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Comments
most engines go through a break-in process at the factory where they are built...the post above seems very over-the-top to me...
once again...follow what the manufacturer recommends in the owner's manual...that is your best bet for longevity and reliability. engines really don't require much of a break-in these days. it's mostly things like brakes that need to be babied for a few hundred miles...
The 300 is without a doubt a head-turner. My 20-year-old sister is foaming at the mouth to own one.
As a current owner of a 2000 LS, I will say that my 2000 LS has been on the streets proving that Lincoln brought back the domestic RWD sport sedan before GM (caddy) & DC and succeeded in a big way. I definitely wouldn't win any races with my V6, but the handling and ride are superb - not a complaint after 4 years and 63,000 miles of ownership.
The LS was simply not marketed by Ford - PERIOD! The dealerships sold them mostly to retired folks - as that is all I see driving them around here in NW PA.
As for the 300 - I have only seen rental 300's so far in my area that have been driven by businessmen flying into Pittsburgh and renting the car. I haven't seen many on the road yet, at all. Let's hope Chrysler does a better job of marketing than Lincoln. It is a fine looking automobile.
Even if so, it sounds really expensive considering you have the 70K mile powertrain warranty already and you would still be responsible for the first $100 of every repair outside the factory warranty even after paying for the extra extended warranty.
Just saw a report that the average Chrysler buyer is 50. So who knows?
Looks: appealing at first but the shine only lasted for a short time--final impression regarding looks--big and bulky.
Ride -- excellent
Handling -- excellent except the beast required almost constant corrective steer on a flat highway.
Fit and finish -- acceptable, for a daily ride.
Cost to operate -- l/100k are excessive.
Problems : Broken inside door handle, my fault, I opened the door on a heavy incline, along with its weight and the wind the handle broke before I could release my grip. I also noticed , because of the design, door dings are very visible
Would I rent another -- probably not.
Would I buy one -- definitely not.
NOTE: THE ABOVE IS MY OPINION ONLY, although it is shared by my partner and others that I know who have rented this model
However, I have seen a few with big wheels installed on them and driven by younger drivers.
Dodge
Chrysler
MB
Any personal experience w/ Warranty Direct?-they say they've been around for 25yrs and highly rated. Any feedback would be appreciated.
PS- usually keep my cars for 7 plus yrs if they are worth keeping.
Hope this helps.
(oh.....my buddy who is 34 just bought one two weeks ago)
Pic from Spyshot:
I take a lot of long road trips. A large car trunk MUST hold: Two (2) standard size suitcases; two (2) maximum allowed airline size carry-on cases; two fully sized golf bags; miscellaneous small bags.
The 300 can not hold the above. To illustrate, I put all of the above in the trunk of my LHS and drove to my Chrysler dealer. I pulled up next to a 300 and told the salesman that I would buy it if I could get all the above into the 300 trunk. What a joke! Had to stuff to get the four bags in and could barely get one golf bag in. No sale for me.
How do I reach Chrysler to complain??
The power and ride comfort of the C is head over heels over the LHS. In regards to the trunk, no doubt it isn't the biggest around, but this is not its main purpose. However, it is plenty big enough for most. I play to a 3 handi and have gotten 2 staff bags and a 8" bag in the trunk. Granted I had to take my 983K out and put in the back seat, just in case (LOL).
Another cubic foot is no reason not to buy this car, imo. (Not only am I an avid golfer, my name is Bill as well)
The trunk space may not be the largest around, but it does compete very well other cars out there. I think the biggest "trend" right now is the amount of passenger space in the back seats. As for all that "stuff" that gentleman was trying to fit in the 300 ... I say write to Chrysler and tell them to bring the 300C Wagon to the US market!
...or vice-versa...
Very nice ride, however I do feel more feedback in steering wheel then I recall on demo car and a bit more noise over bumps then I remember demo car having-maybe something needs tightening up (no one should complain about vagueness or lack of feedback on this car).
It's still much quieter than wife's 2002 Intrepid which I loved driving, until.... - love my 300C much, much more-everything about it is better.
Will check out the looseness/noise out during oil service soon. Drives great on highway,nice and quite;great stereo. Love navigation system and all the gizmos. Don't notice any drift. For the 1st 10 miles I thought maybe slight, extremely minor drift to right. But it's really just crown sensitivity because it can do the same thing on left side crowns. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Temp gauge works fine. Real pleasure to drive this car. Seems like solar glass keeps car less hot than other cars I've been in left out in the heat. Super roomy interior, good storage area, etc. Feel proud driving it.
another thing to keep in mind in terms of quality and longevity: with the 3.5...when they changed it over to rwd they kept the rubber timing belt rather than going with the preferred chain...it's interesting to note that the 2.7 has chain driven cams!! d/c definitely cut corners to keep the cost down...the question is did they cut costs in the build process too. jackg 90seville 95k
Feel free to discuss the article here. Here is a tip, though - if you want the editors to see your comments, besides posting them you also need to use the Feedback option found at the Help link at the very (VERY) top and the very bottom of the page of that article.
If you do send feedback to the editors, please keep us posted here. :-)
Now, what do you think about what Karl Brauer had to say?
I don't think they changed the car -- I believe they just changed the owner's requirements. In other words, changing oil every 7,500 miles was fine while the warranty period was 36,000 miles. However, if they were on the hook for 70,000 miles, they wanted to reduce their warranty costs by demanding additional owner maintenance and having an out if the owner did not follow requirements.
It's interesting that the same car suddenly needed all this additional maintenance. I believe they are doing the same thing with the new 300's. It's not a reflection on the quality of the car -- it is simply an attempt by DC to mitigate their warranty costs...
I have had my C for over 3 months, and it is still like day one. Everyday I get admirers making comments or giving the long stare. So presently, the car is a HOME RUN....no doubt. Will it stay that way, who knows? But with 340 hp, above average gas mileage, great cabin room, Mercedes ride, etc...imo, this car w/ be popular for a while. This car would have a $50k+ sticker if it said Mercedes instead of Chrysler. (Because of a mid 30k price on the Hemi, this could actually be a negative due to a possible flood of the mkt....I'm not sure)
"This car would have a $50k+ sticker if it said Mercedes instead of Chrysler. "
Strangely enough, if you want to buy the 300C in Germany, the price is 49,500 Euro (actually well over $50K when you factor in the 1.20 to 1.0 dollar to euro ratio). That's for a fully decked model - only sunroof, Audio Upgrade, and few other options are not included. But the same thing in the States comes in around $36K.
$14,000 seems like a pretty high destination charge to me. But then again, maybe Mercedes just wants to make sure Chrysler is kept in its place by not eating into E-class sales.
I just had some tires remounted and balanced and within the first mile I knew there was something wrong. My normally smooth and quiet E320 was riding harshly and noisily. When the tires cooled down I checked the pressure and found that the tire tech had put 40 psi in them vs. the MB recommendation of 27 psi. When I asked about it he said that "you're supposed to run tires at the pressure listed on the sidewall." What a dumb-bell..! That sidewall pressure is the maximum allowable pressure and for a given vehicle has no relation to what the mfg. intended for the vehicle. Besides, if you start out with the maximum pressure, a few miles on a warm day at highway speed puts you 3-4 psi OVER the maximum pressure. A dangerous situation for sure..
If you want to increase your mpg. slightly and extend the life of your tires slightly, and improve the handling of your car slightly, you can run the tires, on a daily basis, 1 or 2 psi over the normal mfg. recommendation. But NEVER at the maximum pressure rating.
Good pt. $ vs Euro on Wall Street is at a critical point, with some seeing $1.30....we'll see.
I used to like the E Series....I'm not interested in the E320 anymore....but the E500 definitely catches my eye
Which is why I think Chrysler knows exactly what it's doing. I've seen posts here (not in the very recent past) questioning why they didn't include this or that in the car or whatever. I also saw this about the 300M--the 2000 model, 3rd year it was out is widely regarded as the best of any of the years--they kept adding stuff until then and after, the decontenting began.
My point is: Could the SRT-8 be out now? Probably. Could all sorts of neat, Mercedes-type features be put in this car? Probably. But, if you do all that, what do you do for the next 2-3 years? This way, people who think the 300C is all the car they'd ever want can get it now, fully loaded with vritually every "normal" lux-car option, go 0-60 faster than probably 85-90% of all production cars on the market for less than they'd ever have to pay to get an equivalent model previously. For the rest that just want an attractive, comfortable full-size sedan, they've got that, too. And, in good news for Chrysler guys that love to see more product development, they're selling like gangbusters with few incentives and at a higher profit than the PT Cruiser, for example.
The way it is now, people that really, REALLY want the monster car can wait in anticipation--it allows Chrysler to catch up and meet the demand for the 300C and once they can keep up or demand cools, they will have another "hot" vehicle to sell.
As tornado25 pointed out, the 300M was a great car when it came out in the 1999 model year (Motor Trend's car of the year) and was still a good car for the 2004 model year. However, they improved the car (marginally) through 2001 and I believe that year to be the best of the 300M's. They began decontenting in the later stages and in the meantime the competition improved their models. It appears, in restrospect, that they had already made their decision to dump the cab-forward concept by 2001 and allocated no resources to improve the LH cars after that time.
They are on a roll right now with the new 300 and spinoff models with new innovations could make the 300 dominant in its class for several years.
3K oil changes are overkill, though for warranty, okay. Like spark plugs, you'll know when they're getting 'tired'. For example, the 3.5L motor detests Bosch platinums, but loves common NGK V-grooves. Works for me, I save money, and have to change them less often.