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Driving Impressions

The Chrysler 300C SRT-8 does virtually everything well. It’s a sleeper, one that is guaranteed to create many “aw shucks” moments for tuners who think they can whup up on an old man in a Chrysler. They’re invariably surprised when the SRT-8 behaves like an eight-year-old devil at an ice cream party, barreling along the highway with the smooth thrust of a hungry shark on its way to Amity Beach on the Fourth of July.

Make that 425 sharks.
Frankly, the 6.1-liter V8 engine is so smooth and powerful that you feel as though you’re swimming and not galloping. Yup, that 6.1-liter is a Hemi, a re-engineered version of the 5.7-liter engine inside the top trim of the Chrysler 300C. That’s what happens when you give something to the folks at Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology team – they do special things to cars, and in this case the added displacement, along with a more open intake and exhaust setup, makes for 425 horsepower at 6,200 rpm and a neck-whipping 420 lb.-ft of torque at 4,800 rpm. The thing about the SRT is that it doesn’t really feel like that much power, thanks to its smooth-shifting five-speed automatic transmission. Together, they make for a powertrain that is among the best from a major automaker, and the numbers prove it out: 0-60 mph in less than six seconds. Stopping the SRT-8 is almost, but not quite, as much fun as going fast, thanks to big brakes – 14.2 inches up front, 13.8 inches in back – and Brembo calipers. As you’d expect, there’s no fade and nice modulation from the brake pedal.

Like a Pontiac Tempest with an oversized engine, the Chrysler 300C SRT-8 is a rear-wheel-drive sedan. Unlike that classic GTO, however, it straightens hairpins like the best European performance sedans on the market, all wearing the smiling, mocking 300 grille. This is, indeed, where the SRT-8 earns its modern macho badge. Lowered and equipped with a firmer and more robust suspension setup, and adorned with twenty-inch Goodyear fat boys, the SRT-8 really does drive more like a European sedan than a muscle car of yore.

But this is no puny little Euro dancer. That big engine is ever-present, and on the road the feeling of power can overwhelm. It is the combination of the ‘by golly’ engine, the lowered suspension and a sedan driving position, and it feels as though it’s munching asphalt as you head down the road. When you take a corner, those large 20-inch tires scarcely howl or groan, and the weight of the car dives nicely into the job. With this much rear-wheel-drive power at your fingertips, the assumption would be that tight, aggressive driving on corners may result in an abundance of oversteer. Not so. The SRT-8 holds together quite well, approaching performance levels normally found in European sedans. So it sticks, and responds, though it would be nice to get some more feedback from the steering wheel in such a dynamic performance car.