I will give a bit of a TLDR, for context my old car was a 2002 Toyota Avalon XLS with a busted o2 sensor, leading to worse mpg than average, so the comparison metrics will be vs that. The car i'm comparing against is a 2008 chrysler 300 SRT8
Relevant specs:
- Engine: 6.1L V8
- HP: 425 HP @ 6200 RPM
- Torque: 420 Ft-Lb @4800 RPM
- Redline: 6200 RPM
- Fuel economy: 14 mpg average, 19 highway, 12 city. 91 octane.
- 0-60: 4.7s
- Rear wheel drive
- Brakes: 4 piston brembos front and rear
- Curb Weight: ~4,046 – 4,213 lbs
- Length: ~197.4 inches
- Width: ~74 inches
- Height: ~57.6 inches
- Wheelbase: 120 inches
TLDR:
- Acceleration: 7/10- much punchier
- Speed: 7/10- much faster
- Comfort: 6/10- much better, but sport tuned suspension is rough
- Fuel economy: 3/10- atrocious
- Space (trunk and cabin): 8/10- incredible, it is a full size sedan with a massive trunk
- Visibility: 4/10- Rear pillars make backing up a disaster, huge blind spots
- Handling (cornering at speed): 6/10- sport tuned suspension allows rapid cornering for a big sedan
- Braking distance: 7/10- brembos are good, brake dust is atrocious
- interior quality: 5/10- plasticity, huge dashboard cracking.
I have owned this car for several months. There are several gremlins that have appeared:
Right passenger tire has a slow leak, more evident in cooler temps, nonissue in summer
Previous owner kept OG gas cap, led to a check engine light, swap solved it.
Sway bar bushing likely original, ordered a set, car stopped making noise, go figure.
Performance is stellar, aggressive enough for daily driving and being a noise-making asshole, but not aggressive enough to be a cop magnet like hellcats. The NAG1 transmission has obnoxiously tall gears, this is great around town, but kills my fuel economy. I didnt get the car for fuel economy, but still, 13 mpg in the city is not fun.
As a full size sedan, you can fit 5 people easy, and I have actually done so twice without issue, with no complaints on comfort and leg room, it can make an excellent grand tourer if not for the god awful mpg.
Handling is great for a fat pig of a sedan, but there are major limitations. Under no circumstances should you do a hard pull before a corner. Straighten yourself out first.
Insurance premiums are actually not bad for a performance car, I pay $1100/yr, but I also have a pristine driving record and am over 25.
Do I recommend this car as a daily driver? Fuck no, while it is objectively practical in hauling people department, the fuel economy kills it. I can only justify it due to my immensely short commute bi-weekly (1 week home/1wk in office). As a collector car, it is solid, but as a daily, just get a coyote equipped mustang GT and be done with it. While you will deal with atrocious bake dust like me, you will have an easier time parking.
The closest common straight line rivals I have seen from experience (via actual races) are the following:
C5 corvette base
First generation CTS-V
Pre-coyote mustang GT's
Charger/Challenger RT
Comments
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soyelmismisimo
you've got a nice piece of machinery there
The eggheads over at chrysler did a fine job with the car thats for sure, just be sure to keep up on those oil changes
by Pancreas Harvester
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Fusion
really nice car i love the Chrysler 300 thing is a boat 0_0 lowkey faster than most sports car and like really luxurious i heard
There are luxury adjacent features, here's a few:
auto dimming headlights
electronic steering wheel adjustment
rain intensity detecting windshield wipers (they will adjust speed vs rainfall rate)
bolstered seats
It is faster than even some modern sports cars, but the rest of the interior is really meh, tons of plastic, it makes weird noises sometimes and its generally less refined than its European peers or even american adjacent competitors like the CTS V. The upside is much cheaper maintenance.
by Pancreas Harvester
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all downsides aside crazy idle i assume though
by Fusion; ; Report
Yeah, even at stock it’s pretty sweet, my plan is to get a Borla atak so I can piss off my neighbors even more
by Pancreas Harvester
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honda civic type shit yeah thats so tuff twin
by Fusion; ; Report
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As a quick aside, this car has a 19 gallon tank, I do not let it get below 75%-50%, due to excessive gas prices. My most recent fill was 91 octane/$4.5/gal for ~$9. If I had to extrapolate a full tank fill from 25%, it would be roughly $65-$100 at $5.1/gal which I had to fill a few times at, but I average ~$80/mo on gas, I do hard pulls sometimes but it is not all the time, mainly on weekends, and only for a few seconds.