Do you remember where you were when your first fell in love with the XF?

I will never forget walking down W. 57th Street in Manhattan when I spotted a Black Beauty parked in front of the Holiday Inn between 9th & 10th Avenues.

It was 2003, and this must have been a production-version show car in town for the NY Auto Show at the Javits Center that year. It had Michigan "manufacturer" plates on it.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Now, mind you, I was a New Yorker -- after a while in the city, there isn't much on the streets of NYC that will make you take a second look. There are movie stars, super models, exotic sports cars on every block! There's even a naked cowboy in Times Square and only the tourists notice.

When I saw the Crossfire parallel parked on W. 57th, I said to myself "WTF is THAT? It is beautiful." I had no idea it was a Chrysler or a Mercedes or whatever this basterd (sic) vehicle is. My jaw just dropped and I was in love.

At the time I was paying $400 a month to garage my 2002 Ford T-Bird and in NYC you really don't NEED a car. My wife would never understand, BUT I HAD TO HAVE ONE OF THESE RIGHT FRICKIN' NOW.

Before I could act on that impulse, I was shipped off to Kuwait for the invasion of Iraq. By the time I got back, the XF was on the back burner. A couple years went by, and when my wife got pregnant, we sold the T-Bird and went car-less -- taking the subway everywhere.

Flash forward to 2009...

After a furlough at work here in Cincinnati, we were looking at where to cut the budget. I made a deal with my wife -- I'll get rid of my $30,000 FJ cruiser with its $585/month car payment and get a used car, but in consideration of my sacrifice for the family, I'M GETTING SOMETHING COMPLETELY IMPRACTICAL FOR A TODDLER's DAD -- a CROSSFIRE, BABY!

So I picked up a sweet Blaze Red 2004 for $10,900 including $900 worth of brand new tires I made the dealer throw in. The car payment is now $200, the baby is two years old, I survived three combat tours, and my wife is very happy.

So where were you when you fell in LOVE?

 

Welcome home, congrats on the car & baby!! Does she think the car thing was a sacrifice?

 

I remember gazing as fom=ndly upon the XF as I had much more exotic cars in a car mag, circa 2003-4.

Much like you, flash forward, and, after some research, I find out that this car I had never heard of called an SRT-6 was an amazing bang for the buck on the used car market. Lo and behold, when I pulled up a photo I saw an old flame.

I did a search, and found one 30 miles away.
I figured as a shrewd negotiator I could get at least $2K off the asking price, but I was so gaga for this XF that I couldn't even talk him down a grand.

I still think I got a bargain even if they are available for much less now.

If something happened to mine, I would go right out and get another.
I cannot say that about any other car I've ever owned!

 

My wife and I have admired the Crossfire since the beginning. Remember when Trump did a tie-in on 'The Apprentice' back in '04 when the car was introduced? Right then and there we knew we would have one someday.

Fast forward to 2009. In the time that has passed, we've moved to Fla from NJ 18 months ago. My wife's Lexus GS300 passed 105,000 miles. The economy collapsed. And the price of clean low-mileage Crossfires fell to an irresistible level.

So, 2 weeks ago while my wife was in NJ visiting, I found a nice 2004 in the right color and only 45k miles at an MB dealer 100 miles away and traded the Lexus in on it.

When she got home, after I picked her up at the airport, I made up an excuse to bring her in the garage. When she saw it she almost fainted.

She loves it and so do I. We've had a lot of nice cars in 30+ years of marriage, but this one is really something.

I've spent the last couple of weeks getting everything 'just so' on the car, and I detailed it top to bottom this week. I haven't felt that way about a car in a long time...

 

Iremember in 2005 seeing a blue SRT in the showroom. It was beautiful. I looked it over forever it seemed. Never thought I would ever own one.

 

I was at Central Market... and saw a Grapphite SRT6... Took it home a few days later.

Who says love isnt simple?

 

I was actually at my grandparents house. Never had really looked at cars before, after all I was only 14 years old. But I had seen the crossfire, and always thought it was a cool car. Well, this time my uncle showed up in his brand new crossfire. I don't even know which one it was, it wasn't the srt6 though. But he took me around the block in it, at 14 all I wanted was to go fast. Haha. I fell in love, but more or less forgot about it over the next few years. Then, a few months back, started looking for a car for college. I was just looking around for a plain ol' accord or something, then it all came back. I asked my dad how much a used crossfire went for. We started looking them up and they were within budget. After some research, I found out about the srt6, and the speed freak in me just couldn't get over the 100 extra HP. After riding in a n/a recently, I don't think it would have made a huge difference, but I don't regret it at all. Plus, I love the exclusivity. No one knows what it is, just a rare car.

I love my xfire. I don't think I would have been near as happy with any other car. Looked at the z's, and even the audi tt, but no matter what I looked at my heart was already spoken for.

On a side note my uncle only had his for about a year. He didn't like the headroom, tall guy.

 

We had just lost our first PT Cruiser in an accident, and we were at a small dealership in Guthrie, Ok. There, sitting on the showroom floor, was a brand new 2004 Platinum Silver Crossfire. I was totally blown away by her looks, the MB (read Karmann) craftsmanship, AND the price.
Fast forward 5 years and 2 PT's later, I got the "itch" for something different. While looking around I came across an add for 2 Crossfires, one in Purcell,Ok., and one in Amarillo,TX. I drove to Purcell first, just to see if I could even fit in a Crossfire.
After some back and forth with the sales manager, and 3 hours later, I was driving home in my 2007 SSB Limited Coupe.
What about the Crossfire in Amarillo you ask, Oh, she was just a 2005 SRT AeroBlue Coupe. Doh! If I had only known then what I know now.(LOL)
Still, I wouldn't trade my "Bridgette" for anything.

 

I had always admired the XF from Chrysler's web pages. I saw one driving from Denver to Colorado Springs about five years ago (coupe). I thought the lines were absolutely awesome. I test drove a used one (SSB coupe, 6 speed) in 2007 but the wife didn't budge. In February 2008 we were eating across the street from our now-closed Chrysler dealership and there were six coupes and two roadsters out front. I got the wild hair (as I often do) to go look (and the wife didn't argue). They had a '06, never-titled red coupe with 6 speed with 876 miles which I promptly took ownership for $18,999. After driving with some other roadster owners, I had to convert over to one (red of course) which have happily owned for over a year now.

 

Hey, NYPD. I fell in love with YOUR STORY! Thanks so very much for your dedicated service to our country! Happy and Safe travels always, my friend....

Monty

 

on the test drive. now we have two.

 

Was first intrigued by a newspaper photo in June '03. Saw my first live one in September and I was hooked. The price then was sticker +10K. I was hooked but not quite that stupid. Managed to wait until December 03 when they were down to just sticker. Still love the car.

 

On the way home from work, caught in 5 o'clock downtown traffic, parked right behind a beautiful Alabaster White Coupe......it was love at first site ! A year later I bought Rosey and it's been a Love Affair ever since !

Thank you for your dedication and service NYPD

 

I saw it first at the car show when it was introduced, thought it was such a cool ride from an American mfg, much more so than anything of the boring copy crap they were producing, but that 40K tag was just too much. I'm not a big price tag kinda guy for any car. late last year as part of a house sale, my buyer traded me for partial cash with a 98 Eldorado with only 80K on the clock-he babied it so I knew it was a good car, he was a buddy of mine. But I didn't want the Caddy so was looking to trade it on something fun, when I saw a Cross at a small town gas station. Man my eyes lit up at that aero blue coupe-but I remembered that 40K price. Not.

Then I was at a dealership and saw a new SSB Ltd on the floor for 23K and that got me thinking used ones must be pretty cheap, so i really started my research and 2 weeks later found my 2006 Ltd alabaster coupe with only 10K on the odometer, the perfect color scheme for me, just simple white over black, for only 14,500 and 2 hours later I was on my way home with the Caddy sitting in their clean up garage to get it ready for it to go out on the used car lot. i've never regretted that decision once-for any other car.

 

Saw one at the Detroit Auto Show (must have been 2003) and then saw some coupes on the road over the next year. Liked the look, but not motivated. Then I read they were making a roadster in 2005, and decided it would be a nice replacement for the 1974 TR6 I gave up twenty years ago. Looked at BMW Z4 just to make sure I was getting good value (besides being ugly, the Z4 charged a lot for options that were standard on the XF) and went down in Dec 2004 for a test drive. Ordered it just the way I wanted it and she arrived in late April 2005.

Joined the forum and after reading about the SRT6, I decided to buy one while the prices were down and before they were all beat up. Wanted another graphite gray and found one in Chicago -- test drove it in January 2008 and closed the deal the same day. It needed a little door body work, but only had 8400 miles and no dings. The dealer drove it 150 miles in an 8" snowstorm to deliver, and it was clear that this was no winter driver.

They last summer I convinced my son that a sports car would be more utilitarian, and safer, than the crotch rocket he wanted to buy. So he contributed his cycle money and I threw in the rest for a very nice 2007.

I live in fear that I will come across a 2005 graphite gray SRT6 roadster, knowing that I might be unable to avoid buying it.

 

The 1st time I hit the GO button test driving my 6. Its more of an addiction!!!!! Never thought in a million yrs that I would be able to buy a 45-50K car with only 8600 miles on her for under 20 grand.They are a rare breed.Gets me hard every time I get in it LOL--------------------------------------Dave

 

Don't exactly know. The morning after one very wild night , I woke up inside her.... I don't remember a thing... LOL