Chrysler 300C car review

Measuring five metres in length and 1.9-metres across, it’s a big brute, but it handles surprisingly well

One of the biggest films successes of 2007 was 300 – the ultimate underdog story of 300 muscle-bound warriors from Sparta fighting one million Persian soldiers.

And in the Chrysler 300C you have a well-equipped budget executive saloon with a jaw-dropping muscle car design taking the fight to the Teutonic big boys of BMW, Audi and Mercedes.

So how does this American Spartan cope on Britain’s roads? Adrian Hearn took one for a spin to find out.

American Executive saloons have a tough time in the UK. We love our German cars from the Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class to the BMW 5 Series. But in the Chrysler 300C, the USA is offering a genuine alternative to the German trio.

And that’s because it’s not entirely American. The Chrysler 300C uses the same platform and brilliant 3-litre diesel engine as the old Mercedes E-Class, but fused with an unmistakeable design customary on American muscle cars.

Besides the exterior design, the first thing you notice about the Chrysler 300C is its sheer size. Measuring five metres in length and 1.9-metres across, it’s a big brute, but it handles surprisingly well. The ride is superb, soaking up all the bumps, Britain’s battered B-roads have to offer while going round corners with minimal roll.

The engine is superb. From inside the 300C, you’ll need the hearing of a dog to realise it’s a diesel engine rather than petrol. Performance isn’t bad either, with the oil-burner producing 215bhp and 376lb/ft of pulling power. This accelerates the 300C from 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 146mph. Fuel economy is respectable as well for a car this size, averaging 35mpg. The four-speed automatic gearbox is smooth and can be changed semi-automatically, but it’s clumsy and better to keep it in fully-automatic mode. The brakes felt slightly spongy, not the best thing when you’re driving a five metre long car tipping the scales at nearly two tonnes.

The let-down with the pre-facelifted Chrysler 300C we test drove in 2006 was the interior. While the outside reeked of an executive car, inside, the 300C was more budget than Bentley. But Chrysler has improved the car, fitting it with darker plastics and giving it altogether a more up-market feel.

And the exterior hasn’t been left entirely the same either. It’s a refresh, rather than a redesign with the 2008 Chrysler 300C only getting a new boot lid and rear light clusters.

That is unless you opt for the SRT-Design trim. It’s like the Honda Civic Type-S – where the base model gets the design mimicking the hot model, in this case the crazy 168mph Chrysler 300C SRT-8.

You get 20-inch alloys (instead of 18s) a chrome mesh grille, SRT-8 leather seats and steering wheel and the superb MyGIG sat-nav system, which is made by Harmon and Kardon and has a 20GB hard drive for storing music – for £32,495. Performance doesn’t improve, but it gives you the look of the SRT-8, but without the insurance hike, fuel economy drop and £8,000 premium.

Practicality is superb as well. There’s loads of space in the rear for passengers six foot plus tall – making it ideal as a chauffeur-driven vehicle, while the boot is 504-litres, slightly less than the BMW 5 Series.

But the problem with big American cars is their depreciation. Not with the Chrysler 300C. A two-year old diesel 300C with 20,000 miles on the clock will hold 67 per cent of its original value compared to a BMW 525d which will maintain 62 per cent.

Chrysler claims the 300C is the most striking sub-£30,000 vehicle on the road. Chrysler is wrong. It’s more like the most striking car for less than £80k, when the likes of the Maserati Quattroporte enter the competition. It will even hold its own alongside the luxurious Bentley Arnage – a car costing almost six times the price of the 300C.

It’s a better looking alternative to the Teutonic trio of the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class and Audi A6 and can work in all walks of life, be it transporting MPs around or featuring in hip-hop videos.

It may not drive, or ultimately perform as well as the superb BMW 530d, but like with the 300 Sparta warriors, it gives a hugely impressive account for itself – and for considerably less money.