Chrysler 300C Sedan 2006 review

Customisers love adding to it with even bigger wheels and outrageous interiors. Chrysler's 300C travels on its own moving catwalk, always on display and admired by other road users.

This is no getaway car, nor one to blend into beige or grey traffic in dull, peak-hour motion.

The 300C's retro design, with its high waistline and low-profile roof, may make for restricted view from the glasshouse, but the only real cause for concern is when using the sun visors — if they're left in the halfway-down position, there's absolutely no view of the road ahead.

Accommodation is very pleasant, with armchair-comfortable seating all round. The driver and front passenger get electric items (with memory on the driver's side) that can be set to move backwards on entry and exit.

On long hauls, there's nothing to complain about. Once the the road begins to bend, though, there's only a slight curve in the cushion to prevent you slipping and sliding across the front pews.

But this car isn't really made for sharp corners; it's meant to go hard in a straight line, using its 250kW and 525Nm of torque.

The 5.7 Hemi heads for the hills as fast as the local heroes from Holden and Ford, although its growl was a little too muted for my liking.

The soft-tone exhaust is balanced by a concert-hall-quality sound system from Boston Acoustics. This seven-speaker, 368-watt (including subwoofer) set-up puts you right back in gangsta mode.

There's enough thump and rumble from inside the cabin to make you forget you're driving a V8 Hemi.

MDS technology bought open-road fuel economy down to 11litres/100km from 16.1 in stop-start city driving. This was on a sustained Sunday run along freeways and coastal roads — not bad from a car lugging 1810kg around.

Equipment levels are high in the 300C. As well as leather trim and the aforementioned sound system, you get some nice-looking woodgrain decoration on the wheel and console, rain-sensing wipers and rear parking sensors that ... um, made no sound.

There's your regular host of aids and co-pilots, in the shape of ESP, brake assist with ABS, an automatic headlamp levelling system and "arriving lights" that switch on when the car is unlocked.

Strangely, though, there are no automatic headlights — although they do apparently have a wash function that I was unable to locate.

The smooth, five-speed auto gearbox has an old Mercedes-style sideways manual-shift mode. It was unnecessary, as you never felt it register until you pushed or toggled back to second gear.

With its outre styling and quality Germanic interior, you could feel a little confused driving this car.

Looking at the 300C's high waistline and stubby glasshouse reminded me of that '80s one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice, with his flat-top haircut and high pants pulled way up past his waist.

Let's hope the 300C doesn't go the way Vanilla Ice's career did. It's way too individual for that.

And don't we all try to be individuals? After all, who wants to be seen in just another car?