If you're worried about depreciation, should you buy a brutish saloon/muscle car combination from a brand that has long left South Africa?
The Chrysler 300C is an imposing vehicle with gangster-like qualities and comes with some beastly engine choices under the bonnet. It is no longer available as a new model.
Launched in 2004, the Chrysler 300C was a throwback to the 1957 Chrysler C-300 “letter series”, which was a large, high-performance (for its time), limited-run, luxury coupé.
Many of the “new” 300C’s underpinnings were shared with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and S-Class, including the 3.0-litre turbodiesel engine, but a 3.5-litre V6 and a 5.7-litre V8 Hemi were also available. The initial 2.7-litre V6 was later replaced with a more powerful 3.5-litre V6 engine and eventually, the 3.5L V6 Pentastar was utilised instead. The SRT-8 model was equipped with a 6.1-litre Hemi for a 0-100 km /h sprint of a mere 5 seconds.
We never got the touring model, unfortunately. Right-hand drive models were assembled in Graz, Austria.
Verdict
All the Chrysler 300Cs have depreciated because the brand is no longer with us, but diesel models seem to have lost their value more rapidly. Insurance is also expensive and parts won’t be easy to find. The 300C is also not very economical to run due to the large displacement engines. (The 2.7 is to be avoided like the plague, mechanics say.)
I love how this car looks and cruises on the road. But, being an old vehicle, unless you own a workshop or you’re married to someone who owns one, this may not be the best long-term investment.
If you are enamoured with the 300C, we currently have 16 models to choose from on AutoTrader. I would pick a diesel model purely because of fuel consumption, but if you’re after a bruiser of a car, and you have cash to spend on fuel and maintenance, why not opt for a STR-8 model?
Ané AlbertseAné was bitten by the motoring bug at a very young age. Her mom recalls her sitting in her stroller as a 3-year old, naming every car that came past. She was working as a freelance motoring journalist for publications such as Rapport and City Press, when AutoTrader nabbed her for good. She lives in the Western Cape with her two kids and two cats.View News & Reviews
Keyword: Which Chrysler 300C trim depreciates the fastest?