not sure what your point is, but i'm after a luxury type sedan around the
$36k-$37k range max.
In the same position as yourself, I would get the hemi 300C. I don't know
what your family situation is (i.e. married or not, kids or not), but if
anybody will ever have to sit in the backseat, the 300C will be much
appreciated. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the hemi is a lot faster
too.
the 300C runs on 4 cylinders when not under load, done by controlling
valves. Chrysler claims they can transition from 4 to 8 in 40ms, but i'm
skeptical about this for a 8cylinder that has pushrods and hydraulic
lifters...
Nobody who has driven in (none of the magazines nor myself) has said that
they can feel or hear the transition. I wouldn't consider the 8 to 4
cylinder feature a negative against the car. Benz has been doing stuff like
that for a while, and I'm sure they used the research allready available to
them. I would go to a newstand and buy the may copies of Car and Driver,
Road and Track, and Motor Trend if I were you.
I forgot to mention one other "downside" I found when going over the car:
the backrest of the passenger seat is manually controlled, and there is no
option to make it power.
Richard