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Jeep named "Winter Vehicle of 2011"



After months of evaluation and one full day of deliberation, the members of the New Eng-land Motor Press Association (NEMPA) have named the Jeep® Grand Cherokee as the New England Winter Vehicle of 2011, Autoinsane.com reports.

VillageSoup.com said NEM-PA jurors commented that the Grand Cherokee was a huge improvement,good value for the money,serious off-road vehicle, and the American Range Rover.

The NEMPA ideal winter vehicles are those most suitable for driving in New England that offer the best com-bination of winter-specific features and options plus the dynamic qualities that make for safe, enjoyable and competent all-weather driving, according to VillageSoup.com.

The Dodge Charger R/T equipped with all-wheel drive earned top Winter Vehicle honors in its segment?Sedan/Wagon $25,000?$35,000.

Turnaround ahead of schedule

Chrysler Group's turnaround plan is ahead of schedule Forbes.com reports following a wide-ranging interview with CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Marchionne told Forbes that 2011 is the year where we've got to prove to ourselves and we've got to prove to others that we are different.

CEO Sergio Marchionne

The Chrysler Group CEO said the company will continue to rejuvenate the product line and maintain speedy product development, which distinguishes Chrysler Group from its competitors.

A Chicago Tribune story notes that the company's turn around is impressive and that Chrysler Group is showcasing 16 new or refreshed models.

I couldn't have done more from a product standpoint than I did, Marchionne told Forbes regarding the speed at which 16 new products were developed and brought to market.

The Tribune notes that Chrysler Group's sales increased 17 percent last year, outpacing the industry, even though it had an aging product line-up.

In an interview with Consumer Guide, Marchionne said the company now has a product lineup to be proud of and that its cars and trucks will be even more competitive in 2011.
 

USA Today: Grand Caravan best on market

For a mainstream family van and pleasant driving, USA Today says the 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan strikes us as the best on the market.

James Healey of USA Today said that if you use a van the way most people do hauling people and cargo and requiring the most flexibility to do soits hard to see how the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan can be beat.

A Scripps Howards auto review notes that the 2011 Grand Caravan ups the ante with 70 upgrades over the previous model.

The company recently announced a price cut on the Dodge Grand Caravan, now starting at $23,995, making it the most affordable minivan in the U.S. market, Autoblog.com reported.

Cars.com said the Grand Caravan offered the most bang for the buck even before the price decrease.

During USA Today?s testing, Healey found the Grand Caravan easy and pleasant to drive thanks to the new power-train, suspension and interior.

Autoblog said, After a week behind the wheel, we can en-thusiastically endorse the new engine and suspension, and we liked the new interior a lot.

Scripps Howard notes that Dodge still has competition in the minivan segment, but with Chryslers commitment to the minivan market the others are unlikely to catch up.

 
300 has luxury, rear wheel drive performance


The 2011 Chrysler 300 sedan has been redesigned "from the pavement up" to provide a modern automotive homage to rear wheel drive tradition, according to the Scripps Howard News Service.

Rear wheel drive provides better power transfer to the pave-ment, balance and handling, and the 2011 Chrysler 300 "delivers all of it," the news service said.

The 300C's forte is gobbling up miles on the interstates, the news service said. It is "rock steady" at triple digit speeds not unlike big German luxury sedans and there is little intrusion of road, wind or mechanical noise, the article said. This fits the time-honored definition of a great road car, the Scripps Howard News Service added.

The Boston Globe reported that the 300, the so called "Baby Bentley," should gain the bulk of the attention among Chrysler's new vehicles. While the silhouette remains the same, the powertrain, suspension, and interior give the car major upgrades, the newspaper said.

It's quiet inside the cabin, a product of composite underbody panels, laminated glass, triple sealed doors, foam insulation, and wheel well liners, the Boston Globe said.

The Chrysler 300 remains handsome enough, but it's what Chrysler did inside and under the hood that makes this update an undeniable success, the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reported. The interior quality of the 300 has always been good, but the company upped the game for 2011, with a luxury quality interior that could "serve as a template for other manufacturers," especially some European brands, on user-friendliness, the paper said.

SRT8 breathes fire into Jeep® lineup

 

 

 

Announced at the New York International Auto Show, the Jeep brand is returning the "fire-breathing" Grand Cherokee SRT8 to the 2012 lineup, Autoweek reports. 

 

With several updates, the central one is a new 6.4-liter HEMI® V-8 producing 465 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque, which is an increase of 45 hp and lb-ft of torque from the 6.1-liter HEMI in the 2010 model year version. 

 

Edmunds Inside Line said, "Jeep is making some pretty serious claims about the latest version of the Grand Cherokee, too: zero to 60 in 4.8 seconds, zero to 100 and back in the mid-16-second range and the quarter-mile in the mid-13-second range, a 155-mph top speed and 60 to zero in 116 feet." 

 

Car & Driver notes that "all the necessary bits" such as lowered suspension, huge wheels, monochrome exterior, honking HEMI engine are part of the package. 

 

The New York Times said the SRT8's exterior enhancements give it a "really angry persona" and that the whole vehicle "is so well executed that it is rather compelling."   The Jeep brand also un-veiled a factory-customized Wrangler Mojave edition that pays homage to the legendary Mojave Trail and comes with "special interior and exterior additions" that set it apart from the rest of the Wrangler family, Autoblog said.

 Chrysler expands appeal, style



The Chrysler 300 SRT8 was one of the new Chrysler cars shown in New York

Whether you're looking for a 300 with big wheels and a bangin' stereo, one fueled by righteous and furious anger, or one with fine leather and premium wood trim, Chrysler probably has a model for you, Car and Driver declared.

 

Returning with a new look, more power, and updated technology features, the all-new 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 is the latest creation from Chrysler's Street and Racing Technology squad, Motor Trend said. As it's done with 300s past, the SRT team has taken an al-ready solid package and made it "faster, meaner, and even a smidge greener," Motor Trend said.

 

The 300S is, for lack of a better phrase, "badass," Edmunds Inside Line said.

 

The 300C Executive Series is intended to take luxury and comfort to an entirely new level, and aims to compete with true luxury brands, foreign and domestic, Left Lane News said.

 

The Chrysler brand also un-veiled two "edgier" S models for the 200 sedan and convertible, Autoblog.com reported.

Cool off this summer in a hot convertible  

 

Some like it hot, and if you do, then a two-door car that turns into a convertible, such as the Chrysler 200 , is likely a cool thing, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.

 

For 2011, the Chrysler 200 Convertible has several "significant upgrades" to improve the mid-size model's overall performance and create a more elegant appearance, both inside and out, the story said.

 

The Washington Post points out that battles in the car market also are heating up as no single automaker dominates in terms of overall quality, reliability, safety or value. The Post says those at-tributes are the basic price of entry.

 

The "hearts battle," as the Post calls it, is won with "good looks and value" such as giving people more car than they expect.

 

While test-driving the Chrysler 200, the Post reviewer said spectators liked the convertible they assumed was a $46,000 - $56,000 car, but they "absolutely fell in love with it at $26,000."

 

"The Chrysler 200 Touring Convertible drew lustful glances everywhere I drove and parked it," the Washington Post reviewer said.

 

The Las Vegas newspaper concluded, "The 200 Convertible  is 100 percent about soaking up some relatively affordable summer fun for up to four passengers, heading to the beach or simply cruising in high style."

  SRT performance brand hits the road

The high performance SRT brand is hitting the road this summer.

There's no better way to en-joy a great American road trip than with a "big honking American V-8" under the hood, Motor Trend said. Nobody knows this better than Chrysler Group and its SRT brand as they embark on a three-month road trip in four new SRT vehicles, Motor Trend explained.

The Detroit Free Press recently spoke with Ralph Gilles, Chrysler Group design chief and head of the newly established SRT brand. Gilles told the pa-per it was the perfect time to expand Chrysler Group's performance vehicles into a separate brand and that the automaker has its "best chance ever to really conquest new customers with SRT."

Take your pick: all SRT models garner praise

Automotive journalists who get into Chrysler Group?s high-performance 2012 SRT8® models come out writing about their exhilarating experiences.

SRT has created a family of muscle cars that is "truly stellar and well-deserving of our exultation," a Sub5zero.com reviewer declared after driving the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8. The Charger SRT8 has American muscle car physicality, Japanese technological finesse, and German refinement in one vehicle, Sub5zero.com said.

An AutoGuide.com scribe, after test driving the 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, proclaimed "this Challenger is by far one of the most fun, high performance cars I?ve driven in the past several years."

Truck Trend asserted that driving the big 2012 Jeep® Grand Cherokee SRT8 across a lakebed "fulfills every "Mad Max? fantasy you've ever had," and a journalist who took the 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 out for a spin felt like he was driving "a fine European luxury sport sedan."

All four new SRT vehicles share a common powerplant ? the new 6.4-liter (392 cubic-inch) HEMI® V-8 engine that features more horsepower and more torque than ever before across a significantly wider rpm range, while intake and exhaust technologies lead to improved fuel efficiency.

Wall Street Journal writer Dan Neil declared that the Chrysler 300's new Luxury Series model is "a ridiculous amount of car for the money."

Titled, "Chrysler's Global Melange Yields True Luxury," Neil's review said "Chrysler might as well have called the Luxury Series the Content Provider." Among the car's list of features are front heated/ventilated seats and rear heated seats, heated wood and leather steering wheel, heated/cooled cup holders, 20-inch polished alloy wheels, LED in-terior lighting and "a huge power sunroof borrowed from Cowboys Stadium,"the Wall Street Journal said.

If you absolutely throw the book at it, "ordering the 300 Luxury Series with all-wheel drive, the Dr. Dre mega-audio system and the optional safety package, you still can't break $50,000," he wrote.

The Journal said the rede-signed 300 "dials back the goth froth in favor of a more practical, mature and aerodynamic design." Yet the car retains "its from-a-mile-away profile: the big and bluff hood, the bling-tastic grille, the pillbox roof, the chopped deck," his Wall Street Journal piece said.

The car's front and rear mul-tilink suspension have been revised "to provide better cornering, body control and, most important, isolation," Neil wrote.

The result, Neil said, "is a deeply serene, seriously stable luxury car, with good sporting reflexes on country roads and excellent interstate manners."