IMO, the crossfire was doomed from the start--especially since MB didn't really want to invest any money in building the Chrysler brand. But honestly, other than the styling, the car is pretty underwhelming compared with any new performance car you could have purchased when the crossfire was being sold. Overall, the car is quirky, it has a very unique look (some like it, some don't), and most dealers don't know how to do anything more complicated than change the brakes. All of this because Mercedes, from the start, took a very General Motors approach to the development of this car--badge engineer a currently available and outdated platform. I can almost bet that someone in Germany used the rationale that even an outdated MB platform was better than whatever new platform Chrysler could even develop from scratch. And forget using something Chrysler had in play. So why let Chrysler spend money on a product that will likely be inferior from the start---lets give the americans a mercedes on a budget, but then charge them near-mercedes money! Great plan! Furthermore, I the general feel of a MB product matches very well with the more comfort minded feel of most chrysler products.

But the devil is in the details and that's precisely where the Crossfire lost it. As mentioned in a previous thread, the feature list was terrible. The nav is/was archaic and there is no input on the radio for an MP3 player. There is no onboard computer to measure things like fuel mileage or avg speed. The car doesn't even have adjustable intermittant wipers. For a $35k car, the features just didn't compare to pretty much anything else.

Then there's the car itself. I love to look at my crossfire and I think the interior is pretty clever as well. MB spent some money on that aspect of the vehicle and everything else was parts bin MB--and unfortunately, not in a good way. MB cut corners with the recirculating ball steering, which can't match the feel of more precise rack and pinion setups that the competitors came with. The engine is pathetic--it's one thing to offer 215hp in a $22k Mustang V6, but another in a sports car that can approach close to $40k with a couple of options. The power is adequate, but it also doesn't really imbue the car with the feel of a modern sports car. The 3.5L that MB developed for the 2nd gen SLK would have been a better choice. And I bet the car would have sold much better if MB just changed that aspect of the car.

The chassis IMO, is the unsung hero for the crossfire. Adding the fixed roof really tightened up the car. The suspension design is excellent and the addition of fat tires helps it hug the road. But unfortunately, it's one of those cars, like the previous generation BMW 528, where the chassis far outshined the engine. In a sports car that is far pricier than say a Miata, the lack of balance between power and chassis turned a lot of people off. Add the vague steering to the mix and lots of potential buyer simply lost interest.

IMO, the Crossfire's best attributes are the chassis and it's very stout powertrain. The engine in this car is a ubiquitous MB powerplant that was designed to run on the autobahn at close to full throttle for hours at a time. And it doesn't use any exotic or expensive technology to make that happen but those things aren't sexy to most buyers. Most people who buy a sports car, buy one as a second car, so as such, it better offer a full array of performance, which the crossfire was never given the opportunity to deliver. To many, it looked great...and that's about it.

My crossfire isn't a second car. It's my daily and I chose it specifically because of the price, the likely sturdiness of the engine, and the likely ease of being able to find parts to repair the engine. As you notice, absolute performance isn't on that list. If it was, I wouldn't be driving a crossfire. There are just too many compromises in that respect. The crossfire is sporty enough for a daily, IMO. I think the crossfire is probably the most useable 2 seater that I could have purchased in 2008. And I was a total sucker for how it looks.

Bottom Line: For the price of a crossfire, the features and performance really weren't a match for what the competitors were bringing to the table.

If I could go back and re-develop the car, I'd make 2 changes that in my opinion would have made a world of difference to the car. First change the engine to something with about 270 hp and second, give it a rack in pinion steering system. They could even leave the features as they are and not add in all the modern bits that many people look for. I think if those two items were changed, the car would have been much more popular.