Okay, after having spent the last three years with my 07 300 Touring, here are my first impressions after 24 hours with my new 12 300. (FYI the "Base" model for 12 is roughly equivalent to the Touring model for 07. Better equipped, but no leather.)
First off, you can tell you are driving an updated and improved version of an existing car. If the previous generation 300 is familiar and comfortable to you, the new 300 will be too. It's quite evident that the new bosses at Chrysler have taken great pains to take some of the hard Mercedes edge out of the 300 that was so evident in the previous iteration. The ride is much more supple now--still firm, just more refined. Interior noise (which was already very low in my 07) is whisper quiet. It looks like the fiber wheel well liners, laminated acoustic front door windows, and full underbody cladding, really do work.
The car weights about 200 lbs more than my 07 and sits about two inches lower, so now the standard 17" tires don't look as out of place in the big wheel openings. The 3.6 engine pumps out 292 horsepower and feels peppier than than the 3.5 in my 07 (as it should since it's got 42 more horses). The ZF 8-speed helps here, no doubt. Chrysler is getting this transmission from ZF and it's the same one used in the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Bentley Mulsanne. It shifts like butter and there is no comparison to the 6-speed in the Buick Lacrosse I drove, which was jerky and indecisive.
Interior fit and finish is light years ahead of the old 300. 99% of all interior pieces that used to be hard or semi-hard plastic are now covered in fabric or soft-touch vinyl. The base model comes with cloth seats and I applaud Chrysler for eschewing the ubiquitous velour and going with a very silky feeling knit fabric. It's very reminiscent of the upholstery that used to adorn the seats of Imperials and Cadillacs back in the 60s and 70s (before leather became de rigueur for "luxury" cars) and reminds me a little of the cloth seats that were in my dad's 72 Imperial. My car has the black interior, and it's not dark grey it's good old fashioned BLACK. And, in another throwback to American cars of days gone by vs the European way of doing interiors, the headliner is BLACK too, not grey or beige. In short, the "look and feel" of every surface inside the car says "quality" and "attention to detail." I test drove Cadillacs and Buicks over the last week and you can trust me when I say Chrysler has got Buick beat in this department and is fully on par with Cadillac--for $20,000 less.
I may be posting more observations as time goes by. These are just my first impressions.
First off, you can tell you are driving an updated and improved version of an existing car. If the previous generation 300 is familiar and comfortable to you, the new 300 will be too. It's quite evident that the new bosses at Chrysler have taken great pains to take some of the hard Mercedes edge out of the 300 that was so evident in the previous iteration. The ride is much more supple now--still firm, just more refined. Interior noise (which was already very low in my 07) is whisper quiet. It looks like the fiber wheel well liners, laminated acoustic front door windows, and full underbody cladding, really do work.
The car weights about 200 lbs more than my 07 and sits about two inches lower, so now the standard 17" tires don't look as out of place in the big wheel openings. The 3.6 engine pumps out 292 horsepower and feels peppier than than the 3.5 in my 07 (as it should since it's got 42 more horses). The ZF 8-speed helps here, no doubt. Chrysler is getting this transmission from ZF and it's the same one used in the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Bentley Mulsanne. It shifts like butter and there is no comparison to the 6-speed in the Buick Lacrosse I drove, which was jerky and indecisive.
Interior fit and finish is light years ahead of the old 300. 99% of all interior pieces that used to be hard or semi-hard plastic are now covered in fabric or soft-touch vinyl. The base model comes with cloth seats and I applaud Chrysler for eschewing the ubiquitous velour and going with a very silky feeling knit fabric. It's very reminiscent of the upholstery that used to adorn the seats of Imperials and Cadillacs back in the 60s and 70s (before leather became de rigueur for "luxury" cars) and reminds me a little of the cloth seats that were in my dad's 72 Imperial. My car has the black interior, and it's not dark grey it's good old fashioned BLACK. And, in another throwback to American cars of days gone by vs the European way of doing interiors, the headliner is BLACK too, not grey or beige. In short, the "look and feel" of every surface inside the car says "quality" and "attention to detail." I test drove Cadillacs and Buicks over the last week and you can trust me when I say Chrysler has got Buick beat in this department and is fully on par with Cadillac--for $20,000 less.
I may be posting more observations as time goes by. These are just my first impressions.
