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Comments
I still wanted the great handling, but I didn't want it too firm. Afterall, it's still a luxury sedan. What I liked best about the SS was the fact that it had a VERY compliant ride for street use as muscle cars go, but because of the progressive rate springs and Bilstein shocks spec'd out by SLP, it firmed up immensely when pushed. It also had a huge 35mm front sway bar and a 21 mm rear bar. When I strafed an off-ramp with it, it just stuck like glue, no body roll, no sliding, it just did it. The Special has a ride that is a bit more compliant than the SS, but it doesn't roll or wallow in turns. The steering is precise and it goes where it's pointed. It doesn't have the seemingly telepathic precision that the SS had with this setup, but it all works extremely well. It soaks up the bumps pretty good and you can definitely tell it's no cloud-mobile. Personally, that's exactly what I was looking for in this car. It's got just the right amount of firmness to keep its composure when pushed and enough compliance to be a very comfortable place to spend time in. Chrysler's done a very good job with this car and stayed true to the theme of the "Special" cars that have come before it.
http://pub88.ezboard.com/f300menthusiastsclubfrm6
Yes, mine came with the 18-inch wheels and Pilot Sport tires. I really like the way they fill the wheel-wells on these cars. That, the slightly lowered ride height, and the VERY tasteful lower cladding give the car a really hunkered down look. To look at it from just about any angle, it looks ready to go...:):)
The critics are right though about keeping the wheels clean. The pad compound chosen generates A LOT of brake dust. I have to clean the wheels about 3x per week to keep on top of it. I saw another 300M Special a couple of weeks ago on my way to Tewksbury. It was the Deep Sapphire Blue Pearl Coat and had an aftermarket rear spoiler on it. The car itself was spotless, but the front wheels were actually black from all the dust. The rear ones were brown. It's not in me to let my vehicles get that bad, I always try to keep them up.
The Pacifica is based off of the minivan, using the M's 3.5 and probably the transaxle from the AWD minivan.
Thanks for the info on the balance issue. I had attributed the bulk of my "shake" problem to the tires being flat-spotted. The car sat unmoved for at least 3 months on the lot. It has all but gone away now but still shows up between 50 and 70 mph. It's worst between 60 and 70 mph. The car just turned 720 miles today. I have it going in next week to get it checked out. I figured any flat-spotting would have run itself out as much as possible by now. I wonder if having them balanced on the car might be an alternative. I know a place fairly local that can do that. There's nowhere to mount a weight on the outside of these wheels and I wouldn't allow them to stick one on the outside. GM did that with the magnesium wheel option on the C5 Corvette and it looks atrocious. I'll definitely mention this info to the dealer when I see them next week. I've got my appt. set up as a wait and I WILL make a PIA of myself if I have to to make sure this gets corrected. This has been the only blemish on what is otherwise a VERY favorable experience.
While I'm here, what is the consensus on motor oil for these cars? Do you recommend a synthetic like Mobil 1 or is a high quality conventional "dino" oil good enough? I ran only Mobil 1 in the SS, so the expense is not a factor. I usually do my first change at 1000 miles, the next at 3000 miles, and then every 3000 miles thereafter. Any thoughts?
Mobil 1 it is...:)
My next door neighbor has a Porsche Boxter which comes from the factory with Mobil 1 synthetic. The owners manual states that the oil should be changed once a year, no mileage given.
300mspecial1 - welcome aboard man . Hope you enjoy that M .
Well its monday night and it sure looks like we will be hitting the bricks at 11:59 Tuesday night.
Ottowrkr, thanks for the welcome. I really like this car. It's ....well...Special
Silver
Silver
http://community.webshots.com/album/52498761SVRDvx
On oil, I have used the standard stuff the dealer puts in, and haven't burned any thru 51K miles so I haven't had to add anything except when changing the oil at 3K. At oil changes I did start adding a quart of Duralube engine treatment in lieu of one quart of oil, and the dealer has put that in over the last couple of oil changes. Saw one of their infomercials and was impressed enough to try it, figuring it couldn't hurt and might be good for the wear on the engine parts. I plan on adding their tranny treatment at the next trans service which I plan at 60K, but I am going to talk with the service people before I do that to get their ok.
Duals have been added as of last Friday. Used the Ractive T-813 tips and the HUJO design but with a Camaro muffler at the dual split. They look sweet and sound good except that the shop did not have that second smaller Magnaflow collector so we tried it without, and I have that resonance between 45-60 mph that was mentioned here. Growls off the line, and is really quiet between 60-85 mph. We decided to add the collector to cut down the cabin resonance at the most often driven speeds and that should be in and done later this week I hope. The plus side had been that I couldn't hear my wife yakking at me in the 45-60 speed range, but she didn't like the drone so I am gonna get that quieted a little. I didn't notice any real performance difference, but I don't time my quarter miles either so its hard to say if it has improved. I just like the looks and growl of the duals.
Graphics--Had the shop take another shot at the shark gills graphic on the front fenders, but the jury is still out on that one. Had them add a slightly different gray color than the platinum to the leading edge of the gill in front of the charcoal shadow, but still don't think it is giving enough visual depth to the gills. Gonna let it go for a while and then decide if I want to take it off or leave it on.
Anyway, I want one of those bad boys!
Silver
Good luck with your "shake" problem. If the "5-STAR" says ANYTHING like 'they all do that" or "can't duplicate the problem" or "it's a characteristic of the car" or "it's the crown in the road"......IMMEDIATELY call the tire manufacturer and have them call one of their local stores to have them check it out. If not, you'll be going through this for MONTHS as the '5-STAR" starts replacing front-end parts etc. Trust me. Been there, done that! Don't wait unless you like to visit the dealer. If you decide to wait... DRIVE will NOT = LOVE!
fastdriver
I got them from Tod in Troy, MI 48083
(248) 689-8060 - He sold them to me for$95/tire, ship $7ea, (had to include tax, even though shipped
Coscto (not sure if there are any where you are) installed for $10ea, which included lifetime rotate and balance...
Yeah, I hear you on the dealers. You gotta watch 'em like hawks sometimes. Truthfully, "5-Star" doesn't mean squat to me until they earn it. In this case, they need to fix this issue the first time. I do not accept statements like "they all do that" or other such cop-out type remarks. All that tells me is that they are too lazy to do the job right. It's one thing if they don't have the equipment or an on-site expert, they can always refer you to another shop, but it's another matter to treat a customer like they just fell off the turnip truck. A $34,000.00 luxury car should not shake when being driven down the road at legal speeds. End of discussion. I don't believe for a second that anyone at a dealership would tolerate such a condition on their own cars, so why ask a customer to? You don't keep a 5-Star rating by doing those kinds of things...
Having said all that, I've no intention at all of going in with a chip on my shoulder and I'm totally willing to work with them to resolve it. It never accomplishes anything to go in and be a jerk and that's not the way I am. You just have to set up front the right expectation level. It's pretty simple really; it shakes, it's a brand spanking new car, it's not supposed to do that, please fix it.
"You don't keep a 5-Star rating by doing those kinds of things..."
Trust me! They do! It's the factory reps- the ones they wine and dine- who evaluate them! That works out well!
"Having said all that, I've no intention at all of going in with a chip on my shoulder and I'm totally willing to work with them to resolve it. It never accomplishes anything to go in and be a jerk and that's not the way I am. You just have to set up front the right expectation level. It's pretty simple really; it shakes, it's a brand spanking new car, it's not supposed to do that, please fix it."
LOL... BEEN THERE, DONE THAT TOO!! It still doesn't work! I was ALWAYS nice to them! That's exactly how I felt- a $30,000 car should not go left down the highway- crown or no crown when every other new car I EVER owned NEVER did that on the SAME roads! I dealt with this nonsense for 10 1/2 months before I solved the problem myself with Goodyear!
Good luck. Keep us informed. I'm surprised that no one here is 'scolding" you for not driving the car before you bought it and pointing this out to the dealer like I did! WHO ever thought they wouldn't have fixed it when I picked it up. Once you sign on that dotted line- you're done!
fastdriver
is this 5* treatment--I think not!
Sounds like SOP to me!
fastdriver
It's too bad some of you have problems with the 5 star guys. But I wouldn't paint all of them with the same brush. There are some who really do live up to their part of the bargain.
LOL... SOME being the key word! Towards the end with Christine, the Dodge dealer followed everything that a "5-STAR" is SUPPOSED to do. Nothing like the previous two "5-STAR" Chrysler dealers. I think the ones that DON'T live up to those standards are the dealers who have had those "5-STARS" for YEARS!
fastdriver
I know what you mean about the 5-Star rating. I do know that the evaluation forms you get periodically are looked at at some point. A friend of mine had difficulty with the service at a different dealer than me and he trashed them when he got his service satisfaction follow-up letter. He told me he got a call a couple weeks later from the service manager who was very upset. He told him they got in big trouble over that bad review. Now maybe that was BS and maybe it wasn't. Or, maybe this bad review was one of many and they were finally catching grief for it, but whatever, these evaluation forms DO get looked at.
Just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm not griping about my dealer in any way. This will be my first service visit since owning the car, so I have nothing to complain about. I had bad experiences with incompetent and/or excuse laden service with other dealers, so I was just explaining what I would and wouldn't be willing to tolerate. It sounds like you might have gotten just an outright bad dealer(s) in your area and that's a major PITA.
I did test drive this car before buying it and I noted the shake problem at that time. The first question I asked when I got back to the lot with it was how long had it been sitting. I requested that they look at the car before I took delivery. They did in fact service it and the recommendation of the tech who did the work was that I drive it a few hundred miles to run out the flat-spotting. As I put miles on the car the shake problem has all but gone away except in the speed range I mentioned and even then, it's not THAT bad. I just want it fixed because it shouldn't be doing it at all. Their request that I drive it for a little bit first was reasonable under the circumstances and I had no issue with it. Now that it's got some miles on it and still shakes a little bit, it's obvious that any flat-spotting has run itself out as much as it's going to and now it's time to go to work to fix it. They were very eager to help me when I scheduled the appt. and have thus far treated me well. I will give them the benfit of the doubt until they give me a reason not to. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm sorry that your dealer(s) haven't worked out.
If need be I'll call the seat supplier to ask what the delay is.
Yes the CAW and D-C are still haggling over the details but at 11:45 last night Buzz Hargrove made the announcement on TV that "... we have a framework for an agreement"
Now THAT'S "5-STAR" service!! Too bad the dealers don't exert the same effort! That's part of DC's problem!
ottowrkr-
Saw a pic of Buzz- he looks like Dick Clark- the perrenial teenager! ;-))
fastdriver
I hear you! Let's hope that your "5-STAR" is different. Guys like wire2 and ottowrkr are the ones who need to be in the dealer repair shops!
Of course they get upset with a "bad" response. It means $$$$$$$ to the dealer, trips, prizes etc.!!!! They WANT these things, but they don't want to WORK for them! Our "work" ethic sucks. Just look around!
fastdriver
Yeah some say that , others just call him DICK.
The dealers that people are happy with are the ones that make the extra effort and go the extra mile for the customer. In the end they are the ones that end up with less headaches because they have a lot fewer PO'd customers to have to do damage control with.
I won't bore folks here with it, but those that have been over at the 300M Enthusiasts Club reading the on going saga of trying to get my Infinity amplifier replace under a DC TSB can see what a mess a mediocre service department can cause.
I waited over 2 months for a seat cushion in chicago I wound up moving before it came in. Had the dealer here order another 2 weeks ago and got a post card saying the part was in. Will take it in next week to get it installed.
The 300M is a wonderful car I just wish the service lived up to the price. I picked this car over lexus, acura and infiniti. because at the time it was the biggest best handling and most powerful of the bunch. But I'm wishing I picked something else now because of the resale and service. Otto and Wire you guys make some great cars I wish Chrysler would step up and make Chrysler a real "premium" brand. If they provided the level of service and warranty that say an infiniti did I don't think you guys would have anytime off. Because just on merits the 300 is an awesome car.