2015 Chrysler 200

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DuceTheTruth

No Flexxin No Fakin
Apr 1, 2003
6,884
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#1
2015 Chrysler 200



Chrysler lobs a long Dart into the car market's hottest segment
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MARCH 2014 BY JARED GALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY A.J. MUELLER


From the May 2014 Issue of Car and Driver


Six-figure pickup-truck volumes get all the headlines, but the car market’s real heavy hauler is the mid-size sedan. This segment accounts for a greater percentage of new-car sales than any other, but it’s not just its size that makes it so ferocious. It’s overrun with great offerings that include two 10Besters—the Mazda 6 and Honda Accord—and three of the 10 bestselling vehicles in the U.S.



Into this fray, Chrysler lobs its lawn dart, the new generation of which is, basically, a long Dart. Chrysler calls the new 200 a clean-sheet design, but it’s more truthfully a clean sheet of Fiat letterhead. Like the Dodge Dart, Chrysler’s mid-sizer is based on Fiat’s “Compact U.S. Wide” architecture. Stretched just 1.6 inches in wheelbase but 8.4 inches overall compared with the Dart, the 200 is now one of the larger vehicles in its commodious class.




With the slick styling of the reworked 200, Chrysler aims to make you forget the awfulness that was the Sebring sedan.
Base 200s pack Chrysler’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder, with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 available as an option. Sixes account for just a handful of sales in this market, but Chrysler has bragging rights with its 295 horsepower and 262 pound-feet. No competitor makes more power, and only Hyundai/Kia’s 2.0-liter turbo four makes more torque. The 200 needs it, however, as its curb weight is another segment high: The four-cylinder 200 is heavier than some six-cylinder competitors. To keep either engine in its power band, both come standard with ZF’s new nine-speed transaxle, which is probably more ratios than nature intended. This in a vehicle that was available with a four-speed automatic as recently as, oh, last year. Why merely compensate when you can overcompensate?



What may help the V-6’s take rate is that it’s the only 200 engine paired with the optional four-wheel drive. The setup is borrowed from the Jeep Cherokee, another Compact U.S. Wide spinoff, and can send up to 60 percent of the available torque rearward. Four-wheel drive and nearly 300 horsepower? Did someone say “Subaru WRX STI”? Well, Chrysler didn’t. Just as lawn darts lend themselves to a sort of haphazard toss, the 200 lacks precision. In no configuration is it a performance car. It feels heavy, and with the six, the weight over the nose prevents any real fun. The so-called C trim level suffers from Ye Olde Detroite body flop, and while the S’s stiffer bushings markedly improve control, the steering in each is neither quick nor talkative enough to live up to the powertrain specs. Nor does the transmission encourage any sort of liveliness. And here’s a first-time sentiment: We wish the Chrysler had more Jeep-like brake feel. The Cherokee’s pedal is uncharacteristically firm and satisfying, while the 200’s is a squishy mediocrity.




As it is with most cars in this class, our choice here is the four-cylinder. With the weight off its nose, the 200 feels much more tossable and balanced, even a little bit fun. But, in a class that includes the lot-of-fun Accord and Mazda 6, a little isn’t going to cut it.



Instead, Chrysler is counting on design and features to sell 200s, a tactic that has worked well for Korea, Inc. While there are many exterior shapes in this class that are more expressive, the 200 does boast an interior nicely laid out, with soft-touch material just about everywhere but the turn-signal stalk. And even the $22,695 base car has keyless entry and push-button start. The available adaptive cruise will brake the car to a standstill, and the optional lane-departure-prevention system is surprisingly tenacious. Many such systems offer a feeble feint as the car glides over the lane lines. Not the 200. Its wheel fights like a fisherman with a 500-pound tuna on the line to keep the car from straying. Then it smartly releases pressure once the car is back on its appropriate heading to prevent the ping-ponging between lane lines that afflicts so many other systems. And yet it’s smart enough to stay out of the way when driver input, not inattention, steers the car close to the shoulder (or, as we call it, the apex).



The electric power steering also allows for automated parking. We tested it on three parallel spaces. On two attempts, the 200 expertly snugged right up to the curb, close enough to scrub off any tire-mold hairs. The third time, it called it quits when the front wheel was about nine inches from the curb and the rear probably 16. Being able to competently position your car for temporary abandonment is still part of driving tests, right?



There are a lot of “mosts” in the mid-size sedan segment: most fun, most spacious, most stylish, most likely to be painted Champagne Mica and driven through parking lots at 4 mph. The new 200 is none of the mosts we care most about, but neither is it the least of anything. In a high-volume class that prioritizes practicality, somewhere in the middle is not a bad place to be.



[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NRd3cOCmM[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NUBxT8K2WY[/video]​
 

DuceTheTruth

No Flexxin No Fakin
Apr 1, 2003
6,884
6,014
1
45
#9
As much as I detest the 1st gen 200... I actually like this one a whole lot more. Nice exterior lines, nice interior. I think this might be Chryslers ticket to survival, because who knows if the 300 can survive another redesign on its current aging platform.
 
May 2, 2002
3,895
163
0
#18
I used to like all the new cars that came out...but as I'm getting older I'm starting to like and appreciate older cars more and more.

I browse Craigslist and find myself looking at anything pre 85. Plus I don't have to hook it up to a computer to find out what is wrong with it when something breaks.
 

DuceTheTruth

No Flexxin No Fakin
Apr 1, 2003
6,884
6,014
1
45
#19
I used to like all the new cars that came out...but as I'm getting older I'm starting to like and appreciate older cars more and more.

I browse Craigslist and find myself looking at anything pre 85. Plus I don't have to hook it up to a computer to find out what is wrong with it when something breaks.


I like browsing CL to check out the deals and the rare cars that I have never seen before and/or just read about.
 

DuceTheTruth

No Flexxin No Fakin
Apr 1, 2003
6,884
6,014
1
45
#20
I had a 200 as a rental and that shit was gay as fuck....the chick at the counter was trying to describe it as just a smaller 300, what a lying ass bitch!

As some of us kno by now....the only thing the 1st gen 200 shares with the 300 is the Chrysler emblem....and not much else.

The 300 is bred from Mercedes bones while the 200 was some shit Chrysler put together. ...pretty much.

This new 200 is a stretched dodge dart witch itself is made up of mostly Alfa Romeo bits and parts.