Re: [Chrysler300] new aussie 300C meets 57 300C

[Ray Jones <hurst300@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Great report, Christopher. Keep them coming!
Ray Jones



On Nov 9, 2005, at 6:50 AM, christopher beilby wrote:

> 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?)Â 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.Â
>  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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