When
Chrysler last updated
its 300 in 2011, the fullsize sedan market was a very different place
than it is today. Ford's redesigned Taurus was in showrooms, sure, but
segment stalwarts like the
Toyota Avalon and
Chevrolet Impala were languishing at the tail end of their model cycles.
And still, the second-generation 300 (not counting the "letter series"
cars from the 1950s and '60s, of course) failed to recapitulate the
booming success of the model reboot in 2004. Something in the
combination of the down economy, higher gas prices and great product
from front-wheel-drive entries in the class kept the 300 from the
six-digit sales numbers it saw in the early 2000s.
For the 2015 model year, Chrysler hopes that a more clearly defined
purpose for its big sedan, combined with liberal dipping into the
corporate tech toy box, will rekindle buyer interest. Considering the
mild characters and front-driver dynamics of its mainstream competition,
the promise of V8 power and rear-wheel drive should at least turn the
heads of those looking for a car with a little edge.
I grabbed the keys of the edgiest of the bunch, the sport-intended 300S,
and found a big sedan that gives away some practicality to the rest of
its segment mates. The trade-off for the dip in pragmatism is an uptick
and driving fun and attitude that
should make all the difference for the right buyer.
Even though the hard-to-miss face of the 300 has come in for another nip
and tuck, that attitude is still clearly on display, too. The grille of
the 300 is some 33-percent larger than the outgoing model, though it's
still far less brutal than the throwback styling of the 2005 "Baby
Bentley" car, at least to my eyes. The cheese grater insert is metallic
in most trims of the 300, though the 300S you see in my photo set gets
the meaner blacked-out treatment.
A quick scroll through our gallery will show you that the rest of the
300 has been similarly changed but not reinvented. Light clusters front
and rear are revised, the rear clip has been re-forged with less busy
styling, and the whole car has been de-chromed to a large extent (this
300S is wearing the least blingy outfit of the bunch). That rear spoiler
is S-model specific.
I held the existing 300 interior in fairly high regard, and this new car
improves on that base. The black-on-black interior you see here is
probably the most staid of the bunch in the new lineup, but the S car
can also be had with rather daring blue leather, and the uplevel 300C
and 300 Platinum have tactile treats like softer leather and open-pore
wood trim, if that's your thing.
The two most eye-catching upgrades, across the board, are a sleek new
instrument cluster, and, sigh... yet another installation of the
company's rotary shift knob. The new gauges are surrounded by a very
three-dimensional surround, and highlighted with ambient lighting that's
frankly hard to capture in a daytime photo shoot. Suffice it to say
that the lightscape is very modern looking when the sun goes down.
The shifter, on the other hand, is just fine, I suppose. I've never
liked the action on the rotary knob, and I can't really see what
space-saving good has been wrought by it (that slim cubby you see next
to it is good for holding a single pen). Still, people seem to like the
twisty selectors...
Thankfully, the transmission attached to the dorky rotary shift knob is
now the excellent eight-speed automatic, with both the V6 and the V8
engine options. The bonus to fuel economy (16 city and 25 highway for my
V8 car) is nice, as is the reaction time of the autobox. Chrysler
offers a Sport mode for the transmission that allows for more aggressive
gear-holding, and it'll also give you a full manual mode with the
steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters if you so desire. I don't care
for the half-size paddles found behind the 300 wheel, but the sport mode
does a great job kicking down quickly on its own.
Of course, the star of the powertrain show – and still the biggest
differentiator for the 300 line – is the 5.7-liter V8 engine. The 300
SRT8 won't be making an appearance for the 2015 model year (presumably
the performance sedan duties have been handed off indefinitely to the
Dodge Charger),
but this 5.7-equipped, S-model car is a great half-measure. Outputs of
363 horsepower and 394 pound-feet of torque are enough to better just
about everything that you could legitimately cross-shop here, barring,
perhaps, the
Chevy SS, though that's arguably more of a competitor to the Charger.
Better yet, the big V8 offers stirring response and an enthusiastic
soundtrack when you stomp on the throttle. For a big, two-ton sedan, the
effort required to execute passes or blow past your local highway speed
limit is minimal. With peak horsepower (5,200 rpm) and peak torque
(4,200 rpm) near the top of the 5,800-rpm redline, that eight-speed
trans comes in handy keeping the whole affair boiling, too.
And staying in the powerband was a mission critical affair, as I tossed
the 300 around some of Central Texas' most driver-friendly landscapes.
The Hill Country just outside of Austin has stretches of bending
roadways that seem custom-laid for shaking down a sports car suspension.
Quick ascents and dives, narrow near-switchbacks snaking on the sides
of hills and no shortage of bumps and whoops allow for testing the
lateral and vertical movement of a car's underpinnings.
Even in the guise of my 300 S, with its "sport-tuned" suspension, I
wasn't left convinced that this is the perfect test course for the big
Chrysler. On the plus side, there was a lot less vertical motion while
quickly cresting hills than I'd imagined; the S never felt as though it
was going pull a Duke Boys jump when I topped a knoll with pace. On the
downside, that big 300 body moved side-to-side on its stems more than
I'd like for quick driving. Lateral stiffness felt okay when pushing
quickly through long sweepers, but was less adept at slalom-like
directional revisions.
Stick to the straighter, flatter areas of Texas and the 300 will feel plenty confident, though. Horses for courses.
The whole 300 range gets electrically assisted power steering for the
2015 model year, replacing the hydraulic assisted rack of the outgoing
car. With the sportier tuning of the 300 S, I am happy to report that
the tiller offers nice weight and directness, though it still lacks much
road feel. A short stint in the V6 300, however, proved to me that the
EPAS effect was a lot lighter and less satisfying in that guise.
Chevy's burly SS is a player in terms of power and size, but its $45k
starting price is well over the $35ish it takes to buy a '15 300 with
the V8 option (about $3,000). Starting prices are even steeper for the
luxury-oriented, V8-powered
Kia K900 and
Hyundai Genesis Sedan,
and 300 money will only just get you into much less powerful and
significantly smaller rear-drive compacts from full-on luxury players
like
BMW and
Mercedes-Benz.
Really the best straight-ahead comparison I can come up with is the all-wheel-drive, turbo-charged
Ford Taurus SHO. Both Ford and Chrysler are fast and a little inert, but, to my eyes the 300 wins on its more impressive curb appeal.
Sure, the V6 models will carry the volume for the 300 marque going
forward from here, but I still think the V8 car, especially this rock
'n' roll 300S, offers the most unique ownership experience. Big,
powerful, ballsy and unapologetic are the qualities that made the 300
such a hit ten years ago. Strangely then, in a resurgent segment that
projects nothing but growth, it's still the closest formulation of that
original machine that is most compelling today.
Is a Chrysler 300 – with huge wheels and a blacked out grille and a
blatting exhaust – going to turn the head of your daily Avalon driver?
Probably not. Will that same car lure excitement-seeking buyers into
Chrysler showrooms? My bet is yes.
