Adam West

Quick Stats: Adam West Actor
Daily driver: 2007 Chrysler 300C
(Adam's rating for this car: 9 (on a scale of 1 to 10)
Other cars in his collection: 2008 Chrysler Aspen (Rating: 10)
2006 Dodge Ram (Rating: 6)
2005 Toyota Tundra (Rating: 8)
Favorite road trip: Oregon Coast
Car he learned to drive in: 1937 Ford truck
First car bought: Used 1950 Pontiac Coupe

As the original Batman in the 1960s TV series, Adam West became synonymous with the Batmobile. But these days, his Batcar of choice is what he calls a "junior Bentley," a 2007 Chrysler 300C.

"It's a real rocket and I like it," West says, giving his daily driver a nine out of 10 rating. He especially likes the all-wheel drive.

The purchase was a conscious effort on West's part, a vote of confidence for the American manufacturer. "I kind of swung over to Chrysler products to give them a chance to recover," West says. "I've got a couple of Dodge Hemis -- I've got a Dodge pickup and I've been driving a couple of those. I like the Hemi engines -- you know, you lean off the gas and it cuts down to four cylinders and you save on the mileage."

His 300C is based on the Mercedes E-Class chassis and has Chrysler's MDS, to which West refers, that allows the Hemi to run on four cylinders, especially when maintaining steady speeds.

West also owns two pickup trucks -- a 2005 Toyota Tundra, which he rates an eight out of 10 rating and a 2006 Dodge Ram that gets a six. At his Idaho home during inclement weather, West sometimes drives his 2008 Chrysler Aspen SUV "because much of the year we live in the snow," he says.

West gives his new SUV a perfect score. "It's so new and it's unblemished and has really been really good for our purposes. I'd rate that as a 10. I see nothing wrong with or negative about it at all."

At that moment, with his emphasis on the words "really" and his deliberate pronunciation and diction, for a nanosecond it feels like I'm talking to Bruce Wayne of the old TV show, when he was deliberating some crime-fighting solution. I can almost see him press that button in the bust to open the bookcase that hid two poles to the Batcave and say, "To the Batpoles."

"I've had good luck with all those products," West says about his Chrysler cars, and then continues with a chuckle. "I figured as long as Chrysler got a divorce from Mercedes, I wanted to encourage them that life goes on."

On his daily driver
"It looks like a mini Bentley, but for a third of the price," West says. "But I don't trick it up with a lot of phony stuff like a Bentley grille or something. You know, with a Hemi engine it's a rocket. It's all I need and I've had Jaguars and Ferraris and Mercedes, Tahoes, Suburbans. But I like this car."