Roomy mid-sized sedan
I chose this car from the inside out. I was more concerned with interior space than anything else since most cars are much lower and far less roomy in the back seat! I needed a lower car than an SUV for my wife so this was my first choice as it was among the first of the taller sedans which makes it so much easier to get into and out of. I don't have to roll out of the car when I want to get out. Reliability is almost a given with the automobile lines that have survived the ax recently from HQ in each company. I really appreciate the back-seat KNEE room. Every car, it seems, has plenty of leg room but too many have no room for adults in the back seat because the front seat is too close to the back seat unless the front seat people scrunch up and move their seats forward. Headroom is excellent in the back seat also. Front seat headroom is not the best but adequate for 6' plus drivers because of the space taken by the sliding roof. I like the openness and airiness of the six-window design so I don't feel like I'm inside a cave as in the big Chrysler 300 cabin and some other small SUVs. The outside profile is great looking and the rear end looks good. I'm not a fan of the sloping front end that cars have had for the last few decades...thankfully they are leaving that design idea now and going back to the vertical front end. As for performance, it's adequate, I'm not a racer but the car does have a few odd quirks. The suspension can be crazy at times, such as when you hit a pot hole or a man-hole cover...some depression in the street because the wheel that hits it well, if it's the left front wheel then the car tends to slightly veer to the right and vice versa. I've had it aligned, then four-wheel alignment, added Michelin tires, but nothing seems to help this anomaly. The gear selection on the transmission is non-existent! You cannot choose which gear you want to be in and this is not a continuously variable transmission. The engineers were out to lunch on this bad idea. I cannot downshift such as when coming down a mountain grade...absolutely crazy. I've heard they have since remedied this bad decision a few years later. The suspension is the noisiest I've ever had...doesn't seem to have any sound deadening material in it at all. So, if you're just going to be doing city driving it's an adequate car (if you avoid pot holes) but not a great choice for mountain driving. Everyone I've spoken to has been very satisfied with their 500 and many have well over 150,000 miles so, for these reasons, I am keeping this car for another 50-100,000 miles...which will be our first car over 100,000 miles. After that I hope to be lucky enough to find another one with incredibly low mileage on it like this one had when we bought it...8 years old with only 11,000 miles on it.
Recommended
Verified Owner
