I dunno...I was really 'in tune' with my Celica, and loved driving it. When I would slap the dealer plate on the Supra and go for a spin, I didn't like it as well!
Now, I go through withdrawl if I have to park the Supra more than a day! I can't drive the Celica, but based on how it used to drive, I bet it would still be a blast and a half if I fixed it.
Actually a friend of mine was given a Sebring as a loaner when his 2000 Avalon was being fixed. He liked it more than his Avalon. I had an opportunity to drive in it because he picked me up for lunch. I was surprised how nice it was considering it costs half as much as an Avalon. Consumer Reports gives it a poor review and if you have never driven a cab forward car then it is something to get used to but it was very quiet and comfortable and everything worked fine.
I sincerely hope that the one I got actually was malfunctioning, as its performance was, um, idiosyncratic. (In 2000 miles, four instances where it spontaneously shifted from Drive to Neutral, twice in heavy traffic; and a _sudden_ aggressive power increase as one depressed the accelerator to move away from rest, beyond what would be called for even in a "performance" car, making slow traffic and reversing-out, um, interesting.) My major arguments (shown in the original post, as negatives) concerned poor design features, mainly ergonomic ones. (Puzzling ones, nowadays.)
Example:- There are two cup holders (which I find essential on long trips in weather that even verges on "hot"; and 110F/43.3C counts as that, IMHO) for the front. These the designer thought should be located under the dashboard overhang, so that there is difficulty in putting a cup into its holder or removing it if the cup is anything like a useful size: the top of the cup/straw/etc collides with the overhang. To make life more interesting, the holders are immediately forward of the gear-change lever, which the driver must reach past in order to grab a cup. And, just in case things are not _quite_ interesting enough, if the car is in Park, the lever knob leans forward and traps the cups neatly.
This is not a trivial example, as it encourages bad moments on the road for a lone driver. The others are of varying dumbness.
It's horses for courses, naturally. Maybe I am too demanding? Or maybe "Dr Z" usually sells snake oil to credulous yokels?
BTW, what's a "cab forward car"? Not a term I know in the UK.
A lady I worked with a few years ago bought a 2004 Sebring new and it spent as much time at the dealer for repairs as it did on the road in its first year alone (it wouldn't even start in cold weather). I don't know how it now as I haven't seen her in some time, but I wouldn't doubt it if the problems continued to mount and she got rid of it. Her experience clearly echoes the Consumer Reports review.
Cab forward means that the windshield is highly slanted and you end up with a long dash and since the passenger compartment is push forward, the same size car has a lot more interior room. It was not without problems. Squashing the engine compartment tended to make engine noise worse. The newest Civic is obviously cab forward copy of Chrysler idea.
The car runs smoothly. Clearly something was wrong with your rental. Chrysler is noted for a ton of cupholders in their cars. It sounds like you were using a secondary one instead of the primary one which probably pulled out of the dash and would have been more convenient. Once again, you are blaming a design because you are unfamilar with it. It is not the greatest car in the world but certainly worth its low price.
Ta.
What I said about the car I stand by. That collection of design, um, eccentricities make the Sebring a POS IMHO. Those cupholders looked pretty primary to me. Any others are well hidden. I used all visible storage holes (except the dashboard storage in front of the passenger seat -- too far to reach when driving and loaded with docu-crap belonging to the car). If you are unsure whether my description (unambiguous enough, I thought) was of primaries or secondaries -- and if it matters that much to you to defend this car -- I can wait while you check out the details. But no way will I willingly ever rent one of them again.
Look, we're talking opinions here. You like the Sebring, okay. I don't and was glad to get back to a nicely designed and built vehicle at home.
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