In contrast to some of the comments here, everyone I work with thinks I spent a small fortune on my Crossfire. I laugh to myself because some of them have mini-vans that cost more. But I get comments almost every day about the car, all positive. "That sure is a sweet looking car," "You sure look good in that car," "Wow, I wish I had one of those," being some of the daily comments. Makes me feel damn good about owning it, aside from the fact that I LOVE DRIVING IT!

Proud to drive a Crossfire.

 

I love the car but the prices will never go up much. Unless you have a SRT in 5 years with 1000 miles on it.

PS - I think the Grand Nationals also should be put on the list of cars that went up in price after the production ended especially the GNX version.

 

I understand that once the "new" ones are gone, the prices may increase. But, I just can't envision a car with 40,000 miles increasing from what it is now. I guess what I am asking is will this affect the ones that are NOT the "new" cars?

 

What's the refrain that's posted occasionally? Ah yes, don't buy a car as an investment. I doubt you will ever make anything off of it. Buy an SRT-6 today for $25,000. Store said car in garage for 10 years. Then sell for...nobody knows. Alright, say the car goes for $75,000. Wow! A profit of $50,000. Or did you really make a profit?

That $25K that was tied up in the car for a decade could have been earning interest from a CD, the stock market, etc. Then of course there is the insurance (we do have insurance, right?) being paid for 10 years on a car that wasn't even driven. Maybe registration also. And then we have the issue of not being able to park another car in the garage and money spent on the car to prep it for sale - new battery, tires maybe and so forth. Oh, and we have to drive something over the next decade because we aren't touching the Crossfire, wouldn't want to lower it's value with mileage. More money for another car and more insurance to boot.

How much will the SRT-6 be worth in ten years? Well, HP might keep increasing so by 2017 800 HP could be the norm. 330 sure would be right puny compared to that. Or gas could go up till it cost $14.50 a gal. Who wants a car that only gets low 20s mpg when the newfangled stuff does 70?

The only somewhat sure thing the Crossfire has going for future appreciation is it's styling, but everything else is just to variable to make it a smart bet. And this applies to ALL cars.

Now let's keep the car for 50 years. Maybe it could be sold for a million. Will you be alive to collect? I may be, I'm 47 and family history gives me a good shot of living into my 90s. But I doubt I'll be in any condition to spend the million. More than likely I'll just be drooling onto my bib as I'm spoon fed.

I look at the SRT-6 this way - it's the highest build quality (reliability excluded), best performing and most fun car I've ever had. I'm going to drive it and enjoy the experience it has to offer. If some time in the future I have to get rid of it then so be it. Short of a nuclear war or complete collapse of civilization a better car will be available at some point in the future. Now if I sell it for more than what is expected of a 5 - 10 - 15+ year old car then good for me. Ultimately means that the car cost less than expected over the time it was kept. But make no mistake about this - the total cost of the car is going to exceed any resale value.

Don't get hung up on mileage and resale value and future collectability because the odds are it just isn't going to be there. So everyone just may as well drive their Crossfires. After all, that's why they were bought, to be driven, right?

 

Why is everyone talking about dealers cornering the market? Helllooo. The reason these dealers are "cornering the market" is because the are buying them in batches at the auction. Why are they buying them in batches at the auction? Because they sat at dealerships for years as the rebates and cash discounts went up and up and up and nobody wanted them or knew what they were. I love this car and have much respect for it and it's bloodlines, but the American public would much rather spend their $30,000 buying tens of thousands more hyundia azera's, than a new Crossfire. Every one seems to be missing the point that this car is still available new from Chrysler, only the SRT is not, and it never sold as much as one month's Yugo sales from it's 2004 birth to it's 2005 death. It's awesome, but if it does anything other than go down in value for the next 3-5 years, it will be the first car since cars were invented to be a complete flop in sales, go out of production, then IMMEDIATELY increase in price above what it was available for new after being on the market for 4 years (SRT6 Vert +/-$28k).

 

I guess I missed your point.

You agreed they are cornering the market, and stated the reason why and how it got to this point.

Does that mean that when there are only 30 or 40 'new' SRT's in the US available, that you can go in there and lowball them and haggle? I wouldn't think so, because there are 30 or 40 people who know what these cars are and are willing to pay the asking price.

I'm not saying they will go up much, but they shouldn't go down much either. Not the 'new' ones at least.

SQ

 

What I was saying is that you can't corner the market on a vehicle in LOW demand (less than 100 buyers in the US as you stated, I know, because I am one of them). It's this simple. THEY ARE NOT CORNERING THE MARKET! They are cleaning up a mess. It is called liquidation. Chrysler wants them (and anything else reminding them of MB) all gone. They scooped up all they could find in the US, scattered all over the country (many dealers were glad to be rid of what they considered to be an albatross around their necks), ran 'em through the auction @ about $15,000 below invoice, and got rid of the problem of 3 year old "new" cars taking up space. A few smart dealers, with some money to invest (like Tod here), saw them as a good value if they could be focus marketed (like on this forum!!!) as a "get 'em before their gone" deal, and deserve the modest prices above auction they are and will get until they are all gone. These will sell, and then instead of a pool of 100+ or so new SRT's, there will be a pool of 8,000+ used SRT's. Supply HIGH, Demand the same as it has been for the past 4 years...LOW. Prices continue to go down until the demand gets HIGH again (5, 10, 20 years?) and the supply of clean, good running cars gets LOW again (5, 10, 20 years?)

 

Nope. DCX only manufactured about 3,000 SRT6's for sale worldwide, and the run is over, so there can never be a pool of 8,000 used SRT6's.

 

I can understand your reasoning. Like mentioned, there will never be 8,000 SRT's unless we can find a way to make them reproduce. ( )

I'm not sure what you are trying to prove here. You said that Tod is doing a good job with his cars and will get his asking price because he has a few cars and is marketing them right.

That was the exact same thing I was trying to say about the other dealers who have a decent number of SRT's...they will get their asking price because they know there aren't a lot of 'new' ones left, and there aren't any more coming. There are plenty of people to buy the remaining cars.

My main point was not to expect these 'new' cars to go down too much more in price because the dealer shouldn't have to accept a lowball offer. And if you aren't careful, they could possibly be down to one or two 'new' cars left in the nation and I'm sure there are one or two people who would gladly pay more than $25K for a 'new' one if they had to.

Hurry up and get one!

 

Srt-6 Roadsters are done. In My Opinion, the market has caught up with the convertibles. They aren't at the sale anymore, and the last ones that had gone through went high. I would say 28-30 is what you are going to have to pay for an SRT-6 Roadster now depending on color and miles. The coupes have been weird. Most of the "Cheap cars" aren't Chrysler dealers, and they don't even have the cars on their lot. No certification, no qualified mechanic, no special tools or factory training.

 

Brent,
Very well thought out & said! I hardily agree with you! Drive that Crossfire & enjoy, but kept it as long as you can.

Bill

 

DCX built less than 3,000 of them, and STILL could not sell them, by the amount of "New" ones still available, it seems to me that they didn't sell over 1,000 of them new before rebates etc... 3 months ago there were over 300 of them on Autotrader.com, a large percentage of them with less than 100 miles. Demand has NEVER been high for the SRT Crossfire, and I doubt the fans will come out of the woodwork now. Now it is a 3 year old car ('08 models are out from all manufacturers) and the Flash appeal of the SRT has worn off. Alas I think the prices will stabilize, but continue to drop on our beloved Performance Chryslers.

 

I don't know about you but I do not nor welcome "flash appeal" for the SRT. I want it noticed for the most production car you can buy for the $. Granted this is my first day of 200+ miles on the car, but it is absolutely above and beyond any car on the market for this price. I have driven my 2004 coupe for 4 years now and thought it was the cat's meow, not any longer. I got it to drive and unless some unforeseen thing happens, I'll put 200k on it before I'm done.

 

I agree also, I typically buy 2 or 3 YO cars, to not take the big depreciation hit. The last car I bought new was my SRT-4 ACR, and luckily I have not lost much money on it, I got it for $21,200 out the door, and they are still selling for between 18-20K, yes, they actually sell for more than a comparable condition/mileage SRT-6 in certain cases! Who would have thought that. I'm just glad I hit on the SRT-4 instead of the SRT-6, I have spent less for both my SRT-4 and my Wife's SRT-6 ($20,250 with 6,800 miles, 41,450 for both) than some did on SRT-6s in '05!

 

All I can say after my first 300 mile day in my SRT6 is:

By the expressions and gawks this car gets, I must have seen about 15 people today alone that would buy this car in a heart beat if they knew how much it cost. I actually had a group of 4 people stand up from their table and look out the window of their restaurant while I got gas. This car looks like a $70-80,000 car. I've seen people do the same thing to Aston Martins and other exotics. This is probably the closest thing I'll ever to experiencing what it's like to own an exotic sports car. The best part about it is that it cost me about $25k! I'm going to drive it as much as reasonably possible to enjoy the flash while it lasts! My girlfriend said she has to keep reminding herself that all these people (men and women) are breaking their necks to look in our direction because of the car we're in. My G35 coupe never had a fraction of this kind of effect. This car makes you feel like a rock star!!

 

Well, I can surely tell everyone here that I have NEVER had anyone talk down on the car for being a cheap bargain basement car. The truth is, unless you know these cars well or have shopped for one recently, you would have NO WAY of knowing that these cars are selling for what they are. The first question I get from my friends, co-workers and family is "WOW, How did you afford that? Aren't those like $50,000?" People I come in contact with ASSUME its an expensive car. It looks expensive, it drives expensive, it performs expensive, and it WAS expensive. The general public I come in contact with believes it still is, and I'm not going to be the one that tells them otherwise. When asked how I afford a $50,000 car, I just nod and tell them, I got a really good deal... and I'm living on Ramen, Spam and Tang...

I for one feel VERY good pulling up in front of my father's gold club and see the looks it gets from BMW, MB, Porsche Owners...

If anything, its a bargain basement EXOTIC CAR, that those not in the "know" don't need to know. I feel like a rock star when I drive it, that's all that really matters.

 

We have not had the same experience, I think the general public is catching on, on the way to work yesterday, I passed 3 dealerships with crossfires on the front of the lot, (non SRTs) all priced for under $17,500 in big #s on the windshield. The average person will not differentiate between a base and SRT model. Nevertheless, My wife loves driving hers. I really wish they would have offered a SRT-6 with a manual trans. I think that was one of the reasons it flopped.

 

WOW! Check this one out!:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Wow, that last Ebay listing sold for a BIN (Buy It Now) of $17,900.... If it wasn't beat on too badly and wasn't a Track Experience car, that was a killer deal for 24K miles. If I had the room in my garage, I'd a bought another one.

 

My friend bought it. He's not sure if he's gonna keep it because he's looking at the G37 and is hoping to make some money on a private sell down here in Austin.