Go ahead, wave a flag / Chrysler 300C SRT-8
The stock Chrysler 300C could not be said to suffer from inadequate charisma. This is a car that managed to win the 2005 North American Car of the Year award from auto writers and the Snoop Dogg seal of approval. Like the Cadillac Escalade, the 300C is an automotive crossover hit, finding favor with urban audiences (witness the car’s repeated drive-ons in hip-hop videos) as well as the wider, whiter world of suburban moms and dads looking for a car that doesn’t bore them to tears.
The car’s gerrymandering appeal is a testament to the power of smart styling. Is it a glowering gangsta, a cut-rate Bentley, a street custom, the banker’s hot-rod reborn? All of the above. The best of car design -- of pop culture generally -- reflects and refracts the image of those who would invest in it. And even though the car’s chassis is derived from the E-class Mercedes-Benz (Chrysler is now only a division of
DaimlerChrysler) it has a wonderful, bred-in-
the-bone American feel, an America of soulful diversity.
The 300 series starts with the cheap and negligible base model for around $24,000, powered by a 190-horsepower, 2.7-liter V6 and rolling on 17-inch wheels and tires lost in the oversized wheel wells. The marquee player is the award-winning 300C, available with all-wheel-drive, powered by a high-caliber V8 (340 hp, 5.7 liters, with a fuel-saving cylinder deactivation technology) and fitted with odd bits of lux grandiosity like the faux tortoise shell steering wheel. A very nice car for about $35,000.
But the 300C SRT-8 is clearly where the arrow was intended to fall. This low-volume model -- only about 10,000 will be produced annually by the company’s in-house Street and Racing Technology group -- fully exploits the 300C’s obvious potential, and wheel wells, which are now brimming with gorgeous 20x9-inch alloy dubs wrapped in Z-rated Goodyear F1 Supercar rubber. The SRT-8 sits slightly lower on its revised suspension and wears a street-skimming dust ruffle comprising a lower front air dam, rocker panel extensions and a lower bumper clip from which the 3.5-inch chrome exhaust stingers emerge. Gangsta? Sure, if gangstas do amphibious landings in hovercraft.
About the only people who will not be happy to see this car in action are aftermarket parts suppliers who build bolt-on bits, here rendered superfluous. Just look at the brakes! Up front, 14.2-inch ventilated discs with four-piston Brembos and in the rear the same binders on 13.8-inch discs. This thing comes from the factory hot enough to cook weenies on.
Like 300 letter cars of yore, the star attraction here is the engine: a big-bore (6.1-liter) version of the Hemi V8 with better cooling, breathing and oiling properties; a forged crank and reinforced connecting rods; larger and lighter valves; larger aluminum intake runners and exhaust headers. The five-speed automatic transmission barely keeps up with all this power and torque (420 pound-feet at 4,800 rpm). I drove the car during the recent deluge, and it took an active effort to ease the throttle so as to avoid spinning the tires, even with the traction control system on. Without it, on dry pavement, the SRT-8 is capable of some stupendous, acrid, I-hate-my-neighbor burnouts.
It’s not enough to say this car is fast. It’s huge and fast, and the sensation of this slab-sided four-door accelerating to 60 mph in 5 seconds -- at which point, really, it’s just getting its stride -- is something to behold. I can only compare it to throttling up an ocean racing boat. The sound, meanwhile -- dark, warbling, racy, angry -- will chase a rabbit right through your limbic system. Wow.
Dynamically, the car is just about perfect. Very good steering response, with a nice and heavy feel in the wheel, great turn-in and mid-corner balance, and plenty of line-correcting horsepower. Like most of these high-performance variants, most of the credit goes to the tires. With 9-inch stickies underneath you can make a wheelbarrow turn. But the SRT-8 sports-tuned suspension strikes an excellent balance between ride compliance and stability.
So, what German sports car wants a piece of the SRT-8? For $40,000? I didn’t think so.
This is a world-class automobile that, just incidentally, is a heck of a lot of fun to be seen in. More horsepower is not the cure for everything -- gingivitis, for example -- but it’s often an excellent anti-depressant. Take the 300C SRT-8 and call me in the morning.
Dan Neil can be reached at dan.neil@latimes.com.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
2005 Chrysler 300C SRT-8
Base price: $39,995
Price, as tested: $43,000 (est.)
Powertrain: 6.1-liter, overhead valve V8, five-speed automatic transmission, rear-wheel drive
Horsepower: 425 at 6,200 rpm
Torque: 420 pound-feet at 4,800 rpm
Curb weight: 4,200 pounds
0-60 mph: 5 seconds
EPA fuel economy: 14 miles per gallon city, 19 highway
Wheelbase: 120 inches
Overall length: 196.8 inches
Final thoughts: Street ICBM
