I traded her last weekend.

She was a red, 2004 limited coupe, and I loved her...fun to drive, I enjoyed her unique look the way she held in the turns, the feel of her holding onto me while I pushed her and the fact that I didn't see myself on the road too often.

I learned to live with her negative features, the holes in the coffee cup from the cupholder, the tire noise, the road noise and the wind noise, the hollow slam noise when you opened the center console against the bulkhead (put a felt sticky pad there, it'll stop) the problem with the leaves in the heater/AC blower, and the lack of mechanical understanding of the engineering or the even remote possibility of an accurate diagnosis of a problem by the local dealership, because they don't "understand " the car.

I was able to put up with all her faults, because I loved her.

Sadly, her "tragic flaw" was the lack of any kind of a spare tire.

Here in SW Florida a combination of the hurricanes coupled with tremendous building repairs seems to have made numerous road hazards available to tires. Believe it or not, not all flat tires can be repaired with the on board stuff supplied by Daimler/Chrysler. I kept a vice grips, tire repair plugs and tools in the trunk just in case, but even that was no insurance you could hold air.

I replaced the all the tires once, fronts @ 15,000 and rears @ 19,000 miles with Pirelli's. I (thankfully) bought the road hazard warranty from Tire Kingdom. (no longer available on those expensive tires).

The straw that broke the Crossfire's back occurred last month when I picked up another nail and then hit a pothole. The nail hole was fixable, however the pothole didn't damage the wheel, but did put two "goose eggs" into the sidewall. It took Tire Kingdom 3 1/2 weeks to get the replacement warranty tire. Meanwhile I'm driving around with these goose eggs in the sidewall. What would have happened if the tire failed while on a long trip like last year when we took the XF to Kentucky. You can't run on a blown out tire, you can't get to a tire store, all you can do is call AAA and have her towed. Once you get to the tire store, chances are that they don't stock the tire we need.

So, I paid my $50 for the new tire and was happy that I didn't have a blowout during the wait.

I stopped by the Chrysler dealership friday afternoon to see what kind of rebates or deals were available on the new Dodge Charger and to see if they might do a deal on an '06 leftover.

Long story short, and with mixed emotions at the time, I am now the owner of a 2006 Charger Hemi with a sunroof.

Fun to drive, yes, but it doesn't have the charm of the XF.

It does however have a spare.

They have a nice forum
http://www.chargerforums.com/forums/index.php
as well however I don't expect it to be as friendly and familiar as this one has been. I have been fairly active here as a reader (not as a poster) I bought Dan Root's emblem kit and then I bought Andrew's kit as well. I've enjoyed some of the lively posts here like those exchanges with BullsEye and the informative ones from Cyril Baldwin, HDDP and others.

This forum has been very beneficial to me, and it even helped me to locate the selling dealer where I bought the XF in October, 2004.

So, it's ADIOS I suppose, Thanks to all of you who have contributed to this forum.

I'll certainly miss my XF.

Breaking up is hard to do.

Regards to all.

 

Don't race the charger. You might get embarrassed. It's a slug at 4,300 lbs. My wife's G35 coupe handles that hemi just fine, hope I never have to spank one with my SRT-6. Actually I do! Funny I've never had any problems with my XF. Flat tires are not Chryslers fault.

 

I understand the reason for the trade in, eventually I will be doing the same when the Challenger comes out. I think I'm more of a big car person myself, but I also wish I could afford to keep the XF.

 

Slug, Slug, SLUG ???

Whoah, hold on a minute.

Here's the results from Car & Driver.

C/D TEST RESULTS
ACCELERATION: Seconds
Zero to 30 mph: 2.2
40 mph: 3.1
50 mph: 4.3
60 mph: 5.6
70 mph: 7.1
80 mph: 9.2
90 mph: 11.4
100 mph: 13.9
110 mph: 16.7
120 mph: 20.8
130 mph: 26.0
140 mph: 32.6
Street start, 5-60 mph: 5.8
Top-gear acceleration, 30-50 mph: 2.8
50-70 mph: 3.5
Standing 1/4-mile: 14.2 sec @ 101 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 145 mph
BRAKING
70-0 mph @ impending lockup: 169 ft
HANDLING
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.78 g
Understeer: minimal moderate excessive
FUEL ECONOMY
EPA city driving: 17 mpg
EPA highway driving: 25 mpg
C/D-observed: 19 mpg
INTERIOR SOUND LEVEL
Idle: 45 dBA
Full-throttle acceleration: 78 dBA
70-mph cruising: 66 dBA

 

One reason the car is noise is the open trunk. Take any car with rear folding seats and drop them. See how much noisier the car becomes. The tire noise is what surprises me. I put a set of Nitto 555 on the car and after 30 days removed them because of the noise level. Went back to factory tires.

 

Good for you Brother... have fun with that V8 - rise a little hell at the red light now and then... HOOAH ROCK & ROLL BABY!!!

 

I'm so glad you posted that, actually you beat me to it.
I'm one of those hold outs that think a 14 sec. car is still pretty darn fast.

 

a bunch of people have gotten into the 13's. whoever made that comment doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

Congrats on your new baby and lots of luck with it. Hope it will give you trouble free miles. I know you will get better service from the service department.

 

Congrats on the purchase.

Since my mustang just got totaled. I got a free rental.

Its a 300 Touring. Nice car. I really like it. And if people give you crap, just talk about how the platform is based the older generation MB e-class.

I think the 3.5L has decent power, I would love to try the SRT-8 or reg. hemi.

Nice Choice.

 

Yeah I suppose 14's don't impress me. Maybe the low 13's my SRT-6 and Trans am runs has spoiled me.

 

Somewhere a Red 2004 Limited Crossfire cries out for its owner...

Have fun with the new wheels...

 

Oh do tell your mustang story.

 

Bullseye,

Yes, what the hell happened to your 'stang? After all this the car gets totaled?

Sorry for your pain bud.

 

I believe Bullseye's Mustang was in a flood with all the rain we got here.

 

Well your G35 must not be stock then...?
Back in May 04' M/T has it running a 14.6 in the 1/4 mile.
This site below has it running 14.2 and the AWD Magnum running 14.5 which is even heavier then the RWD Charger.
http://www.albeedigital.com/supercou...0-60times.html

 

Yeah I was surprised the G35 was right there beside it. I couldn't pull him and he couldn't pull me. I wished I was in my SRT-6. Can't have nothin'.