American buyers will surely be absolutely delighted with this option. Put a can of cola in the cupholder, and a couple of hours later it's still icy. Pour coffee, and it stays hot. Great! And for us, it's a useful thing, in general. True, a logical continuation of this idea should be some kind of hamburger holder with a built-in grill.
But is it really true that apart from these miracle cupholders and three soft plastic inserts in the interior, the new Chrysler Sebring has nothing else to surprise with? It simply must please with something, given the price tag: 25,900 euros is asked for the version with a two-liter (more precisely, 2.4-liter) engine with 170 horsepower and a four-speed automatic, and for 27,900 euros they'll give you a car with a V6 with 188 "horses" and a six-speed automatic transmission. Let's try to figure out what is truly valuable for Americans.
And right away it should be noted: you're not paying this money for some shabby "empty" base version. Here, the Sebring is sold immediately in the top Limited trim, which includes 18-inch wheels, leather interior, climate control, Boston Acoustics audio system, and other pleasant little things like an auto-dimming mirror, power-adjustable driver's seat, and tire pressure monitoring. You can pay extra for chrome wheels, a changer, a sunroof, and, of course, those very super cupholders. Navigation will appear later, but you'll have to wait about six months for it.
The cupholders switch to heating or cooling mode with the press of a button. The main thing is not to mix them up, cooling the coffee and heating the cola.
Overall, the picture doesn't seem so gloomy, after all. A big car with a spacious interior (there's plenty of room in the back), decent equipment, and a 170-horsepower engine. And it drives, as it turned out at the presentation where we racked up a hundred and fifty kilometers, quite decently. Front and rear — independent suspensions, so you can enter corners quite briskly; by American car standards, that's already almost "look, what a psycho!". But for such handling, you have to pay with ride smoothness. The Sebring is not at all like a classic American "sofa" — it diligently transmits every little bump on the road into the cabin. Although it's certainly far from an outright "stool". Another drawback: at speed, the steering wheel, following the old American habit, becomes somehow empty, and you have to constantly correct it.
And this photo clearly makes it clear who sits best in the Chrysler Sebring.
But the 2.4-liter World Engine this time left much more pleasant impressions than when I drove a Jeep Compass with the same unit. It has enough torque for a car of this class. The only thing is that the automatic really lacks one or two more gears, although it can't be called completely useless. By the way, so far both Sebring versions come to us only with a four-speed, but in about six months the V6 modification will get a new six-speed gearbox.
A lot of car and a lot of options for relatively moderate money — that's the recipe with which the Chrysler Sebring wants to win over the buyer. But don't forget that along with all the "bells and whistles," you'll get hard plastic in the cabin and a four-speed gearbox. However, for those who evaluate the interior on the principle of "as long as nothing rattles or squeaks," this is unlikely to be a reason to refuse.