If the Dodge Durango is aimed towards busy families, then the Chrysler Aspen must be aimed at their still youthful grandparents. You know the ones. Grandpa still works and takes clients to meetings, while on the weekends they load up the car and head to the cottage. Or the track. For these folks, the interior of the Aspen is perfectly suited, with an exception level of comfort and maturity.

Up front, the driver and co-driver are treated to just about every convenience known to modern vehicles. There is tons of storage space, two stage heated power seats, navigation system, bluetooth, satellite radio, power sunroof and more. The fit and finish are better than average for a traditional domestic and even the plastiwood looks pretty good.

The attractive gauges have a soft blue glow, that is backed up by matching hue from the interior lights.

Looking upwards, there are cool pivoting map lights that look like they were nicked from an airliner. They too emit the same comforting blue light.

The controls and switches all have a nice feeling of quality to them and most are fairly intuitive to operate. That said, I actually had to pull out the owners manual for the first time in years to find the rear wiper switch. It is located at the bottom right of the heater controls and looks like a fan speed knob.

Perhaps a little curious is the absence of an aux in jack for an mp3 player on the entertainment/navi unit. With Sirius Satellite Radio on board though, one doesn’t miss much. Given the Aspen’s very adult lot in life, it felt a little weird groovin to Prodigy blasting through the incredible Alpine audio system. An aging Howard Stern on the other hand felt right at home riding shotgun in the Aspen!

The clean looking front center console opens up to reveal a pair of cup holders and a storage compartment that is perfect for cell phone and sunglasses. The space is lined with grippy rubber that keeps objects from rattling around.

The layout of our tester was of the 7 passenger variety, with 4 bucket seats and a bench seat for 3 way out back. That bench is really best used for the little ones, while the center buckets are all about being coddled. For those who require more seating, 8 passenger seating with a bench in the center row is available.

Middle seat passengers are living in the lap of luxury in the Aspen. The first thing one notices is that the rear doors are huge, allowing very easy entry. Once inside, passengers are met with their own heated seats, climate control and some serious storage.

There is even a 110v outlet to keep the laptop, dvd or game console up and running.

The center seats fold forward to allow rear seat passengers to get in with some degree of dignity, and aid with accommodating larger items.

The 3rd row of seats has a 6/40 split to allow for different cargo or human loads. With the 7 passenger seating option, the Aspen actually fails our 3 hockey bag test, as the space behind the 3rd bench is just too small when traveling with 5 passengers. Somehow I don’t think that the average Aspen buyer is lugging around a fleet of hockey players.

What all of this doesn’t convey is just how much we liked the 2007 Chrysler Aspen. It is a great looking truck that hauls butt and is comfortable to boot. We were actually sad to see it go, even with it’s slightly excessive thirst. The only changes we would make for our family would be choosing the 8 passenger option. This would allow all 3 kids to sit in the middle, with tons of cargo space in the back when we need it.

I can’t wait for the arrival of the Aspen/Durango Hybrid in The Garage later this year.