Bobs, its a really great car, but its still a Mercedes. It may have been badged chrysler but the fact remains that it was built in germany by benz using benz parts and will always remain so. If in your mind you want to pretend its a Chrysler, go ahead. But in my opinion its kind of like putting pig on a pogostick.

Look at my original post: Accept it for what it is, drive it, and enjoy it. The Crossfire is a great car!

 

+1; and touche. I suppose it depends on what we mean by "the Crossfire." The design, which is simply spectacular, was supervised by Chrysler, which has a distinguished history of such aesthetic innovations. But the overwhelming proportion of the vehicle itself is built almost exclusively from Benz parts and was assembled by Karmann in Germany. If a "car" means production and engineering, then the Crossfire is a Benz. If it means design, then it's a Chrysler. If it means both, then it's a Crossfire, which is as beautiful as it is entirely unique. Maybe we can all agree on that....

 

The new Louts Elise is powered by a Toyota drivetrain, yet you don't see Lotus owners falling over themselves to stick Toyota emblems on their cars. Why is that?

I can live with you calling it just "Crossfire" I guess. "Chrysler" does evoke images of POS minivans now doesn't it?

 

You are right about the lotus, but this can be explained, by

1). Lotus has tuned the Toyota engine, Chrysler did not touch the mercedes engine other than puting thier own badge on it..

2). Lotus is not a rebadged toyota the way crossfire is a rebadged slk, the lotus is built elsewhere by.. people without the influence of toyota and shares very few parts with the toyota other than the engine which as stated in 1) was acctualy tuned by Lotus

3). The Toyota badges prolly weighs .1 grams more than the Lotus badges and unfortunatly that is a too huge of a weight gain for any Lotus owner to consider..

4). I do belive that the Lotus engine should be badged a Toyota instead of Lotus, similarly to the way the engine used in Pagani is labeled Mercedes AMG...

5), Few Onwers rebadge their cars be it Lotus or crossfire... I have only seen maybe 1-2 members here that badged their car.. Mercedes completly.. and I prolly will be the 2nd-3rd..

and yea chrysler does evoke images of POS minivans heh.. o well.. at least we didn't buy chryslers

 

No Flame, just total disagreement with what makes it real. IMO
The VIN prefix is marketing, the (hard parts) is heritage. IF it was a Chrysler then they wouldn't have had to get all the part numbers from Merc. for the catalogs and repairs. The responsive feel was done by changing bushings so the CF wouldn't have the wallering around feel that the car mag guys have always complained about. I.E. tweak it to the American taste. As for Karman they just bolted it together, no say in hard parts. AMG however, did make it fast. SO in my opinion it's an AMG Mercedes that Chrysler made look better and handle better.

 

Maybe we should rename it...Chrysedes Crossfire

 

This survey's pretty interesting. Thought I'd give it a bump !

 

There is a show were we can find out who our real parent is? I think my car is having an ID crisis.

I get and understand everyone’s point of view, so here is mine. Chrysler sold it, Chrysler badge it, Chrysler services it, Chrysler named it, Chrysler styled it but MB built it. So, in short it’s a DCX (a cross between two company’s). I enjoy the debates and if you pay for it, do whatever you want. However, if your re-badge because you think it’s a MB your wrong it’s a DCX to be factual .

 

That is hillarious, now if only you'd learn how to spell

Douglas Clark

 

I rebadged my name to " Clarke ".

 

I don't think anybody needs to pretend about anything, as the window sticker says, 1% American.
Obviously that is the Chrysler badge. I have still not found any parts on this car that are NOT German.
That being said, I just feel like I'm driving a very nice crossbred car.
I realize it most likely will never be a collectable like my old ex-Vette.
I didn't buy it for that reason, I didn't buy it because I thought it was a Mercedes, I bought it because I always loved the look of this car, and I finally was able to purchase one for a good price.
I say drive=love.

Cheers
Paul

 

I actually have a spare Chrysler Wing emblem than another member (my65cuda) removed from the rear of his SRT6 last year. I just turned it over and found that it is labeled part #A-193-7500279 and that the part is stamped "Made in Germany." So in fact even the Chrysler badging itself wasn't made by Chrysler!

Does anyone have other suggestions about the 1% that originated in the US?

 

I don't care what is said and how logical the arguments are, it's a Chrysler. It is sold as that and without Chrysler in the picture.. it would NEVER had been produced. It's feel, driveability, relationship to other models, assembly, etc. is an eclectic cornucopia of fine automotive design. I'm just gonna injoy the heck out of this car!!!!!!

 

My window sticker says: Parts made in the USA: 0%

What is this "1%" that you are talking about?

 

See post #51 above.

 

The window sticker most likely
Kinda like the old "Buy American" campain from WalMart and other retailers back in the late 80's . The boxes said "Made in U.S.A." and yes , the boxes were ....

 

haha that is *******) great..

 

I guess I stand corrected by Maxxim on my belief about the Chyrsler badge being the 1% input of parts from them
Not sure why some window stickers say 0% instead of 1%.
I have an 05 Ltd Coupe.

Paul

 

I like to think of my Crossfire as a modern Austin Healey 3000... Sporty performance and a bit more comfort that a true sports car.

 

If you have a sports car you are supposed to suffer a little from the cold, heat, rain, drafts or a poor ride etc. Thats why they have GT cars, more comfort and a lot more practical. Compared to some Lotus' we are in the lap of luxury. Some GT cars add a lot more hp to overcome the extra weight. So you could say a n/a XF is an underpowered GT car or a gussied up low powerd sports car.
I am using the term GT as in Grand Touring.