Well, I think TT might have been able to try it as well due to the "open test days" over at Crissier (5 minute drive from my place), so I went to check it out as well.
The dealer is quite big, into BMW's, Chrysler's, Fiat, Toyota, Lexus, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Volvo and so on...
Anyway, I wanted to give the Alfa Romeo Brera and the 300C a try, but there really was a lot of people, so I only had a chance to try the 300C (didn't wanna stay another hour waiting for the Brera to come back.... maybe I'll do it tomorrow).
I also took a little video clip and some interior pics which I'll post later once I find my USB cable to transfer them from the phone to my PC, but here's my "impressions".
So, first of all, I have to say I was actually quite surprised! It wasn't that bad!
I got a LOT of looks in the thing. People walking around, other drivers, etc... they would all just look and stare. The car really is one of those gangsta style poser-mobiles, very eye catching, agressive, etc... I think it looks a bit over the top, but I'm also a bit of a fan for agressive looking cars (and I'm not afraid to drive around in one... I mean, what do I need to hide... it's not my fault if everyone needs goggles after seeing me
), but yeah, if you want attention, this is a car which will get you attention, hehe
Second thing, the acceleration. This 3.5 had quite a lot of low end torque. Press the acceleration pedal, and the car responds very quickly, usually MB's require a bit more pressing before they jump forward, but this one responded with a generous amount of push right away. However, it seems like the rest of the 70-80% of the pedal is the same thing... i.e. it didn't really matter if I was pressing down 20% or 80%, it was still accelerating pretty much the same.
Also, I got the impression it had no "kick-down" feature which you often see in automatics. i.e. when you push down entirely on the accelerator pedal, the car will downshift to give you a boost. It only did this when I was driving uphill and the engine was running out of power. But that's ok, this is, like I said, more a poser mobile.
Then there's the ride. It's quite firm, but also nice and soft. However, my GF didn't like it, she said cars this soft get her nauseous... But the good point was how firm it was in the corners, there was just very little body roll, almost none. I took some roundabouts at around 60kph, and the car stayed planted, horizontal, no skidding. I wonder how heavy this thing is, maybe not as heavy as I thought it would be?
The brakes too were quite good, they had enough stopping power for a car this size.
Finally, the fit and finish was quite good. Everything seemed to be well done, no obvious gaps, materials were mostly plastic, but rubbery type in general, but in some parts (such as the arm wrest portion on the doors) showed mold marks from the plastic molds that are used to make the parts... a shame really. Things like this should be hidden.
The navigation/stereo system looked good, clear display with good color definition, and the white dials are nice too. However, the steering wheel had a... mmm, how to say, a fake transparent wooden rim on the top part. I mean, what is the point of making a half yellow transparent rounded plastic pipe, covering it with some brownish wooden/camo paint on it, and then sticking it on the steering wheel? I think you just have to see it for yourself to understand, because I don't know how else to explain it. Ridiculous, I'd prefer brushed aluminium, real wood, carbon fiber, leather... but it's a moot point, I kinda forgot about it after a while, it didn't mean I drove the car any worse because of it
However, I did have one surprise...
Coming back, I decided to park the car, so I flick it in reverse, begin to place it in the parking spot, and wham... something happened. At first I don't know what it was, but the steering became very heavy. I changed it to D, the car began rolling forward a bit, but the steering was extremely heavy. A few seconds later, I realised the engine had been turned off... HOW?!?
So I turn the engine back on, and it's running again. Steering's fine, I can run through the gears again... I really have no idea why the car just stopped running all of a sudden. It does show however that the cabin is pretty well insulated from outside noise, but kinda scary for the engine to just turn off like this.
Overall, it was a nice car tho'. The torque was decent, even though the car kind of ran out of punch when you went up to the higher rpm's, it still accelerated fine, but this was not a very 'big' engine. Fit and finish was nice, nothing really annoying, seating was comfortable, and I think it'd be quite cool if I was into all that hip hop r&b stuff so I could pimp around "wit mah ho's and schtuff"
I'll get the video clip and pics up... errr, probably monday or something :\
Hope you enjoyed that little writeup
Drove a Chrysler 300C 3.5 today (pics to come later)
Linear Mode
