Well, now that I've owned this car for a full month and after reading some of the posts under the "Any regrets" and "Headlight Condensation" threads, I thought it would be a good time to wax philosophically about the Crossfire experience from my own point of view. First of all, I never believed the vehicle was worth $35k (let alone anything over sticker) and that's why I waited to purchase until I could get one for under $30k. At $30k I believe this vehicle represents a good balance of performance to value for what it is>> a 7 year old Mercedes chassis/drivetrain with a very sharp and beautifully styled body welded on.

That said, I have never had as much trouble with any of the other 13 vehicles I have owned as I've had with this car over the first month of ownership:

1) Defective steering gear ......... replaced
2) Cracked/broken splash guards in the front wheel wells .... replaced
3) Trip odometer inoperative .... instrument cluster replaced
4) FSS service indicator incorrectly reads service at 10,000 miles after instrument cluster replaced ..... dealer diagnosed as software error to be upgraded/corrected by DC at a future date.
5) Windows fog without A/C compressor running ..... dealer diagnosed (after consulting with DC) as normal for design of this vehicle.
6) Condensation in hedalight and fog light enclosures ... dealer diagnosed as normal due to vented design of the enclosures.

Like many others on this forum, I knew about the bizarre cupholder, the limited rear visibility, and the somewhat clunky 1-2 shift on the manual trans before I signed on the dotted line. The funny thing is that once you start having all these new and unexpected problems, the problems you thought you already knew about and were willing to overlook, become less tolerable and dramatically more irritating (similar to personal relationships, huh?)

I don't find myself too perturbed about the new Crossfire "light". My opinion is that two seaters have very limited appeal unless they achieve the icon status of the Z or the 'vette. (The T-bird failed twice as a two seater, and let's not forget the Buick Reatta or the Cadillac Allante.) I believe DC should have put more effort into sweating some of these details and then charged a fair price for the thing and let sales dictate production. In other words, the price isn't why this vehicle hasn't been more succesful, rather the fact that the car is perceived as slightly underpowered, with somewhat numb steering, limited rear visiblity, limited headroom for anyone 6 feet or over. combined with a silly cupholder, stereo with no CD changer, clunky manual trans, no spare tire and/or run flat tires. Do you get the picture? None of these things as a single entity would be enough to hurt this car, it's the combination of so many different issues.

After saying all of this, I still believe the Crossfire coupe is the most beautiful car on the road today. I love the way my *** feels like it's bolted to the highway when I ride in this thing. It's turning out to be a love/hate relationship and I'm only hoping that ultimately it will be more love than hate.

 

Well said...

 

Here's wishing you a "love" relationship... :wink:

 

Excellent commentary, Steve. Well said

I have had mine for about a month. Fortunately no problems yet.

 

I thought I was the wordiest SOB on this forum! Steve your list of issues makes me feel lucky.

Seriously, an eloquent essay. Must be something about Graphite 6-Speed owners 8)

But look up "cognitive dissonance" in your psych textbook. The weirder this car gets and the longer we hold onto it the more we love it.

 

WoW Steve, I have no problem agreeing with you 100%.
I spend 2 hours a day driving my Crossfire and next to the time I spend with my wife it is the very best part of each day.
Rollinlong Hudson, Wisconsin

 

Steve you have a great constitution and outlook on life, a list like that would have turned me against my Crossfire in a heartbeat. I have not had a moments trouble with mine and it's manufacture date is close to yours (mine is #9941).

 

Excellent post. Sorry you had all those problems and I hope my sons car is more reliable. As to the list of Chrysler mistakes, I think the lack of run flats is by far the biggest goof.

 

Good point!!! Do they even make "run flat's" in our sizes??? When I was doing some research on finding cheaper tires for the XF, I did't run across any. I'll bet they would cost and arm and a leg if they did make them.

 

No runflats in Xfire size. However the vette runflats are less expensive that the Xfire Pilots. My guess is that because they got into production in 2 years they didn't have time to get runflats made as Mini did. However Chrysler could have at least given road and tire insurance. Again, they have lousy marketing. They obviously can't think past their nose.

 

tonymond Wrote: "...Again, they have lousy marketing. They obviously can't think past their nose".

Yeh, you're right... but then again we all knew the car didn't have a spare when we bought it. What most folks probably didn't know was how expensive the Pilot Sport 2's are and the lack of availability.

Anymore when I get approached by anyone that is serious about talking about the XF with me, I tell them straight up it's going to be expensive to maintain... oil changes and tires are the first two examples I give. Most folks can't imagine spending the better part of a $100 bill for an oil change and $484.00 out the door for a new rear tire mounted and balanced.

The last thing I tell them is, "you really have to be in love with the car to own it".

 

Agreed. Ya puts down yer money and ya takes yer chances. However, i do think the lack of road and tire insurance was a dumb move on marketings part. I even tried to buy tire insurance from the dealer but Chrysler doesn't offer it. Obviously it is available, since Tirerack offers it when you purchase 4 tires from them.