The first big decision I had to make on vacation was which car to drive. Because of low inventory of intermediate sized cars at the airport, I was given the choice of a Dodge Sebring Convertible or a Chrysler 300. Being a big guy, I opted for the more room of the 300.
The first thing I noticed when I jumped into the 300 was there are two control sticks on the steering column; one for the blinkers & wiper controls, and one for cruise control. I fired up the 300 and noticed the parking brake indicator was on. I was frequently flicking the wrong control for the blinkers. The second time we got into the 300, the parking brake indicator was on again. “Hmm”, I thought, “the parking brake automatically comes on every time?” After a couple more times, I figured out that my foot kept hitting the parking brake pedal when entering the car. Annoying, yes, but once I was aware I adjusted my behavior and the indicator didn’t come on again.
All nitpicking aside, the 300 is a driver’s car. The V6 engine had plenty of power and the automatic transmission knew just the right times to shift. While going up many of the hills of the big island, the Chrysler downshifted at just the right time and stuck there until it made sense to upshift. Compare that to my ’91 Pontiac Grand Prix which would have been shifting up and down the whole hill. I was impressed.
The performance and handling became more apparent one day on the way back from Hilo. I was following a souped up Mustang somewhere around the speed limit when we got behind a train of 5 or 6 cars. After following this train for about ten minutes, the road split into two lanes. The Mustang darted to the right lane and floored it to pass all the cars and I followed him. We passed the cars quite handily and continued on. The 300 kept right up with the hot-rod past 70 and 80 until I eased off and let the Mustang go.
I found myself using the slap shifter on the many downhill runs on the southern side of the island. In particular, I descended about 4000 feet over six miles on Chain of Craters road in Volcanoes National Park and never touched the brakes. The $45 fill-ups were no fun, but at Hawaii’s typical $3.53/gal were partly to blame for the bloat at the pump. It also didn’t help that we got about 20 miles per gallon the whole trip.
I drove the 300 for about 1200 miles over the course of a week and never regretted my decision. It awakened feelings that have been smoldering since I sold my Trans Am many years ago. I can even see myself considering this car when my Honda goes kaput in another 100K miles.
