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Why I love my crossfire...

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Old 02-13-2008, 05:01 PM
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Default Why I love my crossfire...

Although I live in Seoul, Korea where crossfires are extremely rare, I think my feelings should hold true just about anywhere that i've lived or visited.

I've had my crossfire for a little over 2 years now. Prior to this, for sports cars, I had a Porsche 996 GT3, a Nissan 300zx twin turbo (stillen limited version), and a mitsubishi eclipse gsx for the 7 years I lived in the US. These are the sports cars that I am comparing my experience of owning my crossfire to.

When I first returned back to Korea, I had a choice of a used Porsche boxster, new mercedes SLK 230 (they have different engines in Korea), a new 3.0 BMW z4, or my yellow non-srt6 crossfire roadster. Note that the crossfire costs a little over USD 70k in Korea.

So, you ask, how did I end up choosing my crossfire? I know that in the states, and even in Korea, the other cars listed above are considered more luxurious, have better brand value, and are considered in a class above. So if money wasn't a problem why the crossfire?

Maintenance
For starters, having owned several german, swedish, and italian cars, I know the cost of maintenance. I'm sure you all know as well. Now multiply the numbers you know by 4 and you'll come to the cost of maintenance in Korea. An oil change on my crossfire here is KRW 210,000, roughly USD 230. That being said, i'm amazed at how little maintenance this car requires. In the two years that I've owned the car, I have done nothing. And I mean NOTHING to the car, other than oil change and a rotor turn. This is coming from someone that beats on their car almost everyday on teh way to and on the way back from work. The car purrs like a cat and I don't expect any maintenance on the car anytime soon. It's friggin ridiculous how this car doesn't rattle at all, has good gear shifts, and doesn't burn any oil. In the extreme cold (even in negative 10 degrees) and in the extreme heat, never had any problems.

Despite what top gear said about this car, I believe the build quality is fabulous in terms of reliability. It may not be the fastest car out there, but hey when you live in a congested city, you can't really go that fast anyway.

Looks Looks Looks
My God this car is beautiful. For those of you that live in areas where there are a lot of exotics or luxury cars, I'm sure you know what it's like to have the hot car on the block. I live in an area of Seoul known as UN village where generally everyone drives a foreign car. In my villa complex there is a mclaren slr, a pagani zonda f, ferraris, lambos, g wagen, porsche 997 gt2, bentley arnage and continental gt, maserati quattroporte, etc... I think you get the picture. Needless to say that while those cars are extremely beautiful cars, with endless amounts of horsepower, they just can't be driven everyday without the worry of the USD 20,000 clutch repair on the porsche cgt or maserati, or the USD 30,000 15k maintenance on the ferraris or the lambos, which in my opinion is ridiculous. So while their cars are garage queens and they have their drivers take them in their hyundai equus' or ssangyong chairmans to work everyday, I get to drive my crossfire roadster in style and in the drivers seat with no worries at all.

Now... with all these nice cars around, wouldn't you feel inferior? Hell no. i've had almost everyone of my close neighbors ask me about my car. I changed the badges to Startech, so there aren't any identifying markers. they all thought it was some ultra luxury limited edition one off from some little known british manufacturer like noble or something. When I tell them that it's a chrysler made in benz's amg factory, they all drop their jaws as if I just told them the biggest lie they've ever heard. then i tell them the price and they ask me if they're for sale in Korea. which they aren't anymore so tough **** for them.

If you've ever visited Seoul, you would know that benz's, bmw's, and porsches even ferrari's are a dime a dozen. yes, you will still turn your head for a ferrari or even a porsche gt series, but a carrera... nah... I'm sure, though, that many of you bought this car for it's looks and for the looks that you'll get in the car. I mean lets be honest, part of having a sports car is knowing that you'll get looked at right? Well, let me tell you that this car is HOT. I can't tell you how many times people roll down their window just to ask me about the car or to tell me it's hot. Same thing goes when the car's parked on the street, sure enough when I get back to the car there are either finger prints on the windows (from people peering in) or there are a few people standing around looking at the car from different angles. yes, the fact that it's yellow does make it a little obnoxious, but who the hell cares? would you say the same thing to a person driving an orange murcielago? didn't think so. so if a lotus is considered a limited edition toy sports car, then in Korea, the crossfire is certainly anything but ordinary. it is HOT!

Sound System
I don't think i have to tell anyone on this board about the sound system and about how friggin awesome it is. Having had a t-top and having been in countless roadsters in the past, you know that driving on the highway and listening to music at the same time are almost impossible. the crossfire, however, is amazing at this feat. maybe it's the fact that the rumble from the exhaust just isn't deep enough to drown out the sound system, but when you're cruising on the highway with the top down, who the hell cares about having the loudest most obnoxious exhaust note... it's almost dizzying when it's like that... back from the import car days, i'm sure you'll all agree that it's damn annoying after 10 minutes of driving. I love the crisp bass and clear mids and highs from my sound system ... damn good lovin sounds...

Leather Leather and more Leather
for those of you who have had porsches, you can appreciate a nice interior. porsche is by far one of the cheapest crappiest interior's you can find in a luxury sports car. starting from the old 930's, 993's, 996's and even now in the 997's, they still have a long way to go in building a quality interior. after a few years of use, the stictching starts to wear down, the leather begins to fade, and rattles everywhere. the dealers always say it's because they focus on performance, and they want a lighweight interior, blah blah... and of course they can always fix it for you at 100 dollars an hour.

The crossfire, on the other hand, is smooth supple, almost british like leather. the steering wheel, the awesome beautiful seats, and the dash are great. i don't know if it's only my car, but damn! it's awesome. even the door trims. who the hell designed this car anyway? he should get some kind of award or something. also gotta love the imprints in the headrests. fyi, I have the black and ivory leather interior.

Conclusion
Okay, so lets face it, the handling and speed of this car are not the best in the world, but most of us are not professional race car drivers. this car beats most of the cars in its class and quite frankly keeps up with many cars which are considered in classes above. did I ever tell you about the time against the new m5 and the cls63 on the highway? if not, i should post vids... i digress. all in all you have to agree that the crossfire is all around beautiful, has sweet rims, nice interior, great sound system, and bang for the buck awesome car... no maintenance did I mention that already?

Hope I didn't bore y'alls too much with all by blabber... just had to get this off my mind.

btw, for those of you who haven't seen it, here's a short clip of my wife driving the crossfire...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Z_3jh6xkE
 

Last edited by auclutch; 02-13-2008 at 05:11 PM.
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Old 02-13-2008, 05:16 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

good to see fellow korean here.... you sure it cost 70k in Korea?? because I remember visiting to Korean chrysler website before and I priced it...and it came out be little over 50k.....so if you paid 70k for your car in korea, I think you got ripped off....
 
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Old 02-13-2008, 05:36 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by dcspride
good to see fellow korean here.... you sure it cost 70k in Korea?? because I remember visiting to Korean chrysler website before and I priced it...and it came out be little over 50k.....so if you paid 70k for your car in korea, I think you got ripped off....
hey, good to see a fellow Korean~~~

For a second there, you scared me. I thought I got ripped off so I had to check! I just got off the phone with chrysler Korea. 02-525-0040. Although they don't sell the crossfire anymore they still do have the price sheets. the base roadster sold for KRW 58,190,000 (roughly USD 61k). After tax, tags, and registration the total is KRW 62,800,000 (roughly USD 65k). This is after the 10% discount that they were giving on the cars in 2006 and before any additional options, i.e. service warranty which pushes the cars over 70k.

If you buy any cars in the gray market in Korea (direct import and not from the dealer) the cars are a little cheaper (10%) but you can't get anything serviced from the dealers and there is no warranty. Maybe the website you saw was for a non-roadster and gray market which would make sense at around 50k. also, fyi, if you buy gray market here you have to pay USD 5-7k for registration.
 
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Old 02-13-2008, 05:38 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

What a great write up on such a fine car. You must feel very special with all the attention your car gets. Thank you for sharing that with us. Keep us posted with updates.

Nice video too!
 

Last edited by InfernoRedXfire; 02-13-2008 at 05:44 PM.
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Old 02-13-2008, 05:43 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by dcspride
good to see fellow korean here.... you sure it cost 70k in Korea?? because I remember visiting to Korean chrysler website before and I priced it...and it came out be little over 50k.....so if you paid 70k for your car in korea, I think you got ripped off....
hey, are you a crossfire owner in Korea? if so, you should join the Korean crossfire club! pm me and i'll send you a link.
 
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Old 02-13-2008, 06:45 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by auclutch
Although I live in Seoul, Korea where crossfires are extremely rare, I think my feelings should hold true just about anywhere that i've lived or visited.

I've had my crossfire for a little over 2 years now. Prior to this, for sports cars, I had a Porsche 996 GT3, a Nissan 300zx twin turbo (stillen limited version), and a mitsubishi eclipse gsx for the 7 years I lived in the US. These are the sports cars that I am comparing my experience of owning my crossfire to.

When I first returned back to Korea, I had a choice of a used Porsche boxster, new mercedes SLK 230 (they have different engines in Korea), a new 3.0 BMW z4, or my yellow non-srt6 crossfire roadster. Note that the crossfire costs a little over USD 70k in Korea.

So, you ask, how did I end up choosing my crossfire? I know that in the states, and even in Korea, the other cars listed above are considered more luxurious, have better brand value, and are considered in a class above. So if money wasn't a problem why the crossfire?

Maintenance
For starters, having owned several german, swedish, and italian cars, I know the cost of maintenance. I'm sure you all know as well. Now multiply the numbers you know by 4 and you'll come to the cost of maintenance in Korea. An oil change on my crossfire here is KRW 210,000, roughly USD 230. That being said, i'm amazed at how little maintenance this car requires. In the two years that I've owned the car, I have done nothing. And I mean NOTHING to the car, other than oil change and a rotor turn. This is coming from someone that beats on their car almost everyday on teh way to and on the way back from work. The car purrs like a cat and I don't expect any maintenance on the car anytime soon. It's friggin ridiculous how this car doesn't rattle at all, has good gear shifts, and doesn't burn any oil. In the extreme cold (even in negative 10 degrees) and in the extreme heat, never had any problems.

Despite what top gear said about this car, I believe the build quality is fabulous in terms of reliability. It may not be the fastest car out there, but hey when you live in a congested city, you can't really go that fast anyway.

Looks Looks Looks
My God this car is beautiful. For those of you that live in areas where there are a lot of exotics or luxury cars, I'm sure you know what it's like to have the hot car on the block. I live in an area of Seoul known as UN village where generally everyone drives a foreign car. In my villa complex there is a mclaren slr, a pagani zonda f, ferraris, lambos, g wagen, porsche 997 gt2, bentley arnage and continental gt, maserati quattroporte, etc... I think you get the picture. Needless to say that while those cars are extremely beautiful cars, with endless amounts of horsepower, they just can't be driven everyday without the worry of the USD 20,000 clutch repair on the porsche cgt or maserati, or the USD 30,000 15k maintenance on the ferraris or the lambos, which in my opinion is ridiculous. So while their cars are garage queens and they have their drivers take them in their hyundai equus' or ssangyong chairmans to work everyday, I get to drive my crossfire roadster in style and in the drivers seat with no worries at all.

Now... with all these nice cars around, wouldn't you feel inferior? Hell no. i've had almost everyone of my close neighbors ask me about my car. I changed the badges to Startech, so there aren't any identifying markers. they all thought it was some ultra luxury limited edition one off from some little known british manufacturer like noble or something. When I tell them that it's a chrysler made in benz's amg factory, they all drop their jaws as if I just told them the biggest lie they've ever heard. then i tell them the price and they ask me if they're for sale in Korea. which they aren't anymore so tough **** for them.

If you've ever visited Seoul, you would know that benz's, bmw's, and porsches even ferrari's are a dime a dozen. yes, you will still turn your head for a ferrari or even a porsche gt series, but a carrera... nah... I'm sure, though, that many of you bought this car for it's looks and for the looks that you'll get in the car. I mean lets be honest, part of having a sports car is knowing that you'll get looked at right? Well, let me tell you that this car is HOT. I can't tell you how many times people roll down their window just to ask me about the car or to tell me it's hot. Same thing goes when the car's parked on the street, sure enough when I get back to the car there are either finger prints on the windows (from people peering in) or there are a few people standing around looking at the car from different angles. yes, the fact that it's yellow does make it a little obnoxious, but who the hell cares? would you say the same thing to a person driving an orange murcielago? didn't think so. so if a lotus is considered a limited edition toy sports car, then in Korea, the crossfire is certainly anything but ordinary. it is HOT!

Sound System
I don't think i have to tell anyone on this board about the sound system and about how friggin awesome it is. Having had a t-top and having been in countless roadsters in the past, you know that driving on the highway and listening to music at the same time are almost impossible. the crossfire, however, is amazing at this feat. maybe it's the fact that the rumble from the exhaust just isn't deep enough to drown out the sound system, but when you're cruising on the highway with the top down, who the hell cares about having the loudest most obnoxious exhaust note... it's almost dizzying when it's like that... back from the import car days, i'm sure you'll all agree that it's damn annoying after 10 minutes of driving. I love the crisp bass and clear mids and highs from my sound system ... damn good lovin sounds...

Leather Leather and more Leather
for those of you who have had porsches, you can appreciate a nice interior. porsche is by far one of the cheapest crappiest interior's you can find in a luxury sports car. starting from the old 930's, 993's, 996's and even now in the 997's, they still have a long way to go in building a quality interior. after a few years of use, the stictching starts to wear down, the leather begins to fade, and rattles everywhere. the dealers always say it's because they focus on performance, and they want a lighweight interior, blah blah... and of course they can always fix it for you at 100 dollars an hour.

The crossfire, on the other hand, is smooth supple, almost british like leather. the steering wheel, the awesome beautiful seats, and the dash are great. i don't know if it's only my car, but damn! it's awesome. even the door trims. who the hell designed this car anyway? he should get some kind of award or something. also gotta love the imprints in the headrests. fyi, I have the black and ivory leather interior.

Conclusion
Okay, so lets face it, the handling and speed of this car are not the best in the world, but most of us are not professional race car drivers. this car beats most of the cars in its class and quite frankly keeps up with many cars which are considered in classes above. did I ever tell you about the time against the new m5 and the cls63 on the highway? if not, i should post vids... i digress. all in all you have to agree that the crossfire is all around beautiful, has sweet rims, nice interior, great sound system, and bang for the buck awesome car... no maintenance did I mention that already?

Hope I didn't bore y'alls too much with all by blabber... just had to get this off my mind.

btw, for those of you who haven't seen it, here's a short clip of my wife driving the crossfire...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Z_3jh6xkE
Excellent thoughts on the car. Try the modification on the sound system speakers found on this forum and you will like the sound even better.
 
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Old 02-13-2008, 06:51 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by woodlands1
Excellent thoughts on the car. Try the modification on the sound system speakers found on this forum and you will like the sound even better.
I did this $10 mod and it is well worth it.
Take the time to read the testimonials regarding this mod and you will be convinced to spend $10 and a half hour of your time.
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ead.php?t=9938
Post 21 has detailed instructions and photos
 

Last edited by Valk; 02-13-2008 at 06:57 PM.
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Old 02-13-2008, 07:01 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by InfernoRedXfire
What a great write up on such a fine car. You must feel very special with all the attention your car gets. Thank you for sharing that with us. Keep us posted with updates. Nice video too!
Agreed. That was one of the best commentaries ever. Thanks for writing it. And I think you nailed it, too!
 
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Old 02-14-2008, 04:14 AM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

My thoughts ?......." DITTO" what AuClutch said !

Just my Dos Centavos !
 
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Old 02-14-2008, 10:57 AM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Nice video, looks like the "good-life" to me!
 
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Old 02-14-2008, 11:58 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

thanks for the nice comments guys~
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 01:47 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by auclutch
hey, are you a crossfire owner in Korea? if so, you should join the Korean crossfire club! pm me and i'll send you a link.
naw...I live in Boston... But I am going back to Korea this summer. Just a vacation...
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 01:49 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

if you want anything for your crossfire from the state, you should let me know... I can bring it with me when I go back to Korea...which will be at the end of May...
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 02:16 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Great write up and let me put it to you this way.

I live right outside Greenwich Connecticut which is probably the richest community in the entire United States, all old money people who are captains of industry. When I drive on main street greenwich I can't tell you how many times people in Bentlys, Porsches, Mercedes, have pulled up next to me to ask me what the hell is it that I'm driving. You can't pay for attention like that people. LOL
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 03:13 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Did your Crossfire come with NAV ? . I spent a month or so at a glass making faclility, some where south of Seoul, (about an hour) KKC. I never saw a street sign and couldnt buy a map, the only way we got around was with our guide/driver, and I still dont know where I was to this day
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 03:54 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by Sandgrounder
Did your Crossfire come with NAV ? . I spent a month or so at a glass making faclility, some where south of Seoul, (about an hour) KKC. I never saw a street sign and couldnt buy a map, the only way we got around was with our guide/driver, and I still dont know where I was to this day
no, unfortunately nav is not an option in Korea. However, they do sell the ones you attach to your windshield similar to the garmin's in the US. that's what I use so I don't end up driving into a kimchi factory!

It is definitely hard to find your way around Korea, especially if you don't know the roads. However, I think it's somewhat equivalent to driving around any other city that you're not familiar with. once you get in an unknown city or town, the street signs are useless unless you're looking for a major landmark or something.

thanks again for the great comments!
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 03:59 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Great honest review of the Crossfire, liked your video, Watched your 160 on skyline drive video, that is the skyline drive her in Virginia? Last trip to DC I took skyline - it's a blast in a Crossfire, but I am local and the risks of a ticket for a VA resident are too steep to get really crazy, anything over 80 - they can put you in jail for a year and fines are about $3000. again great commentary
 
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Old 02-15-2008, 06:29 PM
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Default Re: Why I love my crossfire...

Originally Posted by MAKIII
Great honest review of the Crossfire, liked your video, Watched your 160 on skyline drive video, that is the skyline drive her in Virginia? Last trip to DC I took skyline - it's a blast in a Crossfire, but I am local and the risks of a ticket for a VA resident are too steep to get really crazy, anything over 80 - they can put you in jail for a year and fines are about $3000. again great commentary
thanks for the nice words~

to answer your question, yes, that video was made in skyline drive in va. the risks of a ticket for a VA resident certainly sound very steep and hopefully I won't ever have to face those consequences. luckily in Korea the highways are pretty wide open and the regulations are a little more loose.

those videos of my porsche were made several years back when recklessness was still in my system. now i'm married...!
 
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