Here's a hunch: Bet on Chrysler

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Here's a hunch: Bet on Chrysler

By DENISE MCCLUGGAGE on 12/30/2010

For a start, the Dodge Journey is a trip, the Dodge Charger charges, the Chrysler 200 is unexpected competition for a barrel of monkeys, and the Chrysler Town & Country in its new lowered silhouette has somehow acquired less bulk and more presence. Proportion is beguiling to an avid eye.

Someone more than conversant with the design-school shibboleths (harmony, balance, proportion) has been busy outside and inside the new models. The interiors are unstrained and smart with usefulness and pleasing touches. There are tucking places for things and sliding covers to keep those things corralled. This and the general feel of the space are connections to an evident thoughtfulness. The interiors (I could guess any sketchers-on-napkins here have spent some attentive time in Audis) are universally pleasing to look at, to touch and to use. Softer, rounder controls and surfaces work as well as anything else and are more agreeable to hand and eye. I dig agreeable. And these interiors have a new hushed quietude about them that whispers of luxury.

Over the next few months, a total of 16 new vehicles will be served on the company table; all I've seen indicate that there are chefs rather than mere cooks in the Chrysler kitchen these days.

And that's roughly what I tell people when they pose the question "Is Chrysler going to make it?”

Not so long ago, when the guard dogs of hell were in charge of Walter P.'s heritage, I had a simple answer: No. But now that actual car folk seem to be back in charge, I have Windexed my crystal ball and am peering again into its swimming depths. If intelligent design, good engineering, hard work and an infectious, upbeat attitude have any influence, then why the hell not?

The recovering car market has welcomed the Jeep Grand Cherokee with a brass band. November sales were up from those of November 2009 by 256 percent. How cool is that? Ram, formerly Dodge trucks, turned upward toward the sun by 67 percent. This while Toyota was dropping 4.3 percent.

But numbers schmumbers. What impressed me in a couple of days with a handful of the new Chryslers and Dodges were appearances, performances and prices. I liked the way the planes of the vehicles' surfaces offered a quiet playground for shadow and light. Too subtle to be edgy but nonetheless adding significant dimension. And calmly somehow.

The new engines, stronger but not any more demanding of fuel, felt good and, when appropriate, sounded good. Particularly satisfying were the new six-speed gearboxes, shifting in the split of a thought.

The Town & Country made me smile. It is so coolly elegant without being cold. It somehow accepts that word "minivan" and elevates it, like diamonds on denim. I enjoyed playing with the power buttons that make the rearmost seats disappear into the basement and reappear again. Ah, will it bring up a body this time?

The Chrysler 200 was a surprise. A quirk of mine is distaste for sedans. (I loved the Dodge Magnum, and it went away.) So maybe if the 200 were a sport wagon or a Volkswagen Golf-ish hatch, I would have expected its glee in playing on a road as undulant and twisting as a buckling suspension bridge (California's Route 1 from Stimson Beach to 101). Golly, did we grab up our skirts and dance. Happiness.

Of course, the answer to the "make it” question rests on whether the Chrysler vehicles can put their reputation for troubles and woe to rest. It seems to me they're worth betting on.

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101230/FREE/101239998#ixzz19cWrSDdV

[Intrepidation]

[Camino LS6]

Nice!

[ocnblu]

Saw my first 2011 T&C van at the local dealer. While the exterior is mildly but positively refreshed, the interior looks great. Makes ya wonder how low morale was under Daimler.

[regfootball]

or cerebus

[daves87rs]

I'm liking what I've seen so far...