2011 Chrysler Lineup Impressions

[Intrepidation]

2011 Chrysler Lineup Impressions

Saturday I finally got around to checking out some of the new metal. Stopped by Salvadore Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep in Gardner. It was late in teh afternoon so the photos kinda suck due to lack of daylight, but it is what it is.

First up is the Chrysler 200. In the flesh you can still see its Sebring routes, but its amazing what a nose job and a nice butt will do for the car. There's some nice detailing on the exterior, like how the chrome trim on the rear fascia mimics the grill trim. I really like the LED piping on in headlights, and the detailing of the tail lights.

Inside, the interior is much improved. Gone is the cheap gray, poorly grained hard plastic and in its place are slow gloss, well textured plastics with many soft touch surfaces, including the upper half of the dash, upper half of the door panels, and the arm rests. The arm rests in particular are buttery smooth and a pleasure to rest your arm on. I've always been a fan of black on tan and this is no exception. IMO this interior looks just as upscale as the new Passat and in some ways more so,e specially in back where the two tone them e carries over, unlike the Passat where it's all beige. My only complaints are that the hand brake isn't leather (or at least vinyl) wrapped, and that its saddled with Chrysler's old Infotainment system (more on the new one later).

Next up is the new Durango, which is extremely handsome in teh flesh. It looks great in photos but IMO they still don't do this handsome machine justice.

Inside, the interior design is conservative but of a very high quality. Soft touch materials abound and everything is well put together. Plenty of legroom both in front and in the second row (didn't try the third). Leather was soft, despite being very cold. Really like the new corporate wheel Dodge has (I like Chrysler a lot too, and appreciate how they have their own wheel designs). Interestingly, the all new Durango gets saddled with Chrysler's old style key fob while the refreshed Journey gets a new one.

Next up was a Dodge Journey. While the exterior has only been mildly refreshed (R/T's get an handsome, all-new lower fascia at least), the interior that really shines.

The interior design is my favorite of any Chrysler to date (tied with the Charger). Unlike the other vehicles I looked at that day, which had carryover switchgear, the Journey uses mostly new swtchgear, including the new 8" infotainment screen (more on that later). I love how the Hazard and other buttons are integrated into the design, being part of the silver trim that curves from one air vent to the other, and neatly separates the screen from the HVAC controls. The controls are fully integrated. As with the other interiors the materials quality is great, with plenty of soft touch materials and low gloss, well textured plastic. Despite not being a range topping model the interior didn't feel cheap at all.

Since I was cold and had the keys to it, I figured up the engine and warmed myself up via the heat and seat heaters. The 3.6 sounds very nice, has a bit of a growl to it. I love it when gauges do a little "dance" when the car starts up. It's not particularly new, but its a nice touch. I will say that while gimmicky, the start/stop button is pretty cool as well. Onto that screen...

What's interesting is this isn't top of the line model. Cloth, no metallic trim on the steering wheel spokes, or navigation, yet the screen is here. If it's standard on all models that's fantastic, because not only does it look great but its a joy to use. The graphics are crisp and pleasant to look at, it's intuitive to use, and there's absolutely zero delay between commands. I really appreciate how you can control the HVAC from the screen, but Dodge also gives you redundant rotary knobs to adjust it. So you don't have to hunt through menus or look at the screen while on the go. However its nice that when you adjust it with the knob it will also display what you're doing on the screen. Very easy to see at a glance. I actually took a video that I'll try to get up later of it in operation. Can't wait for this to migrate to other Chrysler products. It makes the old MyGig systems feel positively archaic .

By this time it was starting to get dark, however one of the salesmen had a Caravan out and asked if I wanted to have a look and get some pictures, so I happily obliged.

Its worth noting that the new Caravan and T&C now use the same headlight assemblies, however the change is for the better and gives the Caravan a more assertive look along with the new fascia. The new tail light lenses also help break up the blockiness the old model suffered from. Really this van is just begging for some large wheels. I think it would give it a very athletic appearance.

Moving inside, the hideous, cheap, designed with a ruler interior has given way to (you guessed it) well grained hard plastics and a healthy dose of soft touch plastics on the upper dash and areas where your resting arm would come in contact with. Reg will be happy to know you don't have to get the center console, although I prefer it (who walks through the narrow pass way anyway?). I really like the shifter placement and design. It falls right into place and unlike all of the other new vans on the market, doesn't get in your way. I prefer the gated shifter to the push button shifter from last year.

I found the seats to be very comfortable and the seat fabric felt very nice to touch. Now, for some reason ILL complained about leg room and that Stow `n Go was complicated. I've never done it with the newer vans it you could seriously do it blindfolded. I folded down half of the rear seats and folded it back up while sitting in the other seat. It's that simple and easy. You'd have to have some sort of mental deficiency not to be able to do it. This feature alone would get me to buy this over other vans. If you ever use your van to haul people and stuff on a regular basis, there's really no alternative. Also, I'm 6'1" and fit in the 3rd row just fine.

One final note about the new Chrysler: they have really nice, detailed gauges now. They're lovely to look at as well as photograph.

Durango's

Journey's

Overall I've come away very impressed with what Chrysler has managed to do in a mere 12 months. They've gone from having the worst interiors in the business to interiors with better quality than several rivals. I look forward to being able to take one out for a drive soon, as well as checking out more of the new product.

Click here to view the rest of the photos

I'd like to thank the dealer for being nice enough to let me poke around their cars. Maybe next time they'll let me take one for a drive.

I'll have to go back and see some of their other stuff (didn't get to check out a T&C they had). They also have a Chevy dealer right next door. I'm eager to have a look at the Cruze. To be continued!

[pow]

Thanks for the pictures! The changes are impressive. It's interesting to see the few remnants of Mercedes left in these cars: the window switches, active head restraints, keys, and gear selector path.

[regfootball]

frequently in vans, often in transit, the parents get up and walk to the back to tend to kids that may have expressed a bodily function, or are whining, or all sorts of things, so that is why the consoles on vans have been smaller or fold down, and not as obtrusive. I prefer full consoles with floor shifters myself, but if the armrests are beefy and wide enough on a van and comfortable then I like the fold down trays and such. The armrests here look a bit narrow.

they did make some nice improvements but in some of the pics on the vans it does seem to show that aft of the front row (aka, the ones who make the car payments and make the buying choices) they really didn't improve the plastics and trim a lot. but maybe it depends on the trim level. i doubt the kids care much.

I like the upgrades but now that the Routan gets the new Pentastar too, I would take the Routan in a heartbeat. I'm not a Stongo fan the Routans second row seats are nicer to sit in. And I dig the exterior on the Routan more. I'd just as soon they do away with the floor cavity, drop the floor for my feet instead and hey they could even drop the roof height then as well.

If you bought a couch or table on a whim the sto n go is a plus. But often times all you need is the length so to fold down that second row seatback you can still get long rugs, lumber etc. I am curious to know if the front seat back on the passenger side folds forward. If not, then its kind of lame to have sto and go but not be able to extend the hauling capability to the front row. I actually think someone should configure the front passenger seat like the second row sliders in the Lambdas, if you could choose to push the whole seat to the dash as an option to folding down the seat back that would even add another level of flexibility.

Even though the sto n go can fold into the floor, you also have to take into account that the floor cavity has to be clear of pretty much anything......if there is a place to store junk in a van it will have junk in it. Between having to clean the junk out of the floor and having to remove and reinstall things like infant car seats which is a PITA (women often can't figure it out or manage it efficiently), the desire to put that seat into the floor where it would be better served as footspace is not as attractive as its made out to be.

Edited February 14, 2011 by regfootball

[ZL-1]

its amazing what a nose job and a nice butt will do

I've often said this same thing about women

Seriusly: thanks for the pics. My favorites are the Durango and the interior on the Journey, but I have to say the Sebring-to-200 update (more of a serious upgrade) looks interesting. I like what Chrysler is putting out.

[Northstar]

I really could care less about minivans, so I have no comment on the Caravan.

The Journey interior looks nice and the screen is awesome, but I can't help but feel that it looks too much like a station wagon. I don't think it looks bad and it wouldn't turn me off from buying it, but I think it will turn off a large amount of the general buying public. Perhaps I'm wrong, I just get the feeling that it looks too station wagon-like for the general public. Like the first gen SRX, it may be a fantastic vehicle that doesn't sell well because of this one "flaw."

The Durango looks pretty sweet, I originally didn't like it much but these pictures make it look much better than the press release pictures. I'd buy one if I needed an SUV. Interior is a bit bland but it looks nice enough. The dealer should probably take the plastic off the wheels

The 200 is pretty lackluster to me. The interior is okay, but it seems so bland except for the brightwork/chrome to add a little contrast. The rear seat looks pretty terrible as well. Not a whole lot of legroom (and no cutout in the back of the rear seat to help, either), and the seats seem very flat. Those headrests also don't appear to be adjustable, which is a big problem if you have taller passengers.

[Intrepidation]

I really could care less about minivans, so I have no comment on the Caravan.

The Journey interior looks nice and the screen is awesome, but I can't help but feel that it looks too much like a station wagon. I don't think it looks bad and it wouldn't turn me off from buying it, but I think it will turn off a large amount of the general buying public. Perhaps I'm wrong, I just get the feeling that it looks too station wagon-like for the general public. Like the first gen SRX, it may be a fantastic vehicle that doesn't sell well because of this one "flaw."

The Durango looks pretty sweet, I originally didn't like it much but these pictures make it look much better than the press release pictures. I'd buy one if I needed an SUV. Interior is a bit bland but it looks nice enough. The dealer should probably take the plastic off the wheels

The 200 is pretty lackluster to me. The interior is okay, but it seems so bland except for the brightwork/chrome to add a little contrast. The rear seat looks pretty terrible as well. Not a whole lot of legroom (and no cutout in the back of the rear seat to help, either), and the seats seem very flat. Those headrests also don't appear to be adjustable, which is a big problem if you have taller passengers.

The Journey: The general public seems to like it, as even with the crappy interior it had before, it was one of Chrysler best selling models.

The Durango: In all fairness the dealer "warned" me that the Durangos had just come off the truck and weren't prepped yet.

The 200: Rear legroom isn't nearly as spacious as the larger midsizers/ The 200 and Avenger are actually midsize cars, on the smaller end of the spectrum, whereas most of the other midsziers are classified as large cars. I don't think the 200 will do much to move the brand upmarket above Dodge, at least not in this generation. However $24k for a Limited with the 3.6, leather, the nice interior, and decent handling (so I've heard) is good value, so it may sell. Most important is that it's no longer ugly outside and cheap feeling inside.

[regfootball]

Avenger and 200 are tweeners as the old Sebring and Stratus were. Something like a Kizashi or a TSX is probably a tweener.

They did an ok job making lemons out of lemonade with the 200. I just hope it drives better now. The Sebring I drove at a ride and drive about 3 years ago was complete barf.

[frogger]

Avenger and 200 are tweeners as the old Sebring and Stratus were. Something like a Kizashi or a TSX is probably a tweener.

Speaking of Kizashi, looks like they've tweaked it a bit for the 2011 sport model.. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/02/review-2011-suzuki-kizashi-sport/