300C AWD Hemi

Just got my 2006 300C AWD hemi.. I didnt want the hemi until I drove it..
Unbelievable... I'm going out today to program the controls... I expect to
spend the entire day doing that.. Yippee..

sharkman

 

Nice! I've had my 300C for almost 1 1/2 years. I remeber telling my wife
that if we decide to test drive it, there's no turning back.

 

I wonder which sold more, the 300 or the M?

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

I believe the 300 sold at a rate the first few months out triple the rate of
the last year of the 300M. But remember the 300M had to compete with the
LHS, Concord and Intrepid.

 

True.

Are you going to be switching? I have thought about it but haven't seen any
rebates on the vehicle.

Ken

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

I'm picking up my 2006 300C this morning (Saturday 10/22); Not AWD
though; Can anyone qoute me what their gas milage has been? Is the
quoted "17-25" from the sticker accurate?

Thanks.
Rob

 

I traded in my M for the C..

--

 

I have the AWD C. On long trips (100 Miles each way) I get 21MPG, on short
(to the store and back, 10 miles each way) it's 12MPG. My average fuel
consumption has been 16MPG.

 

My mileage has been in that range for my 300C RWD.

 

Are your roads covered in snow/slush/ice in the winter?

On a recent highway trip, my '2000 300M (about 60k miles on the odo),
the overhead display was telling me I was getting between 28 and 32
mpg. Cruise set to 115 kph (about 71 mph).

We get hit hard with snow starting mid to late december, and it
doesn't go away until late march.

The M with good snow tires (Artic Alpin) is amazing.

I'm convinced there is no good reason for AWD in a car, given my
winter driving experiences in the M with snow tires. AWD is a
marketing gimic, and as you have pointed out, is a bitch on fuel
efficiency.

 

I am not fond of the looks of the 300 or the small windows. The Charger
looks better to me and at least the rear window is bigger. I am not sure
about the rest of the glass but rear visibility is definitely better in the
Charger. But the Charger is not available with memory seats which is kind
of ridiculous so I am waiting to see if they make that option available.
Also, a ton of hybrids are coming out in the next few years so maybe it is a
good time to just wait the industry out.

 

I was just reading a motor mag in the doctor's waiting room where they
compared front and rear wheel drive handling and braking on wet and dry
roads. They bought comparable models meaning size, weight and engine power,
as best they could. Turns out in wet and dry roads there was no inherent
difference between front and rear wheel drive. Basically it depended on the
quality of stability and traction control. They did not test in snow or
slush. Having owned a 1971 Dodge Dart in Rochester, NY I do not have much
faith in rear wheel drive in snow and icy roads. Now I live in NC but we
did have about 20 inches of snow a few years ago and I had an opportunity to
drive a 94 LHS thru it and it did great.

 

So AWD was not part of the comparison.

I garantee that I'd have better 0-60 time (dry road) if my M was RWD.
Off-the-line acceleration is pretty much the only "real-world"
advantage that RWD has over FWD. If the pavement is wet, then that
advantage is reduced quite a bit.

Now, you throw a winter snow dump during the night and you've got to
drive to work the next AM (and your court hasn't been plowed yet,
maybe not even your feeder streets) and FWD with snows will drive
circles around RWD.

I've driven my 2001 RAM (2WD, limited-slip differential option) on a
slight inclined road in the winter (road is bare, but "dark" because
of frozen ice/snow layer) and I tell ya, I barely get the thing moving
forward from a stop light.

I don't know where people live where they can, on a daily basis, drive
their car like it's the 24 hours of LeMans, but my take is that
handling and stability issues just don't play a role in people's
every-day driving experience.

AWD is for the birds, unless you drive on un-managed or un-plowed
roads in the winter (or you drive where there are no roads, which I'd
like to see you do in a car with AWD vs a truck or suv).

 

Yes, I live in Massachusetts.

The LHs got much better mileage then the 300C. My 94 Concorde also got 29
on the highway and my average MPG was 22 vs 16 on the 300C.

 

I also don't care for the looks of the new 300 but that's just my own
opinion. It's rather hard to ignore the AWD with 340 HP though.

I have looked at the Charger and like the looks a lot better but as you
pointed out, there are fewer options and that dash is just bland.

I'm going to look at the Magnum this week.

Ken

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

Any regrets?

--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna

 

A manager at a local supermarket has a black Magnum. It is always pretty
filthy, sitting in the supermarket parking lot. In black, when dirty, it
looks pretty bad. Suitable for carrying dead bodies to funerals.
Visibility is about the same as the 300 when I test drove one a while back.
It has limited options just like the Charger. For 2006 the V6 now gets the
5 speed I believe in both the Magnum and Charger. Before you had to buy the
hemi to get the 5 speed due to production limitations. Gas mileage is the
same though.

 

I had a 95 Subaru Legacy AWD wagon. Great steering feel on that car but I
never felt that AWD was doing anything in particular.

 

According to the 300M display I get about 20 mpg on my 300M average. I do
the same according to the display on my 2001 Avalon and I believe it was the
same on my 94 LHS. Even my 91 Taurus read the same. I used to love the
digital speedometer on that car. Maybe they are all hard wired to read 20
mpg average.

 

Yea, I know about having a black car is like as that is what the color is on
my existing M. If I only knew what I was in store for.I like the red and
wish they just had white as opposed to the "Cool Vanilla". No more black
cars for me.

I see on the Dodge website that it does have some pretty nice options but
not everything that the C offers. I guess there has to be in order to keep
Chrysler as the upgrade?


--
"Now Phoebe Snow direct can go
from thirty-third to Buffalo.
From Broadway bright the tubes run right
Into the Road of Anthracite"
Erie - Lackawanna