Not quite sporty.
The Chrysler 300 at its core is a full-size luxury sedan. One that's designed to deliver a smooth and cosseting motoring experience. For the "S" trim, Chrysler engineers wanted to inject an extra dose of fun and attitude into the 300 formula in the form of a sport-tuned suspension and a slight bump in horsepower to 300 ponies.
The result is a driving experience that's slightly less luxurious but not exactly sporty. In sport mode, the 300S's steering feels tighter and its transmission holds on to gears a little longer. But this in no way transforms it into a sport sedan.
Around corners, our all-wheel-drive equipped test car exhibited understeer and felt every bit of its 4,267 pounds.
At the end of the day, there's only so much FCA can do to make the current 300 drive better. It's an aging vehicle, built on a platform that's better suited for cruising leisurely on the open road, rather than gobbling up curves at high speeds.
The current 300 is built on an updated version of the Chrysler LX platform that itself is a holdover from the Daimler-Chrysler years with bits and pieces picked from 1990s-era Mercedes sedans.
Fortunately for the 300S, its Pentastar V6 is a strong performer. Power delivery is smooth and plentiful. The Pentastar has impressed us in every one of our encounters and this one is no different.