Stephen I hope deleting the Walnut frees up your order rather than moving it to the end of the line. I will feel partially responsible. On the other hand, with a "not in April, not in May", I guess you didn't have too much to lose, if you didn't have your heart set on the real wood trim. The idea of walnut trim is nice. My father in law owned a house built in the 20's. It had fantastic walnut woodwork and built-ins you couldn't put in a house today if you tried. However, the real wood trim I have seen in other current high end models is so lacquered up it looks like plastic anyway.
I have a car right now (2000 STS) with the wood steering wheel and shift knob, and like you say, it is lacquered to the point that you have to wonder whether it is worth hundreds $$$ to see shiny wood instead of shiny plastic.
First, how was it determined that it was the Walnut Trim that was the actual holdup?? I ordered the trim packge after seeing how nice it looked in a 300M. I believe at least the trim on the steering wheel is a holdover from the 300M, and just reapplied to the C. I still think the big problem all along was with the Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Evidently, they must have had a problem with it, as it was pulled from the 300 website, and the catalog states that the early vehicles won't have it. I think it may have been more a problem with engineering / reliability than with logistics, as there are other systems out there in use already, and Mopar could have tapped those easily for the 300.
Oh dear, no tire pressure monitoring is going to be a deal killer for my wife. Any info on how long till they have it? We are the exact kind of folks that Chrysler is dreaming of pulling in. We would likely be buying a Lexus or Mercedes, but here's a distinctive looking American car with almost every option that we want and plenty of power.
Hey, for those of you that have already ordered, can we reasonably expect to pay American style purchase prices (like 2% over invoice), or is it still too new to negotiate a reasonable discount?
s4dad asked: can we reasonably expect to pay American style purchase prices (like 2% over invoice), or is it still too new to negotiate a reasonable discount?
I urge you to jump back to message #231, and follow through with all the posts that followed. To make the story short I paid about 5.9% over invoice. An astute person can probably get that down further. The spread between invoice and MSRP is tighter than the competition, and became the main issue for me at the time of sale.
I went back to your message 234. It looks like you paid $75 over FWP. I would say you did very well and meet the criteria of an astute buyer. I would not expect anyone to do any better trying to buy one now. If they are well received then the market will tighten. If buyers shun them then obviously DCX will not have the power to hold or raise the price.
BTW I showed the brochure to a few guys and women at work and the reaction so far is 3 or 4 guys had enthusiastic reply, one thought it was hideous and several women thought it was beautiful.
I think, although unscientific, that will be the general response from the public.
After showing the brochure to one guy and describing the 300c features and my options I asked him to guess the price. He guessed $55k.
Once I buy the car I don't really care about resale or public opinion. I care that it performs as advertised. For the $35 I am paying I think its a great deal. Like you I keep my cars for a long time.
I will get the 100k extended warranty as I did with my 94 New Yorker now with 183,000 miles and drive it until I don't like any more.
Actually, I had to drive down to Fargo to see if I could negotiate a better price, and with that, I went back to my local dealer, who then started to talk serious. Yes, you're absolutely correct about the public opinion aspect of buying this vehicle. I'm going to opt for the 85,000 with 0 deductable, as the seven year limit would come into play for me. We generally fly for long distance traveling anyway. I think Chrysler designed a good vehicle, and the Mercedes parts can be a plus. It wouldn't make sense to cut corners on their high-end model. I take it you're from the Tarrytown area??? I'm originally from Queens myself. Perhaps we can someday join a 2005 300C club and take one of those runs up to Brampton, as one 300M club did. Perhaps, I'll meet you then....
I'm actually on Long Island in the Huntington Area. Originally from Portland Oregon moved here in 1988. I drive the LIE to Lake Success (on the Queens border) every day. In my younger days in PDX a nice Mercedes or BMW would impress me, but here I see dozens every day along with Jags, Porsches Lexus etc. etc. Now that I could afford one I have outgrown the notion that owning one of those will impress anyone. Like the 300c I turned 50 this year, it should be a good fit.
yeah, that was a pre production model. it looks like it has either 20 or 22 inch wheels and the lip on the top of the truck. none of these made it to production...
I see three stalks to the left of the steering wheel in the video. One is the tilt/telescope, another is the turn signals, and I assume the third is the cruise control?
Currently, there is only ONE tire (other than the Continentals that come with the 300C) that will fit on the 18" rims and that is a 245/55R18 tire from BFG (I think). Any other options will require re-programming the car's computer to compensate for the change in wheel diameter (revs per mile).
As the article in the Detroit News indicates, going to bigger rims will necessitate either smaller sidewalls (read: much harsher ride) or larger diameter and you're back at the chip re-programming again.
Why did Chrysler come up with this odd size with no real alternatives available?
Been reading all the messages from inception, taking it all in, including performance reviews in icy conditions. My first post now. Ordered the 300c on 1/24/04. Counting the weeks. Anyone else from Long Island awaiting delivery? We must have a 300c party upon deliveries.I think its the biggest bang for the buck.Into my 6th yr. with a 1998 Concorde LXi. Never any problems.
I never did like the idea of low profile tires, as here in ND, the kids are putting them on their mini-pickups for that "dropped" look. Some look so low-riding as to come close to scraping the bottom when driving upon a short incline, such as a driveway. As for these type of rims / tires on the 300, all I can say is Mopar is pushing the safety / handling / ride issue to the hilt from what I see. The article had it merits, but I think it was meant for those individuals that want to go from a conventional tire /rim to a low profile setup. As for Mopar knowing what it's doing, I wasn't too impressed with the Goodyear Eagles that came on my '94 LeBaron. Very good gas mileage, but it was like riding on hard plastic. I even did two loop-de-loops the first winter season. I dumped them early on for Firesone Affintys and that solved the ride / stability problems, but the gas mileage suffered somewhat. So, it remains to be seen how these tires react next winter. I also hope the new Hemi is a good reliable starter in below zero climate.....Thinking here.....maybe that's why they're holding the 300's until April, they won't start in temps below 32 F otherwise!!! LOL
Someone earlier was voicing a concern over the trunk hinges. The video posted by emale (Msg# 805) shows nice hydrolic hinges and not the old clunky U-bar hinges. Granted, it's been established that the video shows a pre-production model.
I don't know the bolt pattern/back spacing on the 300, but if it is compatible with other vehicles, there may be some alternative wheel/tire combos.
For example, a 225/75 15 is only about .4" smaller in overall diameter than a 245/55 18, and a 235/70 16 is just a tad bigger. I would think these would be a small enough change to keep the computer happy without programming changes.
You have to be very careful when choosing wheels that are smaller than OEM equipment as well, just for different reasons.
As a point of reference, I remember reading somewhere that the 17" wheel size was the "Sweet Spot" where wheel/tire sizes are concerned. Using the 17s as a basis, everything larger (even assuming that the overall tire diameter stays the same) generates exponentially more unsprung weight, which was addressed in the article referenced in that link of a few posts ago. Wheel/tire combinations smaller than 17", once again assuming the overall diameter stays the same, generates exponentially more slop in the handling of the car. The 17" size seems to have most of the handling crispness of the larger sizes while retaining most of the lower weight of the smaller sizes.
So, with all of that said, what is the potential problem with reducing the wheel size on the 300C? Brake caliper clearance. My current cars' OEM wheels are 17x8.5 in size, and a quick call to TireRack.com (for a winter wheel/tire set) quickly revealed that there were only two different makers of 16" wheels and only four or five models in total that would clear my brakes.
One would assume that if the standard OEM wheels on a 300C are 18", DC would take advantage of the space inside the rims to mount rather large brakes. Assuming that is the case, one might find that "Minus Sizing" below 17" is impossible. Once again, I suspect that the folks at TireRack.com have (or will soon have) all of the necessary offset and clearance information to definitively answer the question of, "How small can you go?"
combinations is talking about AFTERMARKET wheels and tires that are significantly larger than oem. any car can be engineered and designed and validated with 20 inch rims and tires. the cars are run for hundreds of thousands of miles with the tire/rim package to ensure that the wheel bearings and other components in the suspension system can hold up and meet design specs. when you put an aftermarket wheel of ANY size on your car that is not oem approved...that's taking a chance....there is no way of knowing if the aftermarket rims meet mininum oem specs. jackg
a lot of industry leaders (Acura/Honda, Nissan, etc.) continue to equip their flagships with gooseneck hinges. I just hope that Chrysler is not going to use them as industry standard.
I would think that changing the outer diameter of the tire is at best a bad idea. Not that it's too relevant to what anybody else might want to do, however, all of the folks that I know who change wheel sizes do so with the intent of keeping the OD the same as the OEM tires regardless of whether they buy larger wheels or smaller ones. In my case, the OD for my OEM 235/45 R17 tires is 25.2", and the OD for the 225/55 R16 tires mounted on my winter set of wheels is 25.4".
Just click on my name above and you'll see what I'm driving for now. Lease is up in September.
"r u thinking about a new 300?"
LOL, you CAN'T be serious. I vowed long ago that I would NEVER have another DC product in my driveway no matter what they looked like. If they were the last car company on earth, I'd buy a bike! I'll never go through what I did with DC, their "award-winng 5-STAR" dealers OR their factory reps! They DON'T care if you're driving a car that's $15,000 or $38,000. To them, you're just another sucker, er, I mean number!
Young Executive: "Okay Dieter, here's the idea. We got G-unit and 50 Cent to feature the 300C in his video plus we originally had it set-up with "dubs" for that total bling-bling look which really has the kids noticing Chrysler for the first time ever. They're gonna love the Magnum when it comes out because it's already half-way to low-rider heaven and there is enough room in back for enough 12" Kicker's to blow out the glass. We gotta capitalize on this. Call the Durango engineers and tell them to re-skin it with the 300 grill and a phat new interior and we can really go up against the Escalades and the Navigators that all the rappers and gangbangers are scooping up at 30% margin! What do you think?"
Dieter Zeitsche: "Vhat iz 'bling-bling'?"
You get the idea... Personally I think it's a logical progression of the brand.
The real money is with the Baby Boom generation, and most of us in that group have no use at all for rap or ghetto talk. The tortoise shell in the 300 is a decorative idea from the 1920s & 1930s. D-C needs to focus on the real market, and so far their advertising has been silly or useless. Once they have adressed the main market, they could try to obtain a few sales from the more money than brains crowd which wants 22" wheels and Cadillacs.
If Chrysler is really shooting for a luxury image, the other domestic luxury marquees already have their SUV's available in fully optioned versions. Heck, Cadillac has a luxury truck and Lincoln is trying a truck again even after the disaster that was the Blackwood. If DCX isn't considering this now, they better look into it. Boomers are the prime market for Escalades and Navigators - but having a bunch of urban kids ready to buy them off the three year leases at top dollar helps them keep their value as well. Plus, what Dad doesn't like it when his kid thinks the family truckster is cool rather than dorky. Personally, I'd like to see a Durango given the 300C treatment and a luxury interior.
BTW - most rapper and hip-hoppers love the style of the 1920's and 1930's because they see that era of prohibition as giving birth to the gangster lifestyle and image which they emulate. The 'Original Gangsta' if you will. They often use the zoot suits and flapper customs of the era in their videos and album covers.
Fastdriver, never say never! Like, what if you moved to a different town and lived near a really really good Chrysler dealer? Would you want to deprive yourself of the joys of an exciting, effortlessly-maintained automobile?
I few weeks back, i made a post about the wheel sizes in the pictures on the Chrysler website, and the actual wheel sizes people were starting to see.
I have the unfortunate feeling that the wheels that are currently being advertised on the official Chrysler web site for the 300C, will not be the wheels you get when the 300C finally arrives.
To illustrate my point here are two picture links. The first one is to the official Chrysler 300C picture, right from the Chrysler website.
In that picture, the car looks great. The wheels on that car, are the wheels that i expect to see on the 300C when i walk into the dealership.
However, I am afraid that the actual wheels you will get are seen in the next picture, which is an obviously newer picture of the actual real world car:
You can very clearly tell that the wheels on that car are not as large as the wheels in the Chrysler picture.
Both cars, in both pictures, are 300Cs.
And as far as I can tell, all 300Cs come with the 18" wheels (the big ones).
Yes, yes, I know that larger wheels mean a different ride quality, I have driven everything from a Ford Explorer, to a Dodge Stealth RT TT, to my Jaguar S-Type V8. I don't care, I want the wheels in the official pictures. (Same thing I told the Jag dealership, and it cost me $1500).
So, what does everyone think?
Is Chrysler playing a bit of a fast one? Showing us cool pictures of 22" wheels, yet your actual car will have 18"s?
I'm just not seeing that big of a difference. It looks REALLY close. I'm thinking it may even just be that the tires in the first pic are lower profile, giving the illusion that the wheels are slightly larger.
In any case, even if they are different, it certainly is not out of the ordinary for promotion pictures to show a car that is not in final production form.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Sit down, relax, maybe even pour yourself a tall one....What you're seeing are two different vehicles, even though, yes, both are Hemi C's. The blue 300C is an early photo, a pre-production model that was outfitted with the tires used on the original concept vehicle, the 20". As a matter of fact, they used two different sizes on that vehicle, with the rear tires being wider than the front. Then, in their infinate wisdom, they downsized them to the 17", for most of the 300 line, and the 18" as standard on the Hemi C. My guess it was to allow for the expected front spring weakness that comes over time. If you venture back to the earlier posts, I posted a few comments about the use of two different tire sizes, asking how can one carry two spares in the trunk. I had assumed that they're doing the same thing on the 300 series that they did on the production Crossfires. (Two different sized tires)
I guess my main point about the wheel sizes is that Chrysler doesn't say on it's website that this is a picture of a pre-production one off car. I would assume since the car is pictured at their website, that you can buy that exact car.
I mean really, you cannot get the car that they have a picture of plastered on the their front page. Is it just that the web guy hasn't gotten around to swapping out the old pictures?
As far as being relaxed, I am perfectly relaxed.
I guess Chrysler knows more about wheels sizes then I do, because apparently no one cares that what has been being pushed for the last few months, is not actually available.
They did the same thing to the Pacifica to a certain extent. I was very excited about the Pacifica when I saw the original concept car. However, Chrysler went and put small wheels and tires on it, and then proceeded to put plastic gray parts across the bottom of the entire car.
If anyone wants the rough ride of 20" (or why not just go to 24" or 28") wheels, they could certainly spend a great amount to buy them. Why? Huge wheels with little bands of rubber are a very silly fad. It does seem wierd that the so-called designers all come up with concepts with over-sized wheels. The fad will pass, but the money will have been wasted, and the tens of thousands of miles of rough, bone-jaring, gut-wrenching, ride will have been endured.
you hit it on the head when you mentioned designers. To many people, it just LOOKS better to have pretty shiney wheels under there rather than round black rubber things. So the bigger the shiney things, the smaller the ugly rubber things.
Concept cars are, more often than not, about form over function. "make it look good and, if enough people like it, we'll figure out how to make it work later."
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
The looks, and also the sound are important. My new Harley was a disgrace until I put some pipes on it. Will the factory put silent sounding mufflers or grumbling ones on the 300c? "Thanks"
I went down to my local Chrysler Dealership today to firm-up my price on a 300 c ordered 1/24/04. I now have a VIN and the car was supposed to have been delivered next week. However, I was informed that Chrysler is holding back deliveries for a couple of weeks due to "inspections". I paid 3% over invoice + destination, after the following costs were added to invoice: $11 gas; $20 owner mailing; $390 Long Island DAA; $160 NY PPA (subtotal $581). I saved $1,504 off MSRP, inclusive of these additional costs.
LOL.. You're new here. When I say never, I mean never! Did you click on my name above and READ the soap opera? WHY would I EVER put myself through all that crap again?
The key here is "... effortlessly-maintained automobile?" They didn't make too many of those! You'll find out soon enough.
Comments
I hope deleting the Walnut frees up your order rather than moving it to the end of the line.
I will feel partially responsible. On the other hand, with a "not in April, not in May", I guess you didn't have too much to lose, if you didn't have your heart set on the real wood trim.
The idea of walnut trim is nice. My father in law owned a house built in the 20's. It had fantastic walnut woodwork and built-ins you couldn't put in a house today if you tried.
However, the real wood trim I have seen in other current high end models is so lacquered up it looks like plastic anyway.
I have a car right now (2000 STS) with the wood steering wheel and shift knob, and like you say, it is lacquered to the point that you have to wonder whether it is worth hundreds $$$ to see shiny wood instead of shiny plastic.
stephen
problem all along was with the Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Evidently, they must have had a problem with it, as it was pulled from the 300 website, and the catalog states that the early vehicles won't have it. I think it may have been more a problem with engineering / reliability than with logistics, as there are other systems out there in use already, and Mopar could have tapped those easily for the 300.
Hey, for those of you that have already ordered, can we reasonably expect to pay American style purchase prices (like 2% over invoice), or is it still too new to negotiate a reasonable discount?
Thanks!
It hasn't been determined whether walnut was the holdup on my car. I'm just picking the one thing I could do without and deleting it.
stephen
I urge you to jump back to message #231, and follow through with all the posts that followed.
To make the story short I paid about 5.9% over invoice. An astute person can probably get that down further. The spread between invoice and MSRP is tighter than the competition, and became the main issue for me at the time of sale.
BTW I showed the brochure to a few guys and women at work and the reaction so far is 3 or 4 guys had enthusiastic reply, one thought it was hideous and several women thought it was beautiful.
I think, although unscientific, that will be the general response from the public.
After showing the brochure to one guy and describing the 300c features and my options I asked him to guess the price. He guessed $55k.
Once I buy the car I don't really care about resale or public opinion. I care that it performs as advertised. For the $35 I am paying I think its a great deal. Like you I keep my cars for a long time.
I will get the 100k extended warranty as I did with my 94 New Yorker now with 183,000 miles and drive it until I don't like any more.
can be a plus. It wouldn't make sense to cut corners on their high-end model.
I take it you're from the Tarrytown area??? I'm originally from Queens myself. Perhaps we can someday join a 2005 300C club and take one of those runs up to Brampton, as one 300M club did. Perhaps, I'll meet you then....
Originally from Portland Oregon moved here in 1988.
I drive the LIE to Lake Success (on the Queens border) every day.
In my younger days in PDX a nice Mercedes or BMW would impress me, but here I see dozens every day along with Jags, Porsches Lexus etc. etc. Now that I could afford one I have outgrown the notion that owning one of those will impress anyone.
Like the 300c I turned 50 this year, it should be a good fit.
http://www.rtl.de/videolounge/player.php?cat=17&lstart=30&- ;video_id=339&stream=rv_h
the V8 sounds excellent.
yeah, that was a pre production model. it looks like it has either 20 or 22 inch wheels and the lip on the top of the truck. none of these made it to production...
stephen
http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0403/22/a01-99238.htm
fastdriver
As the article in the Detroit News indicates, going to bigger rims will necessitate either smaller sidewalls (read: much harsher ride) or larger diameter and you're back at the chip re-programming again.
Why did Chrysler come up with this odd size with no real alternatives available?
mini-pickups for that "dropped" look. Some look so low-riding as to come close to scraping the bottom when driving upon a short incline, such as a driveway. As for these type of rims / tires on the 300, all I can say is Mopar is pushing the safety / handling / ride issue to the hilt from what I see. The article had it merits, but I think it was meant for those individuals that want to go from a conventional tire /rim to a low profile setup. As for Mopar knowing what it's doing, I wasn't too impressed with the Goodyear Eagles that came on my '94 LeBaron. Very good gas mileage, but it was like riding on hard plastic. I even did two loop-de-loops the first
winter season. I dumped them early on for Firesone Affintys and that solved the ride / stability problems, but the gas mileage suffered
somewhat. So, it remains to be seen how these tires react next winter. I also hope the new
Hemi is a good reliable starter in below zero climate.....Thinking here.....maybe that's why they're holding the 300's until April, they won't start in temps below 32 F otherwise!!! LOL
For example, a 225/75 15 is only about .4" smaller in overall diameter than a 245/55 18, and a 235/70 16 is just a tad bigger. I would think these would be a small enough change to keep the computer happy without programming changes.
-- Mark
You know what happens when you ASSUME! :-))
fastdriver
You have to be very careful when choosing wheels that are smaller than OEM equipment as well, just for different reasons.
As a point of reference, I remember reading somewhere that the 17" wheel size was the "Sweet Spot" where wheel/tire sizes are concerned. Using the 17s as a basis, everything larger (even assuming that the overall tire diameter stays the same) generates exponentially more unsprung weight, which was addressed in the article referenced in that link of a few posts ago. Wheel/tire combinations smaller than 17", once again assuming the overall diameter stays the same, generates exponentially more slop in the handling of the car. The 17" size seems to have most of the handling crispness of the larger sizes while retaining most of the lower weight of the smaller sizes.
So, with all of that said, what is the potential problem with reducing the wheel size on the 300C? Brake caliper clearance. My current cars' OEM wheels are 17x8.5 in size, and a quick call to TireRack.com (for a winter wheel/tire set) quickly revealed that there were only two different makers of 16" wheels and only four or five models in total that would clear my brakes.
One would assume that if the standard OEM wheels on a 300C are 18", DC would take advantage of the space inside the rims to mount rather large brakes. Assuming that is the case, one might find that "Minus Sizing" below 17" is impossible. Once again, I suspect that the folks at TireRack.com have (or will soon have) all of the necessary offset and clearance information to definitively answer the question of, "How small can you go?"
Best Regards,
Shipo
any car can be engineered and designed and validated with 20 inch rims and tires. the cars are run for hundreds of thousands of miles with the tire/rim package to ensure that the wheel bearings and other components in the suspension system can hold up and meet design specs. when you put an aftermarket wheel of ANY size on your car that is not oem approved...that's taking a chance....there is no way of knowing if the aftermarket rims meet mininum oem specs. jackg
-- Mark
what are u driving these days anyway? i know you weren't pleased with the 300m(tires) you had awhile back...r u thinking about a new 300?
Reprograming the computer for a different diameter wheels & tire should not be expensive nor difficult.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Just click on my name above and you'll see what I'm driving for now. Lease is up in September.
"r u thinking about a new 300?"
LOL, you CAN'T be serious. I vowed long ago that I would NEVER have another DC product in my driveway no matter what they looked like. If they were the last car company on earth, I'd buy a bike! I'll never go through what I did with DC, their "award-winng 5-STAR" dealers OR their factory reps! They DON'T care if you're driving a car that's $15,000 or $38,000. To them, you're just another sucker, er, I mean number!
fastdriver
Young Executive:
"Okay Dieter, here's the idea. We got G-unit and 50 Cent to feature the 300C in his video plus we originally had it set-up with "dubs" for that total bling-bling look which really has the kids noticing Chrysler for the first time ever. They're gonna love the Magnum when it comes out because it's already half-way to low-rider heaven and there is enough room in back for enough 12" Kicker's to blow out the glass. We gotta capitalize on this. Call the Durango engineers and tell them to re-skin it with the 300 grill and a phat new interior and we can really go up against the Escalades and the Navigators that all the rappers and gangbangers are scooping up at 30% margin! What do you think?"
Dieter Zeitsche:
"Vhat iz 'bling-bling'?"
You get the idea... Personally I think it's a logical progression of the brand.
BTW - most rapper and hip-hoppers love the style of the 1920's and 1930's because they see that era of prohibition as giving birth to the gangster lifestyle and image which they emulate. The 'Original Gangsta' if you will. They often use the zoot suits and flapper customs of the era in their videos and album covers.
stephen
sizes in the pictures on the Chrysler website,
and the actual wheel sizes people were starting
to see.
I have the unfortunate feeling that the wheels
that are currently being advertised on the
official Chrysler web site for the 300C,
will not be the wheels you get when the
300C finally arrives.
To illustrate my point here are two picture links.
The first one is to the official Chrysler 300C
picture, right from the Chrysler website.
http://www.chrysler.com/300series/img/enlarge_4.jpg
In that picture, the car looks great. The
wheels on that car, are the wheels that i expect
to see on the 300C when i walk into the
dealership.
However, I am afraid that the actual wheels you will get are seen in the next picture, which is
an obviously newer picture of the actual real
world car:
http://www.seriouswheels.com/2005-Chrysler-300C-RA-Trees-1280x960- .htm
You can very clearly tell that the wheels on that
car are not as large as the wheels in the
Chrysler picture.
Both cars, in both pictures, are 300Cs.
And as far as I can tell, all 300Cs come with the
18" wheels (the big ones).
Yes, yes, I know that larger wheels mean a
different ride quality, I have driven everything
from a Ford Explorer, to a Dodge Stealth RT TT, to my Jaguar S-Type V8. I don't care, I want
the wheels in the official pictures. (Same
thing I told the Jag dealership, and it cost
me $1500).
So, what does everyone think?
Is Chrysler playing a bit of a fast one? Showing
us cool pictures of 22" wheels, yet your actual
car will have 18"s?
In any case, even if they are different, it certainly is not out of the ordinary for promotion pictures to show a car that is not in final production form.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
If you venture back to the earlier posts, I posted a few comments about the use of two different tire sizes, asking how can one carry two spares in the trunk. I had assumed that they're doing the same thing on the 300 series that they did on the production Crossfires. (Two different sized tires)
sizes is that Chrysler doesn't say on it's
website that this is a picture of a pre-production
one off car. I would assume since the car is
pictured at their website, that you can buy that
exact car.
I mean really, you cannot get the car that
they have a picture of plastered on the
their front page. Is it just that the web guy
hasn't gotten around to swapping out the old pictures?
As far as being relaxed, I am perfectly relaxed.
I guess Chrysler knows more about wheels sizes
then I do, because apparently no one cares
that what has been being pushed for the
last few months, is not actually available.
They did the same thing to the Pacifica
to a certain extent. I was very excited about
the Pacifica when I saw the original concept
car. However, Chrysler went and put small wheels
and tires on it, and then proceeded to put plastic
gray parts across the bottom of the entire car.
Before: http://auto.consumerguide.com/images/auto/editorial/gallery/pacif- ica_lrg.jpg
After:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/previews/images/04pacifica4.jpg
It looked great at the shows, looks like a
mini van now.
Don't get me wrong, I like the Chrysler 300,
may just buy one, but I might also look into
getting different wheels.
"Please note: Images in the photo gallery show the Chrysler 300 Concept Vehicle."
Concept cars are, more often than not, about form over function. "make it look good and, if enough people like it, we'll figure out how to make it work later."
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
My new Harley was a disgrace until I put some pipes on it. Will the factory put silent sounding mufflers or grumbling ones on the 300c?
"Thanks"
LOL.. You're new here. When I say never, I mean never! Did you click on my name above and READ the soap opera? WHY would I EVER put myself through all that crap again?
The key here is "... effortlessly-maintained automobile?" They didn't make too many of those! You'll find out soon enough.
fastdriver