Hello, I am considering buying a Crossfire and was pleased to find this forum. I have been mainly driving a Honda Civic hybrid for the past 8 years. Since I soon won't have to be driving as many miles as I have been I thought it would be fun to get a more sporty car and not worry about the fuel economy as much. I also have a Pacifica AWD which at this point has fairly high miles on it so I though a low miles Crossfire would be a good car to use as my regular driver. Also, truth be told at 53 yrs of age I guess you could say I'm buying the Crossfire as my mid-life crisis car. My wife and I test drove a manual shift Crossfire convertible the other day at a local dealer and we both loved it. She wasn't crazy about the manual shift but said she could live with it. Compared to the Civic, performance wise, well there was no comparison.

I also have a garage full of motorcycles and have been busy moving things around in there trying to make room for a Crossfire. It will not be easy and my lawnmower may have to live outside from now on plus I'm selling some woodworking equipment that I haven't used in years since sawdust and motorcycles don't mix very well.

I've found a XF Coup Limited in Gold with just under 20,000 miles on it for around $17,000 which seems to be a fairly good price. I know this is not a sensible car to have but at this point in my life it seems like perhaps owning a car that is not sensible might be sensible if it makes me feel good to drive it.

I'm looking forward to getting the car and participating in this forum.

 

Sounds like you know exactly what you want, and it won't be long before you have it. Welcome to the forum and welcome to Crossfire ownership. We all know how you're feeling right now....we've all been there !!!!

 

Yes, Welcome to the forum and enjoy your ride when you get it!

 

Welcome here....Take a look at the Private - Cars For Sale section here on our forum.
It will help you get a better idea of the cost to purchase these cars.
17K is a little high for a Coupe even with low miles.

I wish you the best and know you will find a Crossfire and love owning it

 

Welcome to the Forum, and soon to be a member of the Perm-a-grin Club.

 

Welcome...I am only hoping you love to drive...I know you should be counting the days till spring weather!

KJ

 

You will find it makes a great "second childhood" vehicle. I bought mine in 2005 and 2008, so I was 54 when I bought the roadster first. My lawnmower spends the winter outside so the Crossies can be covered and hibernate in the garage. (PS - A cheap Walmart cover will keep the sawdust out.) Price is not as critical as condition, low miles, and liking the one you found. If you keep it forever, who cares if you pay a little premium now.

 

I bought my 05 black beauty 2 years ago, at the young age of 71, and every time I drive it, I lose 40 years. The only thing I dont like about the car----old bastid like me has hard time gedtting in and out. Once I am strapped in------"Get outa my way".

 

I bought mine over 6 years ago and still haven't figured how to get in mine properly. I'm just wondering what it is going to be like 6 years from now. I can't figure out how John (ftroopchief) does it and he is 80 years young.

 

When I first got mine two years a go, I took my 71 year old father out for a spin. After we returned he said thanks for the ride but that will be the first and last ride in the Crossfire. I thought maybe it was because of my driving but he said that if he ever gets in this car again, I'll have to bury him in it because he won't be getting out of it..........bad knees.

 

Welcome stargzr - I've had my BLACK coupe limited for four months and one week. I found this forum about a week after I bought it. I am 58 - 5'7" and I have no problem getting into my Crossfire, in fact on my test drive when I eased myself into the leather seat it felt like a hand in a glove .She looks sporty and my stock NA engine has all the get up I need for some spirited driving thrills. Love my Crossfire,love the forum. Met some of the fellow XF owners in San Antonio, friendly and helpful. Take advantage of the forum, it's here to help (and sometimes entertain) and enjoy your cool, classy (a guy told me it looks badass) and unique sports car!

 

Thanks to all that have replied to this thread. I get more excited every day about the possibility of getting a Crossfire but now realize I need to take my time to find the right one. First I wanted the convertible but for a variety of reasons I now think the coupe would be better for me. The gold one I was thinking about getting would be good because I live off a gravel road and gold shows the dirt least but it's not as exciting a color as say RED or BLUE. The black ones look very nice but they sure do show the dirt. The silver and gray models are very classy and I even like the WHITE. I never was crazy about yellow cars but realize that some people are. If we were all the same, life would be pretty boring. I have found a low miles coupe that is a long ways away from me and am currently looking into what it would cost to ship it here in an enclosed truck. I'm also reading up on the forum about reliability and maintenance issues and finding that these items are very well covered here. I gave up working on my own cars a long time ago because I didn't feel I had the time and didn't really care about cars any more. I've been more interested in motorcycles and do my own maintenance on them but the crossfire excites me and with the information here I feel confident that I can tackle most maintenance and repair issues myself. I am glad to hear that the Crossfire is basically a very reliable car. My wife is excited too and is doing some research on her own and forwarding me the interesting links she finds. To those who say the car is hard to get in and out of, I can relate since I was surprised how low I had to go to get in to the two cars I've test driven so far. But I can honestly say that it does fit me like a glove once I do get in. The first one I drove was an automatic and with the salesman insisting on riding along with me I couldn't really goose it too much but the second car I drove the salesman said drive it as long as you want and let my wife come along. That was a very fun drive. I hadn't driven a manual shift for awhile and it took some time to get used to it again but once I did I knew I wanted the manual shift version, not the automatic (no offense to those who have the automatic, I just always liked manual transmissions). I don't have the "Perm-a-grin" yet that you folks refer to but when I start my computer and see the blue coupe that I've chose as my wallpaper, it takes my breath away.

I just wanted to post a quick response thanking everyone for your kind words of encouragement and now I am back to my research.

Thanks again

Taylor

 

Noobie here too! Got my 2004 , 29,500 miles, in December...$10,000.
I'm 55, sensible? Nope! But I wanted it!
Great forum!

 

Yes it does make us kids again....zoom zoom!

KJ