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18 — Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Alice Springs to Adelaide | Adelaide to Alice Springs
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MOTORING
Core values where it countsEwan Kennedy
The new Chrysler 300 SRT Cor has fewer features than some of its stable mates but it is excellent value for money.
THE reasoning behind theChrysler 300 SRT Core is assimple as the car itself.
The thinking behind itgoes back to the core ofbuyer preferences -value formoney in a high-poweredmachine. This special 300model has been developedspecifically for the Austral-ian market as the guys inthe States are well aware ofour enthusiasm DownUnder. Indeed, the Ameri-cans are now to be offeredthe Aussie-specced car ontheir home market.
A neat $10,000 has beenstripped from the price ofthe standard 300 SRT, drop-ping it to an affordable$56,000. As it has kept thecore values of the carexactly as before, the newmodel is tagged Chrysler 300SRT Core.
That $56,000 recom-mended price puts the bigChrysler right down withthe hot Ford Falcons andH o lden Commodores .Tellingly the SRT Core isunder the price of thelowest-cost HSV models.
Price trimming of theChrysler SRT Core hasbeen achieved by giving itcloth trim instead ofleather; there’s no heatingof the rear seats, though thefronts still get warmed (butnot cooled); the drinkholders are no longer con-nected to the aircondition-ing system so remain at theambient temperature; andthere’s no floor mat or cargonet in the boot.
A basic audio system isused, with the number ofspeakers reduced from 19 tosix - meaning you will haveto spend more time listeningto the exhaust note of thebig Chrysler V8. Soundsgood to us!
Standard, not adaptive,cruise control is used; youmiss out on the adaptivesuspension damping sys-tem; there isn’t a blind spotmonitor (though surely any-one who drives an SRTknows how to set door mir-rors). The rear cross-path
detection system is a handyfeature but sadly it’s beenstripped out.
This is what the Chrysler300C is all about. Thoughthe importer doesn’t like itto be called the Gangsta car,I’ve got some bad news forthem - everyone whochatted to us about the newCore product used exactlythat term.
Chrysler 300 SRT8 Corehas 20-inch alloy wheels in atwin-five-spoke design.There are Hemi 6.4L badgesin red and chrome on thefront guards and a red Corebadge on the boot lid.
Core is offered in eightpaint colours: Gloss Black,Ivory tri-coat pearl, BilletSilver metallic, Jazz Bluepearl, Granite crystal met-allic pearl, Deep Cherry Redcrystal pearl, PhantomBlack tri-coat pearl, andBright White.
The Cores cabin has blackseat trim with white stitch-ing and ‘‘SRT’’ is em-broidered into material.There are piano-blackbezels and matte carbon ac-cents on the instrumentpanel and centre console.
All the important power-train parts remain as in thestandard Chrysler SRT8.The 6.4-litre Hemi V8 eng-ine produces 465 horse-power (347kW in Australianterms) and a great 631Nmof torque.
The active exhaust sys-tem remains as does theexcellent launch control sys-tem that really gets the bigbeast moving with just theright amount of wheelspin.It’s only to be used in thecorrect locations, of course.
The really interestingthing is that the 300C SRT8Core is lighter than its full-house big brother so pre-sumably has better per-formance in a straight line.You would need timing gearto test this, and it’s likely toonly show hundredths-of-a-second improvements. Still,hundredths are importantin high-performance cars . . .
Throttle response is all-but instantaneous and the
automatic reacts quickly tothe drivers demands.
This American musclemachine sounds great,though a little more volumewould be appreciated at lowto moderate throttle open-ings. It’s a bit sad whenAMG Mercs and BentleyContinental Speeds providebigger sounds than aChrysler Hemi.
A five-speed automatictransmission is used insteadof the more modern eight-speed unit now on the rest ofthe 300 range. But if you’vegot 631 Newton metres oftorque at your disposal, youreally don’t need that muchmore assistance from a
bunch of extra ratios. Awe-some stopping power isprovided by the big Brembodisc brakes.
Trundling up and downthe motorway at 115 km/hwe saw fuel consumptionaverage a hard-to-believeeight litres per 100 kilo-metres. That’s partly due tothe COD (Cylinder on De-mand) feature that cuts fourcylinders under light load.That’s right, our Chrysler300 SRT Core was a four-cylinder car. Consumptionleapt in urban driving, beingin the mid-teens most of thetime. In the country andhaving a go it was gettingtowards the 20s.
Road grip is high, but thisis a big, heavy car so youdon’t get the same corner-ing enjoyment as you dofrom the best of the smallhot hatches.
Ride comfort isn’t too bad,but rough roads certainly letyou know the low-profiletyres aren’t able to cushionthe car all that well.
An excellent concept inaffordable performancemotoring, the big Chrysler300 SRT8 Core is a perman-ent addition to the Chrysler300 range. Incidentally, thatrange has just been ex-panded to include yet an-other model, the 300S.
Chrysler 300SRT8 CorePRICE: from $56,000
Engine: 6.4L eight-cylinder petrol
Power: 347kW
Torque: 631Nm
Transmission: 5-speedauto, RWD
Thirst: 13.0L/100km,303g/km CO2
Fiesta has the flairto win over women
Ford Fiesta EcoBoost
FIESTA’S fuel efficiency and high-end lookand feel proved a winning combination.
The little Ford Fiesta EcoBoost was awinner with women judges and Ford ofEurope’s chief operating officer BarbSamardizch was handed the trophy for 2013Women’s World Car of the Year in aceremony in Cologne, Germany.
The panel of judges from around theworld cited the 1.0-litre EcoBoost Fiesta’sfuel efficiency, plus its premium look andfeel, as key factors in selecting it from atough 2013 field that included vehicles asdiverse as the Porsche Boxster S, AudiAllroad and Range Rover.
‘‘It was clear from the outset that the newFiesta 1.0-litre EcoBoost had struck a chordwith our panel of female motoring expertsfrom around the world,’’ chief judge, NewZealander Sandy Myhre said.
‘‘Women play a significant but oftenoverlooked role in buying a car and the newFiesta’s high-end look and feel, remarkablefuel economy and surprising performanceare just some of the features whichclearly chime with the needs of manyfemale drivers.’’
The award is judged on a range of factors
women focus on when shopping for cars,including safety, value-for-money, appear-ance, storage, child-friendliness, ease-of-driving, colour, sex appeal and environ-mental impact.
‘‘The success of the new Fiesta, both interms of this award and impressive sales,has been achieved with a car which is sharplooking, better connected and even morefuel efficient and fun-to-drive,’’ said MsSamardizch as she accepted the trophy.