Does anyone have any first hand experience with this car? I know it's a Chrysler and their track record is not that great. However, I have been helping a friend shop for a new car and have looked at the usual commuter cars, i.e. Corolla, Accent, and Focus. Out of curiosity I looked at a local Chrysler dealers inventory and saw that they had a couple 2011 200 Limited's on sale for $21,610. Sticker price is $28,230 and includes navi, leather, 3.6L V6, Boston Acoustic sound system, alloys and a sunroof. This seems to be a fantastic value for the sale price. Any thoughts are welcome.

Here is a link to the car:
http://www.donwhites.com/new/Chrysle...5f528c3b26.htm

 

My girlfriend's cousin has a black/black 200S and that thing fucking flies!

It's pretty nice overall. Not something I would buy but it was nicer than I thought it would be.

 

maybe something i would lease, not buy. but for that price, why not? cost of ownership would be extremely minimal if you could get it for 25% under sticker. how long would you own it for?

only qualm would be the interior quality. how is it? i usually rent 300c's, and the interior is horrendous for the pricetag.

 

the 200 is a rebadged sebring. so i'm sure it'll be fine in the first few years, chrysler's track record is okay. its nothing special really. point A to point B transportation its fine. get the EW, (you'll use it) if your friend plans on keeping it for more than 3 years.

my dad used to work for chrysler for a long time. he wouldn't keep one longer than 2-3 years. he ended up getting a honda well after he retired b/c of reliability and value. my brother has even owned a number of dodge vehicles, before moving on to imports...if maintained the car will get you where you need to go. they just don't hold any value. i have also owned a dodge vehicle (stratus-essentially the sister vehicle of the sebring)...i didn't have any issues with it and i bought it used (a 5 yr old). again didn't hold shit in resale value.

if you're looking for basic transportation that'll be reasonably comfortable the 200 should work well for its purposes. reliability is going to be hit and miss while resale is gonna suck. for the price you mentioned the car is a steal at that price.

 

It is for a friend and she would probably keep it for 4-5 years.

Also, I am sure the depreciation wont be that great, but I am wondering if the price will compensate for that.

 

It's got a good engine and it looks better than the Sebring it replaced. That's about it. Dynamically it still sucks.

 

I rented a Chry 200 Convertible for 8 days on vacation in Pacific NW.
It flew well and was fun galore for 1800 miles.
But Chrysler track record would keep me from buying.
I had 2 - Jeep G Cherokees and belive Chrysler Reliability
and Parts are at best questionable.

 

It's basic, I like basic
No idea on the 200, but Chrysler reliability has come a long way the last few years.

 

There are better choices out there. Don't be persuaded by the bells and whistles; it's still a crap car with lipstick. Resale value will also hit rock bottom when she tries sell it. I'd rather take the usual civic, accord, focus, etc. over this even if they didn't include all the features for the price.

plus, there's a reason it's on sale. no one wants it. it went from 28k to 22k to 21k

 

^^this

 

Wow... domestic haters... No wonder they are in the crapper. Only 1 reply from someone who actually drove the thing.

 

You can many of these types of cars at the airport along with countless Malibus, Fusions, Cruz, Cobalts, you know USA makers. Rent one for a day and tell us if you still want one.

 

Yeah.... the Sebring/200 and Impala..... quintessential rental cars.

 

idk, i just don't trust them chrysler vehicles for now. sat in a new durango last week and came away unimpressed. better than before, but still cheap plastics with rough edges and gaps. interior had a made in china feel to it.

on the other hand, ford gets a

 

I've never driven one, but if you just need A to B transportation and plan to drive it into the ground, I don't see why not. See if you can negotiate them down a little bit- maybe $20,750? I might be being a bit optimistic, but if they need to unload the car, they need to unload the car...

 

Oh, so you sat in it...

I rented one for two weeks (even have a mini-review of it in the duragno thread in car talk.) I loved the thing. The interior was actually quite nice and solid feeling. Materials? build quality...better than my in-laws 2009 Accord Sedan...better than new civics....Hondas interior quality is going down the shitter. So is Toyota...and I think they realized it, or so says the previews of the new Camry. Hell, the cloth seats feel durable and long lasting compared to the cheap quick to wear cloth of Hondas/Toyotas of today.

I will have owned my Challenger for exactly 2 years on Oct 31...its been phenomenal. And at this point I am far from being stock with it...the thing is a tank.

Personally, I'd have no problem buying another chrysler product...in fact if I had the money laying around I'd probably buy a new Durango RT. They have come a long way from their past history of shite. And people are slowly finally seeing it for themselves as opposed to just jumping on the "Everyone says they are shit" bandwagon.

That said...The 200/Avenger is improved for 2011 both with interior materials and the optional new 3.6 pentastar...which is turning out to be a great engine. I haven't driven one...but some reviews have said its handling is still meh.But for a commuter the car should be fine. I would only ever consider one with the 3.6...never the 4.

And...its an outgoing model...in a year or two we will see the replacement model designed from the ground up (or shared from fiat technology...cant remember what the rumors were.)

Yes deals are out there to be had... mass incentives on pretty any chryco product you want (save the fiat500) its been that way for the past year...with the company trying to rebuild their name and rep.

Yes their resale will probably suck...so resale on pretty much any domestic sucks at this point. Its going to take awhile for that improve.

 

http://www.200forums.com/forum/index.php

 

I have a good freind whose been a Chrysler Account manager for years in Detroit representing a compny that sells a lot of products to Chrysler and he says that they are notorious for electrical gremlins and always have been.
If i were going to buy a domestic/American car, I would have to go with a Ford. They have made the biggest strides in quality imo.

 

I rented one of them. I didn't like it very much. The engine felt strong, but that was about it. The quality of the interior was crappy. The ride was not as smooth as some of the other cars I have driven.

I agree with honda_nut. There are better cars out there for the same price range.

 

I have not driven one but that's not relevant to my argument.

The depreciation on a 200 after five years is going to be terrible. Right now, being that the car is "new" the depreciation figures are skewed high. My guess, based upon what the Sebring ended up at, is 35% of MSRP by the end of the fifth year of ownership. Assuming of course, she only puts about 60k miles on it in those five years.

So while that means that her $22k car will be worth a little less than half of what she paid for it after five years, my guess if she drives closer to 20k miles a year she is not going to see $9800 for a 200 with close to 100k miles on it.

I'm pulling numbers out of my ass but I would guess about $4500-5000 on trade-in for a 5-yr old 200 and probably closer to $7500 for a private party sale.

But even those numbers seem high. I wouldn't pay $7500 for a five year old Sebring with 100k miles on it.

 

Here's an amazing revelation...resale isn't everyone's number 1 factor for buying a car.

This applies to any make/model.

 

The more they have to discount them to sell it new, the more it depreciates. They're almost free for a reason.

 

UPDATE:

The dealer called my friend and said they will sell the car to her for $18k! That is $10k off of the sticker price. Thoughts?

 

I still don't think it's worth it. But if she likes the car, at that price it has a decent depreciation rate for 4-5 years.

 

$18K for a new 2011? With a warranty? I'd take that.
Some of these responses make it sound like the car will blow up the second it drives off the lot. The warranty will cover the next 3 years if anything goes wrong.
Resale should not be part of car buying IMHO. Cars do not hold value period.

 

I think the warranty was actually 5 years/100k miles

 

Dude, it should be a part of the consideration but not the sole reason.

If you had two $30k cars to compare and you knew you'd keep the car for about four years and one had a valuation of 40% after four years and one was 52%, why WOULDN'T you consider the extra $3600 if all things were essentially equal?

Because with this car, that is exactly the scenario.

 

BTW, consumer reports just had a list of most reliable cars of 2011 & the 200 made that list. Yeah it's consumer reports, but still surprising to read it.
Resale is not so narrow minded & clear cut as it was. Many factors come into play now. The economy, the sate or area you live in, the model, the color, the trans, the popularity etc. Frankly resale is over hyped. Many focus too much on math & figures, typical cal salesman's tactics. My CLS was an Acura. Was reliable, Had great resale on paper, but when time came it wasn't worth anything. You see forums all over of people trying to value their cars based on figures & asking what's my car worth, And then the forum people tell them & they can't believe it's so low. And what happens if you get wrecked? The car gets repaired, well the car you bought that had great resale is worth nothing.
I'm not sticking up for the 200 or any car. I'm just saying there's vast opinions about what is out there & it's not as clear cut as numbers make it sound.

 

comes down to what is important to your friend. what does she want in it? and does she like the car?

every car has glitches and weird stuff that happens...its a comfort thing. so if she likes the car and is willing to accept whatever comes out of it, then its a decision she has to make. domestics have gotten bad raps, but they have decent cars....comes down to what she wants. good luck!

 

$18k for a brand new car with a warranty? I would do it.

 

$10K discount from MSRP? No one must really buy these cars! For $18K, I rather go buy a corolla or civic!

 

18k?! That is almost 35% off msrp... What other new cars can you get for 18k with leather & nav etc?

I would tell her to go for it if she really does like it.

 

Dynamically sucks even it's almost on par with Volvo S60 T5, 328i and TSX V6?

Data from the Insideline tests.

...............................2012 S60 T5.......BMW 328i.....Chrysler 200.....2010 TSX V6....2011 Accord EX-L V6

30-0 (ft):........................32................... ...30................32.............32............ ........33
60-0 (ft):.......................128................... .126...............127............133............. .....136
Skid pad lateral accel (g)..0.85...................0.84..............0.85 ............0.84..................0.80
Slalom...........................63.6............. ......65.0..............66.1............65.1...... ..........62.1

 

Interesting first post...

but meh. Even I will admit...that the numbers a car puts out...and how it feels putting them out are two VERY different things.

 

Bran0, welcome to the board.

Next time, just post a linky. It'll be much easier for you...

 

But the resale value sucks!!!!!!!1!~!!!!!

 

This is a nice forum, I've been reading it for a quite some time. Shoofin's remark was really hard to swallow and I had to post the numbers.

I didn't try to prove that 200 drives and feels like Volvo or TSX but only that it doesn't dynamically suck. If it was much worse than Accord EX-L V6, then one could say that 200 dynamically sucks.

Thanks.

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...-bmw-328i.html
http://www.insideline.com/volkswagen...ison-test.html
http://www.insideline.com/chrysler/2...full-test.html

 

The chrysler is a POS compared to the others. It's just another POS low level car that will be more relagated to the rental car fleet.

Shoofin knows what he's talking about, he's in the biz. Some of it is opinion but mostly experience.

What makes this crap can any different than the one of the crappiest cars on the road sebring?

 

^
Give the last link above a read.


For 18K I think the 200 is a good proposition.

 

If it is or isn't I don't know, but unless you have personal experience with the car, this is a pretty ignorant statement.
I rented the redesigned sebring conv at JFK the 1st year it came out. Wasn't my choice, they just gave it to me. Had 700 miles on it. Drove it to Indiana & back put 1500 miles on it. I thought it was a decent car. My uncle had 2 older sebrings & he never had any issue with them other then the usual domestic creaks & rattles. But he also did not have the 2.7 engine. I do agree that was one bad engine.