If we are all going to get nitpicky about who built the Crossfire, 13Dog, here is a quote from "Allpar's" website about the Crossfire.


"The Crossfire was developed in 24 months. In early 2003, Karmann began building Crossfire in Germany; Karmann has worked with Chrysler before but, more to the point, built the Mercedes SLK."

So the SLK was penned by Mercedes, but BUILT BY KARMANN, using Mercedes parts. The Crossfire was penned, retuned better, by Chrysler, and built by Karmann.

Here is another interesting quote,

"The Crossfire was marketed as bringing the best of both DaimlerChrysler worlds, but its ad campaign may have turned off both domestic and foreign buyers; it promoted the superiority of German craftsmanship (ignoring Mercedes’*sinking quality ratings, Chrysler’s quality gains, the fact that it was the only Chrysler made in Germany, and other details) and American styling. To many at Chrysler, the Crossfire represents the worst times of the “merger,”*as Mercedes insisted on having it made in Germany, with a Mercedes engine; and magazines generally said it was merely a restyled previous-generation Mercedes SLK.

In reality, it was not that bad —*Chrysler engineers did a substantial amount of retuning, so that even some German magazines consider the “American”*version to be superior to the original. Given the changes that were made, it is not a previous-generation design. Still, sales seem to be lagging, as foreign-car buyers are turned off by the Chrysler label and domestic buyers are turned off by the German chassis. The car itself hardly seems to get a chance, and particularly in the case of the SRT-6, that's a shame."

And here is a quote from Road & Track Magazine. That pitted the SRT-6 against the 350Z S-Tune and a Porsche Boxer S. and the SRT-6 was the only one with an automatic transmission! Thank you Mercedes-Benz! I'm so embarrassed of the Crossfires Mercedes background! And just think, if the SRT-6 had the New Penastar V6, the results would have been the same!!!

"But the most remarkable thing came to light when the stopwatch stopped watching the cars lap: The Crossfire with its 1-minute 35.09-sec. time was a remarkable 3.79 sec. per lap faster around the Streets of Willow Springs than the Boxster (1:38.88), and 1.45 sec. ahead of the 350Z (1:36.54)!"

Thank you Chrysler, in Ma Mopar we trust. Only Mopar can retune a Mercedes and make it better.

13Dog, if your so Jazzed about Owning a Mercedes, why did you by the Crossfire if your embarrassed that it's got a Chrysler Badge on it?