Hello everyone! My name is Mike and I am obsessed with the chrysler crossfire. Ever since I first saw this beauty a few years back I always wanted one, and being a young and not so rich, it was'nt until recently I have had the opportunity to buy one. With that being said, I have a few questions:

I am currently the owner of a 1996 honda civic with 151,000 miles on it - and it runs GREAT... and I have been saving up 4,000 for a downpayment on an xfire. Just recently I have been telling people I work with and things that I am about to buy one - IF I can find the right one for the right price - And im getting ALOT of flack about chrysler wont even be around and chryslers suck - yada yada. Or others, lol, asking me why on earth I'd want a "Missfire" I cant seem to find major repair problems in the norm - besides the expensive tires.(unless im just THAT naive - please enlighten me - as my bank account isnt anything I can constantly rape for repairs). What is your take on all of this?

Secondly, I am looking at getting one in the $10,000 to $12,000 range - and the vary SO MUCH - its kinda odd. The one im currently looking at is 41,000 miles on it - 2004 - coupe - and comes with a 1 year bumper to bumper warranty. They're asking 11 877. If I can talk them down to like 10,500(out the door) - and it seems to be mechanically sound, is that relatively good?...or should I be going higher or lower? (can you tell I've NEVER bought a car directly before?)

and im doing this over the phone and internet since the dealers are not near my town - should my approach be diferent IYO? thanks for any responses on this - im sure theres a million "I want a crossfire" threads and Im very grateful for any responses.

 

Before you buy, check a few that are for sale in the "Cars for Sale" section of this forum.

 

Don't take any flack from your friends! They haven't driven an XF, so they don't know... As FP said, check the forum's for sale section as you might find the one you really, really like.

 

Not sure how much information you truly know about the car.. but here's a few "tips" for buying.

First, know you're getting a Mercedes SLK 320 in a Chrysler Body. Don't believe me? Open up the hood and try to find something stamped Chrysler.. all MB parts and part numbers.

Secondly, here a few key differences in the models / years that may help when searching.

In 2004, there was only one model of Crossfire. It is equiviliant to a 2005 Limited. It has leather seats, heated seats, infinity stereo system, aluminum door sills, silver trim on the windshield / stakes / handles, and comes in a variety of colors.

In 2005, they introduced the base crossfire, limited crossfire, special edition, and srt-6 crossfire. The base has cloth seats, no heated seats, basic stereo system, only comes in a manual transmission, and black door sills. It also has black side stakes, black windshield surround, and black door handles. It also ONLY COMES IN BLACK, no other color. They come in coupe and roadster (convertible).

The limited crossfire is the same as the 2004, it comes it many colors with the silver trim, also the console was changed from a glossy silver to a "matte" silver. They also introducted the roadster (convertible) this year.

The special edition crossfire was also introduced, they are basically "glorified" base roadsters. They are painted red, with SRT-6 type wheels. Black trim, and cloth seats / no heated seats / base stereo etc.. nothing that "special" about them besides they're red, convertible, and their wheels.

The SrT-6 while out of your league is supercharged, has "alcantara" seats (fancy suede), heated seats, fixed rear spoiler, different wheels.


Should make it a little easier deciding what you're looking at.

 

Good luck and tell your friends that the Xfire replaced the Mercedes SLK 32 with a Chrysler body that was hand built in Germany.... Welcome aboard!

 

as everybody said, don't let your "friends" yak at you because it's obvious they have no knowledge. if you do even a rudimentary search then you'll find that the reliability of the Cross is up there with the top level of cars. Go to MSN.com cars and you'll see. Compare it to other cars, and it is pretty close to the top.

There's a beautiful blue one in CO for sale with low miles in your range, as FP said, check out the ones for sale on this forum. These fellows here are for the most part all straight shooters and I'd trust them, because you get to interface with them at least electronically, more than I would trust ANY dealer. Sell your Honda outright as you're not going to get much from a dealer anyway-and buy from a private party. Hold out for a good low mileage one-they're out there and you'll find one quick enough.

Welcome to the group, Mike-it really is a great forum! Mark

 

I would argue that even the body is Mercedes but styled by Chrysler. It is an SLK320 with much better styling. When I was searching for mine I ended up buying from a local dealer that had it on Ebay. I search Auto Trader, Cars.com and Ebay. I was really dissapointed with the cars I persoanlly looked at that were advertised on on Cars and autotrader while the ebay cars were in much better shape which I suspect is becuse they are selling nationwide from just pictures and worry about their feedback scores.

Good luck with your purchase! I trully don't belive there is a better used car you can buy for the money than a Crossfire. My car has 61,000 miles without even a hick up. I got around the expensive tire issue by switching to 18 wheels all around which cut my tires cost by $100's.

 

Thank you guys for your input! I have been doing OVERTIME in my homework on this car, and I feel educated enough to be purchasing one. As one of you mentioned, Ebay DOES have alot of beautiful ones I feel I could snag for an appropriate price - BUT buying a car on ebay - paying the shipping - etc - scares me!!! Is it really worth looking into? - I feel I need to sit in the car, drive the car, see it. I was just in talks with a dealer near me to purchase a crossfire - but he wasnt budging from the 11,800 range - which is feel paying 10,600 in cash is pretty decent on a car with 41,000 miles. But then again - whats your opinions?

Thank you guys for all the feedback - this forum is pretty sweet.

 

All of us on the forum are obsessed with our Crossfires and a-r about caring for them. If you've read the threads, you'll see they are generally reliable but some repairs can be very expensive. Your best defense is a very careful inspection -- maybe an independent inspection -- of the vehicle. The warranty should help, but read the fine print.

In my experience, it is a great car and so far very reliable (32k on one and 13k on the SRT6). However, I'd suggest you keep the Honda as a winter-beater as the XFs aren't great in snow and why expose them to salt and careless drivers.

 

Yes, 10.6k is a great price. That's about what you would pay at a wholesale auction. I paid 10.6k for my 05 with 39k miles.

 

Welcome Mike. Good luck on finding your xfire. Since you've said you've done your homework on these cars, I'm sure you are aware of the cost of oil changes and other maintenance on these cars. The parts under the hood can be expensive since they are MB.

 

What goldwing said about your honda is a great little piece of advice... you can drive the xfire in a decent amount of snow... i got stuck in mine a few times coming out of work and she got me home safely but it was not the most fun experience. As for the tires... they can be expensive, but can be found at tirerack.com relatively (in terms of the tire size) cheap. as long as you arn't autocrossing or racing in them they will last for awhile. I managed to get almost 35k on the orginial conti rears and 40ish on the fronts and i have my fair share of spirited highway driving spurts. you can get a set of Kuhmo's on all four wheels for under $600. Not to bad considering

 

While these cars are very reliable, if something does break down it can be very expensive. One common problem is the ignition locking up due to wear of parts inside the cylinder. I had this happen on my car and it cost $800 to fix it. But don't let that scare you away they are very good cars.

It can be tough to find competent mechanics to work on them sometimes too. Often times you have to pay dealership price for service and even then some dealerships aren't that Crossfire savy.

As for buying a car over the internet; I have sold two and bought one on eBay. The two I sold were to people that were only hours away. The car I bought, my Crossfire, was shipped from Mass to Florida and was a pain in the ***. If you end up going that route do yourself a favor fly there and drive the car back.

But I would search for something close to you first that way you can drive out to at least check it out before you buy.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Since when was there a language filter??