THE Chrysler 300C is one of the most imposing saloons on our roads, and now comes the Touring version to add even more presence. With it you will always find yourself the centre of attention.
Fingers point, hands wave and little knots of people gather around it - I kid you not, I had a week of it. Not a vehicle for shrinking violets, then.
It is tempting to call it a very American car, and it certainly looks that way with its knock-down-walls nose and the high flanks and smallish windows. But Chrysler is in partnership with Daimler for the time being and incorporated in the 300C are slices of Mercedes technology, including some from the E-Class. That should encourage some confidence in the Touring.
The set-up of the Austria-built car differs from the North American version, with the intention of making the car feel more European. However, the emphasis is still on high-comfort long-distance cruising and the ride is very soft, soothing on motorways in combination with the highly-effective noise exclusion measures. Get on lesser surfaces and there is a tendency to pitch and wallow, twisty roads are not its forte and, at more than 5m in length, it's a handful in town. So you are quite clear where this car belongs
You wouldn't be pottering around, anyway, with the engine range available. There are two petrols, V8s at 5.7 and 6.1-litres respectively, super quick but off-puttingly thirsty and with a very black carbon footprint. All very American.
No, the unit to have is the one in this test car, a 218bhp three-litre V6 third-generation common rail turbodiesel developed by Mercedes-Benz. It is sensationally smooth and virile, too, with 376lb/ft of pull, while giving, according to the official figures anyway, an average 35mpg. Power is delivered through a fine five-speed automatic gearbox with sequential-shift facility, another piece of shared engineering.
A lump of a car - it weighs 1,945kg - is propelled from standstill to 62mph in 8.6 seconds and on to a theoretical 136mph. Disappointingly, though, the carbon dioxide figures are over the 200g/km mark.
So you have an easy-riding, sophisticated distance cruiser, but the 300C saloon already fits that bill. What the Touring has to tack on is extra-generous load-carrying ability.
The boot load area is not that wide and there's a high floor. True, this can be folded or even removed but underneath is a wet-goods surface and a network of small containers. In normal seating set-up there's 630 litres of cargo capacity, which is sizeable, although a noticeable 60 litres less than in the E-Class.
Fold down the back seats and there are 1,602 litres available - the E-Class gives 1,950.
So, why should anyone buy the Chrysler instead of its Mercedes kin? The answer is simply in the price tag. The 300C Touring comes in at under £28,000, and you get an impressive array of equipment for that. Like for like you could pay almost double that for a Mercedes.
Standard features include leather seats, the front pair heated and with electric multi-adjustment, leather-wrapped steering wheel with tortoiseshell-effect insert (but no reach adjustment), dual-zone climate control, cruise control, suspension levelling, rear parking sensors, rain-sensitive wipers, front and rear electric windows, a six-speaker 280 watts sound system with remote controls on the steering wheel, front fogs, 18in alloys and ladlings of chrome.
Safety measures include traction control and stability programmes and front and side curtain airbags.
You can buy in a Driver's Pack that includes satnav and a six-disc CD system and the total price would still be under £30,000.
As well as value, the spaciousness of the car puts a lot of rivals to shame, impressing a passenger with its stretch-out room and the quality of the ride on the motorway.
On that trip, the 300C Touring did its job admirably. The quietness and the smoothness meant everyone arrived at the destination feeling fresh and free of stiffness, so good marks there.
The in-your-face looks may be a bit hard to take for some people, although Chrysler did pretty well with another piece of cool Americana, the PT Cruiser, and you do see a few 300C saloons around, so maybe it has found a market niche that is just waiting for a big and brassy load-carrier.
FAST FACTS
Chrysler 300C Touring 3.0 V6 CRD
Price: £27,815
Mechanical: 218bhp, 2,987cc, 6cyl diesel engine driving rear wheels via 5spd automatic gearbox
Max speed: 136mph
0-62mph: 8.6 secs
Combined mpg: 34.9
Insurance group: 16
CO2 emissions: 215g/km
BiK rating: 33%
Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles, 7yrs paint, 7yrs anti-rust