Had the chance to rent a 2006 Chrysler Sebring Convertible when I was in Newport Beach, California last weekend. I was hoping for a Mustang - but all National had were Sebrings at least that's what I was told. But the guy leaving the the pick up lot ahead of me had a PT rag.
2.4 litre - 4 cylinder with 150 HP engine was noisey and slow. You should of seen the Ferrari's fly by me on the PCH!!I only put 190 miles on it in 4 days.
I had to get used to turning on the lights MANUALLY, no Auto Headlights like GM. The headlight switch is on the turnsignal stalk. At night its hard to see the settings on the stalk for lights wipers, washers, etc...
Cab forward design, long sloping windshield gives you the effect your farther back than you think you are. The wiper ams block out the entire view of the hood. At least they did for me. Forward vision was also blocked by the low hanging rearview mirror. The windshield header trim molding dips down right in the dead center where the mirror is, so the mirror is mounted a bit lower on the glass. I bend the stem of the mirror up as high as it goes to get MAX clearance and even that wasn't enough.
Some awkwardly placed rental car company decals on the left & right sides of the windshield also hampered my vision.
Manual cloth bucket seats were somewhat uncomfortable in the lower back region of yours truly. Plenty of seat travel on the fore & aft settings, my 6' 11 " cousin had plenty of leg room. Smooth cloth allowed for some sliding between the blue jeans and the seat.
Rear seat room was ok for two adults. 10 & 8 year olds cousins were riding back there anyway.
Low to the floor buckets seats made it a strain on the left arm for those like Paulie who like to hang their arm out the winder.
Door panel pockets set in deep, they had plenty of storage space, but hard to get into with the door closed. Almost impossible to see smaller items in there. Especially paper parking stubs.
Glove box space was decent. Console armrest also had a storage compartment. Front cup holders placement ok, just ahead of floor shift. Forward console storage area doesn't have enough forward slope - dumps stuff out on the floor on takes offs, or hard turns, as does the cubby hole between the upper dash vents. Now where did that cell phone land?
No PRNDL indicator on the console floor shift plate.
Windows powered up & down rather fast. Top up & down in about 13 seconds, I didn't time it just guessing.
Overall, a quiet ride with top up doing 55-60 mph.
Rearward vision was typical of converts with wider top wrap around's and smaller quarter windows.
The passenger seat & headrest seemed to block some side viewing.
It was dark inside the car at night. Graphite color interior ate up any night vision for seeing inside the vehicle. With the interior lights on, the Reading lights on the rear view mirror bottom didn't shine close enough to front seat passengers so one could eyeball a road map. I don't recall a light in the back seat. Poorly placed front floor lights didn't do much good either.
Power mirror adjustment on dash instead of driver door panel, I would of preferred it on the door or console. Decklid release button slightly lower on the left side of dashboard. Ignition had to be on for it to function.
Outside rearview mirror glass could of been a little larger.
I also didn't care for the placement of the old pull up style door unlock buttons on top of the door panel - they were even with the middle of your arm, but the car was equipped with auto locks so they dropped out of your way about a block after taking off.
If the doors were locked, pulling on the inside door handle of a locked door, the doors would unlock and open.
With the technology today a dome light should be able to be mounted to the windshield header or the first top bow.
I didn't try the heat or Air Conditioner - it was only a high of 68 degrees. Radio sounded Ok. I didn't have any CD's / Cassettes with me to try out. The car had a CD player only.
Majority of the radio stations were Rap & Mexicano related.
Gauge cluster had a nice bluish tint lighting at night. One click of the dash lights dimmer cut the brightness considerably on the digital read out for the miles and the PRNDL, but not the gauge cluster. Keep turning & the cluster dimmed.
Unlocking the top from the header - the handles rotated the opposite way of the GM converts I've owned. Instead of pulling the handle out from the side rails you pull it out from the header bar and rotate the handles toward the side rails.
A few times the hooks needed to be pulled on to clear the header. Press the top button and the 4 windows shoot down about 2 inches and stop, then the roof starts to collapse, then the 4 windows drop all at once.
I wish the windows were not tied into the top switch. I'd prefer to lower the windows myself using the window buttons. If its too cold or windy or you got some candy ass riding with that wants the window next to him or her up then you got to close it.
You didn't have to be at a HALT with the parking brake set to lower or raise the top. The 95 Mustang I rented had that SAFETY feature.
I did like the fact the top well had a formed hard plastic well cover instead of the old fashioned vinyl bag that was used in the 60's to the
80's.Trunk space was good too with non - intrusive deck lid hinges.
Handling & suspension seemed ok.
Would I buy one? No. Not even a loaded up V6 with leather. My aunt that lives out there has a 05 Sebring Sedan with leather bucket seats and I found hers to be shaped a bit differently and much more comfortable than the cloth buckets in the convertible.
harryface
05 Park Avenue 37,963 91 Bonneville 306,528 - with an engine thats a knockin'.