On the fence about getting a Pacifica hybrid
I have a 2015 Corolla with about 76k miles on it, which I bought new and have never had to do any work on it aside from basic maintenance and a couple sets of tires. In the last couple years, however, I've been the main driver on long (200 to 500 miles one-way) multi-person road trips, started having more common instances of needing assistance moving/hauling things, and I'm generally starting to feel the space constraints of my small car. I'd been thinking about upgrading to a minivan for the added space (not interested in a truck, SUV, or crossover at all), but I was not keen on sacrificing gas mileage for it and a Sienna hybrid is out of my price range.
All this led me on a rabbit hole down to eventually learning about the Pacifica plug-in hybrid, which absolutely fascinates me. The majority of my driving occurs in a maybe 20-ish mile radius around town (I work from home so I have no commute) and the idea of a van that could use little to no gas for all my daily driving needs, plus have long-range/highway fuel economy that competes with my much smaller current car is extremely tempting.
I've found a 2023 Pacifica Limited Hybrid with about 41k miles that's in my price range near me, but I'd have to trade in my current car to get it. My main concern is with reliability, especially coming from a Toyota that has been beyond reliable and worry-free for 11 years. I've seen a lot of horror stories in doing research on these vans, especially when it comes to the hybrids, with lots of people strongly warning against them and making them out to be money pits that will strand you on the highway, but I wonder how much of that is overblown and/or how affected I'll be as someone who only drives ~7k miles per year and won't be quickly pushing mileage thresholds.
I'm curious what others' opinions are on this here, since I don't have anyone in real life with any relevant experience to weigh in. Will I regret trading my Corolla for a Pacifica, or will a gently-driven Pacifica with proper maintenance be more reliable than the discourse I've seen make it out to be? If the latter, anything I should know before going to check out this van in person to make sure I don't buy into something problematic?