The 2012 Chrysler 300S Exudes Confidence & Style with some Technology & Performance Thrown In

I have driven a sedan now since 1998. It’s a great form factor for a 4-5 person family, especially if your children are younger. As they grow up, sedans might not be a preferred choice, until the kids have flown the nest. But as a second car, a sedan is a definite solid addition to the family fleet of cars. For 10 days, I got to play around, elegantly I might add, in the 2012 Chrysler 300S sedan. It was, for lack of a better word, solid. Not only does the outside styling look refined in a slightly edgy manner, the interior was packed with luxurious comforts that you might find in cars twice the price. And this blending of styling and comfort was supplemented with performance and bolstered by technology.

What first grabbed my about the 300S that I drove was the color choice for interior and exterior. The outside was a rich, dark black which looked really sleek. And the interior is what I really loved. The S version has red leather seats so the combination of the black and red fit right at home with HighTechDad, my preferred colors.

As with most autos these days, the 300S has a keyless entry system, meaning that you simply put your keys in your pocket and forget about them. The doors automatically unlock when you put your hands on the handle and you can lock all of them by simply pushing on a button on the handle. Inside, there is a push-button starter, another common feature on many newer cars these days. Let me tell you, it is so difficult now to go back to my tired old car and have to fumble around in my pockets to get my keys. There have been times recently when I simply forgot to take them out and didn’t understand why the doors didn’t automatically open.

The 2012 Chrysler 300S is sporty but in a subdued way. The seats are comfortable and grippy at the same time with plenty of driver adjustments to get that perfect fit. And once you have the seating, mirror and steering wheel position dialed in, you can save that setting for later ease of use. The engine is a V6 AWD 8-speed automatic transmission that has a “sport” mode. The steering wheel has paddle shifters that you can use in normal drive mode and sport mode. I actually preferred the sport mode because the ride was a bit grittier, the steering tighter and the revs a bit higher. In sport mode, the 300S transformed into an energetic car raring to go! And the 292 HP engine provided plenty of pep. I would have loved to have tried the HEMI V8 though, which throws out 363 HP. But having the V6 meant that I also got better gas mileage (my average for city/highway during my test drive was about 20 MPG).

The back seat sat all of my children quite comfortably and there is ample leg room for adults in the back as well. Since I’m on the subject of children, there were a few features that my kids definitely gave the thumbs up. For starters, there was an automatic rear window shade that my kids could control from the back seat (as a front seat person, you can also control it via the touch-screen interface). Since the rear window is pretty large and highly sloped, there is a lot of ways for the sun to come in and warm up the back seat passengers. The rear shade, which lowers automatically when you shift the 300S into reverse for added visibility, provided nice shading in the back.

Another nice (optional – $1495) feature is the dual-paned sunroof which was really a great way to make the already roomy 300S even roomier. With the touch of a button, you can roll back the shade portion 1/2 way or all the way and then pushing another button opens up the sunroof over the front part of the car.

Before I go into too many more details, I did do a video walk-through of some of the features of the Chrysler 300S (also available directly on YouTube):

[youtube]http://youtu.be/e9Au4Q6VCD4[/youtube]

A few other important highlights of the 2012 Chrysler 300S:

• All Wheel Drive – normally in rear wheel drive, the 300S will automatically shift into all wheel drive when it senses limited traction. This all works side-by-side with the ABS, electronic stability control, traction control, brake assist and many other safety features.
• Automatic Sensors – there are automatic headlights as well as windshield wipers which sense the rain. And when it IS raining, there is something called Rain Brake Assist that kicks in to automatically dry out the brake disks.
• Collision Warning – if the 300S senses that there is stopped traffic ahead and you are rapidly approaching it, it will turn off the radio, play an audible alert and flash some alerts on the driver’s dashboard.
• Parking Assist – guiding yourself into a parking space can be difficult, but not with the 300S which has a rear camera and proximity sensors in the front and rear which will warn you as you get too close to cars near you.
• Blind Spot Warning – I have really come to rely on this technology, especially when driving a car that I don’t know. If a vehicle is in your blind spot, an orange triangle appears on the appropriate side-view mirror.
• Adaptive Headlights – these HID headlights will turn in the direction that you are turning and also have daytime running lights which is a nice added safety feature.

While the 300S has some cool technology protecting its occupants, it also has some technology making this HighTechDad happier. For starters, there are the heated and cooled cup holders in the front. I don’t often come across the feature but let me tell you, it’s really a nice little touch. Press one button and your soda can stays cool, press another and you cup of coffee stays hot. Very simple but also very functional.

No auto these days is complete without a big touch-screen in the center console. This is the main interface for all of the functions in the 300S including radio (satellite, FM and AM), CD/DVD playback, MP3/SD card playback and, of course, navigation, climate, bluetooth connectivity for your cell phone and a variety of other controls for different aspects of the car.

The navigation is powered by Garmin and I found the interface to be very intuitive and simple and extremely functional. Many manufacturers often bring their own solution to the navigation problem to their cars but that often leads to sluggish responses or clunky interfaces. Garmin is a trusted name in GPS navigation so it was nice to see it in action.

Also, the 300S had a sound system that was powered by Beats by Dre. Throughout the car, you see speakers with the little red “b” logo, including the subwoofer in the trunk.

This specially-tuned audio system really makes you feel the music and the beats. I didn’t expect this type of added “in-car performance” but this is part of 300S model. There are 10 speakers and 1 subwoofer in this sedan. Wow, talk about surround sound!

Interestingly, as I was exploring the Dre sound system and inspecting the subwoofer in the trunk, I also found that Chrysler had made an unique design choice and had put the car battery in the trunk. While I’m sure they have thought of this, but if you need to jump start your car because of your battery being dead, I hope there is a way to pop open the trunk without using a button. I’m sure that there is an elegant solution that they incorporated but I didn’t spend enough time exploring that use case.

One more fun little tidbit that I discovered (and my wife searched for and had to call me about) was how to open the gas cap door cover. The 300S has a capless gas area but it is covered by a door that has to be popped open. The button for this is located in the driver’s side door and isn’t immediately obvious at first.

Lastly, from a comfort perspective, I do have to mention the sound dampening. I must say that the road and engine noise is truly minimal in the 300S due to the laminated acoustic windshield, wheel liners and the underbody enclosure. What that translates to is essentially a very quiet ride.

Not all of the photos of my test drive are included in this article. You can also see the full photoset on my Flickr account. However, I think it is important to showcase not only the exterior body styling and design aspects of the 300S, but also the interior, so I have put together a video photo montage of the same photos, all with a nice jazzy overlay.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/DqpU0omxBhI[/youtube]

The 2012 Chrysler 300S that I test drove had an MSRP of $44,705 with a bunch of luxury, safety and tech packages which I believe to be a quite reasonable price for the luxury, style, comfort and tech that you get with this vehicle. If you have a chance to test drive one, do jump on that opportunity.

Disclosure Text: Apart from the 10-day loan of the Chrysler 300S, I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HTD says: The 2012 Chrysler 300S is a luxury sedan with enough technology, safety and style to make it a great addition as a family sedan.