Clarkson: Jezza reviews the Chrysler Sebring

[ahpadt]

First of all, VW is hardly a paragon of quality, their cars fall apart if you breathe on them. Secondly, Toyota makes extremely well made cars without an ounce of soul and their sales have absolutely plummeted of late. Thirdly, American cars may (on the whole) drive relatively poorly, but they're certainly durable (if statistical review is anything to go by). Fourthly, GM has never been bailed out by the government. (Chrysler has...). Fifthly (?), the Pontiac G8, Ford's entire European stable, the Cadillac CTS, the upcoming Cruze... even the Cobalt SS etc (I'm not going to mention the Corvette) all show that it's not impossible for American car makers to produce good cars.

How come VW's are reliable in Europe and shit in USA?

 

[Ironlord]

How come VW's are reliable in Europe and shit in USA?

Built in Germany versus built in Mexico/Brazil, I'd say...

I may be hiring a Brazilian-built Fox some time next year. It'll be interesting to see how it compares to the 1988 MkII Golf I had which was built by Panzer Division Wolfsburg.

 

[MattD1zzl3]

That car makes me ashamed to be American..

I dont think i'd go that far, being an american is awesome, Chrysler just fails at automaking.

 

[MWF]

I dont think i'd go that far, being an american is awesome, Chrysler just fails at automaking.

Chrysler just fails at automaking........??????

So what you're saying is you have a car maker that is crap at making cars? I suppose it's fitting in a way. After all McDonalds can't produce anything edible, Coca-cola can't produce anything drinkable........ is being crap at your job a new national pastime over there? If so Dubya started it.

Not knocking the whole country or anything, far from it as I phuqing love the place, but it really is getting to the stage where some of your hugest names can't even manage the fundamentals and it's a case of "am I a pencil, am I a cauliflower, am I a nuclear power station.....?"

 

[Bubs360]

The newest Sebring convertible was a car I was unaware of until my trip to Key West, Florida back in April. I mean, given that many, if not most were rental cars, every third car was one of these monstrosities. Ooh, a ribbed hood! That makes it classy!

 

[Hiro11]

Chrysler just fails at automaking........??????

So what you're saying is you have a car maker that is crap at making cars? I suppose it's fitting in a way. After all McDonalds can't produce anything edible, Coca-cola can't produce anything drinkable........ is being crap at your job a new national pastime over there? If so Dubya started it.

Not knocking the whole country or anything, far from it as I phuqing love the place, but it really is getting to the stage where some of your hugest names can't even manage the fundamentals and it's a case of "am I a pencil, am I a cauliflower, am I a nuclear power station.....?"

STFU and GBTW.

/takes own advice.

 

[mclarensmps]

^ Say what?

What's this work, you speak of... He's right about the other stuff though

 

[GM_IV]

The newest Sebring convertible was a car I was unaware of until my trip to Key West, Florida back in April. I mean, given that many, if not most were rental cars, every third car was one of these monstrosities. Ooh, a ribbed hood! That makes it classy!

The Sebring is almost completely reliant on fleet sales. I'm fortunate Enterprise in Canada buys so few of these piles of junk(Avenger included), they seemed to have noticed its the most frequently traded car between branches primarily because no branch wants one if they could replace it with an equivalent GM, Ford, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota or Mazda. The other rental companies except Hertz seem more willing to buy a lot of Sebrings.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

he is right about this short-termism.... but its not just america thats guilty of it, really the whole western world is.

we dont really think about whats to come, only whats happening now, most things are commodity or disposable items... even cars, we buy, we keep for what 2-3 years then buy another, computers, tv's, white goods etc etc.. all these things we buy, keep for a short while and then we buy again. its pretty wastefull to have this short product life cycle but the manufacturers love it because it keeps them well in business, and we live in a very material world and have enough disposable income where we are compelled to buy based on wants rather than needs.

as a result, products simply arent designed to last....whats the point when you'll unquestioningly buy a new one 2 years down the line, might as well make the damn thing hold up for 2 years.

alot of cars are like this, definately american rentals (i've been in many) but theyre only a product of this short product lifecycle... the cars built to basically perform fully for only a couple of years. but America is very good at reliable engineering i think.... sure it wont be that innovative or ground breaking most of the time, but what is there will work and it will work day in day out till the end of time. the core of most american cars i think are well built...its just the trim and tinselly bits that fall off after 2-3 years, the basic car will just run n run till it meets the crushinator.



having been in a few new cars recently i reckon its not only the americans that do it like this.... toyota i think are dropping the ball badly, their designs suck and their interior quality is honestly quite terrible. the quality of the plastics in the Auris are just down right shoddy. they are flimsy, scratchy and bend n bow really easily. even the new honda civic is better and thats not got the greatest interior (quality wise) either and its put together by grumpy fuckers from swindon.

i think it says something when i was way more impressed with the interior of the Citroen C4 over both the toyota and the honda! and citroen is a french company thats renowned for making quirky but ultimately flimsy and unreliable cars. even VW arent safe, my mates MK5 dashboard rattles like hell and honestly while the plastics are solid theyre still not that good and it just looks like the entire interior was cast in a single mold of this really hard, really dull grey plastic.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

The old one looked sorta nice.. Same with a lot of those era Chryslers.

yeah chrysler seemed to have a pretty nice design theme/direction....nothing jaw dropping, but definately not ugly...they were just very agreeable

 

[bartboy9891]

I dont think i'd go that far, being an american is awesome, Chrysler just fails at automaking.

Chrysler just fails at automaking........??????

So what you're saying is you have a car maker that is crap at making cars? I suppose it's fitting in a way. After all McDonalds can't produce anything edible, Coca-cola can't produce anything drinkable........ is being crap at your job a new national pastime over there? If so Dubya started it.

Not knocking the whole country or anything, far from it as I phuqing love the place, but it really is getting to the stage where some of your hugest names can't even manage the fundamentals and it's a case of "am I a pencil, am I a cauliflower, am I a nuclear power station.....?"

You read his sentence incorrectly. The word "just" is used to say that it's pretty much accepted that Chrysler doesn't make good cars and it doesn't represent the country.

 

[Ironlord]

even the new honda civic is better and thats not got the greatest interior (quality wise) either

One year and 15,500 miles down the line and mine's still bomb-proof. Even more than my old MkII Golf.

 

[Ilpav]

All current Chryslers (maybe except Viper and Challenger) are absolute pieces of junk. I was at my local Chrysler dealership and I sat in some new cars like the new Grand Caravan, Avenger, and Sebring, and they all had the same really cheap-looking, disgusting plastic interiors. Not only that, they were all painfully ugly.

Chrysler did make some pretty good vehicles in the past. My '96 Plymouth Grand Voyager is still holding up pretty well with 295k kms, and my parent's 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan is still pretty good with 175k kms.

Now though, they're making utter crap. It's a shame because they used to make some pretty good cars.

If I were to buy any American car right now, it would be from GM, but if it were like 10 years ago, it would be from Chrysler (they easily made the best domestic minivan; anyone remember the awful Ford Windstar and Chevy Venture? ).

 

[Night_Hawk]

^ I used to get confused in your situation, I figured newer cars were always better until about a year ago.

my parents used to own a 96 Grand Voyager as well, I don't know about the mileage but it was in great shape and actually had 3 rows of leather seats and all sorts of things in the console you could adjust and many other things I have forgotten, Then I checked out the Brand new ones and they were somehow worse. They were obviously cleaner and shinier but worse in every other regard.

Same deal with my Buick, I used to surf this site reading about cheap plastics in the interiors of American cars and then Id sit in my car and everything would be ... not plastic.

My friends 08 G6 GT contains literally 5 times as much cheap plastic as my Buick. Considering this is an expensive and brand new car. Thats pretty bad.

 

[Hiro11]

^ Say what?

What's this work, you speak of... He's right about the other stuff though

Location: Canada. Why am I not surprised, you damned Canucks live to pick on us Yanks. Good luck freezing your nuts off this winter.

/lives in Chicago, probably shouldn't be making fun...

 

[Meio]

...grumpy fuckers from swindon.

Well Swindon is a shithole.

 

[katwalk]

The only real redeeming factor about your Beetle is that it costs about $1K USD less. The only Beetle Convertible on sale today is actually even less powerful than this terrible Sebring is...

Well, for one thing I have fit people in the back. There's only an issue if the person in front is freakishly tall and pushes the seat all the way back. It's girly looking not ugly, I can tell you it can take potholes fine. My entire commute is roads so trashed that I'd be better off driving offroad There is a lump so big in the road at one point that I actually get air when driving over it at 30 D: When the top is down it doesn't go into the trunk so I can drive with the top down with the whole trunk full, which is big enough to fit a suitcase that I used to transport school crap a few years ago that is 3x2 feet big. Despite the fact it has alot of body roll and it's rather slow to 60, my 2.0 engine which is smaller than the one available now will take me up to 40, which is the ideal convertible speed range said by Clarkson himself before easily in 5 seconds tops, less if I push the trans into manual mode and shift up myself. My car at 70 less bhp is about 1 second and 6 mph slower. Plus believe it or not, it's very fun to drive. It's easy too, I can control it with my finger and brake/accelerate with my toe.

basically the only way that sebring is better is it doesn't have a flower holder

If I were to buy any American car right now, it would be from GM, but if it were like 10 years ago, it would be from Chrysler (they easily made the best domestic minivan; anyone remember the awful Ford Windstar and Chevy Venture? ).

You do not know fear until you have been on a road with a sheer drop to one side in a windstar with no seatbelts

 

[jonnyslim]

Clarkson and every Motoring journalist ever is correct. The sebring is a horrible car across the range and should have been killed off after the 300c came into play. With the exception of big V8's all Chryslers engines are raspy, weedy, thirsty and can't get out of their own way. I refuse to believe that Chrysler wasn't capable of building good engines while in bed with Daimler Benz.

And for reliability ratings they are just about the worst. Ask any 300 or pacifica owners about the transmission issues with these cars.

Having driven both the current and last generation sedans i can say that chassis feels as if it were made of lincoln logs, it doesnt so much as shudder over bumps but crashes into them. Rear wheel hop like that is simply unacceptable in any car of this era.

And whoever designed the new look should now be doing designwork for luxury plungers.

The best thing that could ever happen to this car is its own demise.

Not a troll, just an informed opinion.

 

[NooDle]

basically the only way that sebring is better is it doesn't have a flower holder

how is not having a vase in the car a good thing? I loved that little detail on the new Beetle. Didn't like much else though

 

[Spectre]

At the risk of sounding Yankophobic I've had the misfortune to hire several cars while on various trips to the States over the years, and with the exception of the 2001 Mustang covertible I had in Florida (which I probably remember with rose-tinted glasses since it was the car that drove Miss Notsureitworksyet to the Orange County Courthouse where she became Mrs Hersworksfinetoo) they were all appallingly built plasticky PsOS that didn't accelerate, brake or handle.

JC is right in what he says albeit for the wrong reasons - the US auto industry has always made a big deal of new model years with minor changes to keep sales volumes high, but in order to sustain demand it has had to make what is essentially a disposable product. European, Japanese and more recently Pacific Rim manufacturers have always taken a different approach and made a quality product that lasts. This might explain the might of Toyota and the VW Group while GM has just been bailed out (again) by US Taxpayers' money.

No offence guys, you are great at so many things like movies, wars and the best restaurant chains I've ever eaten in but your cars are pants!

Actually, its not that Americans can't design or build cars. It's just that the Big Three, for the most part, let the beancounters design the cars and let the union thug slackers loosely screw them together. You'd be surprised at just how many "Japanese" cars sold in the US are designed and built right here in the USA. Likewise, there's European badged cars that are designed and built here; as much as I hate Chris Bangle, I have to use him as an example here - the Z4 was designed by an American and is built ONLY by Americans for the world market (the only Z4 assembly plant is in South Carolina). It doesn't seem to be any better or worse than the all-German BMWs. Ditch the beancounters-first mindset and the UAW thugs, and hey! look! quality product.