Car of the week – October 15 – Chrysler 300s

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  • The Chrysler 300 has always been one of those cars that turns heads. It’s big, brash and stands out from the crowd but, until now, it has suffered from a bit of an identity crisis, mainly because so many people referred to it as the poor man’s Bentley or, laughingly, Rolls-Royce.

    I guess it is easy to see why it was branded an imitation of the British luxury cars, and you can even buy a body kit to make the exterior resemblance even more striking.

    – Car of the week: October 8 – BMW Alpina b6 Biturbo Gran Coupe

    – Car of the week: October 1 – Cadillac ATS-V Coupe
    – Car of the week: September 24 – Hyundai Sonata 2.0-litre Turbo

    Look on the internet and you will find pictures of a 300 which has been made to look like a Rolls-Royce Phantom. A step too far, me thinks.

    The Bentley thing wasn’t entirely unwelcome because people loved the idea of having a large sedan which looked a bit like the British icon – and that is as close to the real thing as it gets – at a price they could afford and so it sold well.

    This is all very well but the 300 is too good a car to be branded a cheap imitation of a vehicle most of us will never be able to afford, and now Chrysler have produced the newly styled S model which is going some considerable way to ditching the Bentley clone image and reclaiming its own identity as a good value car which offers comfort, striking looks and impressive performance.

    The 300S looks great, especially in red with those fabulous 20-inch gun-metal grey wheels. The bigger deep black mesh grille and lower front facia, stylish LED headlight clusters with black bezel surrounds, sculptured bonnet and muscular rear with new facia incorporating the chrome tipped exhausts, all contribute to create an aggressive ‘gangster car’ persona but it is not without some refinement.

    Chrysler have upped their game with the interior with lovely Nappa leather seats and nicely done soft touch materials and metals, and a clock, and I have to say it is really impressive.

    The newly designed and configurable instrument cluster is particularly cool, especially at night, when it has a nice blue glow, and the steering wheel is finished in leather with contrast stitching.

    Our test drive car had black leather with white stitching but there are plenty of bespoke options available to choose from.

    The updated Uconnect infotainment system and sat-nav accessed via an 8.4-inch touchscreen on the centre of the dash and there is also a rear parking camera, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-path detection, adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning with active braking, amongst the safety features.

    There is also a very impressive BeatsAudio sound system. The one thing that is missing is a gear-lever as the transmission is controlled by a dial selector, or Rotary E-shift to give it its proper name, on the centre console, much like the ones used by Jaguar.

    There are paddle-shifts on the steering wheel to give you more direct involvement.

    A large car like this which weighs almost two tons needs a big engine and although there is a V6 version of the 300 our S model had the far more agreeable 5.7-litre V8 Hemi which packs 363bhp and torque of 534nm, putting the power down to the rear wheels via a new eight-speed Torque Flite automatic gearbox. 

    Hit the ignition button and you are treated to an extremely pleasing deep rumble.

    Put pedal to metal and it won’t exactly blow you away but it is plenty fast enough and will get you from 0-100kmh in under six seconds. The car is best driven in sport mode which provides better acceleration and quicker gear changes and the handling is exceptional for a car this large.

    Push it through corners at speed and you might expect noticeable body roll, but there is hardly any at all.  It has performance tuned suspension and chassis which ensures a comfortable ride and a new, more precise power-steering system helps with its agility.

    Apart from its aesthetics, the great thing about this 300S is its versatility; it is the perfect family car for those looking for something with a bit of American attitude and it ticks all the boxes as a very cool sporty sedan which will burn rubber, if you are into that sort of thing. Oh, and it doesn’t look much like a Bentley. It’s a very impressive car in its own right.

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