autos plus

SundayMarch 3

2013SectionAutosplus

The Sentinel

All About Cars

Chrysler 300C delivers a commanding presence

Chrysler’s flagship sedan, the 300, delivers luxury and performance, and its C trim adds swagger to the mix with power, grace and safe-ty. Re-imagined in 2004 as homage to the Chrysler C-300 of the 1950s that was the first modern Ameri-can V-8-powered sedan to stampede out 300 horse-power, the 2013 Chrysler 300C I test drove, was out-fitted with a 5.7-liter HEMI engine that produced 363 hp and took command of the highway as I put it through its paces.

As Chrysler has priced its luxury flagship at about $35,000 for the C and un-der $30,000 for the base 300, the carbuilder has at-tempted to put elegance in the hands of the masses and has included a plethora of upscale items as standard. With its standard heated-leather front seats, Uconnect 8.4 with voice commands, unique platinum exteri-or accents including front grille, door handles, exterior mirror caps and fascia ac-cents, the 300C provides its drivers and passengers with the comfort, safety, conve-nience and technology fea-tures of cars costing much more.

Standard features abound

Other key standard equip-ment includes front-row reactive head restraints, ad-vanced multi-stage air bags, full-length side-curtain air bags, seat-mounted side-thorax air bags, driver’s knee bag, rear head restraints in all positions, electronic sta-bility control, Hill-start Assist, Rain Brake Sup-port, Ready Alert Braking, tire-pressure monitoring, USB port with iPod con-trol, SiriusXM Radio, SD-card reader, auxiliary audio input jack, steering-wheel mounted audio controls, six-speaker audio (upgrad-ed on my test ride), Key-less Enter-N-Go, acoustic windshield and front-door glass, 12-way power driver’s seats including 4-way pow-er lumbar, cruise control, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, leather-wrapped Chrysler brand steering wheel with manual tilt/tele-scoping steering column, leather-wrapped shift knob, luxury floor mats, 140-mph LED-illuminated instru-ment cluster with full color and driver-selectable Elec-tronic Vehicle Information Center, satin chrome inte-rior door handles, LED-illu-

minated assist handles and front map lights, LED-il-luminated front cup hold-ers, rear-passenger reading lamps, LED-illuminated front and rear door handles, L E D - i l l u m i n a te d ce n -ter-stack storage bin, glove box lamp, illuminated van-ity mirrors and two 12-volt power outlets.

Full-size stature Built at Chrysler’s Bramp-

ton Assembly Plant in On-tario, Canada, the full-size Chrysler 300 has a unitized steel body and aluminum hood. The flagship measures 198.6 inches long, 75 inches wide and 59.2 inches high on a 120.2-inch wheelbase and weighs in at 4235 lbs. for the AWD model. The C features Michelin MXM44 (P235/55R) all-performance rub-ber, comfort-tuned suspen-sion, touring brake package, liquid-chrome grille bars with chromed surround, bi-halogen projec-tor head

l a m p s w i t h c h r o m e d b e zels, automatic head lamps, chromed daylight opening, LED-illuminated “C” shaped daytime-run-ning lamps, body-color exterior mirrors and door handles, LED-illuminated taillamps with LED-illu-minated light pipe, dual-chromed exhaust tips with rolled-edges, cap-less fuel-filler door with power re-lease, and chromed “300” deck-lid badge.

5.7-liter HEMIThe base vehicle features

a 3.6-liter V-8 engine that provides 292 hp and 260 lbs-ft of torque, but my 300C powered up with a 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 that generates 363 hp and 394 lbs-ft. of torque. Paired with a 5-speed auto-matic, it is rated at 15 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway with mid-grade gasoline. My week of tests on snowy roads yielded an av-erage of 18.6 mpg. The mas-sive torque does not let you down; without hesitation, the system engages when-ever asked, and I managed to move the 2-ton beauty from zero to 60 mph in 6 seconds flat (hand-timed) en route to a solid 14.5-second quarter-mile.

A comfort car, 300C takes its corners well and with only minor body roll exhib-ited and slight understeer in quick S-curves, the sedan is smooth quiet and stable.

Looking luxurious in Gloss Black exterior paint and a Black interior, the 300C is built for pampering. The cabin offers seating for five, with front leg room of 41.8 inches with 40.1 in row two; head room is a snug 38.6 inches in row one and 37.9 in row two and shoulder room is 59.5 inches in front and 57.7 inches in the rear seats. Knee clearance is 3.9 inches in row two.

In addition to interior niceties mentioned above, 300C includes a Garmin navigation system, dual-zone automatic climate control with humidity sen-sor and cabin air filtration.

Top safety pickNamed a “Top Safety

Pick” by the Insurance In-stitute for Highway Safety, achieving their highest rat-ing for outstanding crash-worthiness in front, side, rollover and rear crashes, 300C employs more than 70 advanced safety and securi-ty features, including those items mentioned above.

The base 300 s t a r t s a t

$29,995. The C is priced at $35,995 and AWD begins at $38,345 with a 5.7-liter 363 hp engine. The Light Group adds Adaptive Bi-Xenon HID head lamps, automatic high beam head lamp con-trol, Automatic Head lamp Leveling System and rear fog lamps for $795; The Harmon Kardon Group adds $1995 for 19 Premium Speakers including sub-woofer and Harman Kardon Logic7 GreenEdge Ampli-fier; the SafetyTec option for $1995 adds Adaptive Speed Control, Blind Spot and Cross Path Detection, exterior mirrors with turn signals and courtesy lamps, Forward Collision Warn-ing, ParkSense Front / Rear Park Assist System, power multi-function mirrors with manual fold-away and rain-sensitive windshield wip-ers; and handling charges of $995 bring the final stick-er-as-tested to $44,125, but current incentives can take $2599 off the sticker to a car lot sticker of $41,625.

Visit www.CarlisleEvents.com for more on the automo-tive hobby.

Mike Blake, former editor of KIT CAR magazine, joined Carlisle Events as senior au-tomotive journalist in 2004. He’s been a “car guy” since the 1960s and has been writ-ing professionally for about 30 years.

By Mike Blake

The full-size sedan offers power, grace and safety in a re-imagined package.■

Submitted photo

Autos PlusE2 • The Sentinel Sunday, March 3, 2013

Behind the Wheel

Turbo Taurus tops competition in fuel mileage

by ANN M. JObAssociAted Press

Don’t expect to find a four-cylinder engine in a big, roomy, 17-foot-long sedan?

You’re not alone. These big, four-door cars tradi-tionally have V-6s, with choice of optional V-8s.

But in the interest of fuel economy, Ford is turning tradition on its head.

For 2013, the automaker’s full-size and attractive-ly restyled Taurus includes an optional, turbocharged, EcoBoost four cylinder that capably and impressively delivers 240 horsepower and 270 foot-pounds of torque.

This turbo four cylinder, which also is direct injected, makes the Taurus the most fuel-efficient, gasoline-powered, non-hybrid, 2013 full-size sedan in the United States.

The federal government fuel economy rating for this model is 22 miles per gallon in city driving and 32 mpg on the highway, with an es-timated range of nearly 450 miles on a single tank of reg-ular gasoline.

This mileage rating rivals the pricier, 2013 Mercedes-Benz E350 Bluetec, which uses diesel fuel and is a smaller-size sedan than the Taurus.

Also noteworthy: The 2013 Taurus earned across-the-board, five out of five stars for occupant protection in the government’s frontal and side crash tests.

Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, in-cluding destination charge, is $27,495 for a front-wheel drive, 2013 Taurus with the base engine, which is a 3.5-liter V-6 that generates 288 horsepower.

The lowest starting retail price of a Taurus with the EcoBoost four cylinder is $28,490.

And the lowest starting MSRP, including destina-tion charge, for an all-wheel drive, 2013 Taurus is $31,545.

The EcoBoost four cylin-der is not available with all-wheel drive.

All 2013 Tauruses come with six-speed automatic transmissions, though the transmission mated to the EcoBoost motor is different than the one used with the V-6.

And yes, there is a per-formance-oriented Taurus SHO model in 2013. It starts at $40,095. In contrast to SHO models from the past that had V-8s, the 2013 Tau-rus SHO comes only with a 365-horsepower, twin-tur-bocharged, EcoBoost V-6 and six-speed automatic.

Competitors to the Taurus include other mainstream full-size sedans, such as the front-wheel drive, 2013 Chevrolet Impala, whose starting MSRP, includ-ing destination charge, is $26,685.

The Impala comes with a 300-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 and automatic trans-mission and is rated by the government at 18/30 mpg.

M e a n t i m e , t h e 2 0 1 3 Chrysler 300 large, rear-wh e e l d r ive se d a n h a s a starting retail price of $30,990 with 292-horse-power V-6 and eight-speed automatic. Its government fuel economy rating is 19/31 mpg.

The 2013 Taurus is re-styled on the outside, with new grille, lights, trunk lid, rear fenders and wheels up-dating the car with a fresh, more upscale appearance. But the new look doesn’t quite bring the Taurus to the same sporty styling “face” that the Ford Fusion, Focus and Fiesta have.

Inside, cheap-looking plastic from the predecessor Taurus is replaced by nicer-looking, textured plastic. And every Taurus comes standard with interior ceil-ing fabric that’s made from recycled material and seat foam that is made from a soy-based rubber.

Even Ford’s Sync system

that can be used to control radio, ventilation, naviga-tion and other settings is updated, in an effort to be more user-friendly. It still takes time, however, to learn the Sync system and com-mands, and a driver can get distracted working the touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard.

The EcoBoost engine re-ally is the news. It costs only $995 more than the less fuel-efficient, base Taurus V-6 whose fuel economy rating is 19/29 mpg.

Plenty of passengers trav-eled in the test Taurus SEL with optional EcoBoost, and none guessed the pow-erplant was a four-cylinder gasoline engine.

The four-cylinder engine displacement is just 2 li-ters, but with dual overhead cams, direct injection and turbocharging, this Eco-Boost four gets as much as it can from every gallon of gasoline.

Indeed, the test car, which traveled 70 percent of the time in city traffic, was driv-en spiritedly and frequently carried passengers, averaged more than 22 mpg.

Yet, the Taurus never lagged or seemed taxed. The car moved smoothly with traffic on city and highway

roadways, and shift points from the six-speed auto-matic were not obtrusive.

Peak torque comes on by 3,000 rpm, which is a good for both decent acceleration and all-situation driving.

Note that the gas tank is a sizable 19 gallons, so fil-lups can be few and far be-tween. In comparison, the lower fuel-mileage Impala’s gas tank carries 17.5 gallons, with the government esti-mating a full tank can go for 337 miles.

The Taurus also impressed with its quiet interior. Not much was heard from neigh-boring vehicles at stoplights, and conversations inside the car were in normal tones.

There was a bit of road noise from the optional 19-inch, all-season tires, but wind noise was nicely muted.

The optional larger tires, by the way, included a fancy-looking finish that made the Taurus SEL, painted Deep Impact Blue, look upscale.

The 2013 Taurus has new, electric power-assist-ed steering and other fuel economy aides and it cruises comfortably on highways.

The car’s heft is noticeable, however, on back-and-forth curves on mountain roads.

T h e Ta u r u s t r u n k i s downright huge, with 20.1 cubic feet of space. A lot of this room extends way in-side the trunk, under the rear

parcel shelf. In comparison, the Impala’s trunk provides 18.6 cubic feet of space, and the 300’s trunk has 16.3 cu-bic feet of cargo room.

The black leather trim on the test Taurus seats looked good, though it wasn’t the most supple leather to the touch.

Front-seat legroom of 41.9 inches promises to accom-modate just about any tall driver, while rear-seat leg-room of 38.1 inches tops the Impala’s 37.6 inches and is less than the 40.1 inches that Chrysler says is in the 300 sedan.

Consumer Reports says predicted reliability for the Taurus is average.

Chevrolet donates water-damaged cars for trainingDETROIT — Chevrolet is

donating 300 vehicles dam-aged by water during Su-perstorm Sandy for use in training first responders in Georgia.

Detroit-based Gener-al Motors Co. announced Thursday that the cars, crossovers and SUVs would go to Guardian Centers in Perry, Ga.

The vehicles are expect-ed to help provide a realis-tic environment to simulate real-world incidents and natural disasters.

GM seals deal on German plant

BERLIN — General Mo-tors Co.’s Opel unit reached a deal with its employee council on Thursday to keep car production going at a troubled German plant until the end of 2016, after which it hopes to keep the site open as a components factory.

The announcement fol-lowed long-running and sometimes rancorous ne-gotiations on a turnaround plan for GM’s struggling Eu-ropean unit. A month ago, GM pressed for a deal by the end of February and warned that, if none was reached, car production at the Bo-chum plant would end two years earlier than previously planned, at the beginning of 2015.

Opel said Thursday that Bochum can keep producing cars until the current Zafira model is phased out at the end of 2016. However, it said that, starting in this year’s second quarter, it plans to cut one of three daily shifts there. The company said it would offer severance pack-ages and partial retirement programs to 700 employees.

Associated Press

With a 22/32 mpg rating, the taurus can travel nearly 450 miles on a single tank of gasoline.

Autos BriefsCar Manufacturing

Chrysler to add jobs, invest $374M in Kokomo, Ind. by TOM KRISHERAssociAted Press

K O K O M O , I n d . — Chrysler is investing mil-lions in the Kokomo, Indi-ana, area as it shifts most of its vehicles to new trans-missions that save fuel and better suit the driving hab-its of Americans.

The automaker will in-vest nearly $400 million at four plants in the Kokomo, Ind., area, adding 1,250 jobs to what it says it the largest transmission fac-tory complex in the world. The plants will make fuel-efficient eight- and nine-speed automatic transmis-sions.

Chrysler plans to use the new nine-speed transmis-sion in key front-wheel-drive vehicles such as the Dodge Dart compact, which has lagged sales expectations. The trans-mission also will go into a new Chrysler 200 midsize sedan early next year and the Jeep Cherokee midsize SUV, which will replace the aging Jeep Liberty in the summer.

It’s a big deal for Kokomo — and the economy of cen-tral Indiana — considering that the complex was in danger of being shut down just a few years ago.

Kokomo will also add the Ram pickup, by far Chrys-ler’s top-selling vehicle, to the line-up of cars that it makes eight-speed trans-missions for. The others are the Jeep Grand Cherokee large SUV and the Chrysler 300 big sedan.

Most manufacturers rely on five- and six-speed transmissions to move their cars and trucks. But Chrysler and others are planning for more gears.

Generally, transmissions with more gears help cars and trucks get better mile-age because engines always run at peak efficiency and don’t have to work as hard at highway speeds. They also allow cars to accelerate faster, which is a demand of American motorists.

CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed Thursday that Chrysler will spend $162 million and add 850 new jobs at an unfinished Get-rag Transmission plant in nearby Tipton. The com-pany will spend another $212 million for new equip-ment and tooling at three other factories, creating up to 400 more jobs.

Four years ago, as Chrys-l e r wa s go i n g t h ro u g h bankruptcy protection, the sprawling complex in Kokomo was in danger of closing, which would have had serious economic im-plications. Marchionne, who also is CEO of Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, said he re-members leaning toward buying transmissions from an outside company.

“This would have been an economic hole right here in central Indiana,” said George Maus, president of one of the United Auto Workers locals in the city.

But people in the compa-ny’s powertrain operations sold the CEO on keeping Kokomo open.

Shortly after he started running Chrysler, Mar-chionne came to Kokomo to tell workers of the deci-sion. But company sales were still bleak at the time. “When Sergio told us he was going to add 700 to 800 jobs, we thought he was crazy,” Maus recalled.

Now his daughter has been hired at one of the

transmission plants, and Maus is optimistic for the future with the new fuel-efficient transmissions.

With the added jobs com-ing by early 2014, Chrysler will employ about 7,300 workers in the Kokomo area. The additional work-ers will start at $15.28 per hour, about half the wage of longtime UAW workers.

Chrysler needs the extra factory capacity to handle growing sales. Its sales grew to 1.65 million last year from just over 931,000 in 2009. The company has added nearly 8,000 hourly jobs since leaving bankruptcy protection in 2009 and in-vested almost $5.2 billion in its U.S. factories. About $1.6 billion of that will have been spent in the Kokomo area.

Marchionne also said Thursday that he would

prefer that Fiat buy the part of Chrysler it doesn’t own from a UAW health care trust for retirees. The other option is a public stock of-fering. Fiat now owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler, with the trust holding the rest. The trust wants cash to help pay retiree benefits, and both sides are sparring in court about the price.

Fiat could use the 10 bil-lion euros on its balance sheet to buy the trust’s stake, or it could borrow the money, Marchionne said. But the company also is preparing for a stock of-fering. “My preference is to be one single company,” he said. “We belong together.”

Chrysler hopes the in-vestments in Kokomo help the slow-selling Dart live up to expectations. It was un-veiled with much fanfare at

the 2012 Detroit auto show, but only 25,000 were sold last year. Chrysler, owned by Italy’s Fiat, had touted the sleek compact as the perfect blend of aggressive American styling and Ital-ian technology. It was sup-posed to be Chrysler’s first competitive compact since the 1990s.

Marchionne said the com-pany mistakenly equipped the Dart with transmissions and engines better suited to European drivers than Americans. He said the nine-speed transmission would be more suitable to U.S. drivers because the added gears will help the car shift more smoothly and accelerate faster.

Dart sales did pick up in January, rising to more than 7,100. The car is built in Belvidere, Ill.

Associated Press

Dietz Werland works on the assembly line during a media tour before an investment and jobs announcement event at the Chrysler transmission plant in Kokomo, Ind., Thursday.

Associated Press

The Ford Taurus is even more refined for the 2013 model year — with better fuel economy, more technol-ogy, enhanced design, improved craftsmanship and sharpened driving dynamics.

2013 Ford Taurus SEL FWD

BASE PRICE: $26,700 for se with V-6; $27,695 for se with ecoBoost; $28,900 for seL with V-6; $29,895 for seL with ecoBoost.

PRICE AS TESTED: $35,280.

TYPE: Front engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger, large sedan.

ENGINE: 2-liter, double over-head cam, turbocharged, direct injection, ecoBoost inline four cylinder.

MILEAGE: 22 mpg (city), 32 mpg (highway).

TOP SPEED: NA.

LENGTH: 202.9 inches.

WHEELBASE: 112 inches.

CURB WEIGHT: 3,964 pounds.

BUILT AT: chicago.

OPTIONS: equipment group 202A (includes sync voice-acti-vated systems, reverse-sensing system, ambient lighting, 19-inch painted aluminum wheels, adjustable pedals, rearview cam-era) $2,300; leather-trimmed seats with heated front seats $1,495; voice-activated naviga-tion $795.

DESTINATION CHARGE: $795.

In Focus