The second generation of the Chrysler 300 began production in 2011 and lasted until the car’s end in 2023. With the new generation came a new standard engine: The 3.6 L Pentastar V6. Not only was this the standard powertrain for the base level 300, but it was also used for the Touring and Limited variants of the model. This brand of engine was first introduced this 2011 model year and continues to be used in Chryslers, Dodges, Jeeps, and more today, with the 3.6L model being the most common.
Pentastar engines are built with aluminum cast blocks and carry over the dual overhead camshaft design from the earlier 2.7L V6. With its larger displacement, you could get up to 292 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque — a dramatic 100 horsepower increase from the 2.7L V6 engine. Those numbers would increase slightly more when it was placed under the hood the Chrysler 300S model, a sports performance version of the vehicle that had the aforementioned 5.7L Hemi V8as an available option.
On the V8 side, Chrysler ditched the 6.1L HEMI V8 and created a new, larger Hemi. The 6.4L HEMI V8 was used in the SRT-8 version of the 300, which only remained in production until 2014. It would not see its return to the Chrysler 300 until the final year of the vehicle’s life, when the company produced a limited number of 300C models as a farewell for the 6.4L Hemi. This engine was able to generate up to 465 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, and for those final year 300C units, the numbers increased to 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. Even though the Chrysler 300 was a somewhat bulky luxury vehicle, you would still be able to get this pretty impressive power with it.
[Image by CZmarlin via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]
