2006 Chrysler Crossfire

Engine: 3.2-liter V-6, 24 valves, 215 horsepower, six-speed manual

Features: A/C, retractable spoiler

Ownership history: bought new May 2007, sold with 23,000 miles in October 2011

In 2003, my wife and I saw an article in Road & Track about an upcoming Chrysler/Mercedes offspring built on the German company’s SLK roadster platform. Named for a 2001 Chrysler concept car, the 2004 Crossfire was powered by Mercedes’ 3.2-liter, 215-horsepower SOHC V-6 and manufactured in the Karmann plant in Osnabruck, Germany. Zero-to-60 times for the base model were in the 6.5-second range. (For more basic information about the Crossfire, there is a brief but accurate account at Wikipedia you may read here.)

Unfortunately, we could not justify paying $32,000 for a two-seat sports car, no matter how gorgeous. During the next few years, we were excited to see the rare Crossfire on the road and wondered why no one seemed to be buying them. As we know now, Chrysler did such an inept job of marketing this wonderful car that the general public was never aware of it, and only 83,000 were sold before production ended on Dec. 17, 2007.

Chrysler gave dealers tremendous incentives to get them off the lots. On May 5, 2007, my wife and I heard that a nearby Chrysler dealer was selling a couple of dozen base model 2006 Crossfires for $18,800 each. These were new, untitled, un-driven cars with odometers registering in the single digits. We gave my 2005 Dodge Magnum R/T a quick bath, sped to the Chrysler dealer, and drove home in our black six-speed coupe.

I won’t bore you with details of how much I obsessed over the Crossfire’s cleanliness and maintenance; photos probably tell the story for me. It has enjoyed a pampered life in my two-car garage, keeping my wife’s Subaru Turbo company. Because I am a writer and photographer, whole weeks go by when I do not need to leave our property, so the Crossfire has averaged about 440 miles per month. Most of that mileage accrued during short, pleasant trips out of town – not in stop-and-go traffic. (When I do travel for work, I rent cars, so the Crossfire was purely a pleasure vehicle.)

Details

I felt the base coupe’s all-black treatment went too far, so I installed a set of polished stainless steel “strake” covers (those three horizontal bars that shoot from the fake side vents). I don’t like lettering on my cars because individual characters make cleaning and waxing a nightmare, so I had a local detailer remove the CROSSFIRE label on the rear hatch. I spent a few hundred dollars on tasteful Crossfire-branded carpet from Lloyd Mats in Los Angeles. Otherwise, I did not change a thing. The tires are factory-installed Continentals. The stereo is correct. Nothing under the hood has been modified or customized. Unlike on other cars I’ve owned, I did not tint the Crossfire’s windows or modify its suspension and exhaust system. It’s all factory.

What’s it like to drive? Be aware that the Crossfire, in its 215-horse version, was not designed to be a top-fuel dragster for the street. It is a very peppy, short-wheelbase coupe with a low center of gravity that is tremendously fun to drive on curvy roads. The interior is as quiet as a library on the highway. The six-speed manual transmission is smooth and fun to shift. First gear is so low that most Crossfire drivers have taught themselves to start in Second if on a flat road. The low roofline and short greenhouse that look so stylish and retro from the outside make driver and passenger feel secluded from the world, like riding in a limousine. The windows also kill any desire to visit a bank or fast food drive-through. Almost no human has the proper combination of long arms and short torso required to reach anything next to the car without exiting first. In true German fashion, there are no cup holders in the Crossfire, and therefore no temptation to eat in the car.

That rear cargo area that looks small in photos is actually quite large. My wife and I easily transported everything we needed for three-day weekends on the road. I found the ideal luggage for the Crossfire is in the form of large, soft gym bags, and the hard case I use for my professional camera gear fit with plenty of room to spare.

The Dirt

Are there any negatives to confess? It is a car, after all, and no machine built by man (or Karmann’s robots) will be perfect. In the interest of full disclosure, here is everything I can think of that you should know about my Crossfire:

1. The V-6 did not idle as smoothly as I thought it should for the first 2,000 miles, so I had the Chrysler dealer run a diagnostic check on it. As I suspected, the car’s year-long sit in a storage lot before I purchased it gave the plugs some problems. Plugs were replaced for free, and I believe it received its first transfusion of Mobil 1 (the required synthetic oil) under warranty. It has idled perfectly since. By the way, my local garage charges $100 for the Crossfire’s oil change. You can do it yourself, but it’s not as easy as popping out that NAPA filter on your old Chevy pickup. There’s a special sensor that must be re-set, for one thing. Considering it only has to be changed every 10K miles, I suggest letting a pro do it.

2. At the same time the Chrysler dealer replaced the plugs, I reported that the factory radio (and single-disc CD player) would refuse to work occasionally – about once in every 20 starts. Turning off the car, removing the key, then re-starting the car made the radio work just fine. The dealer told me he could not reproduce the problem, so there was nothing he could do. Through online forums, I found that this was a known issue with the base model radio, and that it tended to go away on its own. It must have fixed itself, because I don’t recall it happening much past the 10K mark.

3. From the start, I was not in love with the factory Continental tires. They look great on those 18- and 19-inch rims but can be quite noisy before they warm to operating temperature. I’ve had this same problem with two other sets of Continental tires (on other cars). They don’t feel round for the first five or 10 miles, but they work great when warm, and they last a long time. You should be aware now that tires for a Crossfire, Mustang GT, Corvette, or other rear-drive sporty car will cost much more than those designed for a Taurus or Malibu. At Tire Rack, a set of replacement rubber for the Crossfire runs from $600 to $1,200. That doesn’t include shipping, mounting, balancing, and any other associated costs. Driving this car for its intended purpose means keeping a set of tires for 20K to 22K miles. Showing off for the ladies at the mall will mean big bucks. You’ve been warned!

There’s really nothing else to tell. The EPA rated my six-speed coupe at 15 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway. Even at 10 mph over the speed limit, I usually get 25-27 miles per gallon on highway trips. (Some folks on the Edmunds.com town hall forum claim to get as much as 29 mpg.) The owner’s manual recommends premium fuel, and I’ve always filled the tank with the high-test stuff, but any freshman engineering student will tell you that modern computerized cars will run on the cheap gas without harming the engine. Lower octane will reduce the engine’s output, but probably not enough that the average driver will notice.