Originally Posted by marklein
I'm assuming from the responses that the interior longevity will depend on the owner, fair enough. Two primary questions remain, if anybody has any input on them:
1) Can the suspension be cheaply and easily firmed up? The car I drove bobbed like a yoyo while accelerating.
2) Is the manual shifter a bowl of pudding from the factory or did the one I drove just end up like that? I couldn't handle that
All I can tell you is my 04 now has 66k miles on it (I bought it new) and I've never really did anything special but normal cleaning and the interior still looks good. No broken or faded plastic pieces, no unusual wear on the leather seats, door panels, or the steering wheel.
My car is a 6 speed, and the shifter still feels the same as it did when I bought it.
As for stiffining the suspension, It wouldn't surprise me if somebody with a SRT might be willing to trade springs with ya. Some people think the stiffer suspension SRT's are too severe. (But According to Road & Track magazine, the NA cars can go thru a slalom faster than the SRT) so go figure.
Deciding between a Z, RX8 or Crossfire would be a hard decission for sure. The MINI is an entirely different "animal". (Still a great ride) but just not the same "type" of car.
I'd drive all the cars for a good long ride on some really winding roads and see which one you like best.
I will say this, I've owned 25 different sports cars over the years and I currently own several fairly well respected sports cars, and since the Crossfire showed up, they've been parked.
And this weekend, while standing next to our car in a resaurant parking lot talking with our good friends (who were next to their Crossfire) a couple pulled up in a SUV and asked me "What kind of car is that"?
Ya just got to love it.