Hello everyone!

After driving my Beetle into the ground (162,000 miles), and lately paying more often than I thought I should have been for chain tensioners, air conditioner repairs, water pumps, gaskets, etc., etc... I took the plunge and bought a Crossfire yesterday! 2004 with 51,000 miles on it. I picked it up for just over $10,000 out the door.

I did a couple of weeks worth of research, and after looking at a lot of cars in the "sporty" category, I decided that I could get a newer/fewer miles Crossfire than anything else really. All the Mini Coopers, Toyota MR2 Spyders, Nissan 350Zs, etc., etc., all came with 80,000-100,000 miles vice the 51,000 I got yesterday (and were mostly a year to three years older). I can't tell you how pleased I am with that. That's a huge difference. I am not quite sure why this car is that much less in demand, but hey... my gain!! I plan on having this car for a number of years - at least 5 - so I'm not concerned with a lower resale vaule.

Some thoughts after having owned the car for less than 24 hours:
-LOVE. IT. I love the syling, the way it drives, the way it feels, everything. Love it.
-Some professional reviewers complained a little about what they saw as slightly unresponsive steering. I dunno... maybe if you're used to test driving Astin Martins or Porches or something, but it feels awesome to me.
-It's a black hardtop, and my wife already has been calling it "The Batmobile". I might keep the nickname, haha. XD
-I can really feel the 215 hp. My beetle was turbocharged so it had a bit of zip, but it's nice not having to wait for the turbo to kick in if I need it in traffic, or coming off the line at a light. Coming to work this morning was an absolute dream. I'll try not to be too heavy on the pedal so I can get more out of the tank, but boy... it's FUN to drive.
-It seems like a few people on the forums use their Crossfire as a weekend car? I'll be using it as my daily commuter (15 miles each way, DC area). It's going to brighten my commutes for sure.
-I love how comfortable the seats are. Like getting a hug all the way to work this morning. :-)
-I keep singing that stupid Crossfire toy jingle in my head. I'm sure everyone here knows the one I'm talking about. Please tell me that fades after a while.


Some questions for the forum:
-The motor on the spoiler was busted (they're fixing it for me later this week), is this a problem that is pretty common?
-The tires have the correct amount of pressure in them, but the tire pressure light is on (again, fixing it for me later this week), is this a common problem?
-The dealer offered me a 5-year bumper-to-bumper for $3100. I turned it down since I can get it later, but... what is the forum's opinion on the amount of maintenance you guys have had to do on your cars from say, 50k to 100k? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I've spent SO much on my beetle in the last 5 years, so on the one hand I'm concerned with maintenance issues. But on the other hand, they wouldn't sell these if they didn't make money on them (and well... 162,000 miles is a lot more than 51,000 haha). When doing research on these cars, they didn't come across to me as maintenance intensive (although I did read about the markup for parts).
-Is there an easy/standard way that most people use to play an iPod through the car system? I used one of those tape deck adapter thingies in my beetle, haha. Most people just use an FM transmitter I guess? I was a little sad to see there's no "aux" port on the stock stereo.
-Are there GPS units or GPS holders of one sort or another that go better with the car than any other kinds? When researching Minis, I saw a whole line of GPS plastic holders that were made specifically to go into the Mini.
-My wife's minivan has the whole bluetooth-cell phone connection thing going on. How do most people with Crossfire's deal with this issue? A Bluetooth headset, I guess?
-I read in the forums here that thread that said Chrysler has discontinued parts for the car? I called the Chrysler dealer near my house, and they said they have no problem getting parts for the car. So... is this something that has been solved?

I still have a huge grin on my face this morning. I suspect it will be there for quite some time. This really is going to be a FUN car. Thanks for reading, and I'm excited to join the group here.

 

Welcome, I am at work and might address some of your questions later, when time permits, but buy then, others will have done the job for me!
Again, welcome - you did good on the price, if a DEALER sold it to you at that price, they either sat on the car for too long or they gave the previous owner NOTHING for it!

For now:
Spoiler motor failures (that are the MOTOR) are rare.
Sounds like you have a tire pressure monitor sending unit gone bad.
Most of your audio questions are easily answered: Replace the factory head unit with something modern and "better".
Body parts can be a problem, but most other parts are available. I ordered an EGR valve and it came in the next day - the GASKET will be here in a week.

Again, welcome and others will chime in with better answers than mine... off to work.

 

I did trade in my beetle, I forgot to mention that. They gave me $1500 for it, which I was okay with. But I still feel like I did well for myself. And thanks for the welcome!

 

Hey, Welcome.

I love the car before I bought mine.......Love it even more after. Grin hasn't gone away yet. That's why we call it Permagrin......

First things. Where in DC area are you? We have a Maryland Crossfires Club and our having our first car show on August 11 at the Linganore Winery. It'd be great if you can register and make the show. You can meet our current members, enjoy some food and drink at a great venue and pal around with a bunch of XFire enthusiasts. PM me if you are interested. Also, here's a link to our event info on the winery website.
http://www.linganorewines.com/PDF/co...compressed.pdf

Some quick hit responses to your questions.

-The motor on the spoiler was busted (they're fixing it for me later this week), is this a problem that is pretty common? - Not common to break. If they are fixing great. Good idea to grease it every so often. Also to keep in in the up position (manually) when driving on 270 stop and go during rush hour. It goes up....down......up........down.......etc.
-The tires have the correct amount of pressure in them, but the tire pressure light is on (again, fixing it for me later this week), is this a common problem? - Likely the TPMS batteries (one or more) are out. You'll need to replace the sensor/s and reset (you can get them way cheaper on EBAY etc.) Or use sme members fix of putting black electrical tape over the dash light (LOL).
-The dealer offered me a 5-year bumper-to-bumper for $3100. I turned it down since I can get it later, but... what is the forum's opinion on the amount of maintenance you guys have had to do on your cars from say, 50k to 100k? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I've spent SO much on my beetle in the last 5 years, so on the one hand I'm concerned with maintenance issues. But on the other hand, they wouldn't sell these if they didn't make money on them (and well... 162,000 miles is a lot more than 51,000 haha). When doing research on these cars, they didn't come across to me as maintenance intensive (although I did read about the markup for parts). - Maintenance varies from car to car. It can be expensive for some items but do your research on this forum and it will save you tons and tons of money on any potential repairs. Oil changes are easy and way less expensive if you do them yourself and buy oil and filters in bulk. Half the cost easy of dealer changes. I'd suggest putting the $3100 into a car maintenance savings account and self insure yourself.
-Is there an easy/standard way that most people use to play an iPod through the car system? I used one of those tape deck adapter thingies in my beetle, haha. Most people just use an FM transmitter I guess? I was a little sad to see there's no "aux" port on the stock stereo.
-Are there GPS units or GPS holders of one sort or another that go better with the car than any other kinds? When researching Minis, I saw a whole line of GPS plastic holders that were made specifically to go into the Mini. -- Not awary of any but I'm considerting designing my own for the driver A-pillar. I'll let you know how it works out.
-My wife's minivan has the whole bluetooth-cell phone connection thing going on. How do most people with Crossfire's deal with this issue? A Bluetooth headset, I guess? - I bought a combo FM converter that plays music through FM band straight through the radio head unit and also has a bluetooth which plays directly through the radio. $50 and it works great. No need to change the existing head unit out. Althought others will say upgrade it. I prefer the stock look.
-I read in the forums here that thread that said Chrysler has discontinued parts for the car? I called the Chrysler dealer near my house, and they said they have no problem getting parts for the car. So... is this something that has been solved? - Parts can be hard to find or if not, at least delays in getting them (from what I've heard) but most normal where parts aren't a problem - aftermarket, chrysler or mercedes parts are all options. Also, for body parts, there are people who get wrecked cars and part them out. Always check on here first.

Good luck and hope to meet you at our Crossfire Charity Car Show at the Winery or during one of our get to gethers. Let me know if you have questions.

 

Looks like I solved most of my electronics questions, and I won't have to replace the stock stereo just yet. Couple of hours of research, and I found this:
It connects to all your gadgets via bluetooth, and puts the sound into the system via FM transmitter. Even has an onboard mic for hands-free with the cellphone. Not bad for $40.

Self-insuring is great advice. I think I'll probably go that route, unless there is a flood of comments on the thread here with lots of expensive repairs that folks have had to do, heh. That's good advice.

Thanks for your responses, gents. :-)

Ans PNA, I'm unfortunately on the Virginia side of DC, plus I don't drink. Plus I have a Japanese exchange student with us this month, so all our Saturdays are booked. I might catch one down the road at some point, thanks for the invite though, for sure.

 

Ive purchased the same item a year ago and have not regretted it. Its still going strong. It easily transfers to all my vehicles and can pair with any phone. Sound quality is good. There is no feedback and the volume can be adjusted from the device.

 

Congratulations on your FUN car..I think thats the overall impression for me with this car, FUN. And your wifes name "The Batmobile" is the perfect name for your black coupe..in fact...your wife can call it anything she wants cuz she let you have one..just like my wife! Silver Blue 6spd Coupe. Annnd......Loving it!

 

Welcome to the forum... I use my Android phone as a GPS and for streaming music (Pandora & iheartradio) so I went with this one:

 

We have a few Virginians coming to the show and our club is really morphing to a regional club so you are certainly welcome at any and all our events. You don't have to drink to come to the show and enjoy the venu (it's very pretty out there) and the friendship and food, so don't let that stop you.
Great thing to do to host exchange students. It's very enriching. Hope to see you at a future event. Our Club is on Face Book (I'm not) so you can stay in touch there as well. You should check out our thread on the Forum when you get a chance. It' a good way to stay up on things and get to know the gents. Here's the link. https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...yland-com.html It's on the Northeast Forum. Take care.