Why is the 300 so heavy?

My wife and I see fine when driving our Pacifica. It is only when backing up that we sometimes have a challenge. As backing up accounts for very little of our driving experience, therefore it is not an issue!

Maybe if you have always lived in a cave.....................!

Cast iron, thank God.

That's part of the problem. When it comes to interior parts, high-quality plastic parts (almost an oxymoron) often weigh MORE than metal parts. 17-way seats, electric butt warmers, air-bags everywhere, and alll the unnecessary froo-frah that some people demand in modern "luxury" cars all add up.

It shouldn't have been very hard to at least keep

Weight doesn't make that much difference in highway gas mileage- that's mostly aerodynamics. City drivng, yes weight makes a difference.

Many rear wheel drive cars are much more durable than FWD cars, especially if you tow with them. If the 300 lasts even 10% more miles than the Concorde, then the energy lost in gas mileage will be more than recovered in the energy saved by having to produce fewer cars per mile of driving.

Matt

I've never heard of getting arrested for rapid acceleration, as long as you aren't doing it in heavy traffic or another unsafe situation. And being able to get somewhere via the quickest route is only worth a lot if your objective is to get somewhere quickly. If your objective is to enjoy the trip, then it is absolutely worthless.

Matt

I love my Concorde, but it's hard to imagine a vehicle that is worse for rearward visibility (a common complaint of 2nd gen LH owners). Seems to be a Chrysler trait.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Yes the 300 is selling well now but so did the PTCruiser for many months. Now it takes big incentives to move them. It's great to have a hot selling nitch car but too bad they don't have a decent plain old sedan to replace their cloud cars which offers as much as a Camry or Accord to plain old folk out there. By the way, I owned a 94 LHS and enjoyed it but it would have been nice to be able to see out that back window.

I can see out of my Magnum very well! Have you driven one?

You just rang my number once you started talking about performance! I'll opt for a lighter faster version!

Yes I have. Try seeing out one of the other few wagons on the market. I did that too. They have much better visibility. Despite the poor view, I am seriously considering the Magnum. But I also bought a 94 LHS. Many people rejected it on account of the poor visibility. I'm sure the Magnum would do better with more glass.

But won't look as tough!

Nothing. It's lighter than an E320, lighter than a 530i, lighter than pretty much anything else *near* its size.

a. Packaging; FWD drivetrains are lighter. b. Vibration, noise, harshness: The LH is infamous for poor performance in those categories compared to the competition. c. Additional customer expectation of equipment. You want GPS, somebody else wants a subwoofer, someone else wants n-way power seats.

The LH was a delightful car in both its iterations but the marketplace has pretty clearly said "No" to a large FWD American car. The people who want transportation appliances are buying Toyotas. Everyone else wants some style, some power, and some comfort.

Unless every 300 sold bursts into flames spontaneous, X5-style, I'll stand by my statement that it's the best thing to happen to Chrysler since the original minivan.

I've been really happy with my Concorde. I've never noticed any vibration or handling problems in the 10 years that I've owned it. In fact the handling has always been excellent. It's been reasonably reliable but it's certainly hasn't been as trouble free as a Japanese car.

BTW supposedly 300s are selling like hotcakes but I don't know where. I've seen exactly one on the road. I've been car shopping off and on for a couple of months and I've never seen another customer in the Chrysler dealer. The Toyota dealership was packed with people and the Acura dealership was also busy. I'm debating a 300 vs an Acura TL. My preference has always been towards full size American cars. My last two cars have been Chryslers and I've been happy with them, especially with the Concorde which I love. But I find the gas mileage of the 300 troubling not because I'm a tree hugger but because it's lower then my threshold of respectibility which is around 20-22 MPG. I also don't like the lack of visibility. I really felt blind driving the 300 and the idea of trying to parallel park it seemed really scary (although I gather it has some rear sensors to help but it could really us a camera like the Lexus). On the other hand the Acura TL is smaller than I like but otherwise it has everything I want, GPS, Bluetooth, Satellite radio, and priced in the mid-30s. I also looked at a Toyota Avalon but it had the single most dangerous thing I've ever seen in a car. The Avalon has a hand held remote control for it's GPS, I'm not making that up. It's a complicated hand held remote with a joy stick in the middle. They put the GPS out of reach in the center dash so you can't use the touch screen unless you're a center in the NBA. The Acura on the other hand has voice recognition plus an easily reachable touchscreen.

None of the cars on your list, including Chrysler, are "American" cars. Daimler Chrysler Corporation is German owned. GM and Ford are all that's left in that category. Perhaps it's time to look at the Crown Vic or the LeSabre?

I have some Avalon advice for you. It sucks. I have a 2001 Avalon and a 99

Crown Vic's are Mexican, arent't they. At least my Grand Marquis is, and it's the same thing as a Crown Vic.

Unfortunately Buick hasn't come out with a new sedan in years, and they don't have GPS. I might take another look at the Lincoln LS but the last time I test drove one the transmission was really rough.

How do you define an American car these days?. I define nationality by where the bulk of the design is done and by the style of car, the full size sedan like the 300 or the Buick LeSabre is what you think of when you say American car. If you define it by ownership then Jaguar and Sabb are American cars, while Chrysler is German. If you define it by where it is manufacured then Toyota is an American car (built in Tennesee) and Chrysler is a Canadian car (built in Windsor, ON) and the Crown Vic is Mexican.

General Schvantzkoph wrote: It handles better on dry pavement but chances are it's rear

Not to more than half the population!!!