Chrysler 300/300C

morseland

I wonder if the Satin Jade on the new 300c would be the same color as was on the Pacifica. I was thinking of replacing my 300M with the Pacifica but I now waiting for the 300C. The Satin Jade was my favorite color for the Pacifica and reminds me of my dad's 1965 New Yorker that was a beautiful soft metallic green.

dale48

I believe you are correct.
When I ordered my car the dealer said the color was on other new models but they had none on the lot.
Glad you like the color, hope I do too.

microrepair

Is it only the hemi that will have the engine cylinder management feature of cutting out 2 or 4 cylinders if not needed?

I'm getting psyched by the reviews starting to show up and am getting anxious to actually do a touchy feely on one of these 300's.. It might be a worthy successor to my aging MB E320...

soozpk

Just my view on the various articles / reviews that have been / will be coming out on the 300 series. I've been a long time subscriber to both Motor Trend and Car & Driver, and never can I remember an article ever recommeding it's readership, "Don't buy this car, it stinks". They are very carefull in what they write, just touching upon a vehicle's weakness, certainly not dwelling on it. They do this so as not to chase away the advertizing revenue.
On the other side of the coin are the free lancers / independents who write articles for newspapers and secondary market type magazines that can offer input from a layman's perspective, but that weakness shows in their lack of depth on the vehicle they're trying to write about.
Remember, every car has it's quirks, and the 300 will be no different.

highwaystar

Yes this will be the same color as the Pacifica

smitty

On Wed the 3rd , My dlr called to tell me my 300c hemi was built and I could expect del. by the end of April. A big intro party has been set for April 21st and none will be sold before the big kick off. This is my 1st post I'm waiting for my brilliant black crystal pearl coat, Hemi.dark and med slate gray int. Sound and protection group II. O.T.D. price in Ca $36,573.14 Smitty

thunderbirdj26

so dealers should get them sometime in late april?

soozpk

That's pretty much the line I got, however the dealer didn't have an actual date. I was just simply told my car was being held until Chrysler starts the advertizing blitz on this vehicle.
Still makes no sense to me, as I keep saying, "What better advertizing can Chrysler get, than have their vehicles running up and down the streets"???

fsmmcsi

The ad blitz is a good idea, especially if they have an assortment of the various models, so that when people go to a dealer there are several, not just one or two, cars to view and drive. Of course, I understand that everyone with an order is anxious. Waiting also gives D-C time to identify and correct flaws before the big introduction.

It sounds like the AWD 300 will come out in the Fall, good timing by D-C, as it is the same time as the introduction of the Ford Five Hundred / Mercury Montego, making the AWD option less of a special feature for Ford.

dgepley

I am sorry if you are excited about this car, I could care less if it came with 2 hemi engines, it is just hideous. I thought the Pontiac Aztec was as bad as it could get, but the new 300 made me change my mind. Its the new edsel.

It looks like a mac truck made into a car then put on steroids.

You want to see style look at the new Buick Lacrosse, now that is a great looking car.

soozpk

The Olds Aurora was a very nicely designed car, but even that didn't help Olds in the end.

bigmike5

I find it interesting if Apr 21 is the release date on the 300C. That coincides with a big coming-out party being thrown down at the Corvette plant and Museum in Bowling Green, 22-24 April for the new C-6 Corvette convertible [just previewed in Geneva]. Supposed to be a big bash, but I can't get there on that day as I have a day of training in L-ville. Maybe that is a big spring weekend for new cars?

soozpk

By that token, one could then assume that 300s would "have to" be in-place by that date. They do need something to show. One other interesting note, my dealership has said all they are planning to order are Hemi C's, and if anyone wants the lower-end vehicles they'll be special ordered. Which then brings me to another question to ponder over. For those of us that already ordered our 300's at a set price, shouldn't we be able to take any "introductory" incentives that may be available at the time of release?? As long as the discount is coming from Mopar, and
not out of the dealer's pocket, I can't see why our purchase price can't be adjusted. Any ideas???

ipoddin

Yesterday's paper, one local dealer had a photo of a 300c in it's ad but only said to "call for more info". Touted the Hemi engine but that was about it. This was in LA btw.

stephen

"You want to see style look
 at the new Buick Lacrosse,
now that is a great looking car."

If you like the jelly bean styling that is fading into ancient history, Lacrosseyed is the car for you. It has front wheel drive! They should call it the LacrossedStar. It is not even a production car, just a concept. Ill-conceived concept.

fastdriver

stephen-

"It is not even a production car, just a concept. Ill-conceived concept."

It's going into production on September 7th! Check it out. Three models- CX, CXL and CXS.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/insiders/0403/08/autosinsider-56473.h- - tm

fastdriver

intrepidspirit

in Ontario (CA) last week. A friend of mine got there first and said they had the 300, although he wasn't sure if it was a C. I asked him if he sat in it and he said no, it was on a revolving platform. A production car on a revolving "no-touch" platform??? I could understand the 300 Hemi convertible and the Chronos being out of bounds when they were shown, but not a regular production car.

Anyway, my main purpose in wanting to go to the show was to sit in a 300 and check out the site-lines and compare it overall to our 2 300M's. I'm glad I didn't go -- it would have been a big dissapointment!

fastdriver

intrepidspirit-

When I went to the car show in RI, the 300C HEMI was also on a revolving platform. NO hands on! DC seems to be getting very weird lately. Do you think they know what they are doing over there in Germany? I STILL say that they have NO clue of America's love for their cars.

fastdriver

soozpk

IntrepidSpirit wrote: my main purpose in wanting to go to the show / I'm glad I didn't go -- it would have been a big dissapointment!

I'm writing this in hysterics, my old lady is yelling up to the den what's the racket's about !! Here's a guy that's glad he didn't waste his time going to the auto show to see a 300, because he couldn't have sit in it......God, I'd crawl on my damn knees just for an actual 300 catalog, let alone viewing one close-up. Ha ha ha......I love it.

fsmmcsi

I wonder if dgepley has seen an actual 300, or just photos? Is he/she a Ford/GM/Nissan/whatever employee? I have my doubts about the visibility, but photos are not enough to make a sound decision on the appearance of anything.

As for the Buick - Are you kidding - Garbage Motors? The interior looks like the same cheap designs GM has had for years. It will probably have all of the "quality" and cheap features of my last GM car - a '96 Impala SS - seats with springs which come through, carpets which waer though every 15,000 miles, seat tracks with plastic separators which break, a transmission which blows up twice in 120,000 miles...

stephen

At the Detroit show in January, there was a Chrysler 300C that you could sit in, and move the power seat and power tilt and telescope steering wheel to different positions. It was great!

They also had a 300 Touring model to sit in and touch to your hearts content. I have had sciatica in my right leg for years, but after touching those cars, I'm CURED! It's a miracle. These cars will change your life.

stephen

fastdriver

stephen-

"These cars will change your life."

That's ONE thing you can count on for sure.

fastdriver

stephen

That LaCrossed you're talking about is nothing like the concept car. It is just a new name for the Regal (and Century) that is made over to look a lot like a 1996 Taurus.

It has side-curtains that drop down when friends see the car so that they will not know it is you that is driving it.

stephen

dale48

Fastdriver- went to that link. The new buick looks like my 94 New Yorker. pretty sad.
94 new Yorker
http://auto.consumerguide.com/images/autoreview/lrg/9410126199051- - 7LRG.jpg

2005 Lacrosse
http://www.detnews.com/pix/2004/autoshow/chicago/buicklacrosse/la- crosse2.jpg

tomcat630

People that are all "anti RWD" are thinking that the LX cars will be like the old 1970's Fairmonts, Chevettes, and Volares. Those had skinny tires, open rear ends, poor weight distribution, and no traction control.

dukeofdallas

They had two 300s there. A base or a Touring I guess (no chrome) on a platform but I didn't pay it any attention because they had a C on the floor to play with. Visibility seemed ok to me. The LH car aren't exactly great themselves when it comes to this. I liked it more when I first saw pics but I'm still intrigued. Everyone in my group felt the Maxima (another potential replacement for my M) looked better.

They had a shiney black LaCrosse there. It didn't look bad. I mean...for a Buick.

1487

I wouldnt say the Lacrosse's interior is worse than the 300 or any other chrysler for that matter. It may not be an all around performance sedan like the 300C but its a nice looking family car IMHO. I'm sure the 240hp model will be faster than the V6 300s. I do applaud Chrysler for the 300 but I am not crazy about the upright styling. I like the inside better than the outside. I dont like cars that have poor door to window ratios. The beltline on the 300 is too high if you ask me.

fsmmcsi

Automotive News has a story today stating that next year (2006) Dodge will produce an LX platform (300 and Dodge Magnum)car with styling based on 1960's Chargers.

intrepidspirit

That car show in RI -- must have been in 2002? I think that's when they were showing the Hemi C. As I said, I didn't have any problem with "controlled viewing only" because it was a concept car and they wanted to keep it in top show condition. Same with the Chronos (what a car!).

But they have already made how many thousand of the 300's? That's what irked me. It irks me even more that you were allowed to sit in the 300C at the Detroit auto show.

So what were the attendees at the Ontario show -- chopped liver? I guess I just never thought of Detroit as having a higher class of clientel...

stephen

I suspect that the two 300's were on the floor at Detroit for people to get into and make comments that could be picked up with listening devices. Then the factory would have a better idea of how many cars to push into the pipeline for the introduction and how much advertising funding might be justified.

stephen

intrepidspirit

You're probably right. They are more likely to get objective feedback from a major show like Detroit's.

Ontario, CA isn't exactly a hotbed of sophistication for car-buying trends -- except maybe for pickups...

fastdriver

intrepidspirit-

Sorry. I didn't mean that Gray, convertible BEAUTY that they SHOULD have built. I was talking about the new "tank" 300!

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/fastdriver2_99/album?.tok=ph7USx- AB_41Ep1He&.dir=/d09e&.src=ph

I cannot believe that they went from that convertible beauty to this new thing. Then again, the convertible was shown when it was the REAL Chrysler Corp. if I remember correctly.

fastdriver

stephen

I suspect that the two 300's were on the floor at Detroit for people to get into and make comments that could be picked up with listening devices. Then the factory would have a better idea of how many cars to push into the pipeline for the introduction and how much advertising funding might be justified.

stephen

enygma6

They had a couple 300's for people to sit in at the Chicago show as well (like at Detroit). Though at Chicago they only let people sit in one Magnum (the RT hemi, fortunately), but they had all 3 trim levels open at Detroit. The only model at either of these two shows they weren't letting people in was the Magnum RT with AWD (a shame too, I wanted to drive off in it

As for the Satin Jade 300 that I saw, it looked pretty good from the short glimpse I got, but I was travelling the opposite direction on a major expressway. Also, the color is a bit too light for my tastes (same as the Pacifica -- a pale metallic green).
I like the front styling of the new 300's, as it reminds me of the old square-nosed Mercedes from a few years back, as well as Rolls Royce and Bentley's mega-luxury sedans. I think this is what Chrysler might have been aiming for.
As for the internal visibility, the windows do feel a little small, but there is tons of headroom (unlike the Crossfire). The rear visibility on the 300 is better than on the Magnum, mostly because the roof doesn't go back as far. Those gun-slit side windows on the back of the wagon are truly tiny and would take some serious getting used to.

fd1000

I am concerned that the real life 300C's
wheels will not look as large as the
pictures show at the Chrysler website.

The pictures at the Chrysler website show wheels
that look great on the 300c.

But I have started seeing real world pictures
of the 300c, and the wheels seem a little small,
compared to those lower profile monsters
in the pics at Chrysler.

Now I guess I would understand if I was
looking at pictures of the concept car from
a year ago, but these are pics that are on
the Chrysler website right now.

What does everyone think? Will a brand-new
300C come with wheels that look EXACTLY like
the pics on the Chrysler site, or will they look
a little bit smaller (which would be a shame)?

IMHO, the 300 looks pretty bad with any of the
smaller wheel sizes. It REALLY needs those
huge wheels and low profile tires to fill in
those large wheel wells. Then it says to me,
'Step out of my way, or I will step through you!'.
It's a monster!

Thanks in advance for you ideas!

soozpk

Only the C comes with 18" rims. The lower end ones get the 17". When you say smaller, surely you don't mean something like 14's??? On another note, on one pic I seen there seemed to be a lip molding on the rear fender well. Most of the pics I've seen do not show any chrome trim at all. Anyone know for sure??

tibbune

The chrome fender lips you see on some C pics, along with body colored mirrors, look to be earlier versions than the actual production model which does not appear to have the chrome fender lip, but does have chromed mirrors....unfortunately.(not a huge fan of JC Whitneyesque chrome accents)

I've seen some pics from factory guys of the cars SITTING IN LIMBO (mine included), and the C models all look as I've described above.

When Chrysler sponsored the Barret Jackson auction here a couple months back, they had a production C there that we all sat in, turned dials, pretended to own....so it is strange that the Ontario show didn't have the same accesibility, but considering your auto theft rate, it's understandable!

As for the rims. Stock rims suck on every model of every car available. That's why God made aftermarkets. Gotta get ya some 20" DUBs, with enough chrome to compete with those damned ugly mirrors.

fsmmcsi

Many of the photos on various web sites show the car with 20" wheels. Those seem like high heels on women - they might look good, but are very uncomfortable. As it is, the 300C with self sealing tires has a 65-series tire, and that is as low a profile as I would want. The test drives are showing that it handles very well, so ruining the ride quality, and spending all of the money to obtain larger wheels and tires seems silly.

shipo

..., however while I love the look of high heels (done right of course), I hate the look of black rubberbands surrounding a big chrome wheel. Depending on the car, 17's or maybe 18's are about as much as I can take. Then there is the factor of the extra unsprung weight for the larger wheels negatively affecting the handling.

Best Regards,
Shipo

bigmike5

Detroit News today states that DC started shipping the new 300's to dealers on Monday. Keep you eyes open.

tibbune

I just confirmed with Chrysler that yes indeed, the 300s began shipping on Monday. Woe is me, mine is still in storage as of today.

I did learn that if you are going to call Chrysler for an order status, the best time to do so is either late Wednesday or early Thursday as the Brampton plant only updates the customer service database once a week on Wednesday.

Also, if you were previously given a build date, you should recheck it (if you care about such things). Mine was originally slated to build later this week, instead it was built early last week. They must be crankin em out fast!

coronet68

While my biggest question is still - is the 300C version a targeted to be a (true?) sports sedan (and to be treated as such by the media,..) or is it just a luxury sedan with a big engine?

As an owner of a '99 300C with the PHP package with high perf. brakes, steering, tires,... I felt the old model was very good in this category (but not often reviewed as such). With the change to RWD, Hemi-V8, 5 speed automatic I was assuming the new 300C would have been a solid sports sedan contender. With the Hemi v8 "C" model - I was assuming that all the high perf goodies would come with (or at least be an option) for it. While there are some upgrades that come with it (Chrysler Web site - "options" section of specs from "ride" to "tour" suspension, from "4 wheel disc brakes..." to "premium 4 wheel disc brakes..." they do not scream performance options.

Also, my biggest single beef is that the tire selection (as noted in recent posts). The wheel/tires seem to be all about getting a big wheel size and putting it together with a high profile tire. [Tire rack now has info on the continentals] - So there is no high perf tire choice - just "touring all seasons" in that odd (almost truck like size) of 225/60/18 and with only an HR speed rating. Is this V8 going to be governed to 130MPH? Also as noted there are very limited plus options from this high wheel/profile start - (245/55/18 has at least a high perf all season choice) the car will not be reviewed (and was not tested or optimized for?) these other choices.

With all the other performance in the 300C why didn't Chrysler give better options on the tires? Is it a sign that the high perf. version of this car will be a Dodge Magnum RT? Or a Charger RT? that is coming later?

I really like a lot about the 300C but I have to justify this selection against (for about the same money ) I could get an Infiniti G35 (with or w/o AWD) which has been getting rave reviews in the sports sedan category and I'd like to know if the 300C is properly equiped for battle.

fastdriver

coronet68-

"...I'd like to know if the 300C is properly equiped for battle."

Stay tuned! The 300C's are leaving the Brampton stockyard as we speak. Time will tell. What's your "gut" feeling on the questions you ask?

fastdriver

fastdriver

Why are Canadian cars and American versions of the same car so different?

http://thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layou- t/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1078441809985&call_page- id=972403873938&col=972403874481

fastdriver

fuzzywuzzy

My feeling is the 300C will not be toated as a "sport sedan" but as a Luxury sedan. MB is trying to shape the Chysler name into a upscale brand. I think Dodge is more of the performance brand.

Also Edmunds has a nice review of the 300. They also said the 2.7L is not an engine for this heavy car. So in every revierw I have read on the 300 each one said the same thing about the 2.7L. Why would Chrysler put it in? Only reason I can think of is for rental car duty. Sales to rental car compaines with the base engine will increase their bottom line without putting much of a dent in their pocketbook.

fsmmcsi

Perhaps the 2.7 V6 base 300 exists not so much for rentals, as just to allow D-C to advertise a low price. A few months ago a Lexus dealer told me that Lexus base models are produced in very limited numbers, just enough so that they think they will avoid problems with false advertising claims. Also, it will not be slower than many other common vehicles, so it might be all that some people want.

soozpk

I have in my hand here "THE" actual, official, one and only, 300 catalog. I'm sure a few of you received it earlier. I have to say it's great to finally have one in my posession, but it's contents
aren't that well done.
It's a large full-size catalog, nice to see them getting away from those half-size catalogs they use for the other models. Quite a few pages are worthless, however, and could have been used for better use. Page two shows two hands with putty. There are a few 3-way page foldouts,
great idea, but again, on one fold-out, two pages of the three show a closeup of the flying wing
Chrysler logo on the grille. They surely didn't need to devote two large pages for that. You open that up, and two pages display a Hemi C sideview, done in Dead Dolphin Gray (Magnesium) They do show a close up of the dual sparkplugs in a Hemi-head, so that's definately a plus. It would have been nicer to see every 300 model in every color being offered.
They seem to be pushing the Magnesium to the hilt, and in one photo, it looks good, then in yet another it looks drab. Well, I wanted a catalog sooooo bad, now I got one, so I suppose I should quit complaining.....I can't help it, I want the 300 to be more sucessful that the Pacifica.

By the way, the dealership acknowledged that, yes, Brampton started moving out the 300s on Monday. My status is at "JS", meaning "Just Sitting", (actually Shipped to Storage)

soozpk

While I'm on a roll here, the catalog's front page features a front view. Big question, supposedly the 300C utilizes motorized folding sideview mirrors. However, the front page photo clearly shows the front fenderlwells sticking out further than the mirrors do. So, why the need for the folding mirrors when your more apt to scrape the fenderwells long before the mirrors see damage???

fastdriver

soozpk-

Can't beat that German engineering! They do love that front end look! ;-)

fastdriver

tibbune

They make the mirrors fold in because of the A.G.E. factor, better known as "American's Genetic Engineering". Thanks to Ronald McDonald and that other big headed clown a vast majority of Americans are built thin at the ankles, thin shins, knees, but then begin to taper outward at the thighs and then fully inflate to tractor spare diameter right around the mid-section...which happens to be about 3 feet above ground, right where side view mirrors tend to congregate.

Therefore the mirrors fold in.

To quote the Chrysler executives in Berlin "zee only thing wurz zan a hangover eez zeeing vun of yur ownz".