When it comes to old-school brute, very few cars, new or old, can hold a candle to the Rover P5B Coupé that was built between 1967 and 1973. It looked hard as nails, had a lower roofline than its saloon brother, and brought that famous 3.5L V8 engine to the British and European markets. It was a majestic automobile with character and a unique sense of occasion – no wonder it was the British prime minister’s transportation for many a year.
I think the closest car to that Rover in today’s market is this one: the Chrysler 300S. It looks about as aerodynamic as a brick on wheels – it’s big, unapologetic and proudly in your face. It’s powered by a mighty V8, and its roofline gives it a rakish four-door coupé vibe, and it offers terrific value for money – just like the aforementioned Brit. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Few cars, particularly at this price point, make such a bold statement.
Unusually for an American car, the 300 has been popular throughout Europe for more than a decade, with many owners happy to report that their cars are sometimes mistaken for Bentleys (I knew a Bentley owner who had the opposite experience – he was rather miffed). It’s easy to see why. Enormous presence and a huge, chromed radiator grille was enough for the impression to be made, and the estate version always cut an impressive dash. But here, even Bentleys don’t turn heads, so the 300 needs to make a stronger case for itself rather than simply trading on its gangster looks. And it does.
Basically a Dodge Charger with different clothes and specs, previous 300s have let the side down when it came to the business of cornering, feeling more like land yachts than properly sorted performance saloons – but this time, the Chrysler’s underpinnings are more than up to the job of heaving around its two-tonne mass. The axles and housings are now made from lightweight cast aluminium, and the suspension has been retuned to offer tighter handling and less dive under hard braking, while still affording the model’s trademark refinement. The differences are remarkable.
Inside, it’s familiar Americana, with a huge slab of a dashboard covered in soft-touch faux leather, and switchgear and dials that look like they were bought from the lowest-priced supplier. A rotary gear shifter (à la Jaguar) is nice enough to use, and a big improvement on the previous controls, but still manages to look and feel low rent. But that’s nitpicking, because the overall impression is solidity and better-than-average build quality. A bit more flair for the cabin design wouldn’t go amiss, though.
There’s plenty of room for five adults, and the boot space is generous. Visibility is good, aided by a reverse camera that’s hooked up to the 8.4-inch central display. Connectivity is excellent, with Fiat Chrysler’s UConnect infotainment system, which works far better than many of its rivals, even if the display itself looks a bit dated. Sounds belt out via a Beats amp and speaker system.
There’s plenty of safety technology on board, and it does a fine job of being less intrusive than many others. Full-speed “Forward Collision Warning-Plus” provides autonomous braking, and in extremis, slows or brings the car to a complete stop when a frontal collision appears imminent. Improved adaptive cruise control helps maintain distance from the vehicle ahead, and a revised lane-departure warning with “Lane Keep Assist” offers subtle steering-wheel input to alert the driver of inadvertent lane departure and assist with corrective action. Yet you never feel the 300 is wrestling with you – something BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti and others suffer from.
The available engines in this market are V6 or V8 units (the 300S I’m testing is a V8). An eight-speed TorqueFlight transmission is standard across the range, bringing fuel-economy improvements of about 6 per cent compared with previous models.
On the road, there’s very little to complain about. Acceleration is incredibly brisk, and throttle response is immediate, the 300S gathering pace in a relentless surge that feels supercar quick. In the corners, there’s still a feeling that the components are always fighting the laws of physics, but it holds on for dear life, and hard braking feels remarkably composed with only minimal dipping of the nose when you really stamp on the anchors.
At cruising speeds, the steering is straight and true, with little correction necessary. There’s an overall sense of absolute refinement, with excellent noise insulation preventing wind and tyre roar from penetrating the cabin, while the engine note remains a discreet thrum until you pounce on the throttle, when it emits a rather pleasing roar that only a large-displacement V8 can.
It’s an impressive package, and you can bag a V6 for as little as Dh140,000, while a 300S like this one costs from Dh189,000. For a practical, handsome family car that can embarrass many costing twice as much, it’s an absolute steal.
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