What is your opinion of the JD Powers ratings? The 2004 Crossfire has an overall rating of 2 out of 5, with 4/5 on Mechanical Quality, 2/5 on Body & Interior Quality, 2/5 on Feature and Accessory Quality, 3/5 on Performance, 2/5 on Creature Comforts, and 4/5 on Style. Ostensibly, these ratings are "consumer ratings of their vehicles after the first few months of ownership. 2005 ratings are the same except for style, which is only 3/5.

By contrast, the 2004 Honda S2000 is an Overall 5/5, with all categories rated at 5 except for Performance (3/5) and Style (3/5). The 2003 BMW Z4 has an Overall rating of 5/5, with all categories rated at 5 except for Body & Interior Quality (3/5), Feature and Accessory Quality (4/5), and Style (4/5). The 2004 model only lists Performance, Creature Comforts, and Style, all rated at 4/5. Even the 2004 Ford Thunderbird, a cruiser, not a sports car, rated 5/5 Overall, although Body/Interior Quality garnered a 2/5, Performance a 3/5, Creature Comforts a 2/5, and Style a 4/5.

Thoughts?

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. . .

 

JD Powers is supposed to be totally non-subjective and the rankings are based on the number of consumer complaints and warranty repairs. Sounds like JD Powers agrees with many owners on this forum that have add issues with their Crossfires.

The Crossfires problems have probably been magnified by the poor support & training at Chrysler dealers (most repairs seem to require long and multiple visits), and the small population of Crossfires manufactured (which I believe is factored into JD's calcs).

 

BUNK! Everyone's reaction to my Crossfire is "I LOVE it"... "Wish I had one of those"..."Looks GREAT"! (unless you're a stuck up snob with your head up your back end). It's a beautiful car and performs very well!
Hondas are great cars too... Enjoy your Honda.... Hmmm. .

 

I also if part of the issue is the price tag on the Crossfire; that is, do people have higher expectations based on the price? Against this argument is that the others listed are at least as expensive as the Crossfire, but they are rated higher in customer satisfaction. The Tbird, especially, is a very good car (I like it a lot), but was overpriced (it has a V8, which drives up the price, but many of the interior materials were very cheap).

My primary issue with the Crossfire is that it was based on the SLK, which had many technical issues and quality problems. I had hoped that these were worked out prior to release of the Crossfire, and I expect that many of them were (at the very least, the Crossfire doesn't suffer the problems associated with the retractable hardtop on the SLK). I'm still trying to get a handle on the quality of the Crossfire overall.

 

I don't own a Honda or a Chrysler. I'm leaning toward the Crossfire as a purchase because of the excellent price. But, the S2000 isn't far above it in price. Also, I like the looks of the Crossfire and the V6 engine, which, although it may be rated lower in HP than the S2000, seems more powerful at lower RPM (the VTEC takes a long time to take off). The fit and finish of the S2000 is excellent, though, although the interior is very tight (width).

 

I own a 2004 XF coupe and am keeping a friends 2001 S2000 at my house right now. The S2000 is fun with the top down, and it can perform once you get the engine up above 7,000 rpm. However, I personally could not handle the S2000 as a daily-driver (cramped and noisy), and would not feel safe going 100+ mph in it (which I'll do in the XF, every single chance I get!!!).

 

I don't agree with what it says at all. I get compliments on my car all the time. When I'm driving on the highway my car is always getting looked at. And sometimes they aren't paying attention and they start coming into my lane. I highly doubt that happens because the car is just ok to look at. Any and every crossfire is gorgeous absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't ask for any more out of my crossfire. It is a joy to drive. I wouldn't pick another car over it.

 

J.D. Powers -- based here in Detroit -- does numerous ratings. The one most people are familiar with is the Initial Quality study, which is a simple reporting of the number of defects reported by owners/lessees in the first few months of ownership. Even Powers admits that this is not completely objective, since it appears that many new owners will report what they perceive as design issues as "defects." One example would be the Crossfire's power window controls on the center console, rather than the doors where most people expect to find them.

There are myriad other Powers reports, some of which are quite subjective rankings in the style of "reviews." If your criteria is that of a mini-van owner, the Crossfire will rank quite low in terms of cupholders (quantity, placement and design). Like Consumer Reports, they have a hard time assessing issues like handling and brake feel, and therefore give these less weight in their overall ratings.

Remember, this is a commercial company that sells its services to car makers, who pay for both the outside information and the potential PR benefit. Take their reports with the same large grain of salt you would for anyone trying to sell you something.

 

I don't put too much stock in JD Powers or Consumer Reports, both agencies are suppose to be non-biased but if you have followed their reviews over the years you will notice that almost all the Japanese cars get the highest rating. It is so obvious in the details of their reports that they are jaded against all the American manufactures. Both agencies have also been very critical of all the Mercedes Benz line so it is no surprise that the Crossfire was doomed to get a mediocre rating. What is obvious since we all own Crossfires and are members of this forum, that we do not necessarily with their reports or we would have bought different cars.

 

It could be that the car and YOU are getting checked out.

 

just about hit the nail on the head on except i would rank as follows:

overall: 3 out of 5
mechanical quality: 4 out of 5
Body & interior: 4 out of 5
feature and accessory: 3
performance: 2 out of 5
creature comforts: 4 out of 5
style: 5 out of 5

i mean honestly i hate to tell u but the crossfire is not the car it's concept was -- why not it IS UNDERPOWERED, and the interior used plastic instead of metal -- no don't get me wrong i think the xf is a good car through and through but for the msrp price it isn't quite the SPORTS CAR as its competitors - z4, s2000, 350z, g35 -- and you can say yea "they look uglier" and i will reply "exactly that's why they *jd power* gave it a 4, and i gave it a 5".

250 - 275 hp would be very substantial for this type of care, but 220 -- dc why come out with one of the best looking 2 seaters ever and make it underpowered?

 

Biased, I really don't think so.

How many times have you heard/read that American car makers admitted quality was lacking for many years in their products and were playing catch-up?

As for MB, they too have admitted they are trying to overcome a decade of poor reliability ratings.

 

I had seen the ratings and sent them an email voicing my concern over their "in"accuracies. They responded with an email that claimed "...the information in their ratings is not directly from JD Power themselves. Rather, they are scores compiled from respondents."

A quick poll, how many of you were asked your opinion of the Crossfire by a representative of JD Power? Like mentioned previously, I put them in the same category of Consumer Reports, that wonderful magazine that once compared vacuum cleaners by how much Christmas tinsel they could pick up. I work in the computer industry, and they rarely come up with the REAL best buys. One time they rated the Toyota Matrix excellent on everything and gave fair to poor marks for the Pontiac Vibe...same car, with the same engines, built on the same assembly line!!!

I have been buying cars for nearly 40 years and have NEVER been asked my opinion once!

I just don't put a lot of stock in a company who "sells" their awards.

 

I have not been polled by anyone but...
Well Guys and Gals, Who gives a Crap... I just don't care what anyone says or how they "Rate" what I have. I get EXCITED every time I get in mine and That is what I care about. I knew when I bought it what it was, it is a concept car that was built in limited runs and would have inherent issues due to limited exposer including dealerships. I did although think MB would step in and pick up when Chrysler dropped the ball to turn XF buyers into MB owners.
Still I love my XF...

 

I posed the original question because I don't have a Crossfire and am trying to figure out how good and reliable the car is. If JD Powers is correct, many Crossfire owners don't rate the car as highly as owners of some other cars (notably, the S2000). But, it's quite possible the posters here are correct, that the ratings are more subjective than JD Powers will let on. Also, it's possible there are other circumstances, such as brand perception and expectation, that affect the ratings. I think people "expect" an MB product to cost more to maintain than a Honda product, so they may rate MB lower before they even drive the respective cars. Having said that, if you go to an S2000 forum, you may be surprised by their perceptions of Honda dealers. Many have said they wish the S2000 were badged as an Acura in order to get the excellent service of Acura dealerships rather than the poor service of Honda dealerships.

 

Sorry GulfCoast, I may have strayed off the subject and forget that prospective XF buyers are looking here but after 30 years in the automotive business the JD Powers rating makes my face do funny things. Their information for ratings come from ?? I know what they say but... enough said.
I can tell you that this forum is a great place for XF owners but I am not sure it (or any other forum ie miata honda ect) is a great place for would be buyers because there are only a handful of owners represented here and although diverse we tend to be real picky and talk allot about almost any problem and the rest of us go look to see if ours does it. You can go look at the repair numbers for the highest rated car in the world and feel like there is a problem with it. I believe if you cut through the info here you will find our biggest problem in the XF community is the Chrysler Dealerships.

My advise, buy the car that makes you smile and don't look back. Some things make life more fun, my XF does that for me and I hope you find yours and hope it is a XF !!
Sorry for the book !

 

Well said, and I agree 100 percent.

 

That is very true...where is all this polling taking place? I have never been asked by any consumer group what I think about my car...because if they did that pitiful score they gave the car would come up. Sure the car (like any other car) has its quirks but you all must admit even with those it is one FINE machine and gives all of us a lot of enjoyment. Excuse me but screw those people and lets just enjoy what we have ...a wonderful car.

 

Ben: I don't disagree that the American manufactures shot themselves in the head during the 70's and 80's with substandard quality. However, in the past ten years the quality of the American Manufactures has vastly improved and neither of these agencies have scarcely acknowledged it. Also, in the last ten years we have seen Asian market begin to show signs of falling on the sword with respect to reliability, safety, and misrepresentation from Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Mazda, but that hasn't seemed to show up in the reviews. Don't get me wrong I am not bashing the Japanese, in fact I work for a Japanese company, I am just saying that I personally don't believe there is no longer the disparity in quality between the American manufactures and Japanese manufactures. If I truly believed that there was a difference in quality I would have bought the 350Z it was a toss up between it and the Crossfire, but I kept thinking of all the 280Z that rusted out just like the Chevy C/K fenders in the 70's and 80's.