Sebring emerges as bigger, better, visually charming
— -- If the rest of the car lived up to the standards set by those items, we'd be saying, "Hold those calls, ladies and gentlemen. We have a winner." Alas, the whole car is not as good as its salient features.
Not bad, though.
It's loosely based on the platform used for the smaller Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass vehicles sold by Chrysler Group's other brands, but is lengthened, widened and better isolated from road and powertrain noise.
PHOTOS/AUDIO:Chrysler Sebring with Healey's comments
Dodge will get a version of the Sebring sedan. But it will be much different looking, along the lines of the Dodge Avenger concept car at recent auto shows.
MORE TEST DRIVE:Archive of Healey's columns
Some of the significant points, based on 300 highway miles and 100 suburban miles in a preproduction, high-end, Limited with 3.5-liter V-6 and six-speed automatic transmission.
•Powertrain. The 3.5-liter V-6 engine was smooth, powerful, pleasant. Transmission upshifts were crisp. At lower speeds the gearbox in the preproduction test car had some herky-jerky moments hanging up in gears or shifting when it probably shouldn't have. Chrysler says it's re-tuned the transmission on regular-production models to work more smoothly.
•Handling. The front end seems to toss and bob a little on gentle bumps, such as drainage swales at road intersections. Steering feels responsive, but would benefit from better on-center feel.
•Interior. Generally premium in appearance, feel and execution. An array of upscale options plays to the premium theme. MyGig, for instance. It's a 20-gigabyte hard drive that comes with the navigation system. You can store photos, more than 100 hours of music and three-minute messages-to-self when you have those eureka moments. It twins with a special feature of Sirius satellite radio to provide traffic condition updates, something pioneered by rival XM satellite radio and Acura.
The radio uses the two-knob approach, one for volume, one for tuning. That's a signal that common sense and straight thinking have not been overwhelmed by technology.
Climate-control knobs and the turn-signal lever operate with a high-class feel. Chrysler's corporate relative Mercedes-Benz should do as well.
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