Potlicquor

Took delivery of our 2014 RT today. Pretty much loaded - third row seating, sound and nav package, DVD, sunroof, tow kit, all that stuff. Drives very nice and I am surprised at how quickly I am catching on to the dozens of functions on the touch screen. I even got the voice control stuff down right away. At first it is a bit overwhelming but it all works logically and you learn fast. My wife had her phone paired via Bluetooth within seconds of entering the car. Nice. I'll bet we get addicted to the satellite radio and end up subscribing after the free first year expires. Heated steering wheel - the best feature I never knew I wanted.
I took it for a bit of a drive (or course) and even spent some time on snow and gravel. Worked very nicely - no idea if the AWD ever kicked in or not.
Power adjustable seats are sweet. I love how they designed the power lumbar support mechanism.
My only (sort of) disappointment is with the paint. It looks to be good quality, but I noticed that the plastic bumper covers are not a perfect match to the rest of the body - they are half a shade darker. It wasn't noticeable on the lot when the car was still filthy from being transported, but of course they cleaned it up perfectly for delivery and now the difference is pretty apparent. This is the fancy $300 optional "pearl white" colour. It's pretty but if this colour matching is typical I wouldn't recommend it to others.
I'll report back now and again as we get some miles on the thing. The real test for me will be this spring when we hit the always wash-board-y road into the cottage. Our Jeep Wrangler didn't deal so well with that - with the solid axles at both ends it would get dancing around pretty good. I expect the Journey to be better with its more car-like suspension.
Cheers!
YD

I neglected to answer your question - sorry! No, the instrument cluster was shared with the 99-2001 Chrysler LHS, which became the Concorde Limited in 2002-2004.

That's one thing that I don't like about my Journey... my 300M Special calls out the speed in increments of 10, while the Journey does it in 20.
I definitely agree on the design being a modern classic. That is why my Special is only a fair-weather car now, so I can keep it for as long as possible. We have thunderstorms today, so hopefully that washing of the roads, and my getting further along in my rear bucket seat conversion, I can finally pull out my Special and stretch her legs. She hasn't touched asphalt since November 8th, 2014! I hate making her sit for 5 months out of the year. The driving dynamics and style can't be beat, even by newer interpretations of the 300.

The tach is flanked by the fuel gauge to its left, and the speedo has the temp gauge to its right. In my photo I was just trying to capture the mileage moment. But I have always loved the font and styling of the gauges. They are clear and easy to read at just a glance. Ever try to read the speedometer in the Journey? Unless you are going 20,40,60, 80, etc MPH then you've actually got to study the needle position to determine your speed. That's why I keep the center display set to MPH. I think the styling of the 300M's gauges would clash with the overall look of the Journey, but a more modern font set on a similar electroluminescent array of dials would indeed be cool. Maybe even in a red/black lighting pattern in keeping with Dodge's signature colors.

I tend to agree (of course ) I personally feel that the 300M is a modern classic, but naturally that is a highly subjective opinion which many will dispute. I never tire of its looks and they always catch my eye on the road (which is happening less and less with each passing year; it has been out of production for eleven years now) You should see what some of the guys have done with theirs over on the 300M Club.

Awsome! Would be nice to have these in the DJ.

Actually, the 4.0 was based off of the 3.8 OHV V6 that was used in the minivan. The Nitro came standard with the 3.7 V6 that was used in the Dakota and the optional engine was the 4.0. The only other variant of the SOHC 3.5 was the 3.2 that came in the Concorde and Intrepid.

The Electroluminescent gauges in the 300M were shared with the LHS of the same years. I love their look and have never tired of it. I used to love to go for night time drives when the car was new just to look at the instruments!

The 3.5 is a good engine. There were some issues in 2002 with incorrect rod bearing torque from the factory on some engines which resulted in catastrophic failure. Chrysler quietly recalled several 300M's and offered the customer a replacement engine or a new car, believe it or not. They quickly identified the affected production sequence and went right to work on damage control. Other than that very limited issue, it's been a very good engine.
Correction - you are right, dhh3 - the 4.0 is a variant of the 3.5, not the 3.8 as I stated earlier. Had a brain fart. Went back and researched it and you are correct. The 3.8 and 3.3 share the same architecture.

I believe that the 4.0 in the Nitro was based off of the 3.5. Odd design, I always thought. 24v but only SOHC, not DOHC like most multi-valve engines. You have proven me wrong. I like the looks of the instruments. Were these only in the 300M?

3.5 V6 with 42LE four-speed automatic.

Which engine in the 300?

My 300M, unlike the Journey, has never been hit. Luck has as much to do with that as anything else. My wife really deserves most of the credit. Yes, I am responsible for all of the maintenance and for its appearance care (read: I am very anal about it as you could guess!) but she is a very smooth and consistent driver. She's put probably two-thirds of the miles on the car in a manner that is very conducive to longevity. She's easy on the throttle and brakes, doesn't corner on the door handles, and almost always parks on the end space. So, between her good driving habits ( mine aren't so bad, either) and my working in an ideal maintenance environment combined with a really well-engineered car and here we are, with a car that has outlasted the payment book by twelve years!

Oh yeah, I absolutely love the mountain and outdoor scene. Amazingly beautiful out there.

Not the city, but the area. If you look close enough at the mountains. you can see the water line with how high the Lake once was.

Salt lake is okay to me...but I'm not a huge city person. Being 2 hours from Los Angeles the last 7 years, I never want to live in a major city. The smaller cities around Hill AFB are much more suitable for my liking! I don't think people can get any more rude than they are in California!
It is nice to go to the big city occasionally, and to be close to a major airport when needed.

Salt Lake City has always been #2 on my list of where I would like to live.

I'm guessing the mountain region forum entails Idaho and Utah? Hard to tell with these silly subject lines.
I grew up in southeast Idaho, and was trying to find a job close to home. Well, Hill AFB was a good choice it seems.
Anybody living in Northern Utah, Hill AFB area? I'll be moving up there from southern California in a couple months. So excited to get the freak out of the Republic of Kalifornia!!!

The high beams option is almost plug and play if you use the extensions an the ebay relay

Thank you very much.
Now I have to dare to install it, I'm not used to do maintenance but I think I'll start with the fog lights option (it seems to be easier than using high beams).

That's the result under the hood... looks almost factory, doesn't it? ;-)
The second shot shows how i've used the extensions
red arrow=oem high beam wire
white arrow=where the relay wire is crimped to the the extension

Thank you for this amazing info.
Now, it's time to study.

Journeyman checked my VIN and it wasn't possible to add salescode.Thank you anyway

The DRL Sales code can now be added, once again, be added by your dealer. That is how I got mine.

@pacman
i see you are from spain...
you should buy this from ebay it's an unexpensive solution, the installation is very easy and it works fine!
I bought two H11 and HB3 extension, so you can connect the relay whithout touching the OEM wires...
FOR DRL ON FOG LIGHTS (very unexpensive)
you need a relay like this (i think you can find it, for a couple of US bucks, in every shop of electrical stuff)
then connect the wires from the relay to the positive of the two wires of the fog lights and the positive of one low beam (so the relay have the signal to switch off the fog lights)
this is the electrical diagram:

CREDITS for the idea:
italian fiat freemont forum

I have a very unexpensive solution to share for drl on (led) fog lights too... just a relay and a couple of cables.

just a couple of days...