Chrysler Delta or: How I learned to Start Worrying...

Here was I chatting my favourite Lancista about the beauty of DIY projects, and the subject somehow slowly steered towards my temper. I said that I am actually a lot more laid back than people think. Guess what, spoke too soon - the Chrysler Delta advert hit Channel 4 within seconds of me saying that and I was going off in the blink of an eye. Not so laid back after all!

Anyway, since the new Chrysler Delta is the talk of the town, I felt obliged to go and see what the fuss is all about.

I just could not get inspired to do a proper write up; whilst it triggers all sorts of emotions, there's nothing about the actual car that is interesting. Is it controversial? - Yes. Is it cringeworthy? - Yes. Does it have good points? - Yes. Is it interesting? - No. There you have it. If this particular model was released by... erm... let's say Vauxhall, it would go unnoticed, wouldn't it?

First of all, that awful grille.I know that everyone has been mentioning it, so I've decided to join the club of the grille haters, count me in. Yet we have the shield shaped Lancia wheels, what a contrast! Why oh why have they been badged as Chryslers in this country whilst everyone else gets a blue Lancia badge?

To be honest with you, I personally don't think the new Delta looks good in either white or black. In the brochure there's a picture of it in Bronze Savannah with black roof and that actually works quite well. The UK colour scheme is pretty poor though, compared to the European release. I'd imagine it would look good in Ocean Blue, too. Yes, of course, I have the brochures, I was lucky as they have been delivered to the garage the day I went in. Safe to say that the marketing strategy for the launch of Delta in the UK was probably nonexistent. I genuinely do wonder what went wrong there.

The interior left me cold. Yes, I tested the basic version, cloth seats, smell of plastic, etc etc. Yes, you'd have to opt for something different here. Chrysler logo on headrests - not so classy. In fact, don't you think that a Chrysler logo is due some serious rebranding? I think my rant ends here; I will obviously keep my eyes open for what's going to happen next, but I don't think you'll be hearing anything exciting.

In other news: this week I have had a pretty much once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on a Lancia related project. Amazing experience; unfortunately, due to the circumstances I am not at liberty to reveal anything, but no doubt you'll be hearing about it at some point...

Also, I'm in Cardiff area for the majority of next week. If anyone fancies meeting up and going for a drink - drop me a line at spot.a.lancia@gmail.com


Bonus points for spotting the film reference in the title.