Jim,

You proved the point far more eloquently than I did...that one has to go down a list of niggling problems plaguing this car and explain them, particularly in the "Car of the caliber" statement that keeps popping up, is indeed problemmatic.

In your response, you overlooked what may be the most important point: Chryler's original bungling of the marketing, and now it's addition to it's product line of a Crossfire Light, has/will driven the resale value of our cars down much farther than they would have ordinarily depreciated.

I understand that may not be important to some, but it is to me. No, I did not buy the car with an idea toward immediate resale, toward making money on it, or towards nailing a high resale value. But I would like it to depreciate at least normally so that I can be better prepared for my next car purchase.

When I buy my kid a $15K Honda for college, or myself a stripped down pickup truck for utility, I couldn't care less about resale. I'm gonna use those vehicles till they die. Dropping nearly $35K on what is supposed to be a 'high' quality car, then seeing it's value drop farther and faster than is normal depreciation is not a comforting way to spend resources.

I'm not happy about my 4K mile car being worth RIGHT NOW about $8 to $10K less than I paid for it, and if/when the Xfire lights start to move off the lots, the residual will diminish further AND the Crossfire's one advantage over it's competition, rarity, will be gone.

All the feature drawbacks that one knew about when one bought it. I plead guilty to not really being the type to do a full pre-flight on a car to check every detail.

I admit to seeing the car, sitting in it, and getting an immediate Johnson for it. I also swallowed the line about Mercedes quality. It's not the first time I made a bad decision based on good looks and appealing curves...probably won't be the last. :shock:

Oh yeah...tilt wheel...car of this caliber should have a tilt wheel.