2005 Chrysler Crossfire Review

The first day with a new car is always interesting. You spend a lot of time just getting to know each other, and that is what today was like with the 2005 Chrysler Crossfire.

You might be asking yourself, why is Autoblog reviewing a Crossfire? Well, this is not your ordinary Crossfire. No, it is not the extreme SRT6, those are a touch on the expensive side. This is the base Crossfire. It comes in only one color, black, no leather, a manual transmission and a sticker price starting at $30,070. I think our real mission in this review is to find out, is the Crossfire worth the money? The sport coupe segment is a little crowded, and the Crossfire is a touch on the expensive side, especially when you?re comparing it on paper to its competition.

In all-black, the Crossfire is a little bit like the Maybach Exelero?s baby brother. It has a touch of sinister, but not too much. The hard lines of this little car still turn heads after being on the market for a couple years. One of the touches that do not make it to the base Crossfire is the bright work on the car?s fender vents. Those are not available until you upgrade to the Limited, and subsequently increase your starting price by $3000+. I don?t know about you, but I tend to enjoy the back to basics appeal of a car like this, especially in the face of more expensive models that offer little in the way of additional ?performance? enhancements. Chrome on the side vents does not qualify as a performance enhancement to me.

Like I said, the real question is where this little American/German fits into the grand scheme of things. So far, fitting into it is my biggest problem. At over six feet, four inches, it is a touch on the cramped side. I encountered the same problem at the SRT track event, but when you?re driving that fast you hardly pay attention to these things. Outside of the headroom, the interior is comfortable enough for long distances. My head would occasionally touch the roof, but I have yet to have a problem with it. Entry into the Crossfire poses more of a problem than sitting in it. We will see how it goes over the next few days. I plan on going over each of the car?s various traits over the course of the week. Hopefully we will be able to answer that ultimate question, ?How does the Crossfire fare in a such a diverse sport coupe segment??