2011 Chrysler 300 / 300C – First Drive Review « New and Used Car Listings

2011 Chrysler 300 / 300C – First Drive Review

Although we may rhapsodize over the beauty of our favorite cars, precious few of them could be considered art. Whistler didn’t refresh his painting of his mom four years after completing it. Nor did he completely redo it every seven years for the rest of his life. And as much as the 300 might have looked like Chrysler’s chef-d’oeuvre in 2004, the company couldn’t just sit back and let it be. For 2011, the 300 receives a refresh rather than the redesign for which it is due, but the update addresses the most important things.

Much of the money allotted to the 300 rework went to the interior. Like the rejuvenated interiors in other recent Chrysler redesigns, virtually everything you can see or touch inside is improved by an order of magnitude: the dash, the center stack, the steering wheel, the door panels and seats—the list goes on. And the materials are light-years better, too. The dash is soft, the buttons on the new steering wheel actuate with a satisfying click, and the HVAC knobs slip from detent to detent as if lubricated by a film of oil.

Nestled in that updated dash, the new tach and speedometer are stunning, highly readable, and not overly ornamental. A new touchscreen navigation/infotainment display rides atop the center stack, beneath the classy trapezoidal clock that is emerging as a signature of Chrysler interiors. The optional Garmin-based nav system’s bold colors and large graphics make it easy to use, but they lend it an almost juvenile appearance. Still, we prefer basic and useful to elegant and stupefying.

The Importance of Being Consistent

Our only complaint about the 300’s new interior is that it is a strong testimony to the importance of matching material qualities. In a space that is among the best executed in its class, the 300’s few remaining dull spots—the window switch panels and the plain black plastic surrounds for the HVAC controls and nav screen are a few examples—call an inordinate amount of attention to themselves. The seatbacks offer enough support to keep occupants in place during extreme maneuvers, but the bottom cushion offers so little support it might as well be crowned.

Chrysler also refined the exterior styling. Although more elegant and mature than the brash shape of the designed-with-a-T-square original, the 2011 car nonetheless looks a bit less cohesive. Still, it doesn’t take a sharp eye to recognize the silhouette, and the softer detailing hides the 300’s musculature about as well as a tuxedo disguises a buffalo. Naturally, Chrysler has added LEDs to the headlight clusters as is required by current styling convention.

114 Additional HP? Well, Certainly!

Underhood, the headlining 5.7-liter Hemi is only slightly changed (it carries over with modest upgrades of 3 hp and 5 lb-ft of torque), but the new base 3.6-liter six-cylinder effectively replaces two V-6s (an anemic 2.7-liter and a more capable 3.5) and betters the old 3.5’s 250 hp by 42. (It tops the 2.7 by 114 hp.) Along with its 292 horses, the Pentastar V-6 offers 260 lb-ft of torque. Both hp and torque peak late (6350 and 4800 rpm, respectively), so downshifts are necessary for meaningful acceleration while rolling. It sounds a bit coarse at idle, but the Pentastar finds its voice as the revs—and output—climb. Although not the thrill ride of the V-8, the six is more than competent, something we could almost say about the old 3.5 but never about the 2.7.

The same five-speed automatic pulls duty behind both engines, but an eight-speed will begin to spread across the lineup later this year. Chrysler is aiming for a 30-mpg highway rating with the new transmission, which is a ZF design (the best the Pentastar manages with the old five-speed is 27 mpg). Although the five-speed automatic does allow for manual shifting, it has no dedicated manual shift gate. As in the previous-generation 300, the driver taps the lever left and right from its resting place in D to shift, but the new 300’s taller center console gets in the way—not that using the function is particularly satisfying anyhow.