The Chrysler 200 is the Motorola XOOM of Cars Page 2

By Peter Waitzman

Peter Waitzman

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The Chrysler 200 is the Motorola XOOM of Cars
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3 2,300 views Mar 28, 2011

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2011 Chrysler 200

A better car for the “imported from Detroit” commercial would’ve been the 300. At least there’s a chance that I would buy that car. But then again, it's not made in Detroit.

More 300, please

The second missed opportunity is to take the 200 into the style school of the Chrysler 300. The 300 found huge success in its boxy, brash, unapologetic, flying-fist style. For me, the reason that this worked is that the 300 looked intimidating. The 200 went the sleek route and looks emaciated. For me, the original Cadillac CTS looked like the younger brother of the Chrysler 300 with its full box design and upright front end. And from a sales perspective, I think Cadillac proved that consumers agreed.

Now, taking a drive in the 200 is where I really started to doubt the renaissance of Detroit and wondered if the Big Three might simply be up to their old tricks of playing it two steps behind the foreign companies and hoping that your sense of newfound patriotism would help overlook the aforementioned shortcomings. Once you get onto the city roads, you’ll find that the ride is fine, but it’s neither sporting nor luxurious. The road and suspension noise seemed worse than in other cars in this class like the Civic. And let’s not forget about that engine. You could be forgiven for not knowing how many cylinders it has because you really can’t tell. If it’s a V-6, it’s feels like it’s a generation old. If it’s a four-cylinder, it’s pretty average. In my opinion, get the smaller engine. It’s going to perform much the same way (underwhelming) regardless of which engine option you select on the order form.

There’s just something all around about this car that feels a bit flimsier or “thinner” than other cars in this class. If Chrysler had simply updated the Sebring and threw it out there quietly like it did with similar upgrades in the Dodge Journey, the press on it would be fair and mostly flattering with headlines like “Sebring Injected with a Dose of Luxury” or “Sebring Steps Up from Rental Car Quality.” But the fundamental problem for me is that the hype around this car promised that you could stop looking at imports and that a badass with unlimited money like Eminem is willing to drive it. But neither of those claims are even close to reality. And the latest improvements to the 200 over the Sebring are simply overdue and basically just keep the 200 relevant in today’s market. In the end, I can’t see the 200 doing much better in sales than the Sebring did. Upgrades are nice, but the other car companies didn’t sit idly by either.

My advice to Chrysler is that we know that big changes are needed in Detroit both within the city and the auto industry, but that means you really need a flagship or halo car that we would aspire to own and puts all other cars on notice. Most of the Detroit-owned luxury brands are gone which makes this a difficult exercise. Cadillac hangs in there with competitive cars that people do aspire to drive like the Escalade, but Chrysler doesn’t have a car that can claim that kind of respect yet.

Past concept cars like the Chronos or the Firepower would have been worthy of a slogan like “imported from Detroit.” Kicking off that campaign with a car like the Chrysler 200 means that “imported from Detroit” could end up being a warning for buyers instead of a rallying cry.