Here in the UK the Crossfire is appearing in lots of magazines and newspaper test drives. In Top Gear magazine they put it up against the 1.8 Audi TT, Mazda RX-8 and Nissan 350Z. They cruised the streets of LA on the 4th July wanting to do a street race or just looking for trouble. Theres a picture with the four lined up at dawn with their lights on. The Crossfire with its dull yellow hologens and the rest with their bright blue xenons.

In the end the Crossfore went up against the TT and BEAT IT flat out. The up against the RX-8 and BEAT IT. Then is was the 350Z and the Croosfire was left for dust. Far enough second place ain't bad.

But what this mag said is that it would but the Crossfire last cos of the poor interior. This and all other reports are saying is that the quality of the interior is cheap plastic painted silver. The steering wheel is too big and the seats ain't that supportive.

What do you owners REALLY make of the interior feel. Do the buttons feel solid? Does the paint scratch easy? Are there any flimsy panels? Is there any aluminum in the cabin?

I'm sorry if it reads that I'm being a grumpy git but when you consider the Crossfire is costing ��4000/$6000 more then a 350Z then it's hard keeping my nerve until November.

MARK

If your in the UK buy Top Gear magazine and check out the pictures, bloody cool.

 

Mark:

You keep asking the same questions--YES it's a great car! VERY solid and VERY unique. If you're worried about the price, then you may want to consider something cheaper. If you have to wait until Nov, then you will have plenty of time to make up your mind. The 350Z has one of the CHEAPEST interiors that I have ever seen. Cloth seats that break apart and an interior that rattles like a baby bottle (that is what a friend of mine who owns one compares it to). The Xfire is much nicer on the inside than a 350z!

My vote is SOLID for the Crossfire--but I'm biased as I own one.

Good luck!

 

I would obviously vote for the Crossfire too. I have sat in both, but haven't spent any considerable amount of time in either. I can say the Crossfire interior is nicer without a doubt. As for comfort of the seats, didn't sit in them long enough. One thing that I HATE about the 350z interior are the door panels. No detail to them at all. Nothing. Just a tall black panel. I felt like I was sitting in a box... Find a picture of the interior, or a quicktime VR from Nissan's website. I don't know how you could sit in that car for more than an hour and not go crazy.

 

The Crossfire seats are VERY comfortable--I know as I had to drive in it for 6 hours when I brought it home. The seats are great and the whole interior is very nice IMHO. I know it's a big purchase, but believe me, over a 350Z it's a no brainer (unless you NEED more HP).

 

Theres no chance of me changing my mind about my Crossfire purchase but annoys me that it could have been so much better. Not putting Xenons is lazy and putting in a faulty stereo is dam right stupid. Its a shame cos Chrysler is struggling here in the UK and they are hoping the Crossfire gives them a boost in image.[/img]

 

A friend has a 350z. I agree with the others that the XFire's interior is better. Yes, it's painted plastic, but it's very nicely painted plastic, and I've had nothing but compliments from friends and family. The other way to look at it is that the plastic is lighter, and saving weight is a good thing in a performance car.

I don't know who thinks the seats are not supportive. They are among the most supportive, stock, that I've experienced, and most of the articles I've read like the seats very much.

The Xfire will lose a drag race to the 350Z. But it's not a drag car. The 350Z would lose a drag race to a Mustang SVT. It's about what you want. I can tell you this, considering the Xfire is a sporty luxo coupe, it is a very remarkable handling car with lateral grip that pleasantly surprised me. It simply goes where you point it.

All that said, it gets down to what you want. Which car pleases you more aesthetically? Which fits you better? Which one's performance characteristics do you prefer?

Remember too, the 350's powerplant is a Renault engine. Nothing wrong with that, but w/the Mercedes engine you're getting something which, although getting a bit long in the tooth, is a solid performer that has long since had the kinks worked out.

Go drive both. Drive the RX8 too. It's a lot of money to drop on a car, be sure about what you want. Enjoy...the process of choosing is fun!

 

This is my whole take on the situation..

Between a TT, X-fire, 350z, and rx8..
If you want the best interior of the bunch, awd, and plan on modding the car i would go with the TT..
If you want the best performance, and don't mind a crappy interior then the 350z is for you..
If you want great handling, useable backseat,(can't compare interiors as i have not sat in it only seen pictueres) and something different(rotary engine and styling) the rx8 is for you..
if you want great handling, nice interior, big wheels, different styling, american, and big wheels, then the x-fire is your ride..

either way you choose i think you can't go wrong with either cars.. i recently saw a comparison of the svt cobra, 350z and rx8 and they rated the rx8 the highest.. the only thing negative i've heard about the rx8 is that they're dyno far below the listed hp, but some people think it's part of the break-in program in the ecu and performance is limited til the car hits 2000 miles, and nobody has hit 2000 miles yet in there rx8s to dyno test it..


later..

 

krooner:

I'm impressed that you complimented the Crossfire :lol:

As far as the RX8, I personally think it's very ugly. I sat next to one today at a light, and really realized how really ugly it is... Of course that's just the outside, but it's an important part.

 

Once the Crossfire is as old as the TT you will see just as many options for modding the Crossfire, if not more. Plus, the TT is producing 180 hp or 225 hp depending on which 4-cylinder engine you pick. These engine are both already turbocharged. You could add a bigger turbo, but the Crossfire engine just has more room to grow, considering it has a displacement almost twice as big. Now the new upcoming 250hp 6 cylinder TT might be different, but mods for this engine are going to be much further in the future, since it is so new.

Plus, we all know you prefer anything Audi/VW...

 

I'm talking about now, not 2 years from now... and the aftermarket for is alot more reasonable compared to what i've seen for m-b and crossfire.. hell i can chip it and have 270hp, for $400, chip is $995 for the x-fire and is prob gonna add 15hp tops.. now if you weren't planning on modding this car, you would be missing out on the huge increases, because of adding a chip.. the x-fire, 350z, and rx8 are all normally aspirated, so in order to get the same gains a chip for the turbo car, you would have spend alot more money.. open minds people...

 

To Markuk,

I am in the uk too and thinking of purchasing an xfire, but, is yours left hand or right hand drive????

 

Will be right hand drive kendodo

 

thanks, been in contact with local dealer looks like a silver 6 speed manual will be coming my way in November :-)

 

It isn't part of the break in program. Mazda has released new hp figures... they revised the manual RX8 down 3.6% to 239 and they revised the automatic RX8 down 4.5% to 197hp. One fairly amazing thing is that they are offering original buyers of the RX8 the option of having Mazda buy back the cars at whatever price they paid, or free scheduled maintenance for the duration of the standard warranty, plus a $500 debit card. For some reason, I could never see Chrysler stepping up like this... hell they won't even replace a stereo that is dangerous to use.

 

Lexus did the same thing with their LX470--people bought it because the gross weight was X then turned out it was Y and all those people who put in for a tax write off were sc%ewed. LExus ended up buying them back if the consumer wanted--kept it VERY hush. Heck no DCX would never do that--that would require knowing what customer service actually is (and that is the truth when you compare it to any of the Asian manufac.) But HEY I love my Xfire

 

they're dynoing around 140-150hp.. with 18% drive train loss that's like 165-177.. which is still drastically below the 239 they have rated.. that's why i mentioned the break-in program in the ecu...

 

I know, but there is no break-in program in the ECU. Mazda claims their new hp numbers are within a 5% margin of error. They evidently took the average of 11 production cars. So, obviously they are taking numbers from the high side of that 5%.

 

Ummm, guys, what Mazda and Lexus did was not really motivated by customer service but rather, to avoid the possibility of a lawsuit.

The Mazda case is well documented and actually, not the first time, it happened with the Miata couple of years back as well, same problem, product had much less horsepower than advertised.

Here's a quote from a car news site:

"Detroit News featured a note that automakers can no longer make inaccurate performance claims. Blueovalnews.com's exposure of Mustang "under-horsepower" gave Ford a black eye (and gave blueovalnews.com a lawsuit), and Nissan and Ford both compensated owners for inaccurate claims (the 2001 Miata was sold as having 155 hp but really only had 142 hp). The latest "offender" is Nissan's Infiniti Q45, whose 0-60 times apparently may be about a second longer than company claims (Nissan explained that the Q45 used in testing was lighter than the ones supplied to journalists, was tested by light people, and was run under the best possible weather and altitude conditions)."

If a manufacturer advertises a particular specification clear enough and without the necessary disclaimers or update to their information if the product has changed, customers are in their every right to sue for deception or false claims.

In the case of the radio, there aren't any false claims involved at this time, they never advertised "a bright radio display".

It really isn't even faulty BUT it should work better. The new Toyota Camery has a similar problem now with their radio, the display (also LED) is not visible if you have sunglasses on because of the type and angle of polarization they used on the display. This problem was highlighted by a Car and Driver TV segment.

Now, if people who are familiar with NHSTA requirements can show that the current condition of the radio promotes a serious safety hazard, then that's a totally different story, we can all sign up and threaten a class action suit.

I'm lobbying for the radio to be replaced as well, there aren't any good aftermarket radios that really fit the same shiney silver plastic, but let's not compare apples to oranges to get there...unless we can turn this apple into an orange

 

Yes, I agree it's to CYA themself. However, they are smart enough to nip it in the bud, versus pissing off their customers--which is customer service. Unlike DCX which is not doing anything about the radio (at least yet). They certainly know of the problem, but are ignoring it rather than just take care of it for their loyal customers.

 

I sat in the Z seats at an autoshow and the Crossfire and RX-8 as well as the G35. The Crossfire seats were simply excellent. The RX-8 seats also seemed pretty good and the interior of the RX-8 I liked. Also like the X-fire except for the problems mentioned with the radio and getting use to the brushed aluminum finish. I didn't run the radio on the test drive so I can't comment on visibility. The Z did not impress me at all in comfort or cabin appearance. I do not think the RX-8 is ugly, it just isn't as impressive and stunning in appearance as the Z [less the door handles] or X-fire. It looked a little better in person than in the mags, but still not as hot as the other two. I am due for a RX-8 test drive later this week, they got in an automatic so they gave me a call. Been so long since I used a stick, and with constant back problems I was reticent to even take out the six speed. Afraid on a bad day I would be riding the clutch too much. But a buddy of mine did, and he said it had lots of pick-up. I will take the ride and then let you know versus the X-fire. AS for the G35, the seats had the most uncomfortable thigh bolsters I've ever sat in. Couldn't have gone 50 miles in that puppy.