[Shotimes] OT: Chrysler/Dodge test drives

[BJamesjr@aol.com]

I test drove several cars last week at a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep demo.  I made a few interesting observations:
PT Cruiser Turbo:  These feel small inside, probably because they are relatively short and narrow.  The turbo model has good acceleration, and turbo lag as you would predict, but it will try to spin the wheels long before you get to the point where the turbo kicks in.  I drove a 300M which feels like a big, solid, smooth car, however even for its horsepower it doesn't pull that hard.  As a comparison they had a Pontiac Bonneville and an Acura 3.2TL-S.  I chose the 3.2TL-s for comparison.  It pulls good until the VTEC kicks in, then it pulls hard.  They had a course marked off on the parking lot with cones and a short straightaway where they encouraged you to do full throttle acceleration then brake to a stop at the end.  With the 300M when I got to the cones marking off the braking zone I had plenty of time to stop.  With the TL-S it accelerated enough right before the cones that it was going considerably faster at the cones and I couldn't make it stop in the distance allotted.  Both the 300M and the TL-s would try to spin the wheels when you launched.  I have driven GenII ATX SHO's that would do this also but my GenIII won't.
They had a PT Cruiser off to the side with a huge pile of "luggage" setting behind it.  This included a hardside golf bag, footlocker, ice chest, 3 large suitcases, numerous small suitecases and duffle bags, beachball, pet carrier, lawnchairs, etc.  They would time you to see how long it would take to get all of this stuff into the PT.  The person that I watched before me didn't even get it all in.  I studied things for a minute then got it all in easily in 150 seconds.  Actually I was surprised that it would all go in there but it did.  Their best time so far was 105 seconds.
Also drove up and down a very steep hill that they created in the new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.  I would love to have one of these for playing around in the boonies, but since I have to drive everyday on the freeways I gotta keep the SHO for that.  They had a Liberty and a Grand Cherokee and said that these would easily climb the hill as well.  They had a 265hp Grand Cherokee that you could drive on a course on the parking lot.  It would pull hard under full throttle acceleration.