Chrysler Delta review
by David Finlay (4 October 2011)
According to the press material in front of me as I write this, "the Delta is an accomplished re-entry into the C segment for Chrysler", the C segment being the one dominated in the UK by cars such as a the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra. The Delta is certainly preferable to the Neon, the last Chrysler of this type, but it's a Chrysler in name only.
The truth of the matter - and this is a similar story to that of the Ypsilon reviewed a few days ago - is that the Delta is a Lancia, and that badging it as a Chrysler became possible only because Fiat Group bought into (or, to state the matter plainly, saved) the American manufacturer back in 2009. That piece of business allowed to re-enter the UK market through the back door, having left it in the 1990s with a reputation for unreliability and rust.
The last Lancia Delta sold in this country (and regarded very highly in high-performance Integrale form, if few others) was a plain, boxy affair with hardly a curve to be seen. Its modern-day Chrysler-branded equivalent will probably come as a big surprise to anyone who has not been following Lancia's progress in the interim.
Opinions may vary on the way it looks. You might like it. I'm not convinced. The odd arrangement of having the tail light clusters curving round the rear wheelarches makes it seem very old-fashioned to me, and I heartily object to the wedge-shaped window design, which makes the car feel airy in the front but claustrophobia-inducing in the rear, and creates horrific blind spots. Function was clearly regarded as less of a priority than form during the styling process.
One of Chrysler's main marketing points is that the Delta is very roomy inside, and there can be no argument about that. With the rear seats in place and slid as far backward as they will go, the Delta offers 380 litres of luggage space, far more than you get in a Focus, Astra or Volkswagen Golf, and if you compromise on rear legroom by sliding the seats forward the figure increases to 465 litres. Fold the seats down and 1190 litres become available.
This is not because Chrysler has applied some kind of packaging genius unknown to Ford, Vauxhall and VW. The Delta is roomier because it's bigger. Similarly, it's smaller than a Mondeo and has less interior space. There is no magic to any of this.
Not much effort has been made to make the large luggage compartment easy to access. The opening is narrow and the sill very high, so loading will be more difficult than it needs to be. Form over function again.
Compared with its most important C-segment rivals, the Delta seems dull to drive. I say "seems" because the driving part of the media event, through nobody's fault, started later and finished earlier than scheduled, so those of us who attended weren't able to put in as many miles as we'd have liked, and it may be that my opinion will need revising in future.
But I don't think it will. Chrysler speaks of something called the Absolute Handling System, which sounds great but is really just an overall title for several pieces of existing safety technology. Despite the spectacular advances in this sort of thing over the years, ride and handling qualities are still determined by springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars and tyres, just as they have (nearly) always been, and the set-up of the Delta doesn't move the game forward. It's not bad, but it's not great either.
The driving experience isn't helped by the fact that all the major controls have a rubbery feel to them. If you've ever driven a 1980s Fiat, that's the sort of thing I mean. The well-styled interior contains some remarkably cheap pieces of trim and doesn't seem nearly as impressive in real life as it looks in photos, and the front seatbelt mountings are low and can't be adjusted upwards, which isn't going to suit you at all if you're six feet or more tall.
The Delta comes with a choice of four engines, all of them turbocharged: a 120bhp 1.4 petrol, a 140bhp 1.4 MultiAir petrol, a 120bhp 1.6 diesel (the only one available with semi-automatic transmission rather than a six-speed manual) and a 165bhp 2.0 diesel.
The range starts with what amounts to a stand-alone model: the less powerful petrol engine is available only in entry-level S trim, which is not offered with any other engine. This car costs £16,695 and is the only one offered with steel wheels.
Something similar is going on at the top of the range, where the 165bhp diesel and the Limited specification come together. The fastest car is also the best-equipped, with a Europe-mapped navigation system, heated folding door mirrors, cornering function foglights, tyre pressure monitoring systemm, reclining rear seats, rear parking sensors, two-tone paintwork, leather upholstery and much else all fitted as standard for your £25,695.
In between come the more powerful petrol engine and the less powerful diesel, along with two trim levels called SE and SR (or actually four, since there are Nav versions of both).
Most SEs cost less than £20,000 and all SRs cost more. Their £2000 premium over the SEs gets you larger (17") alloy wheels, dual-zone automatic air-conditioning, cruise control, steering wheel controls, leather/alcantara upholstery, a rear armrest and the clever Blue&Me entertainment/communications system.
There are plenty of options too, at least for SE models and above, and your local Chrysler dealer will be pleased to inform you about them. The most important of them all is the full-sized steel spare wheel which replaces the silly tyre repair kit and is well worth £175 for that reason. If you've spent £820 on a Bose audio system, though, there isn't room for it in the boot, so instead you'll have to go for the £200 space saver.
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