Well, I decided today, at 1700 miles, that the Hemi was broken in. So, I took the long way home, which has a 20 mile stretch of AUTOBAHN, traffic was light on the 6 lane A9, cold and dry, still daylight but I had the lights on anyway.

This thing does not even shift into 5th until 105 MPH. BMW 5 Series and E Class Mercs moved over to let me by. At a displayed 127 MPH and 4800 RPM, the system gently reeled me in, just petered out, nothing dramatic or abrupt like my BMW (that feels like the engine is blowing when it hits the gov). At that speed, I had not even turned up the Otis Redding on the stereo. I then turned it down and heard.....not a lot. No engine, no tires, just a whoosh around the windows. I was amazed at how quiet it was at speed, not silent by any means, but quieter at that speed than anything I have owned before.

Going into 2 sweeping left, then right, curves, the outside of the car lifted enough to scare the bejesus out of me, and I had the feeling that it did not want to stay in the lane, but the tires did not protest. I decided to back off to 115 or less unless going straight, these are 4x4 Contis after all. The car stayed fairly flat on the sweepers at that speed.

I did get into a little group for a mile or so that included a Polizei BMW. I know it is legal here, and I have been here for quite a few years, but I still have a problem passing cops at over 100 MPH. Even they were checking the Magnum out.

The brakes worked well also, one non-attentive Opel steerer pulled into the left lane in front of me at about 80 MPH (the RECOMMENDED speed on the Autobahn) to pass 2 trucks passing one another. Again, nothing dramatic, the brakes stripped off the speed with no problem. I had reset the gas milage indicator when I got on the Autobahn, at the end of the 20 mile run, it showed 9.8 MPG, which probably means 8-9 MPG in reality. I was at my exit way too soon. I had started to get into the ski traffic headed to the Alps for the weekend or I may have "accidentally" missed my exit, and a few more to boot.

Anyway, it's not a Porsche, but Porsche's don't have big interior space or a decent trunk. And no one asks Porsche drivers "what is that?" on a daily basis. Have a good weekend, mine is made.....

 

Awesome writeup, good info!

 

From driving mine I already suspected the Magnum would not be too good on the autobahn. 127? Oh well... If I can get an Audi A6 DIESEL over 130 - common rail but still a diesel, that E Klasse wan't in much of a hurry or he wanted to look you over. Unless there is congestion I drive like my cousins - either the foot is on the floor or it isn't. quote> the outside of the car lifted enough to scare the bejesus out of me unquote. Too bad, I suspected as much. Even though a Magnum has an E Klasse suspension design - DCX unraveled it a lot. My old EURO 500SEL was a lot more tightly sprung than my Magnum, it always felt totally stable. Our C280 Sport even more so, but that's not exactly good (over here) since the C280 can get downrigh tiring on bad US roads. But then again what was the Magnum made for - the US market. With all the pot holes and rubble it floats along quite nicely. So that brings up a good question --- I wonder what the Chrysler wagon for the EU market will drive like???

 

Chrysler Germany web site lists 250 KPH (155 MPH) for both the RWD and AWD 300C Touring, and I think that is still governed. That is fast.... Most of the German manufacturers have signed up for the 250 max limit on all of their cars, the Greens were getting ready to do it for them....

 

BMW, Mercedes, Audi but I don't think Porsche ever did or ever will - not with the Italians so close by In anycase what I think Mercedes also did was retune the German market 300C. They always did this on their cars. For example my EURO 500SEL had a numerically smaller rear end ratio than US cars. And in later years they softened the whole US lineup. So, depending on what they did to the 300C there may be some interesting parts in the channels that can simply be ordered and pasted on!

 

Sweet. So it would only go to 127 MPH. That's probably the same thing they are set at here. Speed limiters are PIA, but a necessary evil I suppose. Glad you like your new car.

 

Yes, mine is actually a US spec car, ordered it through the military system. All 3 of the cars I now own are governed to that speed due to the H rated (130MPH) tires they put on them. The Euro 300 C Touring version would have higher speed ratings on the tires. I have found the Pirelli P7 225/60/18 W rated tire (270 KPH or 168 MPH), I don't know if that is the one they use but it was the only one in that size that I could find besides the Contis we get.

I am editing this from this morning. I stopped by a Chrysler dealer in Nuernberg this AM, they were closed but had a 300 C Touring AWD in black. Nice. It had the same wheels as the US Magnum, but with the Pirelli tires I mentioned above. And more chrome. The door handles and the mirror cases are chrome, and the center stack inside is the same aluminum as around our shifters. Not too shabby.

 

Hi

In the last 3 monts I had the pleasure to drive an Euro 300 C Hemi and his 3.5 l brother here in Europe. I had the impression that this cars had harder suspensions and better brakes than their US-verions.
Later I drove the Hemi Magnum in Europe, a US car and had a very good impression of it. I am sure that with a set of ZR-Tires the Magnum will glue to the ground!
Speed limiters in Europe are often digital and end cars accelleration at 250 Km/h. The impression I had from the hemis is that this cars could run 260 - 270 Km/h easily! And this is a fantastic performance for the price!

I am interested in Magnums RT's

but consumption is a central issue here. What is Your average consumption with Your Hemis?

Thanks, greets an sorry for my English...

 

As far as fuel consumption goes, this is not an economy car...I am lucky to stay under 15 liters/100 Km or 16 MPG. I am hoping that it will get better with time but I am afraid those are false hopes. My driving is about 80% Bundesstr. and 20% town driving. If I drove a lot on the autobahn, I could either go fast or eat, probably not both, it would be too expensive :-)


I do not see much benefit of the MDS, either that or it would be even worse without it. Gas consumption is the only thing I am disapointed in with this car, the EPA says 17 city 24 highway, when I bought it I had this fantasy of getting 20 on average (just under 12 liters per 100 KM) on my commute. They must have tested on a slight downgrade at 55 MPH.....

 

Hi an thanks for the fast answer, much appreciated!

As far I can see, You ar a proud owner of an AWD. This means that this version is heavier than the RWD. This explains Your relativly high consumption. As I mentioned I am checking very exactly if an RT is a possibility for me. Even 15 Liters are not too much, seen the kind of car.
At the moment I am in contact with a swiss RT Owner and he speaks about 12,5 - 13 l/100 Km, but I have to verify. I made a statistic of all RT consumption data i could find on the net (test drives, magazines, forums). First I converted to liters and calculated an average consumption (with You) of 13.6 Liters. This is a mix between RWD's and AWD's.

What about Your radio frequnecies, are they EURO-Fitted? Do you ever had size-problems with the Magnum (here everything is a bit smaller...)? Are You able to use the most parkings/Garages here?

Thanks!