Car & Driver in its final-spec review, has re-clocked the Chrysler 200 V6 at 0-to-60 time of 5.7 seconds. This is in the wake of firmware updates since the car debuted in mid-2014 as a 2015 model year car.
That bumps the 200 to the top of the heap in terms of mid-size V6 sedans in its segment. Even barely pushing past the Honda Accord V6’s 5.8 second time. The Camry V6 also got a top time of 5.8 seconds. To outpace it, you’d have to go up to the Cadillac ATS, Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3-series, or Fusion V6 Turbo – all which cost tens of thousands more when optioned.
And yet, they’re stopping production of the Chrysler 200, at the end of the year. It will see a limited 2017 model year run, ending at the end of this calendar year. As C&D put it their tagline “the one that deserves to live…” No kidding.
This car is within 0.4 seconds of the Pontiac G8 GT (5.3 seconds), which is the iconic V8 sport sedan of our time. And the 200 still (yes, still!) has a factory-issued lifetime warranty option – which you can add atop just about any used 200 that is under 4 years, and 48,000 miles.
All of this (even with the warranty) for under $20,000 in the certified pre-owned market. A savvy buyer can net one for well under $16,000 today, and bolt-on the lifetime status for as little as $2,500 more. I should know, because that’s what I paid for my Chrysler 200S V6.
Did I mention the All Wheel Drive version of the 200 is one of the first non-supercars to have both torque vectoring, and a 60/40 rear bias in sport mode? That’s right, you could get away with calling the AWD version a Rear Wheel Drive car off the line – because it is.
I get it. SUVs are all the rage, and that trend will likely continue – even more as autonomous driving arrives. FCA wanted to convert the plant the Chrysler 200 was built at, to make more RAM trucks. I personally have a vested interest in seeing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles stay afloat… my lifetime warranty wouldn’t survive another bankruptcy. So I appreciate that FCA is counting beans. I just wish they wouldn’t kill their best products in the process.
The shame is compounded as, every time America makes a sedan that is in the mid-5 seconds for 0-to-60, is the safest in class, and under $30,000… it finds a way of making it only last about two years.
The exact same thing happened to the Pontiac G8 (2008 to 2009), and now history is repeating itself again with the second-generation Chrysler 200. It’s a shame. A damn shame.