Whats YOUR opinion on the new Chrysler?

[big66440]

Ok I'll open up a can of worms, is it just me or has chrysler(the actual chrysler branch) lost its serious luxury pizzazz? I was taking a walk the other day and spotted a 4 door sebring,I took notice of the details and how much it differed from the stratus and to be honest I was dissapointed. The car had drum brakes in the rear!!! and aside from that all I noticed was a few body differences and different rims and Its front wheel drive:confused:. Dont get me wrong I'm a mopar guy through and through always have been but in my honest opinion Chrysler's is losing it to caddy,lincoln,and sadly (gasp!!!) lexus,infinity and even acura. I honestly think they should drop the pt cruiser(it's had it's 15 minutes of fame) drop the town and country, and maybe just maybe put some effort into designing cars that would wipe the clocks of the brand-x guys and not have so much in common with the dodges,just my 2 cents.

 

[moparstuart]

at least the 300 is super nice , but i get what your saying the whole brand should be more upscale

 

[moparsteve636]

you can't expect much from a french company!they bought it to get more of the amer.market!at least the p/u side is building some nice vehicles.sad they are not built in the u.s.!thank your president for that!!!!

 

[q-ship]

you can't expect much from a french company!they bought it to get more of the amer.market!at least the p/u side is building some nice vehicles.sad they are not built in the u.s.!thank your president for that!!!!

I'm not sure where to start!

First of all, Fiat is an Italian company. Founded in 1899 (only Daimler is older), they produce Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa, and other brands, and is the second largest car manufacturer in the world.

The French however did invent the first internal combustion engine, but since it wasn't patented, It was later patented as the Otto cycle engine by Maybach and Daimler.

I assume you are thanking Clinton and Bush for Mexican built Dodge trucks as Ram production was moved to Mexico long before Obama took office (just goes to show you that political party affiliation has no bearing on screwing the American people).

Other than all that, your post was factual.

 

[moparstuart]

I'm not sure where to start!

First of all, Fiat is an Italian company. Founded in 1899 (only Daimler is older), they produce Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa, and other brands, and is the second largest car manufacturer in the world.

The French however did invent the first internal combustion engine, but since it wasn't patented, It was later patented as the Otto cycle engine by Maybach and Daimler.

I assume you are thanking Clinton and Bush for Mexican built Dodge trucks as Ram production was moved to Mexico long before Obama took office (just goes to show you that political party affiliation has no bearing on screwing the American people).

Other than all that, your post was factual.

Well that and the fact all todays current models would be thanks to the germans . Fiat hasnt had time to screw it all up yet . :grin::grin::grin:

 

[426HemiCharger]

I'd like to see a Falcon Sport Coupe or a K310. Hell give me a Newport, New Yorker or a big C-Body type car and I'd love e'm but truth is they wouldn't do it soo....

 

[wookie77]

Well just my $.02...

I don't really like some of the current Chrysler line. I think Fiat has the resources to revive the Chrysler/Dodge Line to it's original strength. Personally I would like to see Plymouth come back and since the Challenger is the only current MoPar vehicle that is able to hold it's own against the retro styling of the Camaro and Mustang, they should bring back the Road Runner and Coronet for full size and the Dart and Valiant for compact. My '05 Neon has over 145,000 miles on it and not ONE problem(knock on wood). They could use the chassis for the Dart and Valiant.

OK so maybe it was a tangent, but I tried to stay on topic.

 

[426HemiCharger]

I got some cool drawings of my ideas of what those cars should look like. I also think that there should be a TorqueFlite 5 and 6 speed transmissions

 

[scotts74birds]

I WORK at the Avenger/ Sebring plant. So I know what you are saying. First we were gutted by our german masters, then the Cerberus years of no money for r&d and product developement. Our new car pipeline is empty now cause of them. The cars look the same? True to a point, but I think the Sebring/ Avenger are a lot different looking then the Grenada/ Lincolns! We are doing a re-skin this summer and adding engine choices, possibly a diesel, and adding about $200 in content to the interiors in the form of better materials. Doesn't sound like much, but it really is.
The italians really want the established dealer network we have, saves them billions. And we get established distribution network in europe to expand our presence there. Too early to tell what this will mean, but it seems they are serious about building cars.
They do seem to want maximum productivity out of us, but I find it hard to believe that Italian auto workers set the bar that high. Face it, Europeans like their time off!! They also like to paint things. Our toolroom was recently painted white! Along with all the Bridgeports, lathes and other equipment!!!! The toolmakers are afraid to do any work now cause they dont want to have to clean the machines! HaHa!
The new Grand Cherokee was introduced this week. what do you guys think of that so far?

 

[big66440]

Wow I had no idea I was the only one to notice this,if chrysler intended to make the "chrysler" badge the new dodge line up when it pulled the plug on plymouth I think it would be cool if they started another branch called lets say "Imperial" and make it a balls out Caddy, Lincoln and import luxo killer, I mean common mopar needs to have a branch that claims supremacy over any one elses cars,,,,I to agree the 300 can stay but a little more refinement on the base model to up the ante wouldn't hurt.

 

[scotts74birds]

Starting from scratch on the top-of-the line stuff. Daimler didn't want our Chrysler branded vehicles [300] to seem like competition, so they toned them down. We believed we would do well due to economies of scale by sharing parts [no need to invent the wheel twice!] but the Germans wanted NOTHING from the Benzes on our cars. they believed it would "cheapen" their brand

 

[BuckNeccid]

Gotta chime in with my 2 cents here. I have an 09 Challenger, and as far as comfort, handling and luxury goes, it's way more than comparable to a BMW 328is I drove for several years. Maybe it's just cause it's the Challenger and got so much attention, but I only have 4 complaints about it. Seems the gear ratio of the first 4 gears is too close, there's a 5800 rpm rev limiter (prolly a reason for that lol ), it's a little tough to see out the back, and the driver's side seat doesn't tilt forward. Overall though, it's a nice car. I've had more than one Camaro or Mustang owner tell me just how much nicer the interior is than thiers, and how overall it just looks right. Even been pulled up beside by local LE and told that Chrysler got that car right. I just hope they keep on this track and possibly remember the concept behind the original road runner.... fast car at a cheap price.

 

[65-440]

the only nice and "luxurious" vehicles bearing the chrysler badge are the 300 and town and country. every other car is "cheap", especially the new sebrings. i work on these cars everyday, quality is not a priority. sad but true .....

 

[426HemiCharger]

Makes you wonder what would happen if you went to your Chrysler dealer with your '70 300 Hurst, right?

 

[scotts74birds]

The Sebring uses the old Mitsubishi Lancia platform to save costs. Too heavy. We are all at the mercy of suppliers for our parts. The recent Toyota woes could have happened to any mfgr. We all outsource everything! The bean counters set-up the system so that if bad parts are delivered, and installed, then the suppliers pay the price. But when you are sitting on the side of the road, you dont CARE who the supplier is! I have mentioned this before on our "trail rated" Jeeps that had ball joints falling off. A part that was perfected 100 years ago, but the bean counters will take the lowest bidder, and then still ask for 10% off! Corporate thinking is that "we will back-charge the supplier" for any warranty work! The customer doesn't care about that!

 

[426HemiCharger]

Gov't is the problem! CAFE stds, MPG regulations, catalytic convertors, and the list goes on and on....

 

[Donny]

I'm glad we have CAFE standards and Cat Converters, etc. Remember the days of choking behind some guy's car at a light; spewing **** at us, just idling? I do, no need to visit those days again.

Chrysler brand needs to go upscale again, bring back Plymouth for the cheap brand and put FIATs in there, and perhaps a 'Cuda based on the Challenger, but make it cheaper.

 

[426HemiCharger]

Ok well I know what you mean, even at a car show the air is downright toxic but these things hinder performance and killed the era of the cars we all love. If styling was better and and there would be a boat load of options like back in the day (i.e. optional axles, suspension packages, and decor packages) and Chrysler: "The hemi isn't everything!" I'm so sick of the small block hemi why not a few v8 wedges.

 

[roadrunnerman]

don't forget what the insurance companies did for the muscle cars back when..They made the premiums too high for anybody too buy a FAST car which cause the buyer not to buy. then you had the EPA telling all the manufacters the build better fuel mileage cars whiich caused the dealer to change their production line which cost them more $$$$$ which in turn was passed on to the consumer.Then(and this is my opinion) you have suppliers and companies that have to pay their union workers which put a further strain on the car makers.And(again my opiniion)there are probably some of those same union workers(not all) that didn't care how good the part was that they put on.you get too many recalls on a car model and the people just won't but it any more.this has been my thought process and i didn't want open any more cans of worms.they just don't taste that good.:rolling::rolling:

 

[69HEMICORONETR/TCONV]

Bottom Line,..... The NEW Chrysler is much better than NO Chrysler.