"Sarf of the river? This time er night? You're pullin' my wotsit, in't yer!" I've been driving a taxi this week, and quickly worked out how to get a bit of extra bunce, although where I live, 'south of the river' means a frontier village where there's live folk music and men fiddle with their sisters. Sometimes they play the drums, but you get the picture.
Anyway, I wasn't driving a real taxi: it just looked like one, which is why a couple of punters jumped in the back while I was parked outside Dorking station. One of the local cab drivers, intent on capturing the carriage trade, has equipped himself with a Chrysler 300C Touring, and I was mistaken for that conveyance.
But my 300C was much admired by the driver in question: it was the latest model decked out to look like the high-performance SRT-8 model, although under the bonnet was a V6 oil-burner, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.
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a remarkable peak torque of 510 Nm |
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Labelled SRT-Design, the new model incorporates all the revisions for the 2008 300C range - revisions that include a new fascia, improved interior trim, modified tail lights, and enhanced passive-safety features.
But the SRT-Design goes one stage better: or several, in fact. Included in the £33,245 sticker price are 20-inch alloys, a full SRT-8 body kit, blistered wheel arches, the Bentley-like chrome mesh grille, an SRT-8 steering wheel and leather sports seats, and something called MyGIG - more of which later.
At the heart of the new car is the familiar Chrysler 3.0 CRD diesel engine, which owes much to the technical input of Mercedes-Benz, acquired during the DaimlerChrysler years. Fitted with Bosch high-pressure fuel injection, and a variable-geometry turbo-charger, the Hans-across-the-sea engine is good for a remarkable peak torque of 510 Nm, delivered at a lowly 1600 rpm. Maximum power is 215 bhp, and the combination is enough to thrust this large car to 62 mph in under nine seconds, en-route to a top speed of 136 miles-per-hour.
But in its look-alike role, the ersatz SRT does not drink fuel in anything like the manner of the genuine V8 article - witness an extra-urban consumption in excess of 40 mpg. The 'official' combined fuel consumption is 34.9 mpg, which might soften the blow of the Chrysler's being in VED Band F, for which read £210 per annum. But only this annum. Under the revised VED-banding scheme that starts in 2009, the CRD's CO2 rating of 215 g/km will place it in Band K, at £300 for the year. In 2010, the fee will go up to £310, plus a first-year registration surcharge of £240 - by which time, diesel fuel will no doubt be dearer than whisky. If you buy an SRT-8 in 2010, expect a lengthy prison sentence.
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