Fitted with Brembo performance brakes, bucket seats and Xenon high-intensity discharge headlamps
Standard Equipment include UConnect phone with address sync, Bluetooth and voice command
Interior Fitted with touch-screen multimedia centre, with 30GB hard drive and optional GPS navigation
13-speaker Kicker system, with 332 Watt digital amp and 200 Watt subwoofer... and iPod control
Road Test Interview - Chrysler 300C SRT8
Interviewer: David S (Motoring Journalist and Vehicle Information Specialist)
Interviewee: Chrysler 300C SRT8
Question: How much gangster-mobile attitude can one car have?
Chrysler 300C SRT8 answered us in this road test interview.
Biggest talking point - Chrysler 300C SRT8
That attitude! This car has earned the reputation of being a gangster-mobile - not because only gangsters buy these, but because it is a car that says: "(rhymes with tuck) you!"... without any fear of provocation or consequence. It instantly gives the driver an image of being a gangster, mafia boss or some brute... not to be messed with, or you'll end up a mess.
Exterior and interior - Chrysler 300C SRT8
Chrysler 300C SRT8, you are a long, low and wide menacing machine. Your front-end and grille are imposing. Rear... big and square. Doors, chunky. Mean-looking shallow windows, allowing only a glimpse of heads from behind those vault doors.
I could say that I am certainly confident about my looks and my mean attitude. Being the hot SRT8 performance car, I look the part.
Those wheels - 20-inch multi-spoke wheel are super bright! Most cars' wheels are not even adequate, but yours look impossibly massive.
I only do supersize. I wear forged alloy wheels, and these are actually called Ultra-Brite Aluminium SRT design.
You are vain, and you make your driver feel vain.
And the problem is...?
Feisty! Your owner doesn't need to fit personalised (vanity) plates.
It is fascinating how you, being just a man-made object, can project such a dramatic "bad to the bone" presence.
I'm glad you like it. My door trims also get the leather treatment, for a more luxurious feel.
It is also pleasant and unusual to have semi-sports seats in front.
Yeah, I am a top dog, bro'
Your design is so simple and so effective - clean-cut straight square lines... with a well-built posture. I see you came with the standard grille, rather than the chrome mesh Bentley-type grille.
With that grille, and me being so big, people have mistaken the 300C SRT8 for some Bentley.
I can see why: in this price group, you are definitely more intimidating than your more sophisticated European rivals.
Spec and drive - Chrysler 300C SRT8
How do you like my specs?
I am impressed with the amount of standard equipment, proving you are not just brawny, but also brainy. Give us some info.
Oh, where to start? Brembo performance brakes, xenon high-intensity discharge headlamps, power-folding mirrors, 245/45 R20 front and 255/45 R20 rear tyres to go with my Ultra-Brite rims, LED-illuminated cup holders, memory system for driver's seat and mirrors (even radio memory for 2 drivers), UConnect phone with address sync, Bluetooth and voice command...
I quite enjoyed your touch-screen multimedia centre, with 30GB hard drive and optional GPS navigation.
What would a gangster-mobile be without serious sound - I have a 13-speaker Kicker system, with 332 Watt digital amp and 200 Watt subwoofer... and iPod control.
Your 6.1 V8 engine has a good solid American grumble and that solid torque that a big V8 does so well.
Performance?
Powerful! Your claimed 5 seconds nought-to-hundred is real, plus "no-prob!" overtaking. At this price, other cars can't compete.
I enjoy a good run.
What tells me you're a serious power car is your Performance Display, for when it's time to bring out the player.
Yeah, I can show our quarter-mile and 1/8-mile time and speed, 0-100km/h time, and even the G-forces I pull.
Give us an explanation of your name, SRT8. Give it to us STRaight.
SRT is an acronym for Street and Racing Technologies. This revered badge is only for top-performing, factory-optimised Chryslers. 8 indicates 8 cylinders.
HEMI on your engine cover?
That is for my hemispherical combustion chamber design.
Pity you don't have the Multi-Displacement System (cylinder cut-off to save fuel) as in the 5.7 HEMI. For your average fuel consumption, the specs used to claim 16.8 l/100km, now it is 14.2 (but expect the higher number). I didn't enjoy your power too often, as your 70-litre fuel tank needle would move too much, too quickly... even on the open road.
Favourite Fresh Feature - Chrysler 300C SRT8
The menacing attitude, projected by big square chunks of metal-muscle, shallow windows and big-bling wheels.
Pricing - Chrysler 300C SRT8
R 599 900. For this dough one can buy a medium-size premium exec, but without this much brutal presence or V8 power.
Rivals - Chrysler 300C SRT8
This is tricky - you don't have any clear rivals. Price-wise, the British (Jaguar XF), European (Audi A6, BMW 5, Merc E, Volvo S80) and Japanese (Lexus GS) mid-size execs offer a more premium feel and perhaps a more sophisticated image and more technology. For around R600k you can buy from these companies no more than a 6-cylinder, though some of these are turbo/supercharged, so quick too. Chevrolet Lumina SS is cheaper, but not nearly as imposing. You will have to stack up against cars R200k more expensive, power-wise. With 300C SRT8, one can enjoy the power one expects at the price one doesn't.
Finding - Chrysler 300C SRT8
Question: How much gangster-mobile attitude can one car have?
Plenty. Look at the Chrysler 300C SRT8...but don't stare him in the headlights.
: David S:
Full member of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists
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