I am 17 and am interested in buying a crossfire coup as my first car. I have found a promising Craiglist which has an 04 crossfire with 135k miles for 4800. For my budget of 5k this car seems like a perfect fit, but after researching online, i worry that I won't be able to maintain it if a problem occurs ex: new tires, parts or repairs. Are crossfires very problem prone? It seems mixed online about this cars reliability. To put the situation into perspective,. I will be paying for everything but 2 trips to the gas station per month, so my paycheck s of 400ish per month will be paying for the car. I know I can pay for everything, but I worry about frequent repairs on a car with Mercedes parts getting too expensive to keep up with. Do I buy this crossfire?

 

400 a month. I would pass.

Honestly they are reliable for the most part if you know yourself around a car and have a bit of diy experience. If you are going to the shop for a problem like a valve cover leak or a spark plug change (very minor), you will get ripped off.

Tires will be more expensive unless you buy low quality tires.
If you want to work on it yourself, you might have to buy a few tools.
They drink a lot of gas. I would say that I get aroung 16mpg but I live in a big city.

It depends of your budget. They're reliable. 04s have only two problems that could leave you stranded, a sticky ignition switch and a crankshaft position sensor. Both fixes are well documented on this forum. They seem to be easy and cheap to fix. The car is basically a coupe version (it is in a way) of the Mercedes SLK320 R170 (with a different body). Same engine, transmissions, suspension, brakes, steering, etc...

I remember looking at this forum when I was 22 or 23 because of how cheap and unique they were. I was scared about the reliability at the time. After doing more research, I just bought mine at 29. I've never had a car in such good condition and so solidly made. It's not the sportiest feeling car that I've owned but it does have the performance.

They are expensive to mod. No doubt about that. Aftermarket is there but so little and without any real competition. That means that you have to pay a lot for mods, even for a cold air intake. The mods are very high quality though.

 

^ +1. Also, the xfire is not a good candidate for a first/primary car. I just torn my apart and put back together to chase the no start problem. I was quoted near $4k to change a $200 part.

 

Thanks for the info. I have 2 questions. The first, the first response talked about tools what would I need? Second of I even got this car where do I go for repair s a Mercedes or chysler dealership

 

With $400 in your pocket you cannot afford to go to a repair shop, Mercedes will give you the bums rush and a Chrysler dealer will quote high prices to get you off their lot. Simple stuff you can do yourself and gain experience as you go.
The usual wrenches and such are required but you could get them as you need them, do not buy junk tools, reasonable quality is fine. Who needs to buy the same tool more than once.
Just make sure the car is not a lemon when you buy it and it has been cared for.
Get the price down as much as you can, walk away and see if the seller calls you. Show him you are interested but not an easy mark.

 

Thanks for the advice, but if you can't fix something on your crossfire on your own, what kind of repair shop would you bring it too, if both odvious choices are overpriced

 

An indy MB shop with a good reputation that has been in business for at least 5 years.

 

Most Mercedes dealers hate you having a Crossfire on their lot, let alone speak civilly to you. If car brands were races you would have a good case of racial discrimation against them.

 

My '07 Coupe with manual trans has about 134k miles and has been essentially trouble free. Of course I like computer cars and have lots of tools (probably more than many shops). Liked it enough that added a low mileage SLK320 automagic to the herd.

OTOH if you have to ask you might be better off with a Mustang


That said I buy most of my parts and special tools on eBay or Amazon. Most expensive part I bought at a dealer was $8.00. Key is knowing what fits on what but with both a parts manual and a service manual available here in .pdf form, it is not that hard but does help to be a gearhead.


I get 24-26 mpg on the highway burning a mix of 89 and 93 but am driving more to get there than for economy.


And the good news is that with over 70,000 built and about a decade old they have depreciated about as far as possible.


Does help if you are under 5'10" but is something you need to find for yourself.

 

..........

 

I get 24-26 mpg on the highway burning a mix of 89 and 93 but am driving more to get there than for economy. So why bother to mix the gas?


Because MB in their infinite wisdom says "91 octane" so that is the mark I aim for. Besides at the moment 89 is about 30c/gal less than 93.

Does help if you are under 5'10" but is something you need to find for yourself.I have not found being just under 5’11” to be a hardship.


Depends on your preferred driving position. I'm 5'10" and prefer arms out and reclined. For me to get comfortable required a sawzall and a cut-off-tool.


ps why are you shouting ?

 

Did you use your sawzall to cut off your tool? OUCH! Too much information.
THIS IS SHOUTING. CAN YOU HEAR ME?

 

Point was I get 24-26 mpg at 70ish from O'town to Boca without really trying even though Crossfire is geared too low for high speed cruising. Suspect would get about 30 if 2000 rpm in top at 70.


Is a rather long thread from about 2013 on how I achieved 2" more legroom by cutting out the top of the non-functional bulkhead behind my seat in the coupe (could not do in roadster) & removing the dead pedal. Strangely I have enough room in the SLK320 without doing anything major. Think the Chrysler seat is thicker but is also a better long distance driver.

 

Bought a complete set of Barum Bravarus (European Continentals) from Discount Tire Direct. Right now a complete set is $390.00 with a $40.00 rebate from them. See ( https://www.discounttiredirect.com/f...at=barum-tires ) for the details. The tires are excellent and ride well. Check em out!

.

 

Go to my recent post to see the Operating Cost & MPG for my 2007 Coupe. Car has been really consistent over the years in its gas mileage and op costs have been reasonable, impacted only by minimal miles driven in a specific year and/or a major expense (e.g., tires). You'll see per the attached spreadsheet in that post that many of my expenses are things that weren't necessary, but were things I wanted to do.

So where in NC are you located? There are quite a few XFire Owners in the Carolinas and, if you asked, you'll probably get recommendations on where you can take your car for service if anything major popped up.

 

I live in the Raleigh area of nc

 

Does anyone living in NC have a good place to bring a crossfire too, for repair s?

 

I already have good tires. Continentals extreme contact sport.

 

Barums are made by Continental and are their "value line". Considered them but went with Conti DWS06s on the rear.


Graphite: What size are you using on the front ? 255x35x19s are 26" tires and want to match to avoid confusing the ABS.

 

He'll need to confirm his specific purchase, but in my case, since I also have the Barum Bravuris 3HMs on my car, the front tire is the standard profile (225/40x18). See attached.

For some owners, the Barum Bravuris 3HM isn't available in the typical wider tire (265, 275, 285) some folks like to use for the rears. But I like to stay with the original OEM setup (255/35x19) and the Barum Bravuris 3HM does come in that size. Performance at a reasonable cost.

I've attached a files showing the various options (my perspective) on plus tire sizes for the Crossfire.