1. 4 seater option
  2. rear pillar mounted air-con vents
  3. chilled glove box
  4. decent set of interior lights
  5. consumer technical manual
  6. solar powered ventilation/seat warmers
  7. two sunglass holders
  8. chilled/warmed cup holders
  9. integrated CD/DVD holder
  10. concealed iPod/hard drive/phone connectivity
  11. more driver's footwell room
  12. a decent set of anchors
  13. suicide/lambo door options
  14. boot loading protector
  15. oscillating fans
  16. Ford trade in dsicount
  17. USB drive connection for radio
So what am I crapping on about? Well here goes:


1. four seater option
Australian households are decreasing in size: we don't need to seat 5 anymore. Make the rear bench a two seater not a "two and a half" seater. Having said that I wouldn't lose the 60/40 split in the back, it allows me to carry my bicycle to and from rides quite nicely.

2. rear pillar mounted air-con vents
The centre console mounted ones are nice but doesn't really get up around your head area if you're in the back. Remember hot air rises and cool air falls. By having the vents down low you get cool legs but bugger all else. A second set of fans to help push it along in both the centre console and proposed pillar vents would be worthwhile.

3. chilled glove box
This has been a standard on Australian GM product for years. Helps keep your tinnies (I think you yanks call them brews - beers in aluminium cans) cool when you're on long drives. Okay, GM don't market them as tinny coolers but you get the idea. It's just a diversion of some of the air con and it's setting straight into the glove box. A simple sliding piece of plastic shuts it off.

4. decent set of interior lights that actually illuminate
Must get way darker down here or something: the standard bulbs in the 300C interior illumination are pathetic. LED upgrades are one of the first mods a lot of people do

5. decent consumer available technical manual
Maybe I haven't looked hard enough or rely too much on LX Forums for techincal info but it occurs to me that if DC actually acknowledged that some people wnat to more about their cars than where the door handles are and that "D" is for drive and "P" is for park then they could actually build some loyalty in their consumer base, particularly if they re-published each year with TSB's and consumer instigated feedback, they'd win huge props for communication.

6. solar powered ventilation/seat warmers
Mazda did this a few years back with their 929. A few solar cells mounted across the width of the rear windscreen or on the rear parcel shelf or across the front and rear windscreens (don't know how many cells you would need) was enough to run a small fan to suck the warm air out of a car parked in direct sunlight so that it's not like getting into a furnace on hot days. A simlar window mounted product is sold aftermarket down under for under AUD$30. For you yanks, canucks and poms it could power your seat warmers. A switch for selection of solar powered ventilation/seat warmer would be neat - I can't think of a situation where you would want both.

Incidently Mr Chrysler exec: seat warmers in Australia are not big sellers. I know it was probably too hard to yank 'em out in export 300C's and other Euro marques have the same thing but they're just silly most places down under...

7. two sunglass holders
There's generally me and the girlfriend in the car on weekends and a spot for her sunnies would be good. And not right under the bloody roof so that when you pull your sunnies out on a hot day you fry your nose off and have a stupid inverted V shaped burn mark on your schnooz for the next week! What about something discreet in the front door panels? In the dask vertically? In a door side mounted seat pocket?

8. chilled/warmed cup holders
Can it be that hard to run a filament of some sort through the cup holders with some sort of inverter that allows you to select heating or cooling? Again in the GM product in Oz they have cup holders that pop out adjacent to the centre dash mounted air con vents so if it's hot, you generally have the air con on so your drink gets cooled. If it's cold, you generally have the heater going so your drink gets warmed.

9. integrated CD/DVD holder
Yep I have the little folder of CD/DVD's in the centre console but something built in would be nice. Maybe in the centre console lid, tiered back with a "lid to the lid" so to speak so that you lift the centre console lid and there is a little horizontal rack for your CD/DVD's. Doesn't have to be many: it's the thought that counts! Bit like VW's flower holder.

10. concealed iPod/hard drive/phone connectivity
A few guys down under have mounted their iPods in the glovebox: no holes in the dash, keeps prying eyes from being tempted and stops the iPod getting knocked around in the cabin. Simply facilitating this would be good - maybe just having the wiring ready to go? Likewise mobile phones. Mercedes have a deal with Nokia, surely this could be extended over to the Chrysler range so that INTEGRATED handset accommodation can be had rather than something sitting up like a heammoroid on your dash.

11. more driver's footwell room
OK so this one is just for us ozzies and poms but when you converted the 300C to right hand drive did anyone actually get in the car and see what it was like? Your left leg is forced up under your bum in the half lotus position due to some whopping lump in the trannie! Okay, bit of an exaggeration but read the Aust 300C Forum threads: a common complaint of new 300C owners is that your left leg (the non-driving one down under) is forced over towards the centre of the driver's footwell in what feels like a less natural position, hard up against the transmission wall. Be nice not to have this

12. a decent set of anchors
Have heard it in a number of reviews (Top Gear, Motor, SMH and other media) that 300C braking is a bit sub standard and would probably agree that a better set of anchors or brakes would go some way to stopping 1890kg of car quicker. It feels like they've taken the brake set out of smaller car and asked it to do the same job in a heavier, larger car i.e. the 300C. May not be a problem in SRT's but the bog standard 300 isn't the sharpest braker in the shed.

13. suicide/lambo door options
I haven't seen anyone disagree that suicide doors look awesome so why not make it standard or at least a factory option? I'm not a fan of lambo doors but plenty of people are so ditto?

14. boot loading protector
You'll see most limo drivers with this: it's just a piece of carpet or felt that flops out from the boot over the rear bumper to protect the duco whilst you're loading the boot. Stops those annoying scratches. Would cost bugger all and if you're not a big "boot loader" then it can be tucked away under the spare wheel cover.

15. oscillating fans
Again, the boys from the rising sun came up with this one: fans that rotate left to right to aid cooling and warming. In the Mazda 626 they could also be locked into position at the discretion of the passenger or driver. I think beemers may have this as well?

16. one for the Ford boys
The local blue oval luxury product, the Fairlane, has just been axed after 50 odd years. DC should cash in with special trade in offers! Won't help me but I am sure there are some Aussie Ford Fairlane drivers out there now who aren't feeling the love....

17. USB drive for radio
You can never have enough memory capacity! Rather than build in a factory radio with a hard drive why not just allow hard drive memory expansion? Could be as easy as a USB port in the radio or dash but personally I'd prefer it out of sight somewhere: glovebox, centre console, ditch the ash tray and conceal it in there.

Whew! So there you go. Not asking for all of this for nothing (although some would be nice!). I realise that particularly now DC have to make some bucks but as a lot of us are spending big dollars on mods for our cars anyway why aren't DC cashing in on this or at least looking at the modifications being made for future design tips? If they're doing the latter they're not communicationg it very well IMO.