Yeah, so driving the Saturn every day has gotten to be annoying (noisy, buzzy little shiznitbox that it is), so I decided to upgrade. I'd always loved the Chrysler LX cars, especially the Magnums and 300's, so I started saving my pennies and, while saving, casually searching. 'Bout three weeks ago my savingshiznit the point that I could start seriously searching. I originally drove a Hemi-powered Magnum, but was not at all impressed. The power was nice, but I didn't care for the rest of the car. Squeaks, rattles, gallumping over bumps, and of course shiznitty hard plastics in the interior. The Magnum was officially crossed off my list, so I set my sights on a 300. I had few demands: First, it's gotta have leather, second, it had to have a sunroof, and third, it could not be silver (they're ALL silver around here). I really wanted a black one or a white one. Also, a Hemi would have been nice, but with my 120 mile daily round trip commute and gas at $1.09/liter (that's about $4.15/gallon) I would not turn down a 3.5 (the 2.7 was out of the question, but it was never available in Canadian 300's anyway).
So after a few weeks of scouring the car lots and nearly giving up on finding the perfect one, I finally found the perfect one. I present to you my shiny new Chrysler 300:
...And no, it's not a Hemi. It's got the 3.5, is fully loaded, and has but 50k miles on it. Four brand new tires, a new inspection (good for two years), and it is in just about perfect condition. It's that really nice (in my opinion) off-white colour. My first 200 miles have averaged 25 MPG, according to the trip computer. It's from Alberta (no road salt). I am just loving this car :hick:
More pics (these pics were taken at my parents house, BTW - I am house-sitting for them for the month of April while they blow my inheritance in Florida. That's my niece standing in the doorway in one of the pics)
Didn't come cheap (though I got a hell of a deal). That's $11,500 in cash in this pic that the salesman took of me just before I handed the loot over:
They accepted Monopoly money ????????
J/K car looks great Hope it is a good one for you :D
Well, I've got a year of warranty to find out. Hopefully it'll be better than the Volvo (course, it's only got to last until Monday to outlast the Volvo, which went two days before eating an engine)
Ehhh... sorry but meh. Theres just TOO many of those around here. I mean I'm still happy that your happy but, meh :P
...yea but our monopoly $ is worth the same as yours now...and still gaining! LOL :D
Show off your body skills and refit those sides into a 2 door model with the hardtop. The way they were meant to be.
I think it's a nice car! But I know you only bought it because it has winged emblems like a Tbird! LOL!
Jeez you got skinny!
And Lulz @ Monopoly Money!
let us all know how the car performs. 25 mpg, is that highway? I would be driving the bird at that point...
The 25MPG is city/highway. The T-Bird used to do better than that, but not since the 3.55's (and it would kill me to put 120 miles a day on the Bird)...
Havi: What body skills? I SUCK at bodywork. Maybe I'll drop the car off at Jerry's once he's finished with his Evolution twins :hick:
I agree that I am happy your happy Carm.... but those cars are hidieous to me. never liked them from day one. Congrats on the new ride though. bet it is a thousand times better then the saturn
Hey QUICKSHIFT, you are basically living in my Back yard.... welcome to the board LOL.
Nice lookin' ride! Sure does make the Thunderbird look small though!
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
Watch out for the dreaded check engine light on those 3.5s for a cyl or multiple cyl misfire.
The valves will have to be rotated and cleaned(chrysler emmission flaw).
Honestly you would have been better with the hemi as it has the M.S.D. and drops to 4cyl on the hwy.
I've got a year's warranty on the engine, so if the valves have to be fiddled with it's GMPP's problem. I agree, the Hemi would have been better, but I'd never have found one in my price range, and like I said, the fuel economy thing is a big issue. According to the US gov't the 3.5 is good for 20 combined/25 highway while the Hemi, even with D.O.D. (or M.D.S. or whatever acronym Chrysler uses), is only good for 18/23. And let's face it, if I had a Hemi it would rarely be driven like the EPA does while testing...
This car for me is more about having style in a DD than it is about performance. The T-Bird is and will remain my "toy" (and hopefully this coming winter it will recieve some major upgrades). I wanted something pretty, reliable, and smooth. I did NOT want something "mainstream" like a Fusion, Camcord, etc. Panthers were off my list as well (been there, done that, my old Town Car was so boring I almost fell asleep driving). I've loved the 300's since they were concept cars and simply decided that the time was finally right to buy one. And so far I am in absolute love with it, to the point I'm rather certain it won't be my last one (though we'll see whether that opinion changes after time).
As for the "haters", I know all styles are not for every person, and I know that some people would rather eat a Ford than own a Chrysler (especially on a Ford-centric site such as this), but to each his own. The fact that I love it notwithstanding, there is absolutely no other car on the road that compares to the LX in terms of layout (RWD), driving dynamics (this car handles very well for its size and feels rock-solid, thanks to its Mercedes E-Class backbone), style (for better or for worse, at least it has styling), or affordability (a similar-year Camcord would have cost more with fewer features and much more boring styling, and a Taurus/500/Impala would have cost about the same, but are far too anonymous for my liking).
My Nitro has been nothing short of exemplary in it's 2.5 years with me.
Which trans do you have? Is it the NAG1 with the triptronic? You'll find even better gas mileage with it rowing through the gears yourself if that is the case. It tends to shift too soon @ part throttle taking the engine out of the powerband when in full auto; expending useful energy/fuel.
For full out "acceleration tests" it's best to leave it in full auto though.....
LOL. Yeh our money is par with the US but there still screwing us in Canada with the US prices. How can a magazine be worth $3 us and 4.95 Can still?
Oh. Nice ride Thunder chicken.
Totally! I think I may have gained your lost weight, though.
And good LOYD! You're in a Chrysler? You've got automotive ADD, man. :D (oo, shiney.... oo, shiney as well)
Last time my mother came up to see us, she had one as a rental.
Yeh, I'd own one, and I'm pretty anti-Chrysler.
Gimme a black one, hemi, and tint the winders while you're at it :D
Nice ride Carm..it looks good next to the 'Bird there ;)
Ive always liked these cars and thought they're Pimp! You bought this car for the same reason I bought my Audi TT, fell in love with it from the concept Stage! Which is very respectable and I'm glad it didn't disappoint! Congrats!
It would have been hard for me to part with that much cash all at once! I'm glad you found a car you liked though. The 300s are nice rides.
That's much better than a Saturn :D
dam, we must be on the same page today... i saw this and thought to myself...
"They see me rollin
They hatin
Patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
My music so loud
I'm sschlongin
They hopin that they gon catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty"
LOL... anyway, sweet car, i drove one a couple times and i really like them, get some big chrome wheels and a pimp hat sir!
This is the non-autostick 4-speed Chrysler tranny. Only the Hemi and AWD versions got the 5-speed Mercedes tranny with Autostick in 2005. I've driven cars with so-called "manumatics" and walked away unimpressed anyway - it's one of those features that I could see being used the first little while, then never used again.
AADD (Automotive ADD)? Me? Just because I've had, like a zillion different vehicles from several different manufacturers in the past few years? Nahhhh....
...Oh, and I already had a Chrysler product, the '96 Cherokee ;)
Cripes, now, let me think just how many I have had since, say, 2005...
There is the T-Bird, of course, then a Cherokee, the infamous Volvo... a Dakota, a Lincoln Town Car, an F-150, a Saturn SL1, a Nissan Maxima, another Saturn, another Cherokee, and now the Chrysler, which I have affectionately dubbed "Bender" because it reminds me of Bender the robot.
Even harder for me would be to part with little bits of it on a monthly basis. I'll never owe money for a car again. Took me four months to save the money, would've taken three years to pay off a loan for the same amount...
Just about
everything is better than a Saturn :hick:
I'm already cruising eBay looking for some ""dubs" and some other goodies, like HID headlights with LED running lights, LED tail lights, etc...
Thanks :D The first time I saw a photo of the concept I wanted one, and when they were green-lighted I made a vow to own one someday. I figured I'd wait 'til they were $500 cars (and being Chryslers I didn't think I'd have to wait long). Thankfully, since I stopped fooling myself into thinking I was making money with those God-forsaken sequencers and got a real job making good money I didn't have to wait for that anyway :D
I'm going to go ahead and stop you right there. :flame:
So far I've had to do only typical wear items on this unit, other than a caliper (wheel bearings, link kits, steady bearing, but it needs new struts, 170k), and nothing on the powertrain. Maybe you just bought py models. ;) My old Grand Cherokee remains the worst vehicle I've ever owned.
I didn't mean reliability, I meant NVH and driving dynamics. The original Saturns (you know, the ones that were actually Saturns instead of rebadged GM corporate ) were quite well known for being buzzy little rattletraps.
My worst vehicles would be the Volvo, the '91 T-Bird, and my first Cherokee. It would be hard to decide which one I hated most...
Oh. OK, I can't argue with that. They're pretty noisy, especially with the CVT howling in the winter (It's a very scary noise, if you don't know that it's just the belt 'clutching'. It just buzzes when you're taking off on warm days, but in the cold, it howls away from a light) and the very tinny sounding Ecotec (which is an awesome little mill).
Nice car Carm, We've been in the process of swapping a viper v-10 out of a SRT-10 ram that was totaled into a tan 300M like that. Its looking pretty BA. gonna be one wickid toy when its done. but thats whatcha get when ya pay 26k to go to school... they teach you stuff like that.....
Glad you found something you'll be happy with. The 2005 Chrysler T&C that's currently in our driveway will be the LAST Chrysler product we EVER buy. Think we'll stick with Fords.
That 300 looks really clean, and 25 mpg combined isn't doing badly at all.
Looks good Carm! It's always nice to be able to get what you've been wanting for a while. I was like that last year when we got my 06 Fusion. And I still love it. My Fiancee found out the feeling a couple of weeks ago when we bought her a Mazda 3. She's walking on cloud 9!
As a former employee of Chrysler LLC I cant stress enough the importance of prevenative maintenance on these cars. The 3.5 V6 is much better than the 2.7 at least and make sure you service the tranny. If its the 5speed auto from Mercedes it requires ATF+4 at least.. Things to watch are the radios, suspension bushings, engine mounts and shift control modules. Remember this car is based on a previous generation Mercedes E class and they are known for suspension upkeep issues. Good luck. That vanilla bean or stone white?