It's been a very difficult 4-5 months for me with my crossfire and decided to trade it in for something else. For about 2 years, the crossfire has been a decent car for me. Not perfect, but pretty unique and decent to drive. However, in about March or so, I noticed that I was getting water in the trunk area. I noticed that one of the rubber boots that shield the wires from the body to the hatch had a tear in it. I believe it was actually done by the dealer when fixing the pneumatic line that split and prevented me from unlocking the trunk area.

I brought the car into my local dealer to get it replaced and they tell me that the rubber boot can't be purchased on its own and that they need to buy an entire wiring harness and they need to install the wiring harness--even though the wires/cable in the car was 100% perfect. Luckily this $5k repair-for-a $5.00 part was covered under warranty. I called ChryslerPartsDirect to confirm that I couldn't just buy the rubber boot and they confirmed this. I had a feeling this was going to be a problem before going in to get this fixed and I ended up being right.

First off, the dealer claims they couldn't get the wiring harness as it was back ordered according to them and suggested I call up Chrysler to complain. So I did. Within a day, the problem was magically fixed and the wiring harness was on its way. Great. I make an appt to get it installed and drop the car off. The service writer tells me it should take a whole day--which surprised me because the entire inside of the car needed to be taken apart. But I went with it. I get a call at the end of the day that the tech will need an extra day and we go about getting me into a RENTAL car. By car, I mean a 3 yo Caravan which was supposedly "all they had". So about a week and a half goes by and I FINALLY get my car back.

I was quite annoyed at this point because of how long the car took to get repaired. The tech clearly had no idea what he was doing if it took this long, so I was a bit concerned. I was also on the hook for the rental, even though the service writer told me it would take a day or two. So he suggested that I once again cal Chrysler and complain. So I did. After several phone call, the car rental was covered by chrysler.

But what about the car? Hmmmm. Well, the defroster position for the vent didn't work, the steering wheel wasn't straight, the drivers side seat was loose, a trim piece in the back hatch was broken, and the headliner was ripped (which was blamed on me by the tech!). So the mess begins. Address the first few things required an additional trip back to the dealer. But then there was the trim piece and the headliner. When I brought the car back for the steering wheel and the other small stuff, they decided to order a trim piece and were still deliberating on the headliner. After 3-4 days, the trim piece comes in and we make an appointment to install it. At this point they decide to try and repair the rip. I bring the car in again. They replace the trim piece but it's worse than it was before. The trim piece on the opposing side is now out of alignment after me dropping the car off at the dealer. The repair on the headliner looks worse than it did before. I'm PISSED! I ignore the trim piece as I figure I'd just adjust it myself some other time. But I get on the guy's case about the headliner. They need another day or two to deliberate. I call chrysler to see if they can do anything.

So after about 4 days of going back and forth, the dealer agrees to re-upholster the headliner. I'm skeptical, but I agree. So I bring the car into their shop and they put me in a 6 yo Caravan with almost 100k miles. I'm once again, really pissed. After a day or two, I get the car back and notice the headliner is fuzzy! The color is similar, but the material is all wrong. I drive down to the upholstery shop that the dealer used and spoke with the guy who did the work. The guy said they needed to order the right material, but they had the fuzzy stuff in stock and the dealer, on their own, decided to choose the fuzzy material. Again, I'm pretty pissed. So I'm at another problem that I will address on my own and spend my own my on.

So I think that the car, functionally speaking, is great. I get back to driving the car and take it up to the Concours of the Eastern United States (I posted a thread about this some time ago) and try to forget about the imperfections in the car and enjoy my time at the show. Everything goes great. Then about a week after the show, the airbag light goes off. Time to call the dealer. I bring the car back in on two more separate occasions to which the dealer claims to have fixed the problem. Within a week of each repair, the light goes back on. After the second light, the dealer tells me that clock spring may need to be replaced, but they didn't want to order one because they adjusted the one that's in there, but if it the airbag light goes off, they'll repair it. Great, I'm real confident here. Well after he tells me this, he tells me to come pick up the car. As I roll up to the dealer, I see that a guy in a flatbed backs into the side of my car and causes $8200.00 in damage. So I'm driving a Toyota corolla for 3 weeks. Can you guess the theme--I'm once again, really pissed. Partially because the tech parked the car in the middle of the parking lot assuming I was going to be right up to get it--which I was. I was almost at the end of my rope with the car and the dealer.

I should note that at some point during the scenario being described, my factory warranty expires (I go over 36k miles). So I felt that every problem I had was due to the wiring harness repair which was a warranty issue. If I brought the car to another place, I'd likely have to pay out of pocket for all the BS and I wanted my dealer to fix their wrongs and not have to pay for anything.

So going back to the car, I eventually get it back from the body shop. I'm not terribly pleased with the work and I bring it back there 3 more times to get some details addressed. In this time, the airbag light goes off AGAIN. I'm ready to drive the car off a cliff. The chrysler dealer tells me that the clock spring is $800.00 and on back order indefinitely. I find that strange, so I call Mercedes and see what it costs and the availability. I call two other Chrysler dealers and all the places give me a similar story---The part is ~230.00 and there are a bunch in a warehouse that can be shipped within a couple of days. I still want my dealer to fix their error, so I call them and told them my findings. They spend several days dicking around claiming they are waiting to hear from Chrysler on how to correct what is clearly a computer error on their part. Meanwhile, my airbag light is on and I consider that to be a safety issue, so once again---you can guess it---I'm PISSED. I call Chrysler up myself and then a day after I call, the part is miraculously available. Then there is the mess about where the part actually is, as it took more time than they told me to get to the dealer---I got 3 different answers from 3 different people. So I bring the car in and get the clock spring replaced. I pick the car up and notice there is a scraping noise when I turn the steering wheel. Once again, I go back to the dealer!

WTF man! I had enough---2 days after the last repair (this past friday), I trade the crossfire in on a 2012 Mustang GT. Sorry guys, but this car was just too much to own and I place 95% of that on how poor my dealer ship was (D'Ambrosio Chrysler in Downingtown, PA--don't even consider going there). Now there's certainly a chance that my crossfire will never have any other problems as when I handed it in everything worked great and there were no lights on the dash. But I just have no faith in the car (or should I say the repairs that were done to it) and I couldn't trust it any longer. It was the only car I've ever owned where I'm glad I didn't buy an extended warranty as I would never take the car to another dealer if I still owned it.

So here is what I had:
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And this is what I got:
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I will say that I had to order this car from the factory. After my second airbag light came on, I went looking for another car. There were no base model GT coupes in the 3 state radius, so ordered one. It's Ingot silver, has the following options: Brembo brake package, security package, and 3.55 rear end. Yes, the car has the MT82 manual transmission which is the current subject of an NHTSA investigation. I'm not terribly concerned and don't think the transmission problems are as common as some would have you believe. Having driven it for the last couple days, I'm completely smitten. Assuming the transmission continues to operate properly (), the car is an amazing performance machine and i haven't even gone above 4500 rpms.

Feel free to flame away.

PS-- I mysteriously just got an email survey from Chrysler about my latest servicing on the car--I never got one of these before. I rated the car pretty high and ripped the dealer a new one. I will say that chrysler was very good with covering warranty work that they didn't have to---specifically with relation to the clock spring since the car had 39k miles when I called them to help out my terrible dealer.

Hope you guy out east are doing ok with this hurricane Irene business!

PS--Keep an eye out in the classifieds as I will soon be putting up a brand new, never used upper cross member (radiator support) for sale.

 

Good luck with the Stang..Enjoy.

 

Maybe post up your X-Crossfire's vin number so we can stay away from it. Thanks...And best of luck! Squirrel Crusher

 

Expect the worse at Chrysler dealers and you'll never be disappointed. The hacks wrenching on your vehicle are capable of screwing up a steel ball with a rubber mallet.

 

Good luck with your new ride, it looks very nice. I have always said, a dealer can make or break you of confidence and enjoyment of your car.

James

 

I made an appointment to have the fuel filter replaced at the dealer closest to me, only to be told that the filter would cost twice what they had quoted me when making the appointment. They insisted that whoever gave me that price to do the job was unaware that the filter was in the fuel tank. (it's in the rear wheel well) even after I showed them in the manual I always carry with me to the dealer. They would not honor the price, and oh by the way the computer was wrong and the part (fuel filter) was on backorder. I started going to a different dealer, they seemed pretty good and they pointed out that one of the service guys was restoring a Crossfire, I thought, ok this will work. Soon after I started noticing that small parts had started to disappear from my Crossfire every time I took it to the dealer, things like the shield over the battery and the little plugs over the holes in the wiper arms. Now I sit and think how much fun I could have stripping the car down to the body and replacing every thing with parts from something like a Mustang. Big job, but talk about a stealth Cobra. I swear if nothing else, if the day comes I can no longer drive my Crossfire, I will keep it just to look at. Maybe just put it in the family room and keep it dusted. Use it as a cone of silence. I have driven a couple new mustangs and that is what I would pick as a replacement also. Great car, much better built than my 2001 Cobra(I called it rattle snake)and how they got that live axle rear end to handle the way it does in the new ones, is amazing! I saw a silver one like yours the other day that had white Cobra stripes really looked great, Good luck and enjoy.

 

You ain't kiddin! Unfortunately, I expected the worst and got it. I was really on the fence about an extended warranty on this car and I can confidently say that I would never in a million years buy an extended warranty for this car. Why would I want to keep going back to a place that doesn't know how to work on the car?

If you have a dealer that you know can work on the car, then sure, the warranty may be worth it. But if you don't have a good dealer or aren't sure how good the dealer is (because you haven't had any major problems) I wouldn't chance it. I'd rather spend the money to make sure the car gets done right by people who are familiar with mercedes cars. Even though I've probably had $15k in repairs done to my car and never had tp pay a dime for it, the hassle and stress just wasn't worth it.

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that Chrysler still stands behind the crossfire at this time and were mostly pleasant to deal with.

 

Yup, dealers are really screwy with this car. Though I will say that the parts department at Frank Videon Chrysler offered me both the Chrysler and Mercedes parts number for the clock spring, so there might be dealer who do know their business. Chrysler and Mercedes should have offered a way fro crossfire owners to take their cars to Mercedes for service, IMO. I know it may not have been practical from several perspectives, but I think the ownership experience would have been much smoother. If my crossfire saga didn't go on for so long, I probably still would own the car and would be looking at both Mercedes dealers and indy places to take it. But I totally agree with you--If I could have my crossfire as a piece of art and not as transportation, I'd still own it. It's one of the best looking modern-day cars around. Driving that car around must have been similar to what it was like to drive a true exotic. THough I will say that most ca folks never paid any attention to the crossfire. In fact, most seemed to be more excited when I told them I had a VW Corrado. I really surprises me how few people really know and appreciate what a crossfire is--outside of it's good looks.


[/quote] I have driven a couple new mustangs and that is what I would pick as a replacement also. Great car, much better built than my 2001 Cobra(I called it rattle snake)and how they got that live axle rear end to handle the way it does in the new ones, is amazing! I saw a silver one like yours the other day that had white Cobra stripes really looked great, Good luck and enjoy. [/quote]Thanks for the compliment. The mustang certainly isn't nearly as exotic looking and the ride is much better, but the mustang has its own merits. If I had my way, I'd take my crossfire, take out the mercedes V6, put in the coyote V8, put in the brembos from the mustang and keep the crossfire transmission, but use the mustang shifter. I'd keep the crossfire IRS, but add in limited slip but add in the adjustable electric steering from the mustang.

Maybe one day if I hit it rich, I might just do it because I could.

 

Can you give me the # you used to call Chrysler sounds like you always got things done when you contacted them !!! Whats the # you called !!! Please !!!!

 

Sorry to see you go, sure the mustang will treat you right.

Stay safe out there.

 

You can try here: Chrysler - Contact Us

If you don't have any luck with that, the case management number I was given was the following: 800-763-8422

They likely won't be able to help you directly at the case management number, but they will hopefully be able to connect you to the right people. But I would start with the number on the website first.

 

Sorry to hear about your debacle with Chrysler. I made the mistake of taking my Crossfire to the stealership for its first oil change right after I bought it. After the runaround they gave me, I decided I'd never take my car back to a Chrysler dealership. It's out of warranty anyway so I either do the work myself or take it to a local indepent shop that I know I can trust.

Congrats on the Mustang, btw! The new GTs are incredible!

 

What a nightmare -- you certainly have my sympathy. I'd say your poor experience was 100% dealership. First, I never would have let them pull the entire wiring harness to repair a small rubber gasket. Some good rubbery electrical tape would have done the job. Secondly, other than the radiator fan recall and an annual oil change, my roadster has had no problems at 37k. And I was fool enough to buy an extended warranty. Oops - just remembered the TPM light is always on. My SRT6, bought used, had the usual intercooler replacement (under warranty) and shortly thereafter blew out a sensor plug in the s/c plenum. That made it run like crap, but my local indie shop found it and it was a cheap fix. I suspect the dealer forgot to tighten it. Bottom line, I find the Crossfires to be very reliable vehicles so far.