I have been driving a rented Chrysler 200 this week while on business in Toronto. Throughout the 9th generatation Accord section members have been critical of Honda for certain features that they wish were offered on their Accords. The Chrysler 200 is chock full of those features as well as being a nice four door car.
The 200 has one very large bright touch screen that controls everything through a row of soft buttons at the bottom. The same screen also provides the excellent backup camera. Between the speedometer and the tach is the digital computer screen for range, economy, visual ring and digital speed. The FM radio sound is about the same as the Accord. It has Bluetooth for both the phone and separate selection for an iPad.
The car very slick leather or pleather seats that are not ventilated but are heated along with the steering wheel. Both front seats are electrically controlled not just the driver's seat. The center console has a hidden compartment with a power port and a USB plug under the cup holders with a larger arm rest compartment than the Accord. The car has built in homelink buttons on the driver's side visor.
The engine has nice power and torque through a nine speed ZF transmission that is controlled through a dial on the center console and paddle shifters. Frankly I wish the car had the Honda CVT transmission. Very gentle acceleration is very smooth with almost unnoticeable shifts. The tach rising and falling are the only indications. However, during moderately aggressive acceleration the shifts are rough and very noticeable with the RPM peaks at about 3,000 RPM. I find this is annoying compared to the same acceleration in the CVT equipped Accord. The noise of the engine increasing and decreasing during acceleration is annoying compared to the nice steady sound of the Accord's engine as the CVT accelerates the car. The Sport mode, increases the RPM of the shift points, as does the Sport in the Accord and the paddle shifters also work the same. During my short freeway drive the transmission didn't hunt around for the correct gear but there weren't any hills.
I'm sure some members here would appreciate the sounds the engine makes at it shifts through all those 9 gears. The trip computer is indicating 13 km per 100 fuel through about a half of tank. I'm not sure what miles per gallon that equals.
The handling and the steering is about the same in both cars. I haven't checked the size of the wheels and the tires because of the cold weather.
Overall, I like the features on the 200 better but I like the smoothness of the Accord's CVT. Of course this is a Canadian version of the 200 so I'm not sure the U.S. version has the same features.
If I was interested in a four door family sedan this car would be at the top of my list. Since it's a new model I'm not sure of Chrysler's reliability.
The 200 has one very large bright touch screen that controls everything through a row of soft buttons at the bottom. The same screen also provides the excellent backup camera. Between the speedometer and the tach is the digital computer screen for range, economy, visual ring and digital speed. The FM radio sound is about the same as the Accord. It has Bluetooth for both the phone and separate selection for an iPad.
The car very slick leather or pleather seats that are not ventilated but are heated along with the steering wheel. Both front seats are electrically controlled not just the driver's seat. The center console has a hidden compartment with a power port and a USB plug under the cup holders with a larger arm rest compartment than the Accord. The car has built in homelink buttons on the driver's side visor.
The engine has nice power and torque through a nine speed ZF transmission that is controlled through a dial on the center console and paddle shifters. Frankly I wish the car had the Honda CVT transmission. Very gentle acceleration is very smooth with almost unnoticeable shifts. The tach rising and falling are the only indications. However, during moderately aggressive acceleration the shifts are rough and very noticeable with the RPM peaks at about 3,000 RPM. I find this is annoying compared to the same acceleration in the CVT equipped Accord. The noise of the engine increasing and decreasing during acceleration is annoying compared to the nice steady sound of the Accord's engine as the CVT accelerates the car. The Sport mode, increases the RPM of the shift points, as does the Sport in the Accord and the paddle shifters also work the same. During my short freeway drive the transmission didn't hunt around for the correct gear but there weren't any hills.
I'm sure some members here would appreciate the sounds the engine makes at it shifts through all those 9 gears. The trip computer is indicating 13 km per 100 fuel through about a half of tank. I'm not sure what miles per gallon that equals.
The handling and the steering is about the same in both cars. I haven't checked the size of the wheels and the tires because of the cold weather.
Overall, I like the features on the 200 better but I like the smoothness of the Accord's CVT. Of course this is a Canadian version of the 200 so I'm not sure the U.S. version has the same features.
If I was interested in a four door family sedan this car would be at the top of my list. Since it's a new model I'm not sure of Chrysler's reliability.
