[Chrysler300] new aussie 300C meets 57 300C

["christopher beilby" <thelastbestgenius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Warning - do not read this if you are not interested.

Try to make this just a brief note - meeting of old and new 300Cs (head to 
head on road/track) sort of took place today.  Sort of because record rain 
the day before flooded a small town about 5 miles from the Raceway, and 
first the normal road/way to circuit was closed by Police, and then second 
when we got there, the circuit had been commandeered by the State Government 
as a Command and Evacuation area - talk about Police and Officials - must 
have been near 50 - helicopters, fire trucks, huge sand trucks, Emergency 
vehicles, Govt etc..

We were allowed to do photos and brief time on cicuit and dragstrip, but 
nothing officially over 30 mph. (So near them we complied, further away up 
to about 60-90mph)

The guy/journo/photorapher was like a sort of worst nightmare type, sort of 
a doing it his way as we go grossly overweight and criminal dressed type, 
plus he had never driven left hand drive. (Only young, maybe not driven much 
other either?)  He had come from just doing a week comparison round 
Australia in latest Lamborghini versus about 5 other latest high perf GT 
cars, including the Northern Territory where it is legal to drive 150mph+ on 
outback highways (all three of them?!).
( He had another guy with him he got to drive new 300 for photos who acted 
like Mr Destructo, world's tyre burnout champion every time he drove it - 
good pair !?)

First up and throughout, he totally slagged the new 300C as too much 
plastic, very little guts, but said for the money, what do you expect.  On 
the way out there, we had to do many stops, stops with right angle turns.  
The new 300 gets away from my 300C from about 20mph to about 40/50 mph, by a 
distance of about 3-5 car lengths, then at higher speeds to around 80 mph we 
are equal.  My octane boost supplier had zero stock, so if I had had my 
boost, difference would not have been so great, my car a slug low mid range 
without it.  My 300 brakes bite harder and sooner, the new 300 has similar 
dead heavy feeling steering to 57 steering.  The new 300 sort of just sits 
where it is on the road, is not as light as the original, but likely/is 
better at sudden swerves and recovers.  Surprising was the same initial 
power lag/bite, from standing start in new 300, although can do real smokeys 
in new one if hold car while booting it.  Won't say much about looks, except 
if you park them nose to nose, new 300 grille is near perfect angle wise 
into old 300 mouth/grille - overall I couldn't decide what stylists were 
trying to achieve - is it supposed to be American, Euro, or British?

Out of maybe 100 people, hard core M/cycle cop and Highway Patrol Police, 
etc,  in the time we were there, only about 3-5 said they liked the new 300, 
versus about maybe 20-30 that made a point of coming up and saying how much 
they liked old 300.  At the Chrysler Jeep Dealership, old 300 was mobbed, 
and everyone except the owner and 2 sales guys said the old was way better 
than the new.

No one seemed to know (care?!) where right hand drive model comes from - it 
was about 250hp, and the bigger motor one comes in about 3 months - about 
another first 8 cars are still clearing Customs.
Overall, personal view - an OK sedan, V8 rear drive, good midrange, but very 
characterless to drive, unless it grows on you. Locally we have a rear drive 
4 litre 240hp inline DOHC 6 Ford Falcon that journo and myself believe is 
nicer/faster/better car to drive, better interior, so maybe we are the lucky 
one here? A Turbo version of that is a real bullet, blows big V8s away.
Front suspension felt good/great, the rear? Back seat hard as in Mercedes - 
biggest shock/first impression, the big/vast area of dashtop before you get 
to the screen.  Worst of the old car - rattles from window glass when going 
over rough stuff, wind noise, and too light in the rear round fast tight 
30-50 mph hairpin corners - will have to fix that, springs on rear seem too 
soft on this car versus one of my others.

Better go, leave it with you, hope this has not bored you too much - get out 
there and drive those 300s, or at least admire their looks if you have a 
good looking one to feel proud/grateful of.
Christopher in Australia
Should have some photos in next few days - my orange red car, with big 
chrome wires, looked bloody brilliant against the Silver new one.  Will also 
try and find out rhd production source/details.




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