You and I sound very similar in why we chose to go for the '23 300C. I've had my 06 Magnum SRT8 for almost 9 years now. With me it's gone from 99K miles to 226K miles, and through several different looks including a full 300C SRT8 front end swap. I had already been reading that 2023 was going to be the last year of the current LX cars, and I starting thinking about getting one (or a left over 22 model). I don't need the full Hellcat power, but I wanted something more than the 5.7L. I've driving my dad's '12 SRT392 Challenger. I've also driven several 5.7L (Charger and 300) with the 8spd auto, which my 2020 Ram also has. The combination of the 6.4L and the 8spd auto seems to be the "Goldilocks" for me... just right.
Since you couldn't get the 6.4L in the 300, I started casually browsing local inventory for a Charger Scat Pack Widebody. A few days later Chrysler dropped the teaser image for the 300C reveal. Based on the wheel and brakes visible, I was 99% sure that it was going to be a 6.4L powered 300.... essentially a Charger Scat Pack drivetrain/suspension/etc in a 300 body. While I love the widebody Charger, I definitely preferred the 300. Price hadn't been revealed yet, but I speculated on what the price would be. I priced out a fully loaded 22 300S V8 and compared that to a similarly equipped Charger R/T and noted the price difference. Then I priced out a fully loaded Scat Pack Charger (non-widebody) and tacked on the price difference to estimate that whatever was going to be revealed would probably be in the neighborhood of $60-$65K.
I talked it over with my husband the night before the reveal and decided that we would pull the trigger on it. I was very surprised when they announced the MSRP and how much less it was than I was anticipating. Turns out its about $4K less than a comparably equipped '22 Charger Scat Pack. It is definitely a great price for that car.
Not everything is perfect. Like you, I would have preferred more colors available. If I had my pick of any color in the LX lineup, mine would have been F8 Green. Also, while the interior is nice I would have preferred the option of the linen/indgio interior from the 15-19 300C. That interior just looks so great. It wouldn't have gone well with the F8 green, so I probably would have ended up choosing white (like I did) with that interior combo.
However, that being said I'm really happy to have gotten an order in for the 23 300C. It will be added to a stable of rare cars that I already have. My Magnum SRT8 is 1 of 4,129. My 01 Bullitt Mustang is 1 of 5,582. This one will be 1 of 2,200... the rarest of mine.
I've already got a few mods throwing around in my head to make it uniquely my own, but will all be easily reversible.
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