Chrysler isn’t into mincing words about the company’s recent past. After years of corporate and product neglect, those at the helm of the smallest of the Big Three know that the company has a long way to go to regain buyer confidence. While a rash of new and revised models are hitting Jeep and Dodge show rooms over the next few months, it’s clear that the company is beginning to gain momentum under the guidance of Fiat. But the models under the Silver Wing seem to be staring down the barrel of a more uncertain future. With plenty of product overlap with Dodge and a lack of any real brand cohesiveness, Chrysler has yet to yield any clear indication of progress away from the dark days of the company’s past. As a result, buyers are having a hard time knowing what to make of the company or where it’s headed.
Still, after Chrysler emerged from Chapter 11, it was clear that wherever the carmaker was going, the Sebring wasn’t coming along for the ride. After a long, degrading life of rental car service and all out neglect from designers and engineers alike, the Sebring had mutated into a car that was a few leagues behind the competition, even when the third-generation bowed in 2007. To that end, Chrysler sent the Sebring name to the burn pile by revealing the 200 – a small sedan that rides on the same bones as its ill-fated predecessor but wears new sheet metal and a revised interior along with a slew of significantly reworked mechanical components. The result is the vehicle that Chrysler should have built in the first place – a competent economy cruiser with plenty of content even at lower trim levels. Is it enough to banish thoughts of the Sebring from our minds? We hopped behind the wheel to find out.
One of the unfortunate realities of adolescence is that the teacher’s pet always gets away with more than the mischievous child in the class. Once you’ve landed yourself on the troublemaker list, you’re doomed to have to work twice as hard as your goody-two-shoes counterpart, which is exactly where the 200 finds itself right now. For years, the motoring press delighted in nothing more than condemning the vehicle’s predecessor, so the 200 now has some serious ground to cover to prove itself a viable competitor in its segment. Part of that effort rests on the four-door’s new exterior. Chrysler’s designers did as much as they could to give the 200 its own personality by adding details like sculpted headlights with projection lenses and LED accents, and removing design elements like the odd striations on the old Sebring’s hood.
In fact, everything from the A-pillar forward is all new. The front fascia is a much more mature design with subtle brightwork nestled down low and an attractive grille with blades that mirror the design of the new Silver Wing emblem. From the front, the look is, dare we say, attractive, though
Still, after Chrysler emerged from Chapter 11, it was clear that wherever the carmaker was going, the Sebring wasn’t coming along for the ride. After a long, degrading life of rental car service and all out neglect from designers and engineers alike, the Sebring had mutated into a car that was a few leagues behind the competition, even when the third-generation bowed in 2007. To that end, Chrysler sent the Sebring name to the burn pile by revealing the 200 – a small sedan that rides on the same bones as its ill-fated predecessor but wears new sheet metal and a revised interior along with a slew of significantly reworked mechanical components. The result is the vehicle that Chrysler should have built in the first place – a competent economy cruiser with plenty of content even at lower trim levels. Is it enough to banish thoughts of the Sebring from our minds? We hopped behind the wheel to find out.
One of the unfortunate realities of adolescence is that the teacher’s pet always gets away with more than the mischievous child in the class. Once you’ve landed yourself on the troublemaker list, you’re doomed to have to work twice as hard as your goody-two-shoes counterpart, which is exactly where the 200 finds itself right now. For years, the motoring press delighted in nothing more than condemning the vehicle’s predecessor, so the 200 now has some serious ground to cover to prove itself a viable competitor in its segment. Part of that effort rests on the four-door’s new exterior. Chrysler’s designers did as much as they could to give the 200 its own personality by adding details like sculpted headlights with projection lenses and LED accents, and removing design elements like the odd striations on the old Sebring’s hood.
In fact, everything from the A-pillar forward is all new. The front fascia is a much more mature design with subtle brightwork nestled down low and an attractive grille with blades that mirror the design of the new Silver Wing emblem. From the front, the look is, dare we say, attractive, though
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