Ask The Best And Brightest: Does Chrysler Make The Case For Its Interiors?
I’ll refrain from editorializing at length here because I’m genuinely interested in hearing the B & B’s take on Chrysler’s attempt to overcome what was one of the industry’s worst reputations for interior quality. The question here isn’t “are Chrysler’s interiors better?” because there’s no debate on that point. The question is: given that they’re having to do a 180 for Chrysler’s reputation, are they good enough? Personally, I find some downright appealing, some quite passable and some still lacking… and my major complaint is that I feel like the firm tries too hard to project a veneer of premium-ness on even its cheaper products, which make the interiors feel less than entirely “honest.” But that’s just my take… what’s yours? Video of Chrysler’s interior design boss Klaus Brusse, talking about the changes in Chrysler’s interiors, after the jump
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Having just purchased a 2011 T&C Limited, I can honestly say that the Chrysler's interior surpassed that of all the other competitors save the Quest but the Quest's fuzzy headliner was a real head scratcher. The T&C drove the best, rode the best, and had the nicest interior of the big 3 minivans (Odyssey, Sienna and T&C/GC). Plus, value for feature, the other two couldn't hold a candle to the price I paid for the T&C. I would have had to of spent $40K+ to have near the features that the T&C has which after discounts and markdown, was right around the $34K mark. If the reliability can hold firm (True Delta reports avg reliability for the current gen sans the new Pentastar engine), then Chrysler definitely has turned the corner. Much thanks is due to Baruth and Karesh because if it had not been for their reviews, I probably wouldn't have even peaked inside the new Dodge/Chrysler van and made the same assumption that everyone else makes when it comes to minivans in that Honda and Toyota are miles ahead of Chrysler which just isn't true anymore. I thought I would miss my Flex but I honestly don't. The T&C handles our crappy roads here in OKC like no other car I've driven. It's really unbelievable how well it handles and I would go so far as to say it even handles better than my Fusion. It's that impressive. For the first time, a Chrysler product just felt substantial (if that makes any sense) as I was driving it.
I think they're going in the right direction. Had a rental AWD Dodge Journey for a week in February and was very pleasantly surprised. The interior was a decent place to spend time, and a huge improvement over previous Dodges in every way. It was also extremely quiet at speed, with low wind and tire noise. They even filled the front fender liners with Styrofoam to prevent road noise from coming through It looks like they're pulling a few pages out of the VW AG playbook, by giving the perception of quality through low noise and a good looking interior, as well as using what appear to be modular electronics packages so features can be added and subtracted easily across all models.