Memo to Bob and Jim: Save the Chrysler 300C, the rakish, slightly felonious sports sedan that put style and drive back into big American cars.
And don't waste time on feasibility studies and focus groups. Trust me: This car is Chrysler.
As you probably know, Bob and Jim are Robert Nardelli – a flinty corporate titan type who formerly headed Home Depot – and Jim Press, the calm Californian who helped Toyota understand the American car and truck market.
They are trying to reinvigorate Chrysler LLC for Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that bought the struggling automaker last summer after DaimlerBenz dumped it.
If the Chrysler 300C Heritage I drove recently is any indication, the industry's automotive odd couple has more work to do.
Don't get me wrong. I still greatly admire high-performance SRT versions of the 300C, Dodge Charger and ghostly Dodge Magnum (which is about to be axed).
And as an old muscle-head, I eagerly await the arrival of the new Dodge Challenger, a reprised and vastly updated version of a 1970s-era Challenger pony car complete with an optional 425-horsepower Hemi motor.
I also appreciate what Chrysler did for the wheezing full-size domestic sedan segment when it boldly decided to build the 300. Chevy took a half-hearted stab at redefining the segment with the Impala SS in the '90s, but Chrysler got it right – offering distinctive styling, strong performance and German handling with just a hint of old-style American ride.
But that square-shouldered mercenary in pinstripes Chrysler's German bosses loosed on the market in 2004 is a graying gunfighter today.
My Inferno Red 300C still looked pretty good and had that wonderful 340-horse Hemi under the hood. Inside, the car was outfitted decently in light-tan leather and proudly displayed a retro red-white-and-blue 300 emblem as part of the Heritage package.
But it rolled on skinny 225/60 all-season tires mounted on ordinary nine-spoke, 18-inch wheels that looked pretty puny. The modest running gear didn't help the car's loosey-goosey stance – or image, particularly when every other cheapo six-cylinder 300 in Dallas seems to be fitted with giant, garish 22-inch wheels.
Then I got a look at the 300C's window sticker: $44,130, much of it for options and equipment associated with the Heritage package. To put this into perspective, I looked up Motor Trend magazine's review of the 300C when it was named Car of the Year in 2005. The retail price of the magazine's test car was $35,275.
Am I missing something? The car is largely unchanged since then, sales are down nearly 11 percent this year and the price goes up substantially?
Some of those misgivings began to ease, I admit, once the Hemi burst to life with that trademark intake moan – a mystical, ethereal sound from the distant '60s. This is one great overhead-valve V-8, a relatively compact motor that pounds out 390 pound-feet of torque, can make tons of horsepower when juiced up and is equipped with a cylinder-deactivation system that allows the thirsty Hemi to run on four or six cylinders when it's loafing.
As a result, the car is rated at 15 miles per gallon city, 23 highway – not bad for a two-ton bruiser, but it won't win you any free car washes at your neighborhood Greenie Club.
And there's no question that this car can still run when all eight cylinders are summoned. In a recent Car and Driver test of an '08 300C, the 4,100-pound sedan romped to 60 in 5.3 seconds and flew through the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 102 mph.
As many of you know, that's BMW 550 territory. In addition, the Chrysler is still equipped with an independent rear suspension and other high-tech pieces derived from Mercedes-Benz sedans. (I guess when Mercedes decided to gather its marbles and go home in a huff, it didn't get to take all of them.)
Inside, the 300's seats were stitched in attractive leather, and the dash was fitted with Chrysler's familiar white-faced gauges. Plus, the center stack has kept its tasty nickel trim and efficient controls.
But the plastic on the dashboard and door tops – material that gets better industrywide every year – seemed barely adequate for a good midsize sedan, much less a luxury car.
Moreover, leg room in the back was acceptable for my willowy 67 inches but hardly expansive – which could be a consideration for some buyers.
Plus, equipped with all-weather tires, the 300C's turn-in was not as crisp as I had anticipated, and the steering felt a tad slow and overly boosted.
And while I'm griping, I wouldn't mind a firmer suspension. The ride is fine, but the 300 felt as if it had lost some of its corner-carving abilities and aggression. (Maybe after the break-up, it was forced into anger-management classes or something.)
Here's the weird part: Now that the Germans are gone, the 300C doesn't feel as European. Could that be?
I don't know. But the 300C I drove four years ago seemed unusually sophisticated and responsive, a marvel of a mid-$30,000 car. My '08 model felt overpriced at $44,000.
My suggestion to Bob and Jim – and I know they eagerly await the opinions of some hayseed from Denton – is to spiff up the interior, toss in a six-speed automatic, give the Hemi the same 40-horse boost that the engine gets in the new Ram, tighten the suspension a tad and add 20-inch tires and wheels like the SRT.
Think of it as a 90-day session with a personal trainer and some new clothes after the divorce – a gentle shove forward for a car that still has a lot of life left in it.
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