Car Throttle Parting Shot - The Chrysler Crossfire

Welcome to the Car Throttle Parting Shot, where we take a look at a production vehicle that has been recently discontinued, and ask "Was it really that bad?". It was a time for a new type of enterprise, the newly formed German/American car company that merged the historic brands of Mercedes-Benz, and Chrysler. It was the promise of having the best of both worlds, old world craftsmanship, combined with cutting edge design, where Chrysler could absorb top flight engineering, and Mercedes could incorporate heart pounding style. And one of the by-products of this new joint venture is the Chrysler Crossfire. It did incorporate Mercedes technology with Chrysler styling flair. Unfortunately, the technology was a decade old, and the styling was rather ungainly. Let's take a parting shot at the worst of both worlds, the unloved Chrysler Crossfire.

The Chrysler Crossfire was introduced to the American public in the autumn of 2004 as a slick, 2 seat sportscar, and the first to ever wear a Chrysler badge (unless you count the ill advised TC by Maserati). A donor platform, in roughly the right size, was found in the Mercedes-Benz SLK and was adapted for the bespoke new body, which uses all its own sheetmetal. The mechanicals were all borrowed, although reworked for this application. The interior was stolen from Mercedes as well, then restyled to provide a unique appearance. In the face of complex stampings and with production numbers of only 20,000 per year, manufacturing was farmed out to German coachbuilder Karmann.

The Crossfire's wheelbase is only 94.5 inches, and both the front and rear overhangs are minimal. The small dimensions are apparent inside, as this is a true two-seater. A high bulkhead immediately aft of the front seats precludes tossing anything behind them, and there's only 7.6 cubic feet of cargo space under the rear hatch. The interior's SLK pieces are obvious, despite the Chrysler designers' restyling. Still, the Mercedes starting point gives the Crossfire hands down the best-quality interior of any Chrysler at that time. The surfaces are attractive, and the silver trim brightens things up, compared to the SLK.

The eighteen-valve, 3.2-liter SOHC V-6 is a staple of the Mercedes lineup, and in this application it makes 215 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque. There is a choice of two transmissions, the Mercedes Touch Shift five-speed automatic that Chrysler badges it's AutoStick label, and a six-speed manual, whose stubby shift lever promises short, slick shifts, but whose linkage doesn't really deliver. And the clutch's long travel makes shifting for yourself feel more like work than play.

Chrysler tuned the suspension to be firmer than the SLK, and specified larger wheels, with lower profile rubber: 225/40ZR-18 up front, 255/35ZR-19 at the rear. The high-performance and available all-season tires are Z-rated. Unfortunately, the Mercedes recirculating-ball steering unit can't hope to match the feel of the best sports cars' (Boxster, Z4, Nissan 350Z).

For 2005, Chrysler added a roadster model, as well as a powerful new SRT-6 model, available in both coupe and roadster body styles. The SRT-6 features a supercharged version of the V6 rated at 330 horsepower, a huge jump from the standard 215-horsepower engine. Chrysler claims the SRT-6 can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 5 seconds. The suspension and brakes are upgraded. The big rear wing that comes on the SRT-6 models detracts from the Crossfire's svelte styling, though.

Sales of all Crossfire's were lackluster at best, and for two very good reasons. First was the fact that the buying public was made aware of the borrowed bits from the first generation SLK. Mercedes was about to introduce the new model right about the same time the Crossfire went into production. And second, the price point for the Chrysler Crossfire was very optimistic (starting at $35,000), a price point that the general public could not accept from their local Chrysler retailer. This is exactly what happened to the new Chrysler Pacifica (a new 6 passenger people carrier that went into production at the same time the Crossfire did). It only got worse, with the introduction of the Roadster (Priced at over $40,000), and the SRT-6 (starting at $46,000) sales of the pricey two seater never reached capacity. In fact, there were no production 2007 models produced, and many 2006 models were sold off at overstock.com.

So was this re-worked Mercedes SLK as bad as their sales numbers suggest? Actually, with the closed coupe style, the Crossfire was actually more civilized than the hardtop/convertible version of the SLK, with a very rigid body, and better handling thanks to the larger tires. Of course, the asking prices of these cars took them out of the average Chrysler consumer, and anyone looking for an German performance car would never step into a Chrysler showroom. However, used car values for the Crossfires have dropped dramatically, and are quite a bargain, compared to their SLK cousins. If you are looking for a great looking car, with a lot of german engineering, and don't mind the Chrysler badge, this may be the bargain of the decade, and that's my parting shot.