Chrysler 300 pros and cons: things you need to know before buying one!

Putting together this list of Chrysler 300 pros and cons was easy. I recently spent an entire day driving around in one, and I walked away from it feeling like there was just as much that I hated about it that I liked.

On one hand, the 300 is a well-built and solid feeling full-size car. On the other hand, it’s a mass produced Chrysler built with very cheap materials. It’s extremely roomy, looks fantastic, and the 3.6 L V6 is more than powerful enough for spirited daily driving.

Would I ever consider purchasing a Chrysler 300 of my own? Heck no. This pros and cons list will explain all the reasons why…

All the pros and cons of the Chrysler 300

It should be noted that the Chrysler 300 that I drove was the 2022 S model. It’s basically the version with the “sport” package, which gives it a slightly more aggressive look over the standard model. Mechanically, it’s the same car.

I put about 200 miles on the car you see in these pics, and overall, it was a good experience. Here’s everything that I liked and I didn’t like:

Pros

• The Chrysler 300 is a gangster looking car. I mean that in the most flattering way possible! I mostly appreciate the fact that it doesn’t look like a melted blob of plastic like so many other full size cars these days.
• As you might expect with it being a full-size car, it’s a fantastic highway cruiser. Cruising along at 75mph on the interstate in the 300 feels good.
• Outward visibility is fantastic. The 300 does have thick A and C pillars, but they didn’t block the views to the outside.
• Build quality seems to be fantastic. Despite the negative things I am going to say about cheap looking interior materials, the 300 feels like it was built out of a solid chunk of metal.
• The 3.6 L V6 is more than adequate for spirited driving. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a fast car, but it’s certainly quick.
• The driving modes help to tune the car to whatever you want it to be. In the “normal” mode, it’s just a standard full-size car. In “sport” mode, it comes alive with quicker shifts and stiffer steering. I could easily tell the difference!
• The Chrysler 300 is a fairly inconspicuous car. If you’re like me and you don’t like to draw attention to yourself, this is the vehicle for you.
• The turning radius is surprisingly small. This is a big car, but I managed to weasel myself out of some really tight spots without having to do obnoxious 10-point turns.
• It’s quiet! Then again, I guess that’s what most people are looking for in a full-size car, so maybe this shouldn’t be all that shocking. The 300 certainly delivers.
• This is a perfect car for larger drivers. The front seats are very wide, and those of you with wider hips won’t feel like you have to wedge yourself into them.
• The little details in the interior (such as the analog clock in the dashboard) helps to give the 300 a high-end feel.
• Although I do have some complaints about the touchscreen control panel (which you can read below), I found it to be very responsive and easy to see – even when the sun was shining directly on it. The infotainment system is nice and fairly straightforward.

Cons

• The interior of the 300 is covered in cheap looking (and cheap feeling) plastic. Seriously, it’s the same cheap plastic found in a base Dodge dart for crying out loud. As you recall, I waxed poetic about cheap plastics in my 2018 Jaguar XF review, so I’ll spare you the agony of reading it again. I just can’t stand the stuff in “luxury” cars.
• Despite how large of a car the Chrysler 300 is, the interior is deceptively small. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it uncomfortable, but it’s a lot more cramped than previous generations of the 300.
• Smaller drivers might not like the feeling of how wide the front seats are. I’m a fairly thin guy, and I felt like I was sloshing around in the seat in tight corners. It didn’t hold me in very well.
• The gear selector knob on the center console wasn’t very responsive. Sometimes, when turning it from Park to Drive (or going from Drive to Park), it would lag for a few seconds. It was almost like it didn’t understand what I was telling it to do.
• The Chrysler 300 S that I drove always smelled like it was burning whenever I parked it (after normal driving on both city streets and the highway). I could understand if I was hooning it like an a******, but not under normal driving conditions. 
• After turning the car off, I kept seeing warning messages on the gauge cluster telling me that there were accessories running. I was certain that everything was off, but even if it was user error, it wasn’t very easy to troubleshoot why it kept giving me false warnings.
• Most of the core controls of the Chrysler 300 are integrated into the touchscreen in the center of the dashboard. I found it to be very annoying (and extremely dangerous) to take my eyes off the road in order to poke around at the screen for simple thing like temperature adjustments.

The scariest thing about this list of cons is that many of the individual issues are worse than the issues I listed in my Volkswagen Beetle pros and cons overview. Since when did Volkswagen (of all manufactures) start building better cars than Chrysler?

Two good reasons why you should buy a Chrysler 300

Despite how long my list of complaints were, I actually like the Chrysler 300 quite a bit. No, it’s not my flavor of car at all, but it’s a solid option for anyone needing a decently priced full-size car. Here are two good reasons why:

1. The Chrysler 300 offers a lot of car for relatively little money (at least compared to the competition). No, it’s not going to be anywhere near as luxurious as a Mercedes Benz E350 (for example), but you’ll get 80% of the way there for less than half the cost.
2. Parts and service for a Chrysler 300 is going to be a lot cheaper than what you will pay for other full-size cars from other manufactures. This is a mass produced car sold in every corner of the US, so getting parts and service for it is going to be extremely easy.

Two good reasons why you shouldn’t buy a Chrysler 300

Even though it’s priced much lower than the competition (on average), the Chrysler 300 may not be enough car for some buyers. I don’t recommend it for everyone. Here’s why:

1. Quite frankly, it’s not a very exciting car. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s on the borderline of being just an appliance to get you from point A to point B. For some, that’s perfectly fine. However, if you’re the type of person who feels like the car you drive is an extension of your personality, the 300 is a very bland choice. Even the S model that I drove looked (and felt) like a rental car.
2. Chrysler has never been known for producing reliable cars. Sure, parts and service for a 300 will be relatively cheap, but it’s going to get annoying if you have to take it in to get worked on all the time. This is a very complicated vehicle with lots of moving parts, so chances are pretty good that it’s going to become a maintenance headache later on in its life. Be prepared.