2015 Chrysler 200

2015 Chrysler 200 2015 Chrysler 200
First Drive Review From the May 2014 Issue of Car and Driver

Six-figure pickup-truck volumes get all the headlines, but the car market’s real heavy hauler is the mid-size sedan. This segment accounts for a greater percentage of new-car sales than any other, but it’s not just its size that makes it so ferocious. It’s overrun with great offerings that include two 10Besters—the Mazda 6 and Honda Accord—and three of the 10 bestselling vehicles in the U.S.

Into this fray, Chrysler lobs its lawn dart, the new generation of which is, basically, a long Dart. Chrysler calls the new 200 a clean-sheet design, but it’s more truthfully a clean sheet of Fiat letterhead. Like the Dodge Dart, Chrysler’s mid-sizer is based on Fiat’s “Compact U.S. Wide” architecture. Stretched just 1.6 inches in wheelbase but 8.4 inches overall compared with the Dart, the 200 is now one of the larger vehicles in its commodious class.

With the slick styling of the reworked 200, Chrysler aims to make you forget the awfulness that was the Sebring sedan.

Base 200s pack Chrysler’s 2.4-liter four-cylinder, with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 available as an option. Sixes account for just a handful of sales in this market, but Chrysler has bragging rights with its 295 horsepower and 262 pound-feet. No competitor makes more power, and only Hyundai/Kia’s 2.0-liter turbo four makes more torque. The 200 needs it, however, as its curb weight is another segment high: The four-cylinder 200 is heavier than some six-cylinder competitors. To keep either engine in its power band, both come standard with ZF’s new nine-speed transaxle, which is probably more ratios than nature intended. This in a vehicle that was available with a four-speed automatic as recently as, oh, last year. Why merely compensate when you can overcompensate?

What may help the V-6’s take rate is that it’s the only 200 engine paired with the optional four-wheel drive. The setup is borrowed from the Jeep Cherokee, another Compact U.S. Wide spinoff, and can send up to 60 percent of the available torque rearward. Four-wheel drive and nearly 300 horsepower? Did someone say “Subaru WRX STI”? Well, Chrysler didn’t. Just as lawn darts lend themselves to a sort of haphazard toss, the 200 lacks precision. In no configuration is it a performance car. It feels heavy, and with the six, the weight over the nose prevents any real fun. The so-called C trim level suffers from Ye Olde Detroite body flop, and while the S’s stiffer bushings markedly improve control, the steering in each is neither quick nor talkative enough to live up to the powertrain specs. Nor does the transmission encourage any sort of liveliness. And here’s a first-time sentiment: We wish the Chrysler had more Jeep-like brake feel. The Cherokee’s pedal is uncharacteristically firm and satisfying, while the 200’s is a squishy mediocrity.