Originally Posted by bobs
re: the poll. Here's my $.02: The VIN on our cars begins with "1C3", which means its a Chrysler. They may have borrowed drivetrain & suspension parts from the R170 & W211, but its still a Chrysler. Love it and drive it for what it is. I know I do. I have 53,000 mostly trouble-free miles on mine and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. But whatever you do, please don't go around thinking you have a Mercedes-Benz, because you don't. My Crossfire feels positively primitive and unrefined compared to my W140 S Class (although the Crossifre definitely corners better!), but I love both cars.
If you want a Mercedes-Benz (VIN begins with "WDB"), then go buy one. You can pick up a good used one for less than $20,000 if you shop around.
Flame me if you want, but that's my take on it.
P.S. I saw this same syndrome when I worked for Harley-Davidson. Some guy would show up on one of those "custom" jobs and tell people its a Harley. No, it's a clone. It may have a knock-off Harley engines in it but its definitely not a Harley. Once again, the VIN tells the tale: "1HD1" = Genuine Harley-Davidson.
+1 on that.
You can have any cop run the vin tag on your car and the LEGAL description of the car will come back as a Chrysler. That legal description will hold up in any court. This has nothing to do with anyones marketing department, origin of manufacture or parts used for assembly, it is a Chrysler. People might be proud of the parts used to build this particular Chrysler product, but two of the more important parts on a car are the vin tag and the title and they both get traced back to Chrysler.
I keep seeing the letters DCX used on the forum, what do they stand for?
Bobs I see the same thing with the Harleys, I even had a guy tell me his Pat Kennedy built chopper was a Harley. Now I like Harleys a lot but I sure wouldn't be embarrassed to tell people I had a Pat Kennedy bike if I had one.