The off-road minivan is a weird idea to begin with. These cars are known for their long wheelbases, and they tend to attract a buyer with limited interest in using their daily-driver to explore trails and backroads. So it's a segment that offers automakers limited opportunity, but even more limited competition.Chrysler has shown off a Grizzly Peak trim concept for the Pacifica minivan, and, if Chrysler decides to officially make the trim available to the public, its only major rival would be the Toyota Sienna Woodland. So we've got two questions: is the Grizzly Peak worth waiting for? And, if not, is a Toyota Sienna Woodland worth serious consideration in the first place? Let's find out. The Grizzly Peak Trim Does Look Pretty Cool Chrysler In building the Grizzly Peak, Chrysler started with the Pacifica Limited all-wheel drive trim, which is not available in hybrid, meaning the Grizzly Peak will likely be combustion-only. If Chrysler doesn't plan on doing any work under the hood, the off-road minivan will be running on a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 for 287 hp horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque, which sounds good to us for an AWD off-roader, and it's got a panoramic sunroof for taking in the scenery.Chrysler turned the Limited into an adventure vehicle with the following additions and tweaks. The rear suspension has been raised by 2.5 inches and the front by 2.75 inches, for nearly 8 inches of ground clearance. 31-inch BFGoodrich KO2 off-road tires on 18-inch wheels. Baja Designs LP4 LED fog lamps. Auxiliary TYRI LED roof lights. Rhino-Rack Pioneer Platform roof storage. The concept was shown off with a retractable ARB awning. Mopar splash guards. Protective paint wrap. The third row has been removed for a cargo floor panel with tie-downs, with the idea being to create a potential sleeping surface in the back, in case you don't feel like climbing out of the car and setting up your tent. All-weather floor mats. We keep hearing rumors of the Chrysler Pacifica Grizzly Peak heading into production, but, at the moment, there's no official confirmation, and there's no telling how well the finished product will reflect the concept car. Chrysler could just as easily slap some off-road tires onto the minivan, call it the Grizzly Peak, and be done with it.It would be pretty neat to see this thing actually hit the market. We're certain that its appeal would be rather limited, and Chrysler will be lucky to move a single Grizzly Peak for every 10 Pacificas sold. But the more weird off-roaders we have to pick from, the better. The Toyota Sienna Beat Chrysler To Market (Sort Of) Toyota Toyota debuted the Sienna Woodland, an off-road-oriented version of the popular Sienna minivan, for the 2022 model year, starting with the hybrid XLE trim, with its 245-hp, 176 lb-ft 2.5-liter straight-four, and adding the following features and tweaks. The Woodland is just 0.6 inches taller than the standard Sienna, sitting at 6.3 inches of ground clearance. Standard electronic all-wheel drive. 3,500-pound tow hitch. Roof rails with crossbars. 1500w power outlet in rear of the cabin. All-weather floor mats. 29.1-inch tires on 18-inch wheels. If that list seems a bit skimpy, well, it's like we said, there's not much competition in this segment, and this is what passes for an off-road minivan at the moment. We don't mean to take shots at the Sienna Woodland. It's fine for what it is, which is a daily-driver that can handle rough roads and bad weather now and then.The Grizzly Peak offers a much more dramatic reinvention of its base vehicle. Pulling the third-row seats out of a minivan is unheard of. Meanwhile, the Sienna Woodland doesn't even come with rugged off-road tires as a standard feature. The Woodland Is A Mostly Pointless Upgrade Toyota The most useful features in the Woodland are the 3,500-lb tow hitch and roof rails. The extra ground clearance is fairly trivial when the minivan's standard tires are so basic.An entry-level LE with all-wheel drive starts at $42,820. Add roof rails and crossbars, and you're spending $43,209. Estimate another $1,000 for some chunky all-terrain tires, and we're looking at a price tag of around $44,209 to get off-road in an entry-level trim.Meanwhile, the Woodland will cost you $51,600, and you'll still have to spend another $1,000 for the tire upgrade. In an LE, we're missing the tow hitch and the rear outlet, but, in terms of off-road performance, we're getting basically the same vehicle as the Woodland.Checking in with Woodland owners, a user in the r/ToyotaSienna subreddit says that "half an inch is still half an inch I didn't have before." Another user states that they only bought a Woodland because they couldn't find the XLE trim on which it was based, reporting that "compared to a Limited or Platinum, it's missing a lot of the extra goodies like vented seats." You Can Get A Better Upgrade With A Lift Kit Toyota The general consensus, as summarized by one user, is that the Woodland Edition is simply a "Gimmick. Buy good tires on another trim." One driver took matters into their own hands, stating that "improving the suspension and adding an inch was a better move than selling my XLE and buying a Woodland."If you can get a good deal on a Woodland, the extras are certainly welcome. But it's hardly Toyota's answer to a Jeep Wrangler. You Could Just Buy A Big Subaru Subaru To be clear, we're not saying that the Woodland is a lousy car by any means. It's got Toyota reliability with minivan functionality, its hybrid powertrain averages 35 miles to the gallon, combined, with FuelEconomy.gov estimating an annual fuel cost of just $1,950, and it's perfectly capable when it comes to light off-roading.The Ascent is a three-row SUV starting at $40,795 for the 2026 model year, it's all-wheel drive standard, being a Subaru, it tows up to 5,000 lbs, and the roof rails don't cost extra.If you'd like to buy a used model, five-year-old Ascents are currently trending at five figures below MSRP.We were able to turn up the following listings on our own marketplace. A 139,451-mile 2019 Ascent is selling for $9,995 in Washington. A 118,290-mile 2019 Premium is selling for $10,950 in Colorado. A 98,277-mile 2021 Touring is selling for $20,998 in Florida. A 70,018-mile 2021 Limited is selling for $20,999 in Washington. A 46,692-mile 2023 Onyx Edition is selling for $33,999 in Pennsylvania. Note that we're only providing these numbers as an example of what's out there. You'll want to run a search of your own to find something in your price range, and in your area.At these numbers, you can easily grab a beater in the 125,000-mile range for around $10,000 and sling it around the trail without worrying about how banged up it gets. Or, Subarus make great daily-drivers, so you could spend around $20,000 on something with under 100,000 miles on the odometer, never skip an oil change, and keep it for years. Subarus Are Even More Reliable Than Toyotas (According To J.D. Power) Subaru In this year's dependability survey, J.D. Power actually ranked Subaru two spots above Toyota, in sixth place, with a PP100 (problems per 100 vehicles) rating of 181 to Toyota's 185. The Ascent is the proof in the pudding, with an estimated annual repair bill of $617, according to RepairPal.We love the idea of an off-road minivan. But the Pacifica has a wheelbase of 121.6 inches, and the Sienna stretches 120.5 inches from wheel to wheel. Meanwhile, the Ascent packs three rows into a relatively agile wheelbase of just 113.8 inches.In short, we can't wait to take the Grizzly Peak for a test-drive, but the whole adventure-minivan segment feels a bit redundant when you could just buy a big Subaru.