No traffic on the Crossfire?

What Toyota? Ford owns Jaguar, Aston-Martin, and Land Rover; BMW owns
Rolls-Royce and Mini; VW owns Bentley. GM has always owned Vauxhall. What
does that leave? Rover-MG? Lotus?

 

Well, I am glad you respected Jag engineering....but I hope your respect
doesn't go back too far...a load of unreliable old-fashioned metal until
Ford pumped a bit of money (billions) in...

;-)
DAS

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And I never bought any of that crap either.

 

Yeah, Ford improved reliability. And killed the soul of Jaguar. I'd love
to have an old V12 Jag. The Brits used to know how to build *engines*
that were works of art even if they couldn't make wiring that would
reliably power a night-light. Engines from companies like Napier,
Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Bristol, and Bentley. And they weren't just called
by their displacements, they had names like "Merlin," "Lion," "Sabre,"
"Centaurus," and "Deltic.". I was pleasantly surprised to learn recently
that the incredible Napier Deltic locomotives have been preserved and
are in use at rail shows and on excursion runs. Maybe Britain hasn't
sold its entire soul to Ford, Toyota, and BMW.

 

"Chris Mauritz" wrote

No thanks. I have one, love it, and hope to drive it for years to come. I
don't think it can be matched at a reasonable price. 73,000 miles of smiles
so far.

Gramps

 

....Morgan, Caterham, TVR, Miniscule Motor Company, Tiny Sales Ltd, Kit
Manufacturing Associates...

Lotus has been 'unindependent' since 1986, when GM bought it. Been owned by
Proton Malaysia since 1996.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_(car)


DAS
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You're an old (?) Romantic! (And, maybe, a dab hand at DIY repairs...)

When you're yet again failing to start your car on the way to work or having
another failure on a wet afternoon then you give a fig about soul....

Jags are fine cars again and the big ones can, I believe, hold their own in
any company. And that's thanks to Ford! IIRC, when the new owners walked
into the Coventry plant to have their first really good look at their new
acquisition they were horrified.

DAS
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It's supposed to be out later this model year. And I wouldn't think the MB
C240 or BMW 325 or Jaguar X-Type would be all that much more unaffordable than
an Audi.

 

My personal experience with the A4 has been positive, though I would
avoid other Audi models (like the A8). The only real downside is the
relatively higher cost of parts (which I'm willing to accept in order to
get the other features I want). Believe it or not, the A4 is even
cheaper to insure. Go figure.

I really like the 300M and was considering keeping it, but my wife
doesn't like to drive it (she's not that tall and has problems seeing
over the tall rear deck when she backs up.

Cheers,

C

 

VW (and by extension Audi) definitely doesn't have a good reputation for
initial quality. That's for sure and it's borne out in the JD Power
surveys. That's why I picked up a used A4 from a friend of mine who is
*at least* as anal as I am about cars. He's already dealt with the
kinks.

After driving the A4 around for a week, I don't think I could go back to
a big front-wheel drive car again.

Cheers,

C

 

It looks like I left out the word "affordable"...though the G35 may
be...I don't see prices for the new AWD model anywhere.

C

 

I don't really have any complaints about mine either. It's a nice car,
but I wanted AWD and something sportier.

Cheers,

C

 

I take all of that (even the "old" part) as a compliment. (I'm only 40,
though).

Well, that's why I have old Dodges and Plymouths instead of old Jags...
you CAN drive them every day and they never let you down, yet have a
good share of "soul" themselves. But I still salivate over old Jag V12s.
And Bentleys when Bentley was independent.

The amorphous cross-bred cars that are coming out these days have less
and less appeal. It used to be that individual makes solved the same
engineering problem in different ways.Simple and quick example- Carter
carburetors versus SU. You'd think that one or the other couldn't
POSSIBLY be a carburetor they did things so differently. Not anymore,
the name on the part may be different, and the case may look slightly
different, but all the fundamental components work the same way. Yawn.

 

A4 quattro: $30k

C240 AWD (only available as wagon...yick): $40-50k
BMW 325xi: $40-45k once it's optioned
Jaguar X-type (for the lowest end 2.5): $30-35k

So the only one in your group that's really close in price is the Jag
and this is what Edmunds has to say about the Jag:

"Priced to compete with the entry-luxury offerings from Audi, BMW and
Mercedes, the all-wheel-drive X-Type falls short in most areas, from
driving dynamics to cabin furnishings. Only worth considering if you've
got to have a Jaguar."

But I guess if one considers your penchant for ignoring the facts and
buying a car solely based on its snob value, I can better understand
your recommendations.

Cheers,

C

 

No, 4Matic is available on all C-classes sedans.

And you're not adding any options to the Audi? Apples, oranges.

 

Mercedes C240 4Matic sedan -- $32,760
BMW 325xi sedan -- $30,245
Audi A4 1.8T Quattro -- $28,140
Audi A4 3.0 Quattro -- $33,630 (and the others are 6 cylinders)

All from Edmunds.

 

Yeah, for the record, I like the styling of the Crossfire (and the
related new show cars). If the purpose is to garner [new] interest in
Chrysler, then it's sounds like it's working -- I'd have never
considered one before.

I also tend to ignore people who think there's still a concept as a
"domestic car" so that's definitely not a factor here.


FPtM

 

After seeing them in magazines, then seeing a nice black one parked in a
lot, I can say that print doesn't do it justice. I've seen a few since
then, but one thing's for certain: it's one of the few cars that scream
"buy me in black!"

FPtM

 

Yeah and you know, I can see where they're coming from. A lot of
reviewers have always complained about the BMW Z4 styling and I liked it
heartbeat-stop on-the-spot, no questions asked. So I think a fraction of
that "strange" appeal is what I like about the Crossfire. It's a brave
design and I think it works.

Now if the rest of the car can hold upŠ

FPtM

 

True. And where's the "domestic" version of the Subaru WRX Sti? Ain't
one.

FPtM