People were invited to show up at a little used WWII airport near Vancouver to test drive DaimlerChrysler Canada’s latest Chrysler and Dodge products with no sales guys present. Testers were in the car by themselves and they were encouraged to let it all hang out. The high point for me was booting the Hemi-engine car models - the Chrysler 300C and the Dodge Magnum - around the short, twisty track.
If you’re in the auto industry or if you’re just in the market for a new car, you’ll have an opinion on the new rear wheel drive 300 as soon as you see it. You’ll either love its styling or hate it. Either way, the 300 is a very significant, very serious automobile. We drove the 300C with the new Hemi V-8 engine. With 340 hp (and 390 lb-ft of torque) on tap, the 300C is, not unexpectedly, seriously quick. Yet with the MDS (multiple displacement system) the Hemi should get at least 20% better fuel economy than the same engine without MDS. One Vancouver auto journalist drove a 300C over a 700 mile route, which included both city and highway. He got 23mpg. Readers of a certain age will recall the disastrous 4-6-8 GM engines in some Cadillac and Oldsmobile models of the early ‘80s.
DaimlerChrysler wants you should forget those abortions. The new Hemi with MDS is nothing like the old GMs. The company claims the system has been tested to death and should be 100% reliable for the life of the engine. A couple of things stand out about the 300’s interior: While the gunslot windows would suggest a claustrophobic interior, quite the opposite turns out to be the case. Second, back seat space is huge.
DaimlerChrysler has 68,000 confirmed orders for the Dodge Magnum so far. Why? Two reasons: Its stunning appearance – one journalist remarked it looks a lot like a European “shooting brake” custom fabricated for a car nut like the Sultan of Brunei’s kid brother. I agree. I also think the Magnum is dirt cheap for what you get. They say a cop-special 4-door sedan is imminent. Pity that because the 5-door wagon is very striking. It’s near perfectly proportioned and flat gorgeous from every angle. It’s also smaller in the flesh than its measurements suggest.
Like the 300, it’s available with either DaimlerChrysler’s 250hp 3.5L V-6 or with the new 340hp Hemi with MDS. Incidentally, the real advantage of the MDS system in the Hemi V-8 is that when you’re in normal driving around town mode or maybe at steady speed on flat highway you’re using just four of the eight cylinders. It’s only when you stomp on it that you’re firing on all eight cylinders. Close as I could tell, the transition from four to eight cylinders and back again was seamless and almost undetectable. Oh yeah, so how did it perform on the track? Awesome. I fell in love when I took it around the first corner.
