New Chrysler 300C and Lancia Thema review

Long ago on Top Gear, you may remember Jeremy, Richard and James pitching up at Pendine Sands with little more than a Winnebago, a brew, and a handful of cars. One of them was the Chrysler 300C: they were smitten with the styling and the value, but not with the way it went round corners.

Chrysler 300C and Lancia Thema: what’s new

This is the latest Chrysler 300C. It’s also being sold as the new Lancia Thema for European buyers. Fiat now owns Chrysler and has opted to revive this big American executive saloon for our side of the Atlantic. The headline remains much the same: it still isn’t what you’d call a driver’s car.

The basic chassis concept from the previous 300C carries over, but the hardware is all fresh. Up front there’s a double wishbone arrangement, while the rear uses a multi-link five-arm layout. Steering is electro-hydraulic, and the overall tune has been aimed at Europeans-who, traditionally, expect more discipline from springs and dampers than Americans.

3.0-litre V6 diesel and gearboxes

Beneath that vast bonnet sits a 3.0-litre V6 diesel, and for the moment it’s the only engine on offer. Outputs are 187bhp and 236bhp, both paired with a rather dim-witted five-speed automatic. An eight-speed ZF gearbox will follow later, and it promises to be a peach, with shift times of under 200ms.

We drove the 236bhp car, which comes with 406 torques and a 0–100km/h (0–62mph) sprint time of 7.8 seconds.

How it drives, rides, and feels in Europe

Even with these changes, the 300C doesn’t quite land as a genuine substitute for the German triumvirate’s executive saloons. The steering has real weight and it’s acceptably accurate, but it doesn’t feed much back. And when you lean on it, the big brute-around two tonnes-will push into understeer. On the plus side, there’s decent grip, and it no longer feels quite as blancmange-like as the outgoing model.

Swap the driving gloves and fireproof overalls for something more relaxed, though, and the car makes far more sense. The 300C keeps that tough, old-school, mafia-esque presence of the previous version, just lightly neatened to look a touch smarter. Inside, the step forward is huge, aside from a small scattering of bargain-basement plastics. The chrome-ringed instruments are superb, the new 21.3 cm (8.4-inch) touchscreen-handling audio, climate, communications and vehicle functions-works brilliantly, and the ride is lovely. Truly.

A Chrysler engineer told Top Gear they benchmarked the Jaguar XF for refinement, and looked to the Audi A8 and BMW 5 Series for ride and handling. It can’t quite deliver on the handling side, but it absolutely majors on hushed progress. It glides along as if on a cotton carpet, with only the roughest surfaces making it feel slightly unsettled. It even softens the edges of that V6 diesel, which only really raises its voice when you call on its plentiful torques for effortless overtakes.

Chrysler also made it clear they were never intending to go toe-to-toe with the Germans; instead, they want the 300C to be a cool alternative. There’s no confirmed price yet, but if it stays near the estimated £36k when it arrives next year, it certainly will be. Just look at it.