better pic, and now I am forced to eat my words. Doesn't ring any bells.
By dougnewcomb
on July 26, 2010
04:50 PM
Pirates of the Caribbean.