Latest purchase: 2015 Chrysler 200S

[2QuickZ's]

What I bought:  2015 Chrysler 200S V6 FWD - Nav & Premium Audio, Heated and Vented Leather Seats & Convenience Pkg (Dual Zone A/C, Htd. Steering Wheel, etc)

The lease was up on our 2014 300S and it wasn't worth close to the buy out so it was time for something else.  Why did I chose the much maligned Chrysler 200 you ask?  Several reasons, really. 

Reason one:  I got a really, really good deal on a lightly used 2015 that had never left dealer inventory.  It is a hell of a lot of car for the money.  A less than a year old car fairly well optioned that stickered around $31k and I picked up for $17,500 with only 5500 miles on the clock.  Granted it was used as a service loaner so there is a bit of a risk there but other than a curb rashed wheel the dealer replaced for me, it looked, smelled and drove like brand new.

Reason two:  IMO it is a very underrated car.  Of course, styling is subjective but in my opinion the exterior is a bit on the conservative side but I have always liked it.  The interior styling and layout is excellent with nice materials.  One real issue is access to the rear seats.  If you were someone that was going to have to teenagers or adults sitting in the back on the regular, ingress/egress would suck for them as the roofline makes getting in and out a bit difficult.  My kids are young, though, so no problem there and we have a van for when we need to move more than two people around.  Leg room does not seem to be too bad, though.  I could see where it might get tight back there if you are pushing 6 foot or taller.

Reason three:  The performance of the V6 is outstanding (it is definitely quicker than my 300S and would have probably given my 2012 Charger R/T a pretty close race) and the frequently bashed 9 speed auto has been flawless for me so far.  In fact, it is the first car I have had in the last 10-15 years that had no reluctance to downshift even with only moderate throttle input.  Upshifts are quick and smooth.  I have read the transmission issues people always complain about are more when it is mated to the 4 cylinder and I think I am going to have to believe that.

You may be asking yourself what else did I consider?  I am a car guy so it was highly probable I was going to get a car.  After having a Charger followed by a 300 (w/ the compact Cruze diesel in between), I had decided I did not want or need a large car anymore.  With that in mind and the fact I had decided to go used, I was considering the following:  Jeep GC diesel (a possible concession to the wife as she loves the GC), Buick Regal turbo, Buick Verano turbo, Chrysler 200 and a new Dodge Dart GT.  I also briefly considered a used Focus ST but was scared away after reading about transmission issues they are having.  That list was narrowed down to the Buick Verano and the Chrysler 200 and I simply felt the 200 was the better value.  I would have preferred the 200C over the 200S mostly because I think the real wood trim in it looks pretty nice but beggars can't be choosers and the 200S won out on lack of availability of a suitable 200C.

So what would I have done differently if I had ordered a new 200?  Well, I would have gotten a C instead of an S as previously mentioned.  I also would have ordered the premium lighting (HID's) as the projector beam halogens are not that great.  Otherwise the only other thing I would have changed is the color but when you are buying used you have to be willing to settle for what you can find.

[A Horse With No Name]

Congrats on the new ride and glad to see you back.  Thinking of buying a lightly used luxury car myself for the next whip.

Many happy miles to both you and the 200!

Edited November 14, 2016 by A Horse With No Name
Wrote 2000 instead of 2000, car in question was a Chrysler luxury automobile and not a Honda roadster!

[Drew Dowdell]

Sounds like a nice ride...especially at that price.

[regfootball]

congrats!  pentastar is a great mill and the price was a steal!

[2QuickZ's]

So I have now had this car for almost 1.5 years and realized I had never posted a follow up.  I think it has somewhere around 22K miles on it now.  It has been dead reliable in the time I have had it with no major issues.  It has only been to the dealership for oil changes though that may change on its next visit.  The issue?  It has developed a fairly rough 4-5 upshift under light throttle conditions or when you let off the throttle in 4th gear.  Nothing alarming and not 100% of the time but enough that I will ask about it at my next oil change.

As far as other issues are concerned, there really haven't been any.  Last winter it would occasionally get stuck in first gear when trying to manually shift (I like to do second gear starts in the snow) but that appears to have self resolved as I have not encountered the issue this winter.

One quirk it does have is that it has the least accurate (and most hopelessly optimistic) fuel efficiency report out of any EVIC I have ever had.  It will pretty consistently overstate my MPG by 1.5 or so.  I'm not sure why it is so inaccurate.  It has gotten pretty decent gas mileage for a V6, though.  I tend to be a bit aggressive with the throttle and it still will get 24 - 25 mpg in 50/50 mixed city/highway split and closer to 27 mpg at a 25/75 city/highway split.  We have a van that is our family trip vehicle so it doesn't go on longer trips.  The only real trip we took with it was 400 miles or so and IIRC, it averaged around 30 mpg doing 80 mph on the interstate.  Not as good as our 300 did (who says rear wheel drive can't be fuel efficient) but not bad none the less.  It is, however, a very comfortable highway cruiser.

All in all I am very happy with this purchase.  If anyone is looking for an affordable, used mid-sized car I would highly recommend a 200 V6.  I still really enjoy driving this car and I love the interior and the features it includes.  In my opinion it was way under rated mostly bashed for the 4 cyl/9 speed combo.  That and the mid sized class basically all moved up to full size while this car stayed closer to its mid sized roots leaving it a little more cramped than its competition.