I was in love with the nissan 350z's since i drove one about a year ago. Now i finally graduated college and landed a good job so i was going to pay cash for a 350z. When i was out looking for one a crossfire drove by me and I have been a changed man since . I fell in love with the way they looked. I went and drove a crossfire a few days ago and although the performance was not near a 350z the crossfire as a lot more features and i feel overall looks better. The thing that worries me is that i keep hearing how hard it is to find parts for these cars. I dont want to get stuck waiting for a piece to come in for weeks because some moron rear ended me. So i figured i would ask your opinions before i bought a car within the next few weeks. Should i stay with the crossfire or go with the 350z whose parts are a lot easier to come by and much easier to find? One thing that is nice about the crossfire, for the same price you get one with half the miles a 350z would have.

Thanks for your time,

 

[quote=mscard02]I was in love with the nissan 350z's since i drove one about a year ago. Now i finally graduated college and landed a good job so i was going to pay cash for a 350z. When i was out looking for one a crossfire drove by me and I have been a changed man since . I fell in love with the way they looked. I went and drove a crossfire a few days ago and although the performance was not near a 350z the crossfire as a lot more features and i feel overall looks better. The thing that worries me is that i keep hearing how hard it is to find parts for these cars. I dont want to get stuck waiting for a piece to come in for weeks because some moron rear ended me. So i figured i would ask your opinions before i bought a car within the next few weeks. Should i stay with the crossfire or go with the 350z whose parts are a lot easier to come by and much easier to find? One thing that is nice about the crossfire, for the same price you get one with half the miles a 350z would have.



well first off your never in the worng when looking @ an xfire. if your looking for speed and moneys not a problem go with an srt6, you wont be disapointed. as far as over all cars, the xfires are great cars and you will be luckey to see 3-4 of them a day "not common" "350z= common car". It is true that there are alot of back orders on parts, but there mainly things like bummpers. we here on the forum help each other out as much as possable. one thing that xfires has that you would never find on a 350 is the abilty to go topless which makes the ride o so much better. over all you cant go worng with a xfire.

good luck with your search &
welcome to the club...

 

You do bring up some good points both ways. One good point is that not only will you find a good used Crossfire for less money, I think it will be easier to find one that has been well cared for. gererally speaking given the cost new, the buyers were older and or more mature. Performace wise I am sure their will be those on this Forum that can argue with authorty that an SRT can hold its own and than some. As far a parts I was hit from behind a couple of months ago and my body shop had no problems obtaining a new bumper and other necessary parts...Above all I find it very rewarding to have a car that you can drive for days and not see another one

 

burp: let's help this guy out

 

One forum member hit a 14.38 sec 1/4 mile & displayed a timeslip to prove it......in an unmodified 6 spd...so he probably did a 0-60 < 6.0 sec. Magazines all say top speed > 150. I ave 24.5 mpg in my 6 speed daily driver & have put 42,000 miles on it .....basically zero defects!





Read an article inwhich a traveling salesman driving a MB with the same NA engine had put over 440,000 miles with no major problems.

 

Mercedes engines don't burn oil as a rule. They may leak fluids over a long time like any car. Crank sensors and Cam sensors do seem to fail a lot and give a "check eng." light Your maintained engine should run past 300K with no major problems.

I have 28k on my Crossfire and have replaced a Cam sensor and changed oil/filter and had a 4 wheel alignment and that is it. The driver's seat does not heat(just the back part heats) so I may just buy a heating seat pad for winter. Other than that, the car is like new and averages about 19 mpg in all city driving and 24mpg combined. On a long freeway trip you should get close to 30mpg on 93 octane gas.

Drive one and you'll probably buy one. Lots of bang for the buck If you get a dent on a Crossfire, the insurance companies just total it out and you buy a new one. (wink)

 

[quote=rvd4now]
Nissan 350Zs come in roadster format...

 

Srt6 would be the way to go. Like they all said , ya don't see them that much. Thats what stoped me from getting a Z. Plus you cant match the performance of a supercharged m112 compared to a stock Z

 

Thanks guys for the help. An SRT-6 is out of the question though. Its more than i am wanting to spend and next to impossible to find from my current location. So you guys really have had that many problems with parts?

 

Where are you located? Ive had mine for 2 years, put 23,000 on it for a total of 64,138. not one problem! I would suggest plugs and wires, intake and a ecu mod first off. then tires, got to have some mean grip for this sidewinder

 

I was kind of in a similar boat. I was about 3 years into my first job when I got my crossfire. Though it wasn't my first postgraduate car purchase---I leased a 2006 VW GTI which truth be told was an excellent car. Despite how nice the GTI was for a sport compact, I always wanted a sports car. I looked at the 350z prior to even considering a crossfire. Actually, when I looked at the Z I completely forgot that the crossfire even existed! Anyway, the Z was a very nice car and I was definitely quite impressed.


But there was something missing from the Z. It performed great, but it just didn't really feel right. It might be an asian car thing as there have been a few that I've riden in over the years that I just couldn't get comfortable in, even as passenger. The seemed to be one of those cars.

I eventually found that Chrysler was giving 10k back on the crossfire and felt that it should be a deal that I should pass up. I do remember like yesterday going to the chrysler dealer when the very first crossfires were appearing at the dealer. I was very impressed with the build quality. And I liked the fairly obvious MB cues that I picked up on right away, like the directional stalks. FFWing to a couple years ago, I just enjoyed how the car felt when I took it out for a spin. It's a similar feeling to the GTI when I drove it---not the fastest sport compact, but it just felt right. The crossfire isn't very fast, but it's fast enough and I just liked how it felt and the styling.


With regard to parts, you should never worry about mechanical parts. In fact, I would bet that you will have an easier time tracking down parts for the motor, trans, most electrical parts, suspension, and rear end for a longer period of time than you will for most chrysler products. MB is very good at keeping parts available for their cars. At the current time, the chrysler dealer in my experience has no problems getting mechanical parts for the car. If you keep the car for like 10 years, you may have problems with the chrysler dealer. However, that just means you need to find the equivalent MB part number and buy directly from them.

Body parts will be the most difficult thing to source in the future. But if you are planning on keeping the car for ~5 years, I don't see it being a huge problem.


I'd say that if you drove the car and like it, buy it. To be honest, with how fantastic the 370z is, if I couldn't get one of those, I wouldn't get a Z. Then again, maybe I won't fit any better in one of those.

 

I love my Crossfire. It was the first car I ever purchased on my own, without anyone influencing me on what I should buy. 40k miles later and I'm not regretting it one day.

Sure there are cons to it, such as the $100 it costs to change your oil, or the fact that you have to buy 2 air filters, or that pieces/parts might cost a little extra becuase they're more rare than a Z...

But buying a Crossfire isn't about practicality now, is it? It's about how it looks, how it makes you feel, how it turns heads, and how good it feels to drive. Make no mistake - this is a Mercedes, and it acts like one. I test drove numerous cars over the 6 months it took me to buy a new car. This one drove the best, hands down.

I made numerous 7 hour drives from Lubbock to San Antonio without ever having to get out of the car to "stretch my legs". I felt great sitting still for that long. And when you have to stop for gas (oh yes, 30 hwy and 23 city - see a Z do that!), you get lots of people asking about your car.

It's unique and I love it.

 

Well said Lady Mills from Texas

 

HaHa, Where did she go? Just dont listen to Richard hammond's advice from top gear! ouch they are picky on what they like.

 

Since no one has dealt with your concern for replacement parts for repair in case of an accident, I would suggest a Z. Hoods, fronts, bumbers, etc. are going to be a problem getting replaced.

I have two of them and only drive them on the weekends and only on open roads. Just be aware you may find your self with a totaled car for what would be a normal accident repair on another car.

 

Damm, body parts are that hard to get? guess im parking this baby back in the garage. hello CJ.

 

They are fairly quick. low 14s and trapping high 90s. what does a 350z do really? low 14s with most drivers and good drivers high 13s. that is a couple cars ahead. They car nice cars as well.

I would go with crossfire because u can buy one cheap with low miles and they are reliable.

Parts are indeed hard to get. That sucks.

 

Just bought my 2005 Roadster after looking at the car for five years. I absolutely love it, rides great on my thirty mile a day drive to and from work. I don't feel like I will every want to sell this car. Good Luck.

 

Go with your heart and buy a low mileage XF while they are still available. If you have regrets or wreck it, there will always be a boring, see 2-3 a day Z available.

 

2004 Alabaster White Crossfire. 6-speed Manual & Lowered.
Quickest Stock N/A Crossfire known. Unconfirmed 14.38@96mph, Confirmed 14.40@97mph


Hey, Muscle.....you can no longer say you have the fastest....you can say you had the fastest......