Instrumented Test
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Totally baked, but a tiny shy of a blue ribbon.
The mission of the new-for-’15 Chrysler 200 is a difficult one: Represent the Fiat/Chrysler empire in the hotly contested mid-size-sedan segment. Though the fundamental recipe for achievement is hardly a secret, Chrysler’s preceding Sebring/200 mid-sizers always felt undercooked. So when the 2015 200 produced its debut at the 2014 Detroit auto show, hope sprung anew that the maker had lastly found the proper mix of components that make automobiles such as the Honda Accord and the Mazda 6 so good.
Freshly Baked
Chrysler anticipates that 70 % of the buyers for its new mid-size sedan will choose a 4-cylinder powerplant, which is why the 2.4-liter Tigershark-equipped 200 is the concentrate of this test. (A 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 is also offered.) Our mid-level Limited test automobile arrived at our offices wearing subdued Granite Crystal metallic paint and a set of satin silver 18-inch aluminum wheels shod with 235/45 Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 tires.
Inside, the 200 Limited’s cabin gives a modern atmosphere befitting of its newly sleek exterior, avoiding discordant garnishes in favor of sophisticated minimalism. Basic black abounds, accented by thin strips of chrome breaking up surfaces and delineating control groups on the dash, doors, and console. Chrysler’s rotary gear selector shares space in the console with the electric parking brake and massive round climate controls, all appropriately sized for easy, intuitive operation by the meaty paws of corn-fed North Americans. The instrument panel follows suit, placing 2 big and legible dials front and center, the space between them occupied by an data screen and segmented fuel-level and engine-temperature gauges. The layout may well not be cutting edge, but you’ll hardly ever waste time hunting for switchgear or controls. Our test car’s kit didn’t consist of Fiat/Chrysler’s now-ubiquitous 74-inch Uconnect screen, alternatively making do with a 5.-inch version, which nonetheless offers Bluetooth connectivity but lacks navigation.
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What the car did have was the $ 895 Comfort group (power front seats, backup camera, physique-colour power sideview mirrors with heat, leather-wrapped steering wheel, SiriusXM satellite radio) the $ 645 Comfort group (dual-zone automatic climate control, heat and A/C ducting for the rear seats, heated front seats, remote start off, and auto-dimming rear-view mirror) and the aforementioned wheels ($ 595), our example wore an as-tested price tag of $ 26,385.
Taste Test
Creating 184 horsepower and 173 lb-ft of torque, the naturally aspirated 2.4-liter Tigershark engine is up to the process of hauling about the 200’s 3488 pounds, but not with out registering a couple of noisy complaints. Peak torque comes on at 4600 rpm, right around the exact same spot where the sounds emanating from beneath the hood begin to get gruff. It’ll pull hard to the electronically limited 6500-rpm fuel cutoff, but the soundtrack leans to the death-metal side of the musical spectrum. Fortunately, the typical purchaser will seldom venture past 6000 rpm, aside from the occasional passing maneuver. With 9 speeds to choose from in the ZF-made automatic, there’s seldom a time when the engine is caught lumbering in the incorrect ratio. The shifts are practically imperceptible, save for foot-down moments when it’ll skip a gear on the way to obtaining the optimal ratio. Sixty mph comes up in 8.4 seconds, the quarter-mile mark arriving in 16.6 with a trap speed of 85 mph. Compare these to the 7.4- and 15.9-second occasions recorded by an Accord EX-L Sport automatic we tested in a recent comparo with the Mazda 6, and then contemplate that the Chrysler is light years away from the Honda in higher-rpm refinement. (As an added comparison, our lengthy-term 2013 Accord Sport equipped with a 6-speed manual turned in 6.6- and 15.2-second figures.)
The 200 is far happier running errands and shuttling people about town than clipping apexes on a curvy back road. Swapping the efficiency-minded Ecopia tires for a set much more concerned with grip than thrift, nonetheless, probably would boost the 200 in both environments. Still, our test driver coerced a surprising .81-g roadholding quantity from them, noting moderate understeer in the procedure. In town, it’s simple to make the tires squeal like the proverbial pig (apologies to Ned Beatty) by combining a dollop of accelerator with slightly turned steering wheel below a lot more restrained operation, the steering is reasonably rapid but, as with most electrically boosted setups optimized for fuel economy, devoid of most road really feel. Braking consumed 179 feet of pavement with no fade in repeated stops, placing it proper in the meat of the class.
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We accomplished 27 mpg from the 200 in mixed driving. Very good for the segment, that figure is of particular interest as it betters the 26 mpg we achieved in the smaller (74 inches shorter overall), slower, and 150-pound-lighter 2013 Dodge Dart Restricted with the 1.4-liter Multiair turbo engine and 6-speed dual-clutch automatic. No doubt, the 2.4-liter-powered Chrysler 200 just is not functioning as difficult as the smaller turbo-powered Dart just to hold up with the flow of visitors, hence smaller sized throttle openings and much better true-planet fuel economy.
Although the new-from-the-ground-up 200 is a completely baked item, we can not assist but feel that drivers with sporting intentions will discover it a little on the light side of hearty. The 200 doesn’t have the poor-man’s Bentley street presence of its larger 300 sidekick, either. In a segment flush with blue-ribbon entries that handle to mix 4-door practicality with genuine enjoyable-to-drive character, the 200 is nevertheless a few components brief of becoming prime-shelf material.
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