Chrysler 300C 2013 Review

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges): $43,000 (300 Limited), $46,500 (300C)
Options fitted (not included in above price): Metallic paint $450
Crash rating: Five-star (based on EuroNCAP testing of Lancia Thema)
Fuel: 91 RON ULP
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 9.4
CO2 emissions (g/km): 219
Also consider: Ford Falcon G6/G6E (from $40,835 - $56,235); Holden Berlina/Calais (from $43,490 - $63,990)

Driving two variants of Chrysler's 300 sedan has provided plenty of third-party double takes over the last few weeks. Both the 300 Limited entry-level model and the mid-range 300C with leather trim have garnered more attention around the neighbourhood than any vehicle brought home over the previous five years – and that includes Maseratis and Porsches.

People clearly recognise it – and in a good way. They're not writing it off as America's response to an unspoken need for a Toyota Crown in the 21st Century. First impressions of this big, traditional luxury car are inevitably that it's very nicely finished and packs a visual wallop.

The style, some argue, is toned-down after the look of the previous generation Chrysler 300. One of the neighbours, who owns a first-gen 300C, reckons his car is more "muscular", but the new model is more "elegant". On reflection he's probably right.

To understand where the 300 and 300C models sit in the marketplace, triangulate a target from Toyota Aurion, Holden Caprice and Audi A6 to pinpoint both the Chrysler 300 variants on test. The 300 is a large car bracketed by the other three cars mentioned due to its semi-prestige image and its luxury accoutrements.

We started out with the 300C, which is the mid-range variant. There's a flagship model, the 300C Luxury, which is equipped with 20-inch alloy wheels, a full leather-bound steering wheel and shift paddles, but we drove the lesser 300C and the cloth-trimmed, entry-level 300 Limited (note no 'C').

Both cars were powered by the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6, a beaut engine that is smooth and refined all the way through to redline, pulling hard from the mid-range and emitting a warm, deep exhaust note that is in keeping with the car's image. Developing 210kW and 340Nm (from a high 4650rpm) it combines nicely with the eight-speed ZF (8HP45) automatic transmission, which changes with the quality of dripping honey – but still quite rapidly when the driver demands. Even with full throttle applied the transmission is never out of its depth. As fellow writer Adam Davis noted of the SRT-8 version of the Chrysler, however, the accelerator pedal travel is long and the whole experience of tramping the throttle doesn't engage the driver as much as it should.

Over the course of the week the 300C's trip computer arrived at an average fuel consumption figure of 12.9L/100km. That's based on about 100km of freeway journeying, but also long spells standing idle while our video crew worked their magic. It's nowhere close to the car's official combined-cycle figure of 9.4, but it's well below the city-cycle figure of 13.9, so we commend the 300C for that. The 300 Limited produced a fuel consumption figure of 13.2L/100km, without the same freeway cruising or long periods idling.

The drivetrain combination is the high point of either car, but the underpinnings – the bits that steer, stop and soak up the bumps – are not in the same league. Steering response is direct and rapid from the moment the driver hauls on the tiller, but under pressure – higher speeds, higher steering loads – the Chrysler's steering buckles and the car feels reluctant to change direction. There's not as much feedback through the wheel as we would like either, and the car frequently needs to be corrected mid-corner.

Traction from a standing start is compromised by the Chrysler's weight and power delivery. The 300C spun a wheel while making a right turn across traffic into a busy arterial road one wet morning. An FPV R-Spec the previous week managed the same manoeuvre with much more aplomb – and considerably less throttle of course. The 300's roadholding can match locally-built large cars in corners, but the handling doesn't build confidence the way either Ford's Falcon or Holden's Commodore do. The Chrysler is quick enough from point to point, but it will skip over bumps while cornering and it's just not at its best in this kind of situation. Ride feels initially compliant around town, but on lumpier country roads it typically seems overdamped.

There were other objections too, covering such design elements as packaging/roominess and ergonomics. Given its long wheelbase – longer than the Holden Statesman's – the Chrysler provides just 30mm more rear-seat legroom than the Ford Falcon, and just 18mm more than the Commodore. At 462 litres, the luggage capacity is even less than either the Falcon or the Commodore. Both the rear-seat legroom and boot space appear to have fallen victim to styling whims.

Behind the wheel, the foot-operated parking brake feels like a real obstacle under your feet until you've disengaged it and it swings up out of the way. It's not easy to get the driving position you favour most either, so when you do you'll want it set in concrete with the two-position seat memory (standard in the 300C). With the high waistline the driver's seat needs to be adjusted correspondingly higher for a more commanding view.

The two-stage gear shifter operates like the indicator stalk of an E60 series BMW 5 Series. Does it offer any ergonomic benefit once the driver is accustomed to using it? Nothing obvious, frankly. The driver does adjust to it in time, but probably not before letting rip a few choice cuss words when unable to find the right gear at the right time – which is most likely while attempting to back the 300C into a driveway or a parallel parking spot with traffic building up behind.

If just the one selector mode for manual selection ('L' for 'Low') seems a major limiting factor in a car with an eight-speed transmission, there is this to say: It will always choose the appropriate gear, relatively to road speed – and not just first gear, which would be way too low for some applications. In the higher-grade 300C Luxury shift paddles fitted will give the driver that level of control, but not in the 300C or the entry-level 300 Limited either.

To an extent 'L' works a little like a sequential-shift facility, other than you don't have control to select precisely the gear you want, and nor will shifting out of 'L' do anything other than shift back to automatic 'Drive' mode. That said, the transmission is highly adaptive and will deliver engine braking on hills, but that in turn highlights the surfeit of torque at lower engine speeds on the climb back up the other side. With cruise control engaged the Chrysler needs to shift down two or even three gears to maintain pace on a moderately steep, suburban hill – thus revealing the lack of accessible urge from lower revs. With the ZF transmission calibrated to pick higher gears sooner, for the sake of fuel economy, the engine will labour slightly – but not as much as some European cars designed to work the same way.

The 300's steering wheel feels large in diameter and contributes to an impression the Chrysler is ungainly. And the combination of leather and wood in the 300C's wheel somehow seems more at home in a cabin cruiser than in a car. We would prefer to have a fully leather-bound rim as in the lower grade 300 Limited or the flagship 300C Luxury variant.

There were plenty of useful gadgets in both cars, but in the 300C that was particularly true. Both cars came with a USB port under the centre armrest in the front. No surprise there; plenty of cars boast such a feature – and in the same general location – but the Chryslers' are easy to find in the dark of a subterranean car park because they're back-lit in blue. The shade blind for the rear window of the 300C automatically lowers into the parcel shelf as soon as reverse gear is selected. At the same time a short continuous tone sounds to indicate the ultrasonic sensors are operating, and the reversing camera displays the view to the rear – along with guidelines – in the touch screen.

The large infotainment touch screen in both cars provides acres of area to modulate climate control settings, operate the phone or change station/track or volume settings for the audio. By flicking between the different displays you can adjust or select whatever you want, without squinting at tiny buttons emblazoned with infinitesimal text characters. With the 300C's satnav map displayed, the instrument binnacle and the infotainment screen generate a lot of ambient light within the cabin – especially on a dark country road at night. But the auto high-beam headlights compensate for that. They're a little slower to respond to on-coming traffic than some rivals from Europe, but they're still a boon out in the sticks.

The front seats are very well designed, with an excellent balance between the sogginess of some luxury tourers and the supportive bolstering of others. They don't feel aggressively contoured or over-snug either and they even seem to help with posture. The driver's seat will slide back automatically to provide more room for the driver to step out of the car at the end of the trip – or take the seat for the commencement of a journey. Even with the seat set back as far as possible for this reason, there is still some considerable legroom in the rear for adults, although it should be noted that the Chrysler's rear-seat accommodation loses out to Holden's Caprice in this respect.

In the Chrysler's large boot there's a mini-hammock that can stretch across from one side to the other, to hold in place a couple of days' worth of groceries for a typical family. Any more than that – say a full week's worth of groceries – would probably occupy most of the available boot space and not move around in transit. The 'hammock' is a really useful feature that is readily deployed and works precisely according to specification.

A couple of electronic devices caused furrowed brows during the fortnight with the cars. The audio system is magic and delivers clear, crisp high-fidelity sound, even streamed from a smartphone. It will fade music in and out with the start/end of each track too. But it did occasionally repeat a bar or two of buffered sound from the phone – something never previously encountered using this device with any other car tested.

And the ultrasonic parking detectors were triggered by overgrowth in the domestic driveway – yes, it has been a wet spring in Melbourne – and continued to emit a high-pitched alarm as the car travelled down the road. After pulling over, shifting into Reverse and then Park, followed by a brief walk-around to look for a stray leaf lying across one of the sensors – and finding none – the alarm was still screaming. Finally, after switching off the engine and locking the car, the alarm was muted.

As daily drivers, the 300 and 300C are quite practical cars. The front air dam sits high enough to clear gutters, for instance, and the car's footprint fits well within a standard parking spot. Both offer plenty of value too.

But what people will really appreciate about the 300 and 300C is the respect it will earn them. The big Chrysler is a car for Chili Palmer, rather than Kath Day-Knight. It's more "Look at me," not "Look at moi".