For the first four months of last year, more than half of all Chrysler 200 sedans were sold as fleet vehicles. No wonder it's widely seen as the official car of the rental lot. And it's doubtful those fleet sales did anything to help Chrysler in the long run. We imagine that very few people who shelled out $20 per day for the displeasure of driving a 200 later plunked down $20,000 for the displeasure of owning one.
Luckily, this is a much better car, so a fleet of rentals might just sell a few. The new 200 is an enlarged version of the Dodge Dart, itself an enlarged version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Its anodyne looks hide a size bump—the 200 is bigger than a Dart in every dimension. Gaining 8.4 inches means it, like the last 200, sits square in Camry-ville. And Chrysler did badge engineering the right way: The 200's automatic has three more gears than the Dart's, it's available with all-wheel drive, and its interior is an order of magnitude nicer than the Dodge's. Most important, the 200 gets a big wallop of optional firepower under the hood.