Dont get me wrong, I liked my Z. It was gun metal with Alezan (orange) leather. It looked the business and had great road prescence. But overall, the Z felt the more budget car. I had various electronic glitches (windows, airbag faults, electric seat failure). The cabin was shockingly bad on build in the Z so I was probably one of the few delighted with the X. The amount of rattles and creaks was frankly annoying.

Engine wise, excellent, smooth. Great at cruising speeds 50-70. Petrol eater though so through town it dropped well below 20.
It was the clutch which was the worst part for me. I still do a lot of round town driving, and up in manchester thats a lot of stopping and starting and the clutch was just the heaviest awkward thing in the world. I used to get cramp in the clutch foot, and im being serious. I think 2006 on they intsalled a lighter clutch so I imagine this is now resolved.

The Chrysler just feels more defined, is better through the ranges although slower off the mark. I have no rattles and the ride comfort is far far superior as is the general build quality.

The Xfire falls down on engine / exhaust note for mine though, so I took away the centre cats and installed a powerflow cat back, and now its awesome.

Ive had a few performance cars, and I would probably suprise a few by pitching the xfire as a better all rounder than ANY of the following:

330ci E46 x2 (great cars)
Audi 225 TT (remapped 270)
Z3 M (321 Bhp)
BMW M3 E46
Nissan 350Z

You know I like a car if it stays for longer than 6 months.. especially a rag top through winter. Im still very very pleased, although dissapointed it now has to go. Currently on Pistonheads.com