Chrysler 300 SRT gets all serious!
From muscle car to grown-up executive – that’s Damien O’carroll’s take on the latest Chrysler 300 SRT
The Chrysler 300 SRT has always trod the line between serious performance car and a cheesy, over-the-top caricature of one – kind of like an over-muscled cartoon action hero. It was only a knowing wink away from falling into parody. But lately it has been growing up, wanting to be taken more seriously. And it has actually worked. In its latest incarnation the 300 SRT looks big and tough, with the worst of the blingy “Gangster” looks toned down, thereby reducing the parody factor, and as a result it now looks nicely sinister, particularly in our test car’s grey. That said, while it does look good, it is starting to look a bit dated now, as this current body has been with us for five years now. And even then it wasn’t wildly different from the first-gen car, which as been around since 2004. On the inside the 300 SRT boasts a superbly comfortable and surprisingly high quality interior that has perfect elbow placement (something the American manufacturers are particularly good a!), a typically excellent audio system (again; Americans) and fantastic touch screen system that also packs in a range of SRT performance screens, much like HSV’S system. The big, brawny 350kw/637nm 6.4-litre V8 may not have the crack-bang-pop drama of the current breed of German and Australian muscle cars, but is ridiculously aggressive when asked to be. The new eight-speed auto is brilliant slick and smooth under “sensible” driving conditions, although it can get flustered and is quite aggressive and clunky in manual mode, but this really just goes to reinforce the basic muscle car character of the 300 SRT. Oh, and big performance brings BIG fuel thirst, particularly around town. On the road a wonderfully progressive rear end responds to the throttle like an eager puppy, while the adjustable suspension allows it to be a luxurious cruiser or an almost aggressively firm cornering beast. Convincingly managing to cover the range from comfortable luxury cruiser to stupidly aggressive muscle car, the 300 SRT is actually at its most convincing at both extremes. The big fella is fantastically relaxed at open road speeds, with a loping, very American approach to swallowing the miles and relying on the big V8’s torque to keep things ticking languidly over, but nail the throttle to the floor and it turns into a feral, angry beast. Spend a bit of time playing with the SRT settings in the touchscreen menu and it becomes even more mental and startlingly aggressive. While it lacks the slightly contrived drama of the likes of a current-gen AMG (or even the latest Holden Commodore SS), with their on-demand bangs and pops on every gear shift or lift of the throttle, when it clears its lungs and opens up, it emits a truly intimidating bellow and the sort of rear-endtwitchingly ferocious acceleration that only a true muscle car can muster. Endlessly entertaining and remarkably comfortable, the 300 SRT is best suited to someone who can wear the prodigious fuel costs, but if that doesn’t worry you, then you will love the big Chrysler.