Video: 2012 Chrysler 300S

The 300 S gives you a choice of those two options and rear wheel drive, or if you want to spend more than $2,000 more, all wheel drive. We'll take a look at what makes the S different from the other trim levels, And some other observations about the car as a whole and its new eight speed automatic transmission. a number of exterior elements distinguish the S trim level. They include body-colored side mirrors, a lot of body-colored trim like here under the headlights and also this black bezel around part of the headlight cluster. Finally, there's the dark chrome grill. It's unique to the S. If you don't like it, though, the Mopar division of Chrysler has a whole bunch of different grills You can ask for. Have them put on. Also standard on the S trim level are 20 inch alloy wheels. Now the base wheel is 17 inches, so obviously that makes the ride a little bit firmer. This car has a touring suspension, and it actually rides pretty well. A long wheel base, pretty wide track, makes it comfortable for long trips. Now, if you get the V8 with this car, it comes with a performance suspension. That's gonna make it firmer. I don't know if I'd want it to be much firmer than this. The 300 S also has a couple changes versus the base 300, and that is a 25% quicker steering ratio, and a little heavier feel to it. It's supposed to make it more sporty. I'd say the steering and the braking, even though they're better than they were in the previous generation, still have a little bit of room for improvement. The S trim level has its own interior. It has a black theme, black headliner, everywhere else, it's pretty much black. Piano black gloss trim on the dashboard and in place of wood trim or wood-like trim, there's this carbon fiber patterned trim. Pretty nice, very contemporary look. It's not all great though. There are a couple areas that still look a little bit cheap, including the black plastic here in the middle. Chrysler many years ago said "We're gonna move "into a luxury part of the market." And I thought they were on very strong drugs at the time, but they have been working toward it. And I have to say, they've done a pretty good job. Most of the materials here are quite good. The gauges are very bright and classy looking. It's something you look at every day, gives you a good, you know, feel of the quality. Overall, I think that this particular Chrysler is the most luxurious so far. Now note that these seats are 12 way power. They are specific to the S trim level. They come with these not very subtle white stitching, the S emblem, and in this case, the leather is optional on this particular car. A couple of notes on features. As an option, this particular S trim level has the Uconnect touch system, a elaborate touchscreen system. I like having a touch instead of a knob interface or something like that. Works pretty well, the navigation system though, like most does not have enough street labels on it. Also, in fairness to Ford, with their MyFord touch system, which has gotten a lot of criticism for the same thing, I was using Uconnect touch once and the map just disappeared on me. When that happens, you got to turn the car off and restart it to reboot it. Sometimes it's not a good time to do that. A side note in case you're considering test driving this car, one of the peculiarities since the car first came out is that it has a very high belt line. It doesn't really affect visibility too much, but some people just don't like it. It just feels like they're a child driving a bathtub or something like that. Be sure to pay attention to that and make sure it doesn't drive you nuts. One of the big advantages of a big car is backseat room, of course. And in the case of the 300, it has two inches more leg room than the Ford Taurus, though it has almost an inch less than the Toyota Avalon. There's a give and take among all of these cars. For example, the Taurus has a remarkable 20.1 cubic feet of trunk volume. The 300 has 16.4, not bad. Also worth noticing, there's a 60 40 split folding back seat. When you get into the luxury sedans from the well-known luxury brands, oftentimes that is not available. Full-size sedans have fallen out of favor to an extent, partly because mid-sized cars have gotten bigger inside. For example, cars.com's 2012 best of the year is the Volkswagen Passat. Now it's leg room in the back seat is between the Taurus and the 300 also has a pretty big trunk. And it'll cost about $8,000 less than the starting 300. All the same, there are advantages to large cars like this, and for 2012, a new eight speed transmission gives this car a remarkable 31 miles per gallon on the highway, though only 19 miles per gallon in the city with the V6 engine and rear wheel drive. It definitely makes it even more attractive. If you're checking out full size sedans, definitely take a look at the most luxurious Chrysler of the modern era. <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog, kickingtires.net.