I'm excited about this forum. An old MoPar nut from way back. Want to buy a Crossfire, but first want to get educated on pros & cons. Looking forward to meeting folks & sharing thoughts.

 

Good luck with your search for a Crossfire. You might want to post what you are looking for: year, base or limited, srt-6 auto or manual coupe or roadster color preference and mileage. Where are you located in Missouri ? What price range ? Right now maybe a good time to buy it's the end of the car season some people selling rather store the car for the winter. Answering these questions may help you decide and give members a better idea what to advise you on.

 

cw_op? An odd username. I like CW but most people don't know what it is. Do you?

 

Here is what it is:
1) If you are one who take the car to a dealer (or even some 'mechanic') for every little thing, do yourself a favor, go buy a new car off a dealer lot, forget the Crossfire.
2) If you insist on buying a car within 100 miles of home, do yourself a favor, go buy a car off a dealer lot, forget the Crossfire.

If you can get past the above two items, welcome to the fun!

 

Hey pizza: I was radio operator in military. CW was my favorite mode. Only Ham Radio guys know it any more?

 

PS: I do my own mechanic work. Are parts readily available? Special tools required/available?

 

All of the mechanicals are Mercedes so readily available. Almost all body parts must be located used. E-bay and other forum members are good sources. No special tools required.

 

Lots of great info here.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...s-repairs.html

 

The car can be a pain when you first buy it because previous owners often do not maintain the car to the standards that you may want. However the car is worth the annoyance because it is so fun to drive. I am partial to the roadster because I love to feel the sun on my face as I drive. Having said that I am only driving the car on sunny days when it is fairly warm. I use the seat heaters in the spring and fall. I put high performance summer tires on the car and found they can out perform my ability to hang on in a corner! The car is very affordable because it has low demand since it is mostly good as a toy. Your neighbors will think you spent a lot more than you did given how nice the car looks! But if you are thinking the car is good for you as a daily driver it may not be a good choice. The second 100,000 miles are more expensive than other used cars because the mechanicals are all German. The oil change is 8 quarts of Mobil synthetic, tune up has 12 spark plugs, gas is premium only etc. Speeding tickets were never a concern previously as I was never in a hurry to get where I am going so why speed. Now in a Crossfire I find back roads in NH are an invitation to a ticket. Do not drive fast over bumpy roads. I have bent all 4 wheels and had to replace them to get a smooth ride. One nice thing is that excellent quality replica wheels are available for about $140 each. One of the advantages of the car is that it is not as complex to work on as a newer car. I am not mechanically inclined yet I have done several minor repairs with the help of the information on this website. Lastly I have a local repair shop that is willing to install the parts I supply. That has saved me lots of money. Buying high quality Mercedes parts on the internet versus the overpriced Chrysler parts that are just Mercedes parts put in new boxes. I hope my rambling is somewhat helpful in your decision making process.
Joe

 

I passed my 20WPM extra test back in around 1987 and got the Extra ticket as WR8Y. I'm not active anymore, but will be when I retire - CW will be (and always was) over 90% of my activity.
It never gets old.