New owner joining the crew
New owner joining the crew
Hello all -
I wanted to say hello to all of you folks. I have been lurking on the site here for awhile. I have been taking in a great deal of information on the Crossfire and I must say that you have all been extremely helpful. I am happy to say that I made my trek to pick up our Crossfire this past Monday and it is now here in Houston with us!
It was quite an adventure, so I thought I would tell you how I came about it.
My wife's previous (well, we still have to sell it) car is a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT that served us well. When my wife and I decided to look at Crossfires, we decided that we liked the graphite colored one the best...until we saw the blaze red! We both fell in love with the color and decided that would be our first choice, but we would fall back to graphite or black if it was a better deal. I searched Auto Trader and found a 2004 Blaze Red with 1,260 miles on it in Wisconsin. Looked great in the photos and the gentleman I talked to at the dealership it was at was very nice. Ran the Carfax and everything came back fine. Was shocked when I called Progressive to check on insurance - the Crossfire would run us $320 LESS per year! Needless to say, we were ecstatic with that fact!
My wife and I flew up to Chicago on Monday and took a train to Sturtevant, WI where the dealer representative picked us up. The check arrived via FedEx about 2 hours before we got there. After a quick test drive, my wife and I filled out about ten minutes worth of paperwork, swapped the 7/70 warranty over to us, and were gone! We drove back through Chicago and stopped at the Navy Pier. It was a lot of fun. We then made our way down to Normal, IL to stay for the night. I was not happy to see that severe storms were forecast for the next 2 days, but I thought we would press on. The next day (Tuesday) we drove down to St. Louis and visited the Anheuser-Busch brewery (what a huge complex!) and I dropped my wife off at Lambert International Airport to fly home to Houston. She is a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, so that is not a big deal. I then proceeded to drive back to Houston from St. Louis. I made it to Little Rock late Tuesday night and stayed at the LUXURIOUS Red Roof Inn.
It then started to pour...and pour...and pour. I was waking up in the middle of night praying that it wouldn't hail!!
Luckily, it didn't and that would turn out to be the only weather I hit the whole trip and I didn't even have to drive in it. I made it back to Houston yesterday. During the course of this little journey, I received a total of 24...yes, I kept track...compliments on the car. I also received 6 "thumbs up" signs from people in passing cars. Needless to say, I hated EVERY minute of that...well, maybe not!
I can't think of a better way to become acquainted with the Crossfire than a 1,300 mile trip! (Sad isn't it - I traveled more miles down to Houston than the car had on it!)
I know there is at least one Houston owner out there (Cyril) - hope to meet some of you here in the near future. I have not been this excited about a car since my 1995 3000GT I had several years ago (until the motor blew up). I've always been a car guy...inherited it from my Dad, I guess. His "youngest" vehicle is a 1971 GMC long bed pickup - his other cars are a 1961 Volvo P544 2-door sedan that he has totally reworked and a 1948 Plymouth Coupe (P15) that he street rodded. We always had street rods as a kid (e.g., 1935 Chevy 2 door sedan, 1937 Packard 120 2-door sedan, 1930 Dodge 2-door sedan, etc, etc.) and they were all very very nice vehicles - I can't wait to show him the Crossfire!
I am convinced that used Crossfires are just about the best performance car buy out there right now. Yes, you can make cases for other cars, but not at the price that the Crossfire can be had for plus the overall solid feel of the car. The German engineering is so evident and the car handles like a beast (mine has the Pilots on it...hee hee). I have heard some complaints about the power, but it is more than fine for us. Plus, I averaged about 28.3 mpg on the way down (by the way, cheapest place I found for Premium was $2.64 in far south Missouri). I would rather have a car that handles really well than one that can only do straight-aways - if my wife and I long for more power, we'll go for the SRT-6!
I know this is an exceedingly long post but I wanted to thank all of you for your help, questions, insights, etc. that helped my wife and I become new Crossfire owners. Oh, the final piece of the puzzle - we paid $19,893 (we still have to pay the tax here in TX since we bought it out of state) for this particular Crossfire (again, 1,260 orig. miles) - we are SOOOOOO happy! Oh, and it also had the complete luggage set in the box sitting right in the hatch! Thanks for reading this post and I look forward to becoming a "regular" here!
Thanks,
Ryan
I wanted to say hello to all of you folks. I have been lurking on the site here for awhile. I have been taking in a great deal of information on the Crossfire and I must say that you have all been extremely helpful. I am happy to say that I made my trek to pick up our Crossfire this past Monday and it is now here in Houston with us!
It was quite an adventure, so I thought I would tell you how I came about it.My wife's previous (well, we still have to sell it) car is a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon GT that served us well. When my wife and I decided to look at Crossfires, we decided that we liked the graphite colored one the best...until we saw the blaze red! We both fell in love with the color and decided that would be our first choice, but we would fall back to graphite or black if it was a better deal. I searched Auto Trader and found a 2004 Blaze Red with 1,260 miles on it in Wisconsin. Looked great in the photos and the gentleman I talked to at the dealership it was at was very nice. Ran the Carfax and everything came back fine. Was shocked when I called Progressive to check on insurance - the Crossfire would run us $320 LESS per year! Needless to say, we were ecstatic with that fact!
My wife and I flew up to Chicago on Monday and took a train to Sturtevant, WI where the dealer representative picked us up. The check arrived via FedEx about 2 hours before we got there. After a quick test drive, my wife and I filled out about ten minutes worth of paperwork, swapped the 7/70 warranty over to us, and were gone! We drove back through Chicago and stopped at the Navy Pier. It was a lot of fun. We then made our way down to Normal, IL to stay for the night. I was not happy to see that severe storms were forecast for the next 2 days, but I thought we would press on. The next day (Tuesday) we drove down to St. Louis and visited the Anheuser-Busch brewery (what a huge complex!) and I dropped my wife off at Lambert International Airport to fly home to Houston. She is a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, so that is not a big deal. I then proceeded to drive back to Houston from St. Louis. I made it to Little Rock late Tuesday night and stayed at the LUXURIOUS Red Roof Inn.
It then started to pour...and pour...and pour. I was waking up in the middle of night praying that it wouldn't hail!!Luckily, it didn't and that would turn out to be the only weather I hit the whole trip and I didn't even have to drive in it. I made it back to Houston yesterday. During the course of this little journey, I received a total of 24...yes, I kept track...compliments on the car. I also received 6 "thumbs up" signs from people in passing cars. Needless to say, I hated EVERY minute of that...well, maybe not!
I can't think of a better way to become acquainted with the Crossfire than a 1,300 mile trip! (Sad isn't it - I traveled more miles down to Houston than the car had on it!)I know there is at least one Houston owner out there (Cyril) - hope to meet some of you here in the near future. I have not been this excited about a car since my 1995 3000GT I had several years ago (until the motor blew up). I've always been a car guy...inherited it from my Dad, I guess. His "youngest" vehicle is a 1971 GMC long bed pickup - his other cars are a 1961 Volvo P544 2-door sedan that he has totally reworked and a 1948 Plymouth Coupe (P15) that he street rodded. We always had street rods as a kid (e.g., 1935 Chevy 2 door sedan, 1937 Packard 120 2-door sedan, 1930 Dodge 2-door sedan, etc, etc.) and they were all very very nice vehicles - I can't wait to show him the Crossfire!
I am convinced that used Crossfires are just about the best performance car buy out there right now. Yes, you can make cases for other cars, but not at the price that the Crossfire can be had for plus the overall solid feel of the car. The German engineering is so evident and the car handles like a beast (mine has the Pilots on it...hee hee). I have heard some complaints about the power, but it is more than fine for us. Plus, I averaged about 28.3 mpg on the way down (by the way, cheapest place I found for Premium was $2.64 in far south Missouri). I would rather have a car that handles really well than one that can only do straight-aways - if my wife and I long for more power, we'll go for the SRT-6!
I know this is an exceedingly long post but I wanted to thank all of you for your help, questions, insights, etc. that helped my wife and I become new Crossfire owners. Oh, the final piece of the puzzle - we paid $19,893 (we still have to pay the tax here in TX since we bought it out of state) for this particular Crossfire (again, 1,260 orig. miles) - we are SOOOOOO happy! Oh, and it also had the complete luggage set in the box sitting right in the hatch! Thanks for reading this post and I look forward to becoming a "regular" here!
Thanks,
Ryan
Last edited by zapdaddy; 05-12-2006 at 03:24 AM.
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Re: New owner joining the crew
Ryan:
There must be something about folks from Texas buying Red in the Mid-West. You may have seen my recent post. I bought a new Blaze Red Ltd Coupe in Chicago the last weekend in April. I did the opposite of you in that my friend that works for SWA flew into St Louis. I picked him up there and he helped me with the long drive home.
Like you I have been very pleased with my choice. I got 28 mpgs on the way back as well. Now that I am in Dallas it has dropped to city numbers. Oh well...
My car also has the Pilot tires. They seem great. I have nothing to compare them to though.
Cheers,
Steve
There must be something about folks from Texas buying Red in the Mid-West. You may have seen my recent post. I bought a new Blaze Red Ltd Coupe in Chicago the last weekend in April. I did the opposite of you in that my friend that works for SWA flew into St Louis. I picked him up there and he helped me with the long drive home.
Like you I have been very pleased with my choice. I got 28 mpgs on the way back as well. Now that I am in Dallas it has dropped to city numbers. Oh well...
My car also has the Pilot tires. They seem great. I have nothing to compare them to though.
Cheers,
Steve
Re: New owner joining the crew
Re: New owner joining the crew
Hello all -
Thanks to all for the warm welcomes. Steve, I guess the best deals are a bit to the north, eh? I can't complain...the best deal I could find around here was an '04 with about 20,000 miles and they wanted $19,750. I think a couple hundred more dollars for one with 18,000 miles less was worth the drive! There was a graphite metallic one in the Dallas area for a decent price...until I ran the Carfax. Turns out it had been in a pretty bad wreck. It turned out for the best anyway. Maybe we will be able to have a meet with a bunch of Texas folks someday soon? We could all go to Fredericksburg and enjoy some wine! I think red would be represented well between you, me and Cyril!
I will post some pictures soon - got her clean today so maybe I will take some pictures tomorrow. Man, does that blaze red crystal sparkle in the Texas sun! Thanks again for welcoming me to the board!
Thanks,
Ryan
Thanks to all for the warm welcomes. Steve, I guess the best deals are a bit to the north, eh? I can't complain...the best deal I could find around here was an '04 with about 20,000 miles and they wanted $19,750. I think a couple hundred more dollars for one with 18,000 miles less was worth the drive!
There was a graphite metallic one in the Dallas area for a decent price...until I ran the Carfax. Turns out it had been in a pretty bad wreck. It turned out for the best anyway. Maybe we will be able to have a meet with a bunch of Texas folks someday soon? We could all go to Fredericksburg and enjoy some wine! I think red would be represented well between you, me and Cyril! I will post some pictures soon - got her clean today so maybe I will take some pictures tomorrow. Man, does that blaze red crystal sparkle in the Texas sun! Thanks again for welcoming me to the board!
Thanks,
Ryan
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