AN AUTO WITH ATTITUDE
Chrysler 300C John Varvatos Luxury Edition displays distinctive style
The Chrysler 300 stands as a prime example of a vehicle seeing continual refinement throughout its model run. While a lot of cars might be lucky to see the addition of a new chrome strip or tech option du jour to signal a “new” model year, Chrysler engineers and designers have been hard at work. At a quick glance the 2014 Chrysler 300 may not look a whole lot different from its origin in 2005, but that is not the case. I have had the opportunity to drive examples of each model year along the way, and am thoroughly impressed with body, interior, and drivetrain refinements it has received. The car isn’t called the 300 because Chrysler ran out of catchy names, but rather it’s named for the Chrysler 300 “Letter Series” of 1955 to 1965, a legendary line of high performance luxury automobiles, the first one having had 300 horsepower.
My tester for this year was a 2014 Chrysler 300C John Varvatos Luxury Edition, an appearance package on a 300 with the Penatastar V6 engine and all-wheel drive. For those who may not know, Varvatos is an edgy fashion designer who appropriately hails from Detroit. There is a more elaborate John Varvatos Limited Edition of the Chrysler 300C which also will be returning this year. The Luxury Edition has unique high-end leather seating, and real wood trim, hand sanded in a trendy matte finish. Varvatos emblems appear on the upholstery and on the decklid. Aside from that emblem, the exterior differences from a regular 300 are subtle.
The 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 came on-board when the Chrysler 300 received a major redo for the 2011 model year. Chrysler first called it an all-new car, though they later amended that over what may have been just a couple carried-over structural elements that can’t even be seen with the car assembled. However, in this critic’s opinion, the 3.6-liter didn’t come into its own until 2012, when it was coupled to a new eight-speed automatic transmission. It was a real coup for Chrysler to come to market with eight-speed (and now nine-speed) automatics designed by renowned German company ZF, and heretofore reserved for some of the world’s finest luxury cars. It also signaled a major reinvestment and jobs added to Chrysler’s longstanding Kokomo, Ind. transmission plant.
My tester came equipped with allwheel drive, a real lifesaver since my week loan coincided with one of the worst snowstorms we had this winter. Remote-starting the 300C in bitter cold automatically warmed up the driver’s seat heat and heated steering wheel. The wheel is heated 360-degrees around, which all competitors cannot claim. Thanks to electronic traction control, with some decent tires a rearwheel drive only 300C manages snow very well, but this winter may finally have converted me fully to all-wheel drive. While I can’t say the 300C did any better than any other all-wheeldrive car I drove this winter, it does have an extra level of sophistication in a system that decouples the front axle when extra traction is not needed, in order to conserve some fuel. Chrysler claims best-in-class all-wheel-drive fuel economy. The John Varvatos interior was nice.